From the epics · 2 tellings · North India, Pan-India
The payasam from the fire (the birth of Rama)
Childless Dasharatha holds the horse sacrifice and the Putrakameshti with Rishyashringa; a being rises from the fire with a golden vessel of payasam, which the king divides among his three queens; Rama is born at noon on the ninth of Chaitra under Punarvasu. Tulsidas adds the Lord's four-armed appearance to Kausalya and her plea that he become a baby.
Dasharatha, old and sonless, resolves on the horse sacrifice; Sumantra gathers Vasishtha and the priests, who approve and name the north bank of the Sarayu.
Sumantra tells Sanatkumara's prophecy of Rishyashringa, the horned sage brought to Anga by Romapada; Dasharatha fetches him and Shanta from Anga.
The horse wanders a year; the Ashvamedha is held flawlessly with twenty-one posts and an eagle-shaped altar; the king gives away the earth and the priests return it.
Rishyashringa begins the Putrakameshti from the Atharva; the gods complain to Brahma of Ravana, whose boon omitted men; Vishnu arrives on Garuda and agrees to be born as Dasharatha's son.
A being in black and red rises from the fire with a golden vessel of payasam and tells the king to give it to his queens.
Dasharatha gives half to Kausalya, a quarter to Sumitra, an eighth to Kaikeyi, and after thought the last eighth to Sumitra; the queens conceive.
After six seasons Rama is born in Chaitra on the ninth of the bright half under Punarvasu with five planets exalted and the moon with Jupiter in Cancer; Bharata is born under Pushya, Lakshmana and Shatrughna under Ashlesha.
Ayodhya celebrates; on the eleventh day Vasishtha names the four boys.
Dasharatha, sonless, resolves on the Ashvamedha; Sumantra gathers Vasishtha and the priests, who approve it on the Sarayu's north bank, and privately tells the king Sanatkumara's prophecy about Rishyashringa, who ended Anga's drought and married Shanta. Dasharatha brings the sage from Anga. After the horse's year the sacrifice is performed without fault, and at its end Rishyashringa performs the Putrakameshti of the Atharva. Above the fire the gods complain to Brahma of Ravana, whose boon left out men; Vishnu arrives on Garuda, agrees to be born as Dasharatha's son by his three queens and divides himself in four. A being rises from the fire with a golden, silver-lidded vessel of payasam for the queens. Dasharatha gives Kausalya half, Sumitra a quarter, Kaikeyi an eighth and the remaining eighth to Sumitra (1.16.27 to 29). Rama is born in Chaitra on the bright ninth under Punarvasu with five planets exalted and Cancer rising (1.18.8 to 11); Bharata next day under Pushya, Sumitra's twins under Ashlesha. Vasishtha names them on the eleventh day. Brahma then has the gods father the monkeys (1.17).
Dasharatha takes his sorrow to Vasishtha, who promises four sons and has Shringi perform the rite; Agni himself brings the offering in a bowl, tells the king how to share it and vanishes (188 to 189). The queens conceive. The hour is described: Chaitra, the bright ninth, the Abhijit muhurta at midday, neither hot nor cold, cool breezes, gods in the sky (190). The Lord appears to Kausalya four-armed, dark as a cloud, with weapons, jewels and a forest garland; she praises him as beyond the Vedas' measure, with worlds in each pore; he smiles and tells her a story to teach her to love him as a son; she asks him to leave that form and play as a child; he cries, and is a baby (the chhand after 191, sung as Bhaye Prakat Kripala; doha 192). Dasharatha gives gifts, the city fills with flags, lamps and song, Kaikeyi and Sumitra bear sons, the sun stands still for a month (193 to 196), and Vasishtha names Rama, Bharata, Shatrughna and Lakshmana with the meaning of each name (197).
What is different here:
Vasishtha, not Sumantra, is the king's counsellor; Agni brings the bowl; the division is half to Kausalya, a quarter to Kaikeyi and the rest to Sumitra; the noon hour and the four-armed appearance to the mother are Tulsidas's own; the day lasts a month.
Sources: Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda sargas 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 (English verse-by-verse and prose renderings, valmikiramayan.net); Tulsidas, Shri Ramcharitmanas, Bal Kand, dohas 141 to 152 and 186 to 198 (Gita Press Hindi edition with commentary, archive.org; Bharatkosh doha pages; the Ram Janam Stuti)