Who was the wife of Shatrughna?

Shrutakirti was the wife of Shatrughna in the Ramayana.

She was the younger daughter of King Kushadhvaja and Chandrabhaga, and the younger sister of Mandavi. She was raised in Mithila alongside her cousin Sita and sister Urmila. At the wedding celebrations arranged after Rama won Sita’s svayamvara, the four brothers of Ayodhya married the four women of Mithila: Rama married Sita, Lakshmana married Urmila, Bharata married Mandavi, and Shatrughna married Shrutakirti.

Shatrughna and Shrutakirti had two sons, Subahu and Shatrughati. Later, Shatrughna defeated the demon Lavanasura and became ruler of Madhupura, identified with Mathura in many traditions; Shrutakirti consequently became its queen. She is sometimes described as an advisor who supported Shatrughna in governing the kingdom.

A common mix-up is to identify Mandavi as Shatrughna’s wife. Mandavi was his sister-in-law and Bharata’s wife. Urmila was Lakshmana’s wife, while Sita was Rama’s wife. Shrutakirti receives less attention than her sisters in many tellings, but her marriage completes the four-part family alliance at the centre of the wedding episode.