Sri Rama , an avatar of Lord Vishnu, was born to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya after the king performed the Aswamedha and Putrakameshthi yajnas. Rama and his three brothers had all the qualities of kshyatriyas and endeared themselves to one and all in Ayodhya. Sage Viswamitra once came to the king's palace and requested for Rama to be sent to protect his yajna from two demons' interference. Much to the king's consternation, Rama and Lakshmana left with the sage. The sage initiated Rama into the 'Bala- Atibala' mantra. He first tackled Tataki successfully. The sage was so pleased that he initiated Rama into a number of divine weapons. Rama, in turn, initiated Lakshmana into them. Armed suitably, all the three reached the ashram where the yajna was to be performed. Everything went off well for five days but on the sixth day, Rama and Lakshmana destroyed Mareecha and Subahu as well as many demons who tried to defile the yajna. The yajna was then completed successfully. In due course, the princes heard the stories of the sage's parentage and how he came to live in Siddhashrama, of Ganga, Himavantha, King Sagara and Sage Kapila. They reached Gowthama's ashrama where Rama relieved the sage's wife, Ahalya, of the curse she had been under. Moving on from there, they went to Mithila where Rama won Sita's hand. After their marriage, Lakshamana got married to Urmila, Bharatha to Mandavi and Shatrughna to Shrutakirthi.
