The Story of Lord Ram's Exile

Dashrath , the king of Ayodhya was a excellent warrior and had the ability to fight in all ten direction simultaneously .His name Dashrath got derived from “das”meaning “ten” and “rath”meaning “chariot” .King Dasrath had three queens named Kaushalya,Kaikeyi and Sumitra but none of them were able to conceive a son.Therefore King Dasrath seeked help from sage to perform Putrakameshti Yajna .Towards the conclusion of the yajna,Lord Agni handed over a pot of Kheer(Rice pudding) to King Dashrath for his wives to eat so that they can conceive son after eating it.Queen Kaushalya and Kaikeyi ate the kheer once but Queen Sumitra ate the kheer twice .

Therefore Queen Kaushalya gave birth to Lord Ram ,Queen Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharat and Queen Sumitra gave birth to two sons Laxman and Shatrughan.King Dashrath was very elated after birth of his four sons .Soon,The son’s grew up to be responsible prince So, King Dasratha Decided to Crown his eldest son Lord Ram as the next king of the Ayodhya.But Manthtra , the helper of Queen Kaikeyi  wasn’t happy with decision and influenced Kaikeyi to use her two wishes granted by King Dasthrath to make her son Bharat the king and give Lord Ram fourteen years of exile.

An Helplesss and Saddened  King Dashrath had to ask Lord Rama to pursue exile,But Lord Ram consoled him and said that he will soon continue his path to exile.King Dashrath was very touched by this  gesture as Lord Rama had accepted his exile without a second thought to protect his father’s word that he had given to his Step mother Kaikeyi.This gesture of the Lord Ram defines the epitome of love and respect one can have for their parents.