महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

Introduction [xlviii]
We are not here concerned with the problem, important and even urgent as
it is, of sifting the new from the old. The Rāmāyaṇa as Bhavabhūti knew
it differs very little from the present form of the Rāmāyaṇa—so far, that
is to say, as the mere story goes. We will therefore summarize the story
as given in the first of these recensions, which we will call the Bombay
recension.
**18, A. Rāma-story as given in Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa.—**Formerly
there ruled over the kingdom of Kosala (capital Ayodhyā) a king called
Daśaratha. He belonged to the Solar race, and counted among his ancestors
such famous names as Manu, Ikshvāku (first king of Ayodhyā), Sagara,
Bhagīratha (who brought the Ganges down from heaven), Kakutstha, and
Raghu. He had three wives: Kausalyā, Sumitrā, and Kaikeyī; the first
was the eldest, the last the most beloved. Daśaratha ruled long and
prosperously, but had only one daughter,¹ Śāntā, and no sons, though he
was getting old. Following the advice of Vasiṣṭha, his family preceptor,
Daśaratha offered a sacrifice in which his son-in-law, Ṛishyaśṛiṅga, officiated
as head-priest. As a consequence, the king got four sons: 1. Rāma, the
eldest, born of Kausalyā; 2. Bharata, born of Kaikeyī; 3. Lakshmaṇa and
4. Śatrughna, both born of Sumitrā.
**18, B.—**The kingdom of Videha (capital Mithilā) was to the east of the
kingdom of Kosala. It was at this time ruled by the saintly king Janaka,
who, as he was once for a holy sacrifice preparing the ground with a
plough, came upon an infant, and brought her up as his own daughter.
This was Sītā thus miraculously sprung from the Earth. The girl grew up
in the company of Ūrmilā, another daughter of Janaka, and of Māṇḍavī
and Śrutakīrti, daughters of Janaka's brother Kuśadhvaja. As Sītā became
of an age to be married, Janaka instituted a svayaṁvara: whoever should
succeed in bending a mighty bow (which Janaka had received from God
Śiva) was to marry the princess. Many attempted, but none succeeded.
**18, C.—**One day there came to the court of Daśaratha the royal sage ²
Viśvāmitra who, finding the demons frequently molesting his penances,
requested the king to send two of his sons, Rāma and Lakshmaṇa, with
him to his penance-grove. Since a person of Viśvāmitra's position could
not be denied anything, Daśaratha reluctantly agreed to give over his sons,
though yet in tender years. Viśvāmitra resumed his holy rites, and when
the molestors came, Rāma, at Viśvāmitra's behest, killed the demon Subāhu

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¹ The epic does not say who the mother of
Śāntā was. Daśaratha gave his daughter
in adoption to Lomapāda, and he married
her to Ṛishyaśṛiṅga; cp. Viṣhṇu-Purāṇa,
iv. 18.
² This title is used of one who, formerly a king, had now taken to the practice of
austerities. As a sage he was expected to
forgo all activities proper to a warrior,
and so the royal sage Viśvāmitra had to
apply to Daśaratha for help.