A son of Brihaspati. He was poor, and once asked King Salva for money. The miserly king refused and the brahmin started praying to the goddess for wealth. While he was praying, a girl fell out of his mouth. he named her Devavati. She grew up and was beautiful. An asura named Shambhu desired to marry her, but Kushadhwaja refused. The angry asura entered the house at night and killed him. Devavati woke up and cursed the asura into ashes. She then started praying to get Vishnu as her husband. During that time, Ravana reached there and wanted to make her his wife. When she refused, he pulled her by the hair. She cut her hair off and flung herself into a pyre. She was reborn as Sita, daughter of Janaka as per Uttararamayana.

One of the seven dweepas, the others being Jambudweepa, Plakshadweepa, Shalmalidweepa, Kraunchadweepa, Shakadweepa, Pushkaradweepa. It was famous for pearls as per Mahabharata Bhishmaparva Chapter 13. Plakshadweepa was twice the size of Jambudweepa, and Shalmali was twice that of Plaksha and so on as per Devibhagavta Ashtamaskanda.

Kushadweepa surrounds the Sura sea, and its ruler was Jyotishman. He had seven sons – Utbhida, Venuman, Vairadha, Lambana, Dhriti, Prabhakara, Kapila, and the kingdoms there were named after them. It was inhabited by humans, daityas, danavas, devas, gandharvas and yakshas. There were four castes there – dami, shushmika, sneha, mandeha matching the brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, shudra classes. Vidruma, Hemashaila, Dyutiman, Pushpavan, Kusheshaya, Harimandara were the six highest peaks. The seven main rivers were Dhutapapa, Shiva, Pavitra, Sammati, Vidyut, Ambha, Mahi, which were holy rivers. There was a kushasthambha here which blazed like agni and lit the entire Kushadweepa, which derived its name from this sthambha. Kushadweepa is surrounded by an equally large Khrita ocean.

A river, and a major source of water as per Bhishmaparva Chapter 9 verse 24.

A Kuruvanshi king. Kuru’s son was Sudhanva, whose son was Suhotra. To Suhotra was born Chyavana. Suhotra had a second wife Girika and their children were Brihadratha, Kusha, Yadu, Pratyagraha, Bala, Matsyakala, Veera as per Agnipurana Chapter 278.

Rama’s son. His birth is mentioned in Uttararamayana and Kathasaritasagara.

Sita, turned away by Rama, reached Valmiki’s hermitage. There she had a son, whom Valmiki named Lav. Once Sita took him to the river to give him a bath. Valmiki didn’t know this and panicked when he found the child missing. He feared that Sita would give up her life if her son was lost, and made a child in Lav’s image using his spiritual energy. Sita came back and finding a child similar to Lav asked Valmiki who it was. Valmiki told her what had happened and they named him Kush as per Uttararamayana and kathasaritasagara Alankaravatilambaka Taranga 1.

Rama wanted to conduct an ashwamedha. But as per the rules, he had to have a wife for it. But since Sita was no longer with him, they built a model of her and placed it near him, as per the scriptures and Vasishta’s instructions. This was conducted in Naimisharanya and Shatrughna started his journey with the yajna horse. He reached Valmiki’s hermitage on the banks of the Tamasa river and there, the horse was captured by Lav-Kush. They defeated him as well as Lakshmana and his army. Valmiki got them to release the horse and took them along with Sita to Naimisharanya to attend the yajna. Lav-Kush sang the Ramayana there. Rama recognised them and made them stay in his palace. There is a different version in the Kathasaritasagara. As per this, Valmiki conducted the upanayana and other ceremonies for Lav-Kush, and taught them weaponry. Once, they killed a wild animal and used it in Valmiki’s sacrificial offering. The sage became sick and Sita asked how it could be remedied. Valmiki said that Lav would have to get lotuses from Kuber’s stream and the flowers of the kalpavriksha from his garden. Then Lav-Kush together would have to make this offering on behalf of Valmiki. Lav immediately set out and got the necessary things, killing a few yakshas in the process. On his way back, he rested under a tree. During that time, Lakshmana was hunting for an ideal human sacrifice for Rama’s naramedha. He saw Lav and tried to capture him. At the end of a fierce battle, Lakshmana used the mohanastra to bind Lav, and took him to Ayodhya.

When Lav didn’t return Sita became worried. Valmiki used his divine sight to find out what had happened. He sent Kusha to get Lav back. This was when Rama was conducting the ashwamedha. Kusha fought his way to the yajna and then defeated Lakshmana too. Rama asked him who he was. He replied that he was Lav’s brother, and he had heard his mother Sita say that they were Rama’s sons. Rama hugged both of them and then brought back Sita from Valmiki’s hermitage as per Kathasaritasagara Alankaravateelambaka Taranga 1.

After Lakshmana’s death, Rama divided his kingdom and in Kosala, built Kushavati, with Kusha as its king. He also gave him32 of his 64 akshauhinis, 4 of his ministers and half of his wealth. He then built Sharavati in north Kosala, made Lav its king and gave him the remaining akshauhinis, ministers and wealth. Rama then gave up his life in the Sarayu as per Uttararamayana.

Kusha – Aditi – Nishadha – Nabhas – Pundarika – Kshemadhanva – Devanika – Riksha – Pariyatra – Bala – Vindorala – Vajranabha – Khagana – Vadhriti – Hiranyanabha – Pushya – Dhruva – Sudarshana – Agnipurna. After Agnipurna, there were only two kings – Shikhra, and Maru, with whom the Survanshis line ended.

A sage whose radiance equaled Agni. Vishwamiyra was born in his dynasty. His wife was Vaidarbhi and their sons were Kushamba, Kushanabha, Vasu, Asurtarajas, who were all known to be virtuous. Kusha asked them to establish their own kingdoms. Kushamba founded Kaushambi, Kushanabha Mahodayapura, Asurtarajas Dharmaranya and Vasu Girivraja. To Kushnabha was born Gadhi, whose son was Vishwamitra as per Ramayana Balakanda Sarga 32.

A river as per Mahabharata Bhishmaparva Chapter 9 verse 27.

When Krishna and Balarama came to Mathura to see the Dhanuryaga, Kamsa had placed an elephant at the entrance to kill them. Its name was Kuvalayapida and the brothers killed it easily as per Bhagavata Dashamaskanda Chapter 43 verse 2.

A king in Ikshvaku’s dynasty.

A sage glorified in the Rigveda. Kutsa and Dashadyu fought fierce battles with their enemies as per Rigveda Mandala 1 Anuvaka 7 Sukta 34. Anuvaka 15 Sukta 95 recognises Kutsa as a rishi. Sukta 105 mentions his hardships after he fell into a well and his escape after praying to vishwadevas. He belonged to Angiras’  dynasty.