Shatrughna

Shatrughna
Shatrughna, the youngest brother of Rama
Information
Spouse(s)	Shrutakirti
Children	Shatrughati Subahu

Shatrughna was the youngest brother of Lord Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana. He is twin brother of Lakshmana. According to Valmiki Ramayana, Shatrughna is one half component of manifest Vishnu (Rama).

In Sanskrit, the word Shatrughna means killer of enemies. Shatrughna appears as 412th name of Vishnu in Vishnu sahasranama of Mahabharata.

Shatrughna was born to the virtuous king of Ayodhya, Dasharatha and his third wife, Queen Sumitra, princess of Kashi. Dasharatha's other two wives, Kaushalya and Kaikeyi, had sons as well. Kaushalya had Rama and Kaikeyi had Bharata, who were Shatrughna's half-brothers. Shatrughna's twin brother was Lakshmana. Shatrughna's name means "destroyer of enemies". Shatrughna was married to Shrutakirti, daughter of Kushadhwaja, Janaka's younger brother. Thus, Shrutakirti was Sita's cousin. He is supposed to be the reincarnation of Vishnu's sacred chakra and Shrutakirti is supposed to be reincarnation of Lakshmi's sacred chakra. They had two sons - Shatrughati and Subahu.

When Rama is exiled, Shatrughna drags Kaikeyi's old nurse Manthara(who was responsible for poisoning the queen's mind against Rama) and makes an attack to kill her, but he is restrained by Bharata who feels that Rama would not approve.

Bharata goes to Rama and asks him to come back to Ayodhya but Rama refuses. Bharata rules Ayodhya from Nandigramam and is an excellent leader, often referred to as the avatar of dharma. Though Bharata was the king designate of Ayodhya during Rama's exile, it was Shatrughna who took care of the administration of the whole kingdom, during Rama's absence. Shatrughna also was the only solace for the three Queen mothers during the absence of Rama, Lakshman and Bharata from Ayodhya.