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, 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. She is the mother of the twins Lakshmana and Shatrughna as mentioned in the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.

Etymology

The name Sumitra is of Sanskrit 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 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'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

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, and belonging to the Haiheya clan.

Literature

After the exile of Rama, Sita, 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