One day the Great Rishi rather than The Brahma Rishi Vishwamitra arrived in Ayodhya which created a stir. He was known for his great power gained by a long time of penance and also for his short temper. In fact, as we will see later he lost quite a bit of the benefit of his penance due to his short temper. He asked the guards to announce his arrival to King Dasharatha. He said that he was from the Kaushika lineage (gotra) and the son of Gaadi. Hearing this Dasharatha rushed to greet him and welcome him. He offered all the due respect and brought him to his court. Vishwamitra enquired Dasharatha if he was ruling as per Dharma and whether his kingdom was prosperous. He also enquired after the Great Sage Vashishtha and about the welfare of other Brahmins there. After such initial exchanges of respect, the king told Vishwamitra that he was the most honored and fortunate by his visit and assured him that he was willing to offer anything that he might want. Well, Dasharatha was a bit too hasty because what Vishwamitra asked was a great shock to the king, as we would see.
Vishwamitra thanked the generosity of Dasharatha the great jewel of the Ikshvaku dynasty and expressed the cause of his visit. He said that all his yagas were being destroyed and the Brahmins were constantly harassed by some rakshasas. He wanted Dasharatha to send his son Rama with him to kill all those rakshasas. Dasharatha almost swooned on his throne upon hearing this and with tears in his eyes requested Vishwamitra to take him instead, as Rama was just a young boy and can hardly face those rakshasas. Vishwamitra said that he could burn those rakshasas to ashes himself but he did not want to waste the benefits of his penance (Tapobala) and anger was not a good quality of a sage. He assured Dasharatha that he could see in Rama valour and brilliance and Rama was capable of destroying those rakshasas and he was not to worry about Rama. Through this mission, Rama's fame would spread to the three worlds. He continued to say that these details were known to Vashishtha and some other rishis too. Then Dasharatha said that he could hardly even conceive his separation from his dear Rama and Vishwamitra could have a big army to help him. He then requested Vishwamitra to give some details about the Rakshasa. Vishwamitra replied "Ravana born in the Pulasthya dynasty is the son of Vishrawas. He is the half-brother of Kubera. By doing great penance he obtained several boons from Lord Brahma and so he along with many rakshasas is troubling the three worlds. He is a great warrior too. Along with him, there are others, such as Mareecha and Subahu, who can take any form they liked and also capable of illusory warfare". Dasharatha then said that even he could not face such great warriors so what about the young Ramai who had no experience at all in warfare.
Vishwamitra, who was known for a very bad temper got angry, got up, blessed Dasharatha with all prosperity (in a sarcastic manner, of course, he said "You live well"), and started to leave. Valmiki compares his burning anger to the fire in the Yaga fed well with the ghee (molten butter). Vashishtha who knew the past present and future and also knew Vishwamitra only too well stopped him and pleaded to Dasharatha about how he could go back on his word. This was not befitting a king from the Ikshvaku dynasty. Vashishtha praised Vishwamitra's qualities and his knowledge of so many powerful Astras (weapons) which were used by Bhrusaswa in his war against Asuras in the past but known to no one else. So Vashishtha concluded that Rama was only to gain a lot by accompanying Vishwamitra. Finally, Dasharatha got convinced and agreed to send Rama with Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra was pleased because he wanted to spend some time with Rama whom he recognized as an incarnation of Mahavishnu.
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