What Happened To Shanta, The Sister Of Lord Rama

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The Indian epic, Ramayana provides a detailed reflection of Sri Ram's life. Be it his roles as an ideal king, an ideal husband, an ideal son, a brother, etc., he met various challenges and overcame them with his devotion to the family and its morals, throughout his life.

It is one of the most popular books in case of taking a reference for the issues arising in daily life. His decisions direct the readers towards righteousness and knowledge. However, not only Sri Ram but his brothers too were equally learned in morals and proved the righteousness of their decisions at various stages in life.

But do you know that Sri Ram had a sister too? However, she was given as a donation by her father.

Through this article, we will be exploring the reasons why Sri Ram's sister was given off as a donation by her father.

King Dasaratha had three wives, Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. Koushalya gave birth to a girl before the birth of Sri Ram. She was named Shanta. Shanta was very beautiful and sincere. She was equally learned in all the arts, languages and the Vedas.

According to one story, Koushalya had a sister, Varshini. Varshini did not have a child. Once Varshini came to Ayodhya with her husband, king Rompadh. Rompadh was the king of Angadesh.

They decided to give them their daughter Shanta. Rompadh and Varshini were very happy with their decision. It is said that they took care of the girl, with more care than they would have done of their own child. Shanta thus became the princess of Anagadesh.

Well, there is yet another story which tells the real story for which Shanta was given away. This story says that when the girl Shanta was born, there occurred a famine in the whole Kingdom of Ayodhya. When Dasharath went to a sage to know about the reason, he got to know that it was because the stars in Shanta's birth chart were positioned unfavourably.

King Dashrath gave away his daughter to the king of Angadesh. He feared such a famine should not attack the kingdom again. Being a king, his biggest duty was to protect the people of the kingdom. Their needs were the most important.

Therefore, he had to compromise with his duty as a father. Dasharath was the father of a daughter, and King Dashrath was also the father of the whole kingdom. This is how the statement is justified.

It is believed that Ravana already knew that he would be killed by the son of Koushalya. To prevent this, he captured Koushalya and drowned her in the Saryu river. Somehow, King Dasharatha happened to see Ravana throwing a box into the river.

He had been on hunting when he saw Ravana doing this. He jumped into the river, to get into the details of the issue. When he somehow managed to get the big box out of the river, he saw a woman in it. It was Koushalya whom he later got married to.

Koushalya gave birth to a daughter. The girl was physically weak. It was later declared by the Rishis that Dashrath and Kaushalya were from the same Gotra, which was the reason for the physical condition of the girl.

As a remedy, they were told that if somebody adopts her as his own daughter, she will become alright. Rompadh and Varshini therefore gave her a new life by adopting her as their own daughter.