That powerful Emperor Dasaratha, the great soul and virtuous one, whose phenomenal greatness was explained in the earlier chapter, was heart burnt to beget sons, as he had none to perpetuate his dynasty. To that anguished great soul, a thought occurred thus : "Why not I perform Asvamedha (a complex Vedic ritual) and appease the gods in order to beget worthy sons".  That king Dasaratha who was wise and virtuous made a strong resolution to get the ritual performed together with all his pure hearted ministers. Then the King Dasaratha addressed Sumantra, the best among his ministers, thus : "Fetch quickly all my preceptors together with the family priests".

Sumantra, who was by nature fast paced, went quickly and fetched all those Vedic scholars together. Sumantra brought Suyajna, Vaama Deva, Jaabala, Kashyapa, the family priest Vashistha and other brahmanas present there. The virtuous king Dasaratha having offered due worship to all the sages and saints brought in by Sumantra, uttered these words which were virtuous and meaningful, in a gentle manner : "I cannot be in a comfortable state when I am distressed to obtain sons. For that reason I have a thought like this : 'I will perform the ritual of Asvamedha to obtain sons'. For that reason, I want to perform the ritual of Asvamedha by a process as ordained by Vedic scriptures. Let there be a discussion with ideas on how I can fulfill my desire in this matter. Thereafter the sage Vasista and all other important brahmins assembled there praised the words that came out from the King by saying "Good, Good!".  All of them became very happy and spoke these words to the king : "Let all devices needed for the ritual be arranged. Let your horse also be released. Oh King! You have got a very virtuous thought to obtain sons. Such you will definitely beget likable sons. Then the king was gladdened to hear the blessing advises of the Vedic Brahmin scholars, the religious ministry. The king also spoke to the other ministers of his court, with happiness overcoming on him and with wavering glances, as follows: " Let the paraphernalia for the ritual be procured as advised by my Vedic teachers. Let the ritual horse be well guarded in its journey by gallant men and also followed by religious teachers, as per tradition. Let the ritual place be constructed on the northern banks of Sarayu River. Let the peace invocations be prevailing and prospering as ordained in the scriptures and according to tradition. All the kings on this earth would have performed this Aswametha Ritual, if only they could perform this without a mistake. Thus, this is a great and difficult ritual. The Brahma-demons hunt for faults performed in the rituals. Further, the performer of the ritual also gets ruined if the ritual is impeded. For that reason, let arrangements be made in a way that my ritual is completed successfully as ordained by Vedic scriptures." "Let it be done as ordered", said all the ministers acclaiming the king's words.

In that way those righteous Brahmins hailed Dasaratha, the best among kings, and then took leave of him and returned from there as they had come. After sending off those Brahmins, King Dasaratha addressed his ministers this way, "Let this ritual be performed exactly as ordained by the Vedic scholars." Dasaratha, the radiant one and the best among kings, thus saying to his ministers, and after sending them off, entered his own private palace.

Then Dasaratha, the best of the kings, approached his dear wives and spoke unto them, "You have to enter into vow as I intend to perform a Vedic ritual, desiring to beget sons." On hearing those greatly pleasing words of the king, the countenances of the queens, which were already lustrous, became more gleaming, like that of blooming lotus flowers after the clearance of a dew fall.