How Many Sons of Lord Rama? How Was Kush Born

There were two sons of Lord Rama – Luv and Kush. However, it is said that Sita did not give birth to Kush. Then how did Kush come into being? Here is a folk tale related to the sons of Lord Rama that might interest you.

It is well known that after being exiled by Lord Rama, Sita was offered shelter by Rishi Valmiki. Sita stayed in Rishi Valmiki’s Ashram and gave birth to one of her two sons. He was named Luv. Only one child?

But we know there was Kusha too. And that both Luv and Kusha were twins. So how did it happen that Sita gave birth to a single child and yet there were two sons of Lord Rama?

After giving birth to Luv, Sita went about performing her duties in Rishi Valmiki’s Ashram.

In the course of her duties, Sita once went to the forest with a Maharishi. She had to do something by the riverside, so she gave Luv to the Maharishi and told him to care for the child while she did her job.

The Maharishi agreed to look after Luv until Sita returned from the river side.

While performing her work, Sita suddenly felt afraid for Luv. “What if the Maharishi goes into samadhi (meditation) and some animal takes away Luv?”

With such thoughts, she ran back to the place where she left Luv. She saw that the Maharishi was indeed deep into meditation while Luv was playing all by himself. She picked up Luv and took him with her. She thought it would not be good to disturb the Maharishi.

When the Maharishi woke up from his meditation, he could not find Luv. He was so horrified that it did not occur to him that he should use his powers to see what happened.

Instead, fearing Sita, the Maharishi created another kid who looked just like Luv.

He took this creation to Sita and again was shocked to see Luv playing with Sita. Both Sita and Luv were shocked too.

There were two Luvs. Then the Maharishi came back to his senses and used his divine powers to see how frightened Sita was and took away Luv.

He told Sita that he feared her anger (wrath) so much that his brain didn’t work and so he created a child that was exactly Luv’s copy. He said he’ll destroy the copy, but Sita stopped him, saying she’ll adopt Kush.

That’s how the sons of Lord Rama, Luv and Kush, came into being. Since the child was created out of a blade of grass (kusha), he was named Kush. Now you know how there were two sons of Lord Rama.
~
(Based on folklore)

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