Prince Rama is the illustrious moon-like monarch of the Sun Dynasty; the darling son of King Dasharath & Queen Kausalya.
Sage Valmiki, the author of the epic Ramayana in which the glorious life of Lord Rama is extolled, described that King Dasharath performed a special sacrifice to beget children:
- "Twice 6 months had rolled away since the great sacrifice was over,
- and, in the first month of the New Year,
- on the ninth day of the bright fortnight,
- the Lord of the worlds chose to take human form
- and sent down half of His essence as the son of Kausalya
- (thence forth to be known as Rama), the world-honoured One,
- the crowning glory of the grand line of Ikshwaku,
- and the sum of all perfections.
- The constellation Punarvasu, of which Aditi was the regent, was chosen to preside at his birth.
- The Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Venus & Saturn were in ascension in their respective houses.
- Aries, Capricorn, Cancer, Pisces and the Libra, Jupiter and the Moon were in conjunction;
- the rising sign was Cancer.
- And Kausalya, shone with unparalleled effulgence,
- even as Aditi (the mother of the demigods) when she gave birth to Indra, the lord of shining ones, the wielder of the thunderbolt."
- C. R. Sreeniuasa Aiyangar, 1910
