Shatrughna or Shatrughn was son of Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya and his third wife, Sumitra. Shatrughna is one half component of manifest Vishnu(Rama).
He played a somewhat limited role in Ramayana. His main exploit was the killing of Lavanasura.
Shatrughna- Birth & Family
Shatrughna was born to the virtuous king of Ayodhya, Dasharatha and his wife, Sumitra, princess of Kashi. He is said to be the reincarnation of Vishnu’s sacred chakra. He was married to Shrutakeerti, the daughter of King Kusadhbojan.
Shrutakeerti was the cousin of Sita, wife of Rama and daughter of King Janaka. Shatrughn means “destroyer of enemies”.
Rama’s Exile
Like Lakshman, Shatrughn was also perturbed when Ram had to go to exile because of the conspiracy of Kaikeyi and Manthara. Shatrughn’s anger fell upon old maid Manthara (who was the cause of poisoning the queen’s mind against Rama) and made an attack to eliminate her but he was restrained by Bharat who felt that Rama would not approve this.
His main exploit was the killing of Lavanasura the demon King of Mathura, who was a nephew of Lanka’s king Ravana.
Lavanasura was the son of Madhu, the pious demon-king after whom the city of Mathura was titled. Madhu’s wife and Lavanusara’s mother Kumbhini was sister of Ravana, the king of Lanka, killed by Rama.
Lavanasura was the holder of the divine Trishula of Lord Shiva, and nobody could kill him or prevent him from carrying out sinful actions.
Shatrughna pleaded with Rama and his elder brothers to give him a chance to serve them by killing Lavnasura. Ram blessed Shatrughn and revealed the secrets of the weapon Trishula. Ram told him that the Trishul was kept in the house of Lavanasura.
The Rakshasa was away from his home to gather food, which primarily comprised of meat. Ram instructed that Lavanasura could be killed before he returned home and took his meal. Shatrughan listened carefully to the instruction of Rama and took his blessings.
He fought with Lavanasura and killed him with an arrow imbibed with the power of Vishnu. Following this, he returned to Ram, and prayed to spend the rest of his life in the feet of Ram. But Rama did not agree.
He ordered Shatrughn to be the king of the area where Lavanasura ruled earlier. After twelve years Shatrughna could bear no more the separation from Ram and returned to Ayodhya.
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