King Dasharatha consulted his advisors. "We must conduct a sacrifice so that the devas grant me a son," he said.

"Long ago I heard a prophecy about this," said Sumantra, the royal charioteer. "The prophecy said that Rishyashringa, the forest rishi, would bring King Dasharatha a son from heaven. Rishyashringa dwells in the neighboring kingdom of Anga. Summon him here to conduct the sacrifice!"

"I have heard of Rishyashringa," said Dasharatha. "When there was a drought in Anga, he brought rain to the kingdom. I will ask him to use his powers to bring a royal son to this kingdom.

Rishyashringa was the son of Vibhandaka, a forest rishi. By practicing austerities, Vibhandaka sought to acquire powers that could cause rain to fall or cause infertile couples to bear children.

The god Indra, fearful of Vibhandaka's powers, sent a heavenly apsara to tempt him.

When Vibhandaka saw the apsara, his semen spurted forth and fell to the ground. A doe ate the semen and gave birth to a child, a beautiful boy with the antlers of a deer. That boy was Rishyashringa.

Vibhandaka then raised Rishyashringa in complete isolation, seeking to protect him forever from the females of any species.

Because Vibhandaka defied Indra, Indra deserted Anga.

No rain fell. Crops failed. The people starved.

The king of Anga sent his daughter to Vibhandaka's ashram. "Seduce Vibhandaka's son, and bring him here. He will appease the rain-god."

The princess waited for Vibhandaka to go gather food, and then she began singing and dancing.

Rishyashringa was enchanted. "Who are you?" he asked. "What are you?"

"I'm a woman," she said.

Rishyashringa had never seen a woman before. He went with her to the palace, and rains returned to the land.

Later, Rishyashringa went to Ayodhya to help Dasharatha get a son.

As Rishyashringa was conducting King Dashratha's ritual, the devas begged Vishnu to take birth as Dasharatha's son.

"As Dasharatha's son, O Vishnu, you can put a stop to Ravana's cruelty," said Indra. "He torments the whole earth! You are the only one who can save us."

"Ravana won protection from devas and danavas, from nagas, yakshas, gandharvas, and so on," Brahma explained. "But in his arrogance, he did not request protection from humans."

"I will do as you ask," Vishnu said to the gods. "Prince Rama of Ayodhya will be my avatar; I agree to be born as Dasharatha's son."

As Rishyashringa completed the sacrifice, a celestial being appeared, bearing in his hands a bowl of kheer.

King Dasharatha gave the bowl to Kaushalya, chief among his three wives.

"We must share it," she said.

So Kaushalya ate half, and gave the bowl to Sumitra.

Sumitra ate half, and gave the bowl to Kaikeyi, Dasharatha's favorite.

Kaikeyi ate half, and then gave the bowl back to Sumitra, who ate what was left.

And so Kaushalya gave birth to Rama, Kaikeyi to Bharata, and Sumitra had two sons: Lakshmana, who was devoted to Rama, and Shatrughna, who was devoted to Bharata.

One day Kaushalya left Rama in his cradle and went to offer prayers. She was amazed to find Rama there, eating the puja sweets! "How can he be both here and there?" she wondered.

As she stared, Rama displayed his cosmic form: infinite beings, millions of universes contained in every part of his body. All of time, all of existence radiated from him.

Kaushalya bowed her head. "O Lord, I beg you to let me forget what you have shown me here."

So Kaushalya forgot, and in obedience to his mother Rama never revealed his true form to her again.

The god Indra asked King Dasharatha to help him fight the armies of the rakshasa Shambara.

Queen Kaikeyi rode with Dasharatha into battle as his charioteer, and when the wheel-axle broke, Kaikeyi bent over the edge of the chariot and stuck her hand through the wheel, using her arm to replace the axle.

Later, when Dasharatha was wounded by the rakshasas' weapons, she carried him away from the battlefield to safety.

"I owe you my life!" said Dasharatha gratefully. "I grant you two boons to use for whatever you want whenever you want."

Later, Dasharatha would bitterly regret this promise.

King Dasharatha was a skilled hunter; he could even shoot blindfolded, using only sound to guide him.

One day he heard a deer drinking. He fired.

Then, he heard a scream.

He had shot a boy!

"My parents..." the boy gasped, breathing his last.

Dasharatha picked up the boy and carried him through the forest until he found the boy's parents, old and blind.

They wept over the boy's corpse, and the father then cursed Dasharatha. "You too will lose a son!" he said. "You will feel our pain."

The old man's words haunted Dasharatha, but he told no one.

The rishi Vishvamitra came to King Dasharatha's court.

"During the sacrifices, unholy rakshasas attack the priests in my ashram," Vishvamitra explained. "I seek royal protection for our rituals."

"I will come gladly!" replied King Dasharatha.

"No, not you," said Vishvamitra. "Your son must come: Rama."

"He is too young to fight rakshasas!" exclaimed Dasharatha.

"You are wrong," said Vishvamitra. "I know Rama."

"I will send my army!"

Without a word, Vishvamitra got up to leave.

Dasharatha relented. "Let Lakshmana go with him," he pleaded. "They have never been apart."

So Rama, accompanied by Lakshmana, went with Vishvamitra to fight rakshasas.

There were many rakshasas who had been attacking Vishvamitra's ashram, but the most vicious and dangerous among them was Tataka.

Tataka had once been a beautiful yaksha on whom Brahma bestowed the strength of a thousand elephants.

When the rishi Agastya killed her husband, Tataka vowed revenge, and Agastya in turn cursed Tataka, turning her into a monstrous rakshasi.

Enraged, Tataka and her sons, Maricha and Subahu, attacked every rishi and defiled every sacrifice.

That is why Vishvamitra brought Rama into the forest.

"You must kill Tataka and her sons!" he commanded.

"I will do as you say," Rama vowed.