Then Kausalyā gave part of her pāyasa and Kaika part of hers; they mixed them and handed it to me,” she explained.
One whose nature is to delight: Rāma
Daśaratha sent for Vasiṣṭha and made fitting arrangements for the naming of the children. All the ṛtviks chanted the Vedic mantras, a delight to the ear. The queens brought their babies and sat down. “To Kausalyā and to Kaikeyī, one child each was born. What is the reason two children were born to Sumitrā alone?” So the people kept whispering among themselves. The naming ceremony began. Kausalyā's son shone as one truly strong, virtuous and of great radiance. Vasiṣṭha fixed a name to suit the child's birth star and wrote it on rice. Since he had the quality of delighting, they named the child ‘Rāma’. Next they came to Sumitrā. They saw the two babies lying in her lap. One child looked full of great valour. A divine radiance danced on that child's face. In view of these auspicious marks, they named that child ‘Lakṣmaṇa’. Sumitrā's second child looked a destroyer of enemies. So they named him ‘Śatrughna’. Then they went to Kaikeyī. Even before the wedding, Daśaratha had promised that he would crown none but the son born to her. So she was very happy that her son alone would become the leader of the whole land of Bhārata. Keeping this in view, Vasiṣṭha named Kaikeyī's son ‘Bharata’.
Kausalyā and Kaikeyī were both very happy, but one worry kept troubling Sumitrā deeply. Her two babies would neither sleep nor feed, and cried without stopping. Sumitrā told Daśaratha about this. But what could he do! ‘Things happen as God wills. Pray to God’, he counselled her. Three days passed like this. But these children would not drink milk, would not sleep; they just kept crying. At last, unable to bear the pain, Sumitrā went to Vasiṣṭha: “Master!