Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.3127

c7.3127

2) Kuśa went to Ayodhyā. Śrī Rāma decided to conduct an Aśvamedha yajña. It was ordained that the emperor, who conducted a yajña should have his wife. As Sītā had been abandoned, Rāma had no wife for the purposes of the yajña. It was laid down that in the absence of the wife a statue of hers may be made with palāśa wood. But, Vasiṣṭha decreed that a statue of Sītā might be made with gold. The yajña was to be held in the Naimiṣa forest. During the triumph tour of Śatrughna with the yājñika horse he reached the banks of the river Tamasā near the āśrama of Vālmīki where Lava and Kuśa captured the horse. Śatrughna could not defeat Lava and Kuśa, and they routed the additional force also which arrived under the leadership of Lakṣmaṇa to help Śatrughna. Then Vālmīki intervened and the horse was returned to Śatrughna. Afterwards, Vālmīki, Sītā and Lavakuśas also attended Śrī Rāma’s yajña where Lava and Kuśa recited the poem Rāmāyaṇa composed by Vālmīki. Rāma recognised the boys and they were made to live in Ayodhyā. Thus did Kuśa visit Ayodhyā.