After assuring the gods that He would completely eliminate Ravana and his clan, Vishnu took leave of Brahma and vanished while he was still being extolled by gods and sages.
Then, from the Fire of Altar of Dasharatha's ritual emerged a greatly vigorous and energetic Divine Being with an unparalleled resplendence, called yajna puruSa. He was clad in black and red garments and his face was red and his voice resembled the drumbeat. His moustache and hairdo were soft like that of a lion's mane. And he was endowed with auspicious features and decorated with divine ornaments; in height he was like a mountain peak, and in valour he was like an imperious tiger.That great 'yajna puruSa' personally brought a big golden vessel, carrying it lovingly with both hands as if it was his wife. The vessel was made of molten gold and covered with a silver lid, and was obviously crafted out of a divine illusion, since it was dazzling like sun and glowing like the tongues of flame. The vessel was full with the divine dessert.
That divine person told king Dasharatha "oh, king, you may know me as the being sent by Prajapati." On hearing that, king Dasharatha greeted that divine being with palms adjoining and said "oh, god, welcome to you, and what shall I do for you?"
Then that divine being sent by Prajapati said "oh, king, now you have got this dessert in golden vessel for gratifying the gods.
"Take this dessert prepared by divinities. This is a blessed dessert that enriches progeny and health. By consuming this, your wives will bear sons. Give this among your eligible wives."
Agreeing to that the king wholeheartedly took that god-given golden vessel, full with divine food. With high ecstasy Dasharatha revered that Ritual Being, the Prajapati Purusha or yaj~na purusha, an astonishing and delightful being in his appearance, and performed circumambulations around him.
After complying his orders of giving the golden vessel with dessert, that divine being who was astonishing by his form and highly glowing by his physique, disappeared.
Then Dasharatha on entering palace chambers told his queen Kausalya, "I got this dessert that will pave the way for begetting our sons."
COMMENT: This divine dessert was meant for the 'eligible' queens, as informed by the Ritual Being and also in order to maintain the divinity of Ram's birth. In the context of seed and field, the field has no equal importance to the seed biija kshetra nyaya. Hence the seed was divine in the form of dessert and fields are therefore shall 'be eligible' for the seedling. As such the First Queen and Empress Kausalya was being addressed firstly, and given firstly.
End Comment.
The king then gave half of the dessert to queen Kausalya, and he gave half of the half, i.e., one fourth to queen Sumitra. And to Kaikeyi he gave half of the remaining half, i.e., one eight of the dessert. Then on an afterthought he gave the remaining, i.e., one-eighth portion to queen Sumitra again. Thus, the king distributed the dessert to his wives differently.
COMMENT: This is a much-discussed distribution by the traditionalists. Adhyatma Ramayana, a treatise that postulates god-hood to Rama, gives a well-constructed argument about these shares of dessert and the resultant births of the four brothers, viz., Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna, in accordance with these shares. In its simplest terms and as contained in these verses, queen Kausalya got half of the dessert as an Empress, paTTa mahiSi. Sumitra got one-fourth in the first round and after a rethink by Dasharatha, she got another one-eighth portion. Kaikeyi got only a one-eighth quantity. Thus, Kausalya gave birth to Rama, Sumitra to Lakshmana and Shatrughna, and Kaikeyi to Bharata. The quantum of apportionment of the dessert does not make Rama all-powerful or Bharata the least. Since the Absolute is indivisible into parts, the dessert that is divided is not to be taken as the divided Absolute, but a kind of medium through which the incarnation is made possible.
There is another declination enquiring whether the incarnation of Rama is full or partial, puurNa avatara or artha avatara... Rama is Vishnu Himself while Bharata and Shatrughna are his disc and conch-shell, while Lakshmana is the thousand headed snake 'aadi sesha' on whose coils Vishnu reclines. The whole dessert is divine and parts of it do not signify and inter-divided god-hoods. Hence, the apportionment of the desert is done in order to keep up the hierarchy of the queen-hoods and their status. Throughout this magnum opus Rama never said that he was god or an incarnate of god, but called himself nimitta maatra, a casual relation to the course of events. Should Rama be the incarnation of the Almighty Himself, he has little or no necessity to incarnate the weaponry along with him. They are at his beck and call at any time. Thus, Rama is neither a half nor one-fourth incarnation of the Absolute nor a dividend of the whole, but an incarnate of the virtuously ideal personality of Vishnu, maryaada purushottama Rama.
Incidental to this apportionment of the dessert, the aspect of eldest son is also studied. Rama is the first-born and thus the eldest. This is because the dessert was given to queen Kausalya in the first instance, half of the whole vessel. She immediately consumed to lionise her share as an Empress. Sumitra waited a while till apportionment is complete. Kaikeyi got her portion but waited till her elder sister Sumitra completes her drink. In the meanwhile Dasharatha thought a while, as said in the verse, and gave Sumitra another one-eighth part. Sumitra then consumed her two parts. Later Kaikeyi drinks her dividend.
End Comment.
After consuming the dessert all the queens became pregnant.
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