Rishyashringa

A sage in the Ramayana, the earlier
of the two great Indian epics. King
Dasharatha commissions Rishyashringa
to perform a great sacrifice, to enable
the king’s wives to conceive. At the conclusion of Rishyashringa’s sacrifice, a
shining figure emerges from the sacrificial fire, places a pot of milk-rice before
Dasharatha, and directs him to feed it to
his wives. Dasharatha divides the contents among his wives Kausalya,
Kaikeyi, and Sumitra, and in due time
they all bear sons. Kausalya is the mother of Rama, the Ramayana’s protagonist.
Kaikeyi is the mother of Bharata, and
Sumitra is the mother of Lakshmana
and Shatrughna.