01The king without a son
Bala Kanda opens Ayodhya as a city of broad streets and high gates, ruled by Dasharatha of the Ikshvaku line with eight wise ministers. Only one thing was missing. On the counsel of his charioteer Sumantra he brought the rishi Rishyashringa and performed an Ashvamedha on the bank of the Sarayu, followed by the putrakameshti yajna. A great being rose out of the fire holding a golden vessel of payasa. Dasharatha gave half to Kausalya, a portion to Sumitra, a portion to Kaikeyi, and the last portion again to Sumitra. Four sons were born.
02Bound by his own word
Long before, in the war of the devas against the asura Shambara, Dasharatha had been wounded and Kaikeyi had carried him from the field. He gave her two boons, and she kept them unasked. On the eve of Rama’s coronation she asked for them in her anger chamber: Bharata on the throne and Rama in the forest for fourteen years. The king begged, fell at her feet, called her cruel, and could not take back a promise given in truth. He could not even speak the order himself. When Rama’s chariot left he went out after it and watched until even its dust was gone.
03The boy at the river
On the sixth night after Rama left, Dasharatha told Kausalya the sin of his youth. Hunting by night on the Sarayu, proud of shooting at sound alone, he heard a pitcher filling and loosed an arrow at what he took for an elephant drinking. He had struck a young ascetic fetching water for his blind parents. The boy died asking him to take the water to them. The old father cursed the king to die grieving for a son. In Valmiki the boy has no name; he is remembered as Shravana Kumar from later tellings. Dasharatha died that night with Rama’s name on his lips.
04Seen once more in Lanka
His body lay in a vessel of oil until Bharata came home to perform the rites. Yuddha Kanda brings him back once. After Sita came through the fire, Dasharatha appeared in a celestial vimana, embraced Rama, and spoke to Sita and Lakshmana. Rama asked him for one thing: to take back the words with which he had renounced Kaikeyi and Bharata. Dasharatha agreed, and went back to Indra’s world.