AkHaNDbHaRAtThis is another wonderful story that is found in the Srimad Bhagwatam. It talks about King Sagara and his sons. And we will see how Ganga came down to the earth. A king his name was Bahuka and he was of the lineage of the great king Ikshwaku. He had been attacked by his enemies, his land was taken away and he had to leave to the forest along with his wife and it is said that King Bahuka died in the forest while he was there. When he died his wife was so full of grief, sadness she did not want to continue living without her husband. When the final cremation rights were done for the king, the funeral fire was lit, his body was put there in the fire it is said that she also wanted to ascend the funeral pyre, burn along with her husband. But as she was about to step into the fire, she was stopped by the Rishi’s. Some Rishi’s who were present there told her that you cannot do this because you are carrying a child, you are pregnant. You are carrying the lineage of the king in your womb and so you can’t take your life. This was news for her as she was not aware that she is pregnant. When this news reached the other wives of the king they became jealous as they did not have any child from the king. So they conspired against her. They did not want her to become the Mother of the future king.
So it is said that though they were acting very nice and taking care of her they mixed, poison in the food and serve it to her. But they were surprised to see that nothing happened to the Mother or the unborn child. And it is said that when the child was born he was covered with the poison that his mother had swallowed so it had neither affected him nor his mother. With his birth the poison came out of her body and because he was covered with poison the Rishi’s called him sagara. When he grew up King Sagara became very famous and successful a very righteous and powerful king.He even went on to become an emperor. Having reached that status he wanted to perform the famous Ashwanemeda Yagya. In this Yagya what happens is a horse is allowed to roam freely across the land and nobody is allowed to stop that horse. Wherever the horse roams the land belongs to the emperor, it is undisputed. No enemy will let the horse roam freely on its lands. If the horse can roam around freely for 1yr then the Yagya is completed and the king is crowned as an emperor. As one who has conquered all directions, Digvijay. Indra the King of the Gods is said to be very jealous.
When this horse was roaming, Indra out of habit stole the horse. Now nobody knew who has stolen the horse. They came to know that the horse has disappeared. The King has 60,000 sons. So he asked his sons to go and find out what happened to the horse and bring it back. The sons of the king were very brave, strong and arrogant. So when they went all over the place to search for the horse but they could not found it. So they started digging the ground and they entered the lower realms, the netherworlds. It is said that when they were proceeding in the north eastern direction they stumbled upon a cave and inside the cave was a Rishi sitting in deep state of Samadhi. To their surprise by the said of the Rishi they saw the horse, it was happily gracing there. In their arrogance they thought the Rishi is the thief. He is sitting there innocent as if nothing has happened. It is said that those 60,000 sons took their weapons and went towards the Rishi to kill him to punish him. The Rishi in this cave was Kapila. When he saw these prince marching towards him with an intention to kill him it is said that in anger he looked at them and all the sons of Sagara were turned into ashes. We know that they were wrong but Kapila being an embodiment of dharma , he has shared the Sankhya Yoga and taken birth in this body for the good of mankind, then how could he do such an act. He is the one who has given the world the knowledge to go beyond the samsara and the tendencies of the mind. It was not fully their fault. It was Indra who had stolen the horse and put it there.But there is an interesting meaning behind this. King Sagara had 2 wives. All the 60,000 sons belonged to one of the wife Sumati. The other wife Kesini, she had one son named Asamanja. When Asamajha grew up he had a son called Anshuman and this boy Anshuman was very fond of his grandfather, King Sagara. His father Asamanja was a little strange. Apparently he had been a Yogi in his previous birth but he got stuck with wrong company, he became attached. And as a result of that attachment he was born as a son of the King Sagara. He was still able to remember his previous birth. In his current birth he was extra careful not to get into bondage. To prevent the attachment he was very cruel to everybody. Even when was very young people use to think that he is inhuman seeing the kind of things that he used to do. Everybody wanted to shun him, he displeased everybody he did not get caught up in this trap that is affection. He used to scare people by catching hold of young children and then throwing them into the river. And when they were drowning he would be clapping his hands as if he is enjoying the act. He was very nasty. His terrible acts were so many that people complained to the king that you have to punish this person. Just before he was leaving to forest he restored all the children to life.In that forest he was doing lot of tapas and penance and he became liberated. All the love that the King Sagara couldn’t give to his son he showered it on Anshuman his grandon. So it was upto Anshuman to continue this lineage. As all his sons were gone the Ashwamedha Yagya had to be concluded by taking the help of the grandson. All his sons had disappeared, the horse had disappeared, so his grandson was the only one who could save this Yagya by completing it. He send Anshuman in search as it had been such a long time since all his sons had left and none knew where they were. They had gone to search for the horse but they never returned so the King was also worried.
Anshuman followed the traces that his uncles had left behind and finally he went under the earth and after searching for a long time he came to the cave of Rishi Kapila and the horse was very much there gracing and Rishi Kapila was sitting in a state of Samadhi. But he noticed that by the side of the Rishi there was a huge pile of ashes. Since he was a sweet and sensitive boy he went into the presence of Kapila Vasudeva with lot of honor and respect he greeted him. With lot of reverence he bowed down and said , My Lord you are an incarnation of Lord Narayana himself, even Bramha the creator knows the 4 Vedas but doesn’t know you completely. Then what are simple mortals like me. We are so caught up in this web of Maya that is made up of the 3 Gunas , the Mind and the Intellect we cannot see the light that will reveal your true nature. We know the 3 stages Waling, Sleeping and Dreaming State. But we have not yet experienced the 4th state. So I just bow down to you, you are beyond the 3 Gunas, beyond the cause and affect. You took birth and came into this world to teach the highest truth to the people about yourself. It is my good fortune that I had your darshan . Just by being in your presence I feel that I have been freed from this bondage called Maya, that leads to all karmas and snares the senses. My Lord please accept my humble reverence. Tears of gratitude rolling on his feet, he fell at the feet of Rishi Kapila. Rishi Kapila opened his eyes and was so pleased with the humility and devotion of this young prince , he said please my child you take this horse that belongs to your grandfather who has been looking for it. What has happened it Lord Indra bought the horse here and he left it here when I was in a state of Samadhi. Your uncles came here but they were burned to ashes because of their arrogance. In their arrogance they were blind to the truth and common sense. They ignored all moral codes and dharma, they came here and tried to kill me. The only water that will cleanse and purify their souls and that will allow them to move on to the pitruloka is the water of Mandakini, the Ganga from the heavens. Anshuman did pradakshina around Kapila Rishi when he heard this, he bowed down, he prostrated before him taking his leave, he took the horse with him, travelled all the way back and delivered the horse to his grandfather King Sagara. And once the horse returned they were able to complete the Yagya. Even though the Yagya was completed the King was very sad because he thoughtof the fate of all his sons and the fact that they did not have peace, they could not move on to the next world. King Sagara crowned Anshuman as the King and he himself went to the forest to perform tapas so that he may find peace and obtain liberation. Anshuman for the sake of his uncles also performed lot of Tapas to please the Ganga and request her to come down to the earth so she can purify the remains of his uncles. But it is said that he was not able to achieve his goal as old age took over and finally he died. Anshuman had a son his name was Dileepa . Dileepa also continued the effort of his father even he ws not successful in bringing Ganga down to the earth. Dilipa also had a son and his name was Bhaigiratha and he succeeded in bringing down the Ganga and liberating his great great uncles. This story is very interesting how Bhagirath was able to bring down the Ganga to earth through the heavenly planes.