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STORY OF RAMA
119 Dasaratha, a descendant of the famous Pury or the Ikshvaku line was ruling in Benares. He had two sons Rama and Lakshmana. While Dasaratha was ruling in Varanasi, Ayodhya the seat of the Empire was without a ruler. The dynasty of Sagara became extinct in Ayodhya, and therefore the people of that city went to Varanasi and requested Dasaratha to come and rule over them. So Dasaratha transferred his capital to Ayodhya and was reigning from there over the two kingdoms. There he took another wife Kaikeyi by whom he had a son named Bharata. While Dasaratha was at the height of his glory, there was in Mithila another powerful king named Janaka. This Janaka belonged to Hari-vamsa according to the Jaina tradition. He is referred to as not a firm believer of Jaina creed. He very often took part in Brahmanical yagas, involving animal sacrifice. Hence the Jaina tradition according io Jinasena pays him a sinister compliment. This Janaka was the same as the Janaka referred to, in the upanishadic literature. He was the foster father of Sita. He was making preparations for the marriage of his adopted daughter Sita. And before perlorming the marriage, he started elaborate arrangements for conducting yagas or vedic sacrifices. He sought the help of Rama and Lakshmana who had become famous for their prowess by this time.
Dasaratha consulted his minister whether it would be proper to send his sons on such an errand as to co-operate with Janaka in his sacrificial ceremonies. The point was seriously mooted whether Jaina princes could partake in non-Jaina sacrifices which might involve animal slaughter. Finally it was argued that Janaka's yagas were not quite so bad; and it was pointed out that as a policy the course would be beneficial in two ways. First, it would bring about a great political alliance between the two royal houses. And secondly, Rama would surely obtain Sita as his wife, not a bad bargain. It was settled that the two princes should go to Mithila to help Janaka in his yagas. As was rightly hoped, this led to the swayamvara in which Sita chose as her husband Rama. The marriage was celebrated in great pomp and
they all returned to Ayodhya. After some time Rama asked his Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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