The story of Lord Rama’s sister Shanta is in the Valmiki Ramayana Bala Kanda Sarga 9-18 and Vishnu Purana, 4th Amsha, 18th Adhyaya. Many Hindus are unaware of the fact that Lord Rama had an elder sister also. It could be mainly because there are no dramatic events surrounding her.
The Story of Lord Rama’s Sister Shanta:
Shanta was the first child born to King Dasharatha and Queen Kaushalya. After her, they had no kids.
Dasharatha Gives Shanta to his Friend in Adoption:
One day, Romapada, the classmate and great friend of Dasharatha, who was the king of Anga Desha, came to Ayodhya on a friendly visit. He had everything in his life except a child. He pleaded to King Dasharatha to give his only daughter to him in adoption.
King Dasharatha was a very noble king. Even though Shanta was his only daughter, he did not turn his dear friend down and gave her to him. Thus, Romapada became her foster-father.
The Great Famine in the Anga Kingdom:
As time passed on, Shanta turned into a very beautiful young woman. She was educated in the Vedas, arts, crafts, and warfare. One day, when the father and daughter were conversing, a poor Brahmin, who was a devotee of Lord Indra, came to the king asking for help in cultivation. Considering it a petty matter, the king did not pay attention to it. Therefore, the angry Brahmin left the kingdom. Because of this, Lord Indra got angry with the king and reduced the rainfall in the Anga Kingdom resulting in the drought.
The Remedy on Famine:
The worried king asked scholarly Brahmins in his kingdom for the remedy to the famine. The Brahmins told him to bring the sage Rishyasringa to the kingdom and give him his daughter Shanta in marriage. The king agreed to the solution, but it was very difficult to bring the sage to the kingdom as he was a staunch celibate and spent all his life in a jungle and had never been among people. Also, the father of the sage, Vibhandak Rishi, was a very strict person, and the ministers feared if they did any trickery, he would curse the whole kingdom. Therefore, they carefully devised a plan to bring him to the kingdom without any stigma.
They sent beautiful and well-decorated courtesans to the jungle with plenty of gifts. The courtesans camped close-by the hermitage of the Sage Rishyasringa. They always wandered around his hermitage so that he would see them. One day, when he saw them, they went to him and befriended him, but they were scared also because they thought that the father of the sage would arrive at any time and curse them. When they were leaving, they embraced him and gave him many sweets to eat. The sage thought they were some kind of fruits and ate them. After their departure, the sage was disturbed at heart and behaved sadly.
The next day, he went to the place where he saw them. Seeing the plan to be working, the courtesans welcome him and told him that in their hermitage there are many kinds of such fruits and there would be distinctive hospitality. On hearing the heart-pleasing words of all those courtesans, Rishyasringa made up his mind to go over there, and then those women took him away to their place in the Anga Kingdom.
Shanta’s Marriage with Sage Rishyasringa:
As soon as he entered the Anga kingdom, the Rain-god showered the rain, and the famine was over. King Romapada personally welcome and treated him with great respect. He gave Shanta in marriage to him. Thus the sage became the son-in-law of both Romapada and Ayodhya.
Birth of Shanta’s Siblings:
In Ayodhya, both King Dasharatha and Kaushalya were unhappy as they had no kids. Dasharatha wanted a son as heir to the kingdom. Therefore, he decided to perform an Ashwamedha Yajna (or Putra Kameshthi Yajna according to some sources). He consulted it with his ministers and Vedic scholars, and all agreed with him. After the meeting, Sumantra, the charioteer and one of his ministers, advised him to appoint Rishyasringa to preside over the ritual. He did so because he had heard the prophecy by Sanath Kumara that one-day Rishyasringa would come to Ayodhya and bless the king with four sons.
Upon hearing this, Dasharatha went to the Anga kingdom and requested his friend to send Sage Rishyasringa and Shanta to Ayodhya to preside over the ritual. He readily agreed to do so. Then Shanta and Rishyasringa came to Ayodhya. On seeing the broad-eyed Shanta, who came there along with her husband, all the ladies of the palace derived happiness for the homecoming of their daughter, as it were.
At the end of the yajna, Lord Agni (the Hindu god of fire), emerged out of the fire and handed over a pot of payasam (an Indian dessert), to Dasharatha. The king then distributed it equally among his three wives who after some time gave birth to four children, viz. Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna.
Return to Anga Desha:
After the successful completion of the ritual, Sage Rishyasring, his wife Shanta, and King Romapada who had come to attend the ritual, went back to the Anga kingdom.
It is believed that Shanta nursed King Dasharatha on his death bed. There is a temple of Sage Rishyasringa and Goddess Shanta at Kigga in Karnataka and in Lalitpur, Nepal.
Image Source: https://www.urmitikaknowledge.com/