Dasharatha was the great king of Ayodhya, which is located along the banks of the Saryu River. He was the famous ruler of Ayodhya to Surya Ko Pashuvasthak since he was the grandson of the Suryavanshi king Raghu. Vash Suryavapan was a well-liked ruler of the populace and shared the same lofty traits as the previous Ji. He had three queens, the eldest of whom was Kaushalya, the middle queen was Sumitra, and the youngest was Kaikeyi.
Although King Dasharatha was a powerful and popular ruler, he was always worried about having no children. One day King Dasharatha invited Maharishi Vashistha to his court. After coming to the court of Maharishi Vashistha, King Dasharatha expressed his grief in front of him and said, 'I am very sad because I have no children. If I will not have an heir and I will die, then this Suryavansh will also end after me. Please tell me some remedy so that my lineage does not end.
Maharishi Vashistha was a great visionary. He advised King Dasharatha to invite Rishi Shringi to the palace and organize a Yagya under his supervision. King Dasharatha went near the sage Shringi and with respect invited him to perform a Yagya in Ayodhya. On the completion of the Yagya, the supernatural Kheer appeared from the sacred fire of the Yagya. Shringi Rishi gave a bowl of kheer to King Dasharatha and said, 'This prasad is for your queens. After accepting it, she will give birth to four stunning sons.' King Dasharatha, after receiving the prasad from the hands of Shringi Rishi, offered the pudding of kheer to his three queens to receive.
Shringi Rishi advised King Dasharatha to ask the three queens to accept this holy Kheer as prasad so that they would give birth to stunning sons. When the time came, four princes were born. The eldest queen Kaushalya gave birth to the eldest son Rama. The second queen Sumitra gave birth to Lakshmana and Shatrudhan and the youngest queen Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata. The three queens and King Dasharatha were very happy. The eldest son Ram was born on the ninth date of Chaitra month. On the occasion of the birth of the four princes, all the residents of Ayodhya were very happy along with the king and queen. King Dasharatha was a great archer of his time. He taught the art and skills of bow lore to his four sons. After this, he was sent to the ashram of Rishi Vashistha for formal education. He was a great teacher. Under his guidance, all four learned all kinds of virtues during their study period. When his education was completed, he returned to the palace near his parents. The parents and the people were very happy to see him.
In Ayodhya, Shiromani Shri Ram told his three younger brothers about Rajdharma. He set high ideals in the world for the welfare of the people. King Dasharatha was very pleased to see his four brave sons becoming popular among the subjects.