Sanatkumár

Sanatkumár appears as a prophetic authority in the account Sumantra tells Daśaratha. Though he does not enter the present action directly, his remembered words connect the king’s lineage with the promise of a future son.

Identity and Surviving Account

Sumantra introduces Sanatkumár as a saint whose prophecy belongs to an earlier time. He presents the account as a tale known to sages of old, then identifies Sanatkumár as the one who foretold what would come to pass in Daśaratha’s line. Sanatkumár is therefore characterized chiefly through remembered speech rather than through a narrated scene or personal history.

The Prophecy

The prediction concerns a son who will spring from Daśaratha’s ancient lineage after the passage of years. Sumantra tells the king that he is repeating Sanatkumár’s words in the order in which the sage spoke them. This framing gives the prophecy the force of preserved testimony: its authority rests both on the seer’s foresight and on the claim that his words have been faithfully transmitted.

Narrative Role

Sanatkumár’s brief appearance establishes a link between ancestral destiny and the present royal household. The prophecy directs attention toward the prospect of an heir, while Sumantra’s act of recounting it makes an ancient prediction relevant to Daśaratha’s immediate concerns. The account supplies no further details about Sanatkumár’s life, the circumstances of the original prophecy, or his later role; his significance here lies in the prediction attributed to him and its preservation in Sumantra’s narrative.