Sumitra (Sanskrit: सुमित्रा)(ta:சுமித்ரா), in the Hindu epic Ramayana, was the third[1] of King Dasaratha's three wives and a queen of Ayodhyā. She was the mother of twins Lakshmana and Shatrughna. She hailed from the ancient kingdom of Kashi. She was supposed to be the wisest of the all the wives of Dasaratha. She was one who first realized that Rama was the incarnation of Lord Narayana. She even encouraged Lakshmana to accompany Rama and serve him during his exile.
There is a popular story about why twins were born to Sumitra. Raja(King) Dasaratha of Ayodhya was not having any children despite of three queen’s. None of the queen’s was able to give heir to Ikshvaku dynasty. Raja Dasaratha started to remain sad by thinking that after him his dynasty will come to an end. He was very eager to have a son who can take care on Ayodhya’s throne and continue Eshwaku dynasty.
Guru Vasistha who was raj purohit of Ayodhya kingdom asked the reason behind king’s sadness. King told the reason of not having a son and heir of dynasty. On Guru Vasistha requested king Dasharatha did a Yagya (a type of worship in Hinduism). From this Yagya he got two plates of sweet’s which he gave to his queen’s. King gave one plate of sweet to Kausalya and other plate to Kaikeyi and asked them to share there plates with third queen Sumitra. Sumitra got one bite from Kausalya’s plate and one bite from Kaikeyi’s plate that’s why she had twins. And Kausalya and Kaikeyi got one son each. Sumitra’s son’s were later named by guru Vasistha as Lakshamana and Shatrughana.
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