The River Ganges or Gaṅgā - XVI

In the Rāmāyaṇa, it is said that Sāgara, the King of Ayodhyā, had two queens - Kesinī and Sumatī. However, he had no issue and thus he meditated on Lord Śiva, who pleased with his devotion, gave him a boon that his elder queen Kesinī would give birth to Prince Asamanjas, and his younger queen Sumatī would give simultaneous birth to sixty thousand sons, who would also die simultaneously. Prince Asmanjas was the heir apparent and was decided that he would continue the dynasty; however, he proved to be a wastrel and King Sāgara banished him to the forest, while keeping his grandson Anśuman, son of Asmanjas, under his care and upbringing.

King Sāgara was a mighty ruler and after defeating all the neighboring kings, Sāgara wanted to become Emperor and so he arranged for a grand Aśvamedha Yagṅa or the horse sacrifice. In this sacrifice, a horse of very high breed is decorated with exquisite and expensive ornaments and sporting the royal pennant is left loose to roam wherever it pleased. The territory that the horse passed automatically came under the King's domain and control. Whosoever blocked the path of the horse or captured the horse had to fight with the army of the King, which closely followed the horse. Now, Indra, the ruler of heaven, got afraid by seeing the growing power of King Sāgara, as he thought that King Sāgara would try to conquer heaven also. Indra knew that sage Kapila had astounding powers and no army was any match in front of the sage's powers. So Indra quietly stole the horse and took him to the nether world in sage Kapila's hermitage and left the horse there. King Sāgara's army following the horse lost sight of the horse. The army searched in vain and went back to Ayodhyā. King Sāgara thought that some other King had stolen the horse and was hiding it to avoid clashing with his invincible army. According to the rituals of the Aśvamedha Yagṅa, at such a moment he had to send a search party under the leadership of his eldest son. However, Sāgara had already banished his eldest son Asamanjas to the forest. Therefore, he called his grandson, the courageous and gentle Anśuman, who was the son of Asamanjas, to head the search party and look for the lost sacrificial horse.

Anśuman searched in all the directions and traveled far and wide. He asked all the kings and all the people that he met during his journey as to the whereabouts of the horse, but nobody could give him even the slightest hint. After searching for the horse in vain, Anśuman returned to Ayodhyā. Upon the failure of Anśuman, now King Sāgara, according to the hierarchical line of princes, sent his sixty thousand sons of his second queen Sumatī, to head the search party and look for the lost horse. They set out with the blessings of their parents, priests, and elders and traveled in distant and remote regions, crossing many mountains and oceans. But nowhere could they find any trace of their lost horse.

Thereafter, they jointly consulted, and concluded that the entire world was searched and yet the horse was not found. Either the horse was killed by some wild animal or died a natural death. However, even if such an unfortunate event was to happen, then they should have at least found the corpse of the horse. Even if some traveler had chanced upon the corpse and buried it in the hope of looting the ornaments, then at least the ornaments would have surely have found their way to the markets, as the traveler was bound to sell them. Neither did they find the corpse of the horse nor the ornaments. Therefore, they concluded that the horse was alive but was not in this world. Hence, it was evident that the horse was in any of the other two worlds, namely, heaven or hell. The possibility of the horse being in heaven was ruled out, as the gods would gain nothing by stealing the horse, and the horse on its own could not go to heaven, so it was evident that the horse was not in heaven. Therefore, they concluded that the horse was in hell. The sixty thousand sons of Sāgara decided to dig the earth and enter the nether world and search for the horse. In Pātāla, the nether world, they searched in vain and they lost all hope for the recovery of the horse. Ultimately, they came to the hermitage of Sage Kapila.

Now Sage Kapila was undergoing severe tapas and yogic austerities and so to remain undisturbed he had chosen Pātāla to make his hermitage. The sacrificial horse, fully decorated with the ornaments and the royal pennant, was in one corner of the hermitage as left by Indra. Kapila was in deep meditation and when the sixty thousand sons of Sāgara saw the horse, their happiness knew no bounds. They rejoiced and promptly went to the horse and took hold of its reins. They thought sage Kapila had stolen the horse and so they surrounded him with plans of attacking him. The noise disturbed Kapila and he was furious that his meditation was broken. The angry sage opened his eyes and looked upon the sixty thousand sons of Sāgara with his burning and angry gaze. Such was the extreme tapas of the sage that his wrathful yogic gaze reduced the sixty thousand sons of Sāgara to ashes within seconds. Thereafter, Kapila closed his eyes and resumed his meditation.

In Ayodhyā, King Sāgara was very troubled. The disappearance of the sacrificial horse was in itself a very bad omen and there was no news of his sixty thousand sons, who had also simply vanished. The heavenly wanderer, Nārada, then informed King Sāgara of the fate of his sons. Deeply disturbed, the troubled king sent for his grandson Anśuman, and asked him to go and seek Kapila's forgiveness and bring back his uncles to life. Anśuman, finally after a long search, arrived at the place where the earth was dug up and a tunnel was created to enter the nether world. Anśuman went down the tunnel and after much trouble arrived at Kapila's hermitage. There he saw sage Kapila in deep meditation, the sacrificial horse peacefully standing close by, and ashes strewn about all over the place. Anśuman could detect human shapes in those ashes and figured out that the ashes were of his uncles, who must have been burned down by sage Kapila.

Anśuman respectfully sat at the feet of the great sage and after some time, sage Kapila opened his eyes. Anśuman bowed before the sage and implored, pleaded and begged the great sage to forgive his sixty thousand uncles and revive them back to life. Sage Kapila was pleased with Anśuman's respectful conduct and conversation, and told Anśuman that if Gaṅgā came from the heavens to the netherworld and flowed over the ashes, then his uncles would be revived. Anśuman with great respect, asked how could Gaṅgā be brought down to earth and the wise sage replied that he would have to please Brahmā with penances so that Brahmā may give permission to Gaṅgā to come to the earth. With a heavy heart, yet with some hope, Anśuman bowed before Kapila, took the sacrificial horse and asked for his leave from the great sage.

Anśuman was disheartened and he went back to Ayodhyā and narrated the entire story to his grandfather King Sāgara, who was grief-stricken. However, King Sāgara decided to do penance to please Brahmā and bring Gaṅgā to earth. His life was spent and he failed in his mission. Thereafter, Anśuman decided to bring Gaṅgā from the heavens. His whole life was spent yet he could not please Brahmā to achieve this impossible task. He died an unhappy man and instructed his son Dilip to pursue his task of doing penances and pleasing Brahmā so that Gaṅgā can be brought down from Swarga Loka to Pātāl Loka and flow over the ashes of his ancestors, thereby releasing their souls to heaven. King Dilip also tried numerous austerities but was unsuccessful and he too, like his father, died a most unhappy man. He instructed his son Bhagīratha to achieve this impossible task. Bhagīratha was a man of great will and courage, but the task was also not a simple one. On the one hand, the mounds of ashes of his ancestors were waiting for a capable descendent to release their souls and on the other hand bringing Gaṅgā from heaven to earth and then taking her to the nether regions was in itself no mean feat!

However, his vow given to his father King Dilip urged him on, and with profound determination, King Bhagīratha meditated on Lord Brahmā in the Himalayas for several years. Brahmā was pleased with his devotion, and told him that Gaṅgā's descent would result in such a great force, that the entire world would be washed and crushed away in a torrential flood. Brahmā asked the ascetic Bhagīratha to pray to Lord Śiva as only Śiva would be able to check her descent. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years passed in solitary meditation and in the performance of strict austerities by King Bhagīratha. With unflinching determination and astounding devotion, Bhagīratha performed his meditation and finally Lord Śiva was pleased and appeared before him. The joy of Bhagīratha knew no bounds, and he recounted the whole sad plight of his ancestors to Śiva. Upon hearing this tragic account from Bhagīratha, Lord Śiva agreed that he would take the impact of Gaṅgā as she descended from the heaven. Bhagīratha was overjoyed and he meditated on goddess Gaṅgā and requested her to flow down to earth, as Lord Śiva was willing to bear the impact of her descent. Thereafter, Gaṅgā came down from the heavens, and in her youthful playfulness thought that Mahādeva would be swept off with her mighty fall, but Śiva covered the whole sky with his matted locks and took every drop of Gaṅgā in his locks. Gaṅgā went about traversing in the mighty locks of Śiva, and thus the her force slowly subsided. After Gaṅgā was completely captured, Śiva tied his matted hairs, and Gaṅgā could not come out of it.

Śiva then released a small portion of Gaṅgā and told her to follow sage Bhagīratha. Gaṅgā followed and wherever Bhagīratha went people came in huge numbers to take a holy dip in the sacred waters of the Gaṅgā. On the way, the āshrama or hermitage of sage Jhānu came, and Bhagīratha accidentally came a bit too near it. Gaṅgā followed and soon the hermitage was flooded. Sage Jhānu was furious and to teach Gaṅgā a lesson, he swallowed her. Now, Bhagīratha requested sage Jhānu, that it was his mistake that he came too near his āshrama, and requested to release Gaṅgā for the benefit of his ancestors. Sage Jhānu grew calm and taking pity on Bhagīratha released Gaṅgā through his ear (some texts mention through his thigh). Since Gaṅgā came out of sage Jhānu's body, thus she came to be known as Jhānavi or the daughter of Jhānu.

Thereafter, Bhagīratha led Gaṅgā, towards the sea, and since he did not know where the ashes lay, he told Gaṅgā to follow her own course. Gaṅgā divided herself into hundred streams in the hope that one of the stream would wash the ashes. One stream did wash the ashes and this place is nowadays known as Gaṅgā Sāgar or Sāgar Island. A bath in Gaṅgā Sāgar on the day of Makar Saṅkrāntī is considered very auspicious. The hundred streams formed the hundred mouths of the present day Ganges Delta. Thus, Gaṅgā flowed over the ashes and liberated the souls of Bhagīratha's sixty thousand ancestors.