Sumitra ( sa, सुमित्रा,
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...
: Sumitrā) is a princess of Kashi in
Hindu mythology
Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and reg ...
.
The wise Sumitra is the third queen consort of
Dasharatha
Dasharatha (Sanskrit: दशरथ, IAST: Daśaratha; born Nemi) was the king of the Kosala kingdom and a scion of the Suryavamsha dynasty in Hinduism. He ruled from this capital at Ayodhya. Dasharatha was the son of Aja and Indumati. He ha ...
, the king of
Kosala
The Kingdom of Kosala (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indian kingdom with a rich culture, corresponding to the area within the region of Awadh in present-day Uttar Pradesh to Western Odisha. It emerged as a janapada, small state during the late Ve ...
, who ruled from
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Sāketa, Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and ...
.
She is the mother of the twins
Lakshmana
Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...
and
Shatrughna
''Shatrughna'' ( sa, text=शत्रुघ्न, translit=śatrughna, lit=killer of enemies) is a prince of Ayodhya, King of Madhupura and Vidisha, and a brother of Prince Rama in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is also known as ''Ripudaman' ...
as mentioned in the Hindu epic, the
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
.
Etymology
The name Sumitra is of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
origin, and could be divided into ''Su'' meaning good, and ''Mitra,'' meaning friend''.'' Thus'','' her name means 'a good friend' or 'one with a friendly nature'. She is known in other languages as
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
: சுமித்திரை,
Burmese
Burmese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia
* Burmese people
* Burmese language
* Burmese alphabet
* Burmese cuisine
* Burmese culture
Animals
* Burmese cat
* Burmese chicken
* Burmese (hor ...
: Thumitra,
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
: Samutra,
Khmer '' and '' th, สมุทรเทวี ''Samutthra Thewi'').
Legend
At the sacrifice conducted by
Rishyasringa
Rishyasringa ( sa, ऋष्यशृङ्ग; ; Pali: Isisiṅga) is a Rishi mentioned in Indian (Hindu
and Buddhist) scriptures from the late first millennium BCE. According to the Hindu epics ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata'', he was a boy b ...
to obtain sons for the childless Dasharatha, a divine being emerged from the flames with a golden vessel filled with divine ''payasam''. Dasharatha offered half to Kausalya, a quarter (literally half of that which remained) to Sumitra, an eighth to
Kaikayi (again, half of that which remained), and then, on reflection, presented the final eighth to Sumitra. Having received two portions, Sumitra became the mother of twin sons.
Considered the wisest of Dasharatha's three wives, she supported
Lakshmana
Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...
's decision to accompany Rama,
to serve him during his exile, and comforted Kaushalya after the departure of her son.
![Dasharatha give Payasa to his wives](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Dasharatha_give_Payasa_to_his_wives.jpg)
Neither the principal queen nor the favoured wife, Sumitra was single-minded in her devotion to her husband and to the senior queen consort, Kausalya. She was also known for encouraging her son Lakshmana to go into exile with Rama. She is described to have found a lot of happiness around her son Lakshmana, with the latter being described as the 'enhancer of her joy'. While Valmiki is silent on her parentage, later texts variously described her as a princess of
Kashi
Kashi or Kaashi may refer to:
Places
* Varanasi (historically known as "Kashi"), a holy city in India
**Kingdom of Kashi, an ancient kingdom in the same place, one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas
**Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi
* Kashgar, a cit ...
or of
Magadha
Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was ruled ...
, and belonging to the
Haiheya clan.
Literature
After the exile of
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
,
Sita
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
, and Lakshmana, the benevolent Sumitra consoles Queen
Kausalya
Kausalya () is the senior queen-consort of Kosala in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. She is the mother of Rama, the titular hero of the epic, and the senior wife of Dasharatha, who ruled Kosala from its capital of Ayodhya.
In some later acco ...
with her persuasive words:
During Rama's consecration, Sumitra offers her blessings to the prince:
References
{{Ramayana
Solar dynasty
Characters_in_the_Ramayana