Lav-Kush

The princes, the brothers, Kusha and Lava, were knowledgeable about Dharma and were glorious. Their voices were melodious and they lived in the hermitage of (vAlmIki). Bhagwan (vAlmIki), established in good deeds, observed those two extremely intelligent (princes), skilled in the Vedas, and for the sake of expounding the Vedas, Bhagwan composed and made them study the poem sampUrNa-rAmAyaNa (the entire rAmAyaNa) (containing) the great story of sItA and the slaying of rAvaNa.

The ashram of sage valmiki was situated in a forest on bank of river Tamsa. In this forest Rama sent in a chariot his queen Sita along with his brother Laxman. In the ashram Sita gave birth to two sons; Love and Kush. Valmiki taught them different sciences and trained them in the skillful use of war weapons.

Lord Rama once, organised a yagna; Ashvamedha’, on the banks of river Gomati. To perform this yagna, the presence of queen of Sita along with king Rama was necessary but she lived in the forest. So the yagna was performed by placing the golden idol of queen Sita. Rama did not enter another marriage to gain a queen, though the yagna made it necessary. The horse of the yagna was sent for supreme victory under the command of Shatrughna. After several victories, the horse came to the ashram of Valmiki. Valmiki was not present in the ashram. Kush had moved out in search of firewood and Love saw the horse. Love knew all the animals that inhabited in the forest but he saw this horse for the first time. He recognised the horse which his guruji had described to him. On the head of the horse on a gold plate was inscribed, "Once who is ready to accept the king of Ayodhya as his king, should tie this horse and fight with the army. Love read the inscription and laughed at the writer’s ignorance and said, "Let me test the horse that has come to conquer the free forest of Valmiki." Love pulled its reins vigorously and tied the horse to the nearby tree. Within few minutes the army of Shatrughna reached the spot. On seeing the courageous deed of tying the horse to the tree, the soldiers walked to the young prince and said, "Young boy, mind well, this is not a sport, you know that one who tie this horse shall have to fight with us, you are too young. Please untie the horse and we won’t punish you."

Love said, "With full knowledge I have tied this horse. This is Valmiki’s ashram. I am prepared to fight. Nobody’s rule is allowed here." So saying he took bow and arrow in his hand. The soldiers also were ready with their bow and arrows. Love released a mighty arrow and under its spell the whole army went off to sleep. Shatrughna who was standing at a distance, watched the young prince. He looked at the child with unusual awe. He experienced a queer feeling and got enamoured of him. He came near and said to Love, "Dear child, your admiration. I am so pleased with the skill displayed by you that I forgive your uncivil behavior to my army." At that moment Kush entered. He stood by Love and said, "Who are you to show mercy on us?"

Shatrughna could not tolerate the satrical expression and called the two brothers to fight them out. Both the brothers were ready and came and stood in the battlefield. With the bows and arrows in their hands the two brothers got ready for the fight.

Shatrughna chose two of his valiant soldiers Sugreev and Hanuman, and ordered them to fight. Hanuman entered in the combat first. Hanuman magically extended his tail and trapped Love. Kush saw this and rushed to free him from it. Sugreev with the help of a huge tree hindered Kush in his efforts to help Love. During this time Kush freed himself and gave severe punches to Hanuman. Fainted Hanuman was lying on the ground. Seeing the courage of his brother Kush also got encouraged and lifted Sugreev and the tree, and hurled him on the ground. Both the brothers caught hold of Hanuman’s long tail and dragged him towards the ashram, to display their heroic deed to their mother Sita.

Sita instantly recognised Hanuman who was chained and pulled by her two sons. She asked, "What have you done?" Love replied, ‘The monkey has come with a huge army and horse. When I caught the horse, the head of the army sent him to fight with me, brother Kush was also present. So both of us gave fight. They wanted the fight and we gave it. The head of the army tried a lot to frighten us. Do you know, mother, what did they do to frighten us? They displayed their strength by uprooting a huge tree and with that huge tree in their hands they came to fight with us. Before they could make use of that huge tree we flattened them on the ground."

With great astonishment she listened to Love. Sita suddenly recognised that the horse belonged to Rama. She said to her sons, "This horse belongs to Rama, your father; and he is Hanuman a devotee of your father. Leave him immediately and free the horse."

Love said, Mother, we have simply performed the duty of a Kshatriya. Because they challenged us, we gave a fight to them. We are prepared to give back their horse if they are unwilling to fight.

In the meantime Valmiki returned from his journey. Sita narrated her story. Valmiki went to Love and Kush and asked them to free the horse and hand over it to the army. The enthused army marched ahead triumphantly. In the meantime, Valmiki taught the two young princes the whole of Ramayana and sent them to Ayodhya.

Singing shlokas of Ramayana both Love and Kush wandered into the streets of Ayodhya. At that moment Rama came to know about them and heard the whole of Ramayana from them. At that moment Valmiki came there and introduced Love and Kush to Rama. On learning the fact that Love and Kush were sons of Sita, Rama embraced them and said, "I will fetch your mother to this place. " Valmiki brought Sita to Ayodhya.