Sagara

Yadavi lived in the hermitage and, in due course, gave birth to a son. You will recall that she had been fed some poison. The poison had done her or the baby no harm and was ejected when Yadavi gave birth. Since the word gara means poison and since sa means together with, the baby was given the name of Sagara.

Ourva took great interest in the boy’s development. He taught Sagara the shastras and the duties of a king. When the boy grew up, the sage also taught him the art of warfare. Sagara became leanred, honest and wise, apart from being brave and powerful.

One day Sagara asked his mother, “Where is my father? Who is he and where is he now? Cursed is the person who does not have a father. Please tell me where my father is.”

Yadavi had not so far told her son anything about King Vahu. But now she had no choice. When Sagara got to know how his father’s enemies had driven his parents out from their kingdom, he resolved to exact vengeance. He sought his mother’s blessings and bade farewell to Ourva.

King Vahu had had the sage Vashishtha as chief priest and guru (teacher). Thus, Vashishtha should be Sagara’s priest and teacher as well. Sagara went to visit Vashistha and received the sage’s blessings. The sage also gave him several divine weapons named aindrastra, varunastra, brahmastra and agneyastra, and a wonderful bow as well. This made Sagara invincible.

Thus fortified, Sagara waged war on his father’s enemies and defeated them. Some of them were killed outright. Others fled to Vashishtha for refuge and Sagara followed them there.

“Sage,” he said, “it is better to kill these sinners. Please do not grant them refuge. Only the stupid permit evil enemies to live.”

“No,” answered the sage. “Let them be. There is no point in senseless killing. These sinners will have to pay for their misdeeds later. Why should you commit a sin by killing them when they have sought refuge?”

Sagara spared the enemies. But he did mete out token punishments to the enemies. Amongst his foes were the Shakas and their heads were shaved off. Also amongst the foes were the Yavanas and these were instructed that , henceforth, they would have to sport long hair. As for the other enemies , their heads and beards were shaved off and they were told that would no longer be permitted to follow the sacred religion laid down in the Vedas.

Sagara was then crowned king by Vashishtha. He had two wives. The first was Keshini, the daughter of the king of Vidarbha. The second wife was named Sumati.

The sage Ourva had got to know about Sagara’s coronation and marriage. He came to bless him. “I shall grant your wives a boon,” he said. “One of your wives will have a single son and the other will have sixty thousand. Tell me who wants what.”

Keshini wanted a single son and Sumati desired sixty thousand. Having granted the boon, Ourva returned to his hermitage.

There is some inconsistency here with the account given in the Mahabarata. In the Mahabarata, Sagara did not have any sons and prayed to Shiva so that he might have offspring. The boon was granted by Shiva nd not by Ourva. And it was Sumati who had the single son and Keshini, sixty thousand.

To return to the account of the Narada Purana, Keshini had a son. Right from birth, this son turned out to be evil. The word asamanjasa means unbalanced or improper. Since the son was evil, he came to be known as Asamanjasa. Meanwhile, Sumati gave birth to sixty thousand sons and, following their elder brother’s lead, these sons too became evil.

At first, Sagara ignored the misdeeds of his sons. He tended to dismiss them as juvenile exuberance. In any case, Asamanjasa had a son named Amshumana who turned out to be quite unlike his father and uncles. Amshumana was good and righteous.

But Asamanjasa and his brothers continued to do as they pleased. They disrupted the performances of yajnas and oppressed religious people. They appropriated for themselves the offerings that were made to gods at sacrifices. Apsaras (dancers of heaven) were abducted by these evil princes. They also stole flower from the divine parijata tree. Drinking was their favourite pastime, together with robbery and theft. They even wagen war against his father Sagara himself. Need one say more?

Indra and the other gods began to plot so as to devise ways for bringing about the destruction of Asamanjasa and his brothers.

There was a sage named Kapila who was devoted to Vishnu. He was so powerful that he was like the great Vishnu himself.

Kapila had an ashrama in the underworld. The gods went there and started to pray to Kapila. “Great sage,” they said, “Deliver the world from the depredations of Sagara’s evil sons.”

“Do not despair,” answered Kapila. “Those who oppress others are sinners and fate decrees that they are soon destroyed. Thee princes will soon have to pay for their misdeeds. Go back to heaven and rest in peace.”

The gods returned to heaven.

Meanwhile, King Sagara organized an ashvamedha yajna. Vashishtha and other great sages satced as priests at this sacrifice. In such a sacrifice, a horse is an important part of the ceremony and is left free to wander around wherever it chooses. Indra chose an opportune moment to steal the horse. He then left the stolen horse in Kapila’s hermitage in the underworld.

Sagara’s sons were supposed to guard the horse. When the horse was found to be missing, they looked everywhere for it. But in vain. The horse was not to be found in any of the seven regions (lokas) that form the upper reaches of the universe. The princes therefore concluded that the horse must be hidden somewhere in the underworld. They went to the shores of the ocean. And there, each of them began to dig a hole in the ground so that they might be able to penetrate to the underworld.

Thus it was that all sixty thousand sons along with Asamsanjas entered the underworld. And in these lower regions they happened to come upon the sage Kapila’s hermitage. The stolen horse was tethered in the hermitage. Oblivious of everthing, Kapila was busy meditating.

The princes concluded that it was the sage who had stolen the horse. They proceeded to tie up Kapila. “Tie up the thief,” they exclaimed. “Bind him and kill him. Look at the way the thief is him and kill. Look at the way the thief is meditating. This is one of the laws of the world. He who is the greatest sinner, pretends to be the most holy.”

Sagara’s sons bound up the sage, although this did not disturb Kapila’s meditation. But thereafter,the princes began to kick Kapila and tug at this arms. This roused the sage from his meditation. Angered at the disturbance, he sternly gazed at the princes. Such was the fury of Kapila’s gaze that the princes were immediately burnt to ashes. So terrible were the flames that emanated from Kapila’s eyes that the snakes, who lived in the underworld, fled from there and sought refuge in the waters of ocean.

The saga Narada brought the news of this misfortune to King Sagara. But the king did not mourn the death of his sons. He was rather pleased that his evil sons had been so destroyed.

But the horse had to be brought back so that the sacrifice might be completed. There was also a stipulation that he who had no son did not have the right to perform a yajna. Sagara therefore adopted Amshumana as his own son. He also instructed Amshumana to go and fetch the horse.

Amshumana went down to the underworld to Kapila’s hermitage. He prayed to the sage. “Please forgive my uncles and my father,” he said. “The holy are by nature forgiving. They are like sandalwood. Just as sandalwood continues to give off fragrance even if it is chopped, the holy forgive those who do them harm. Please pardon the sin.”

“I am pleased with you,” said the sage. “Ask for a boon.”

“Please tell me of a way whereby my father and uncles may ascend to heaven,” requested Amshumana. “There is nothing else that I desire.”

“Your grandson will bring down the holy Ganga from heaven,” answered Kapila. “When that happens, your father and uncles will be pardoned their sins and will ascend to heaven. Take the sacrificial horse now and go. My blessings are with you.”

Amshumana returned to Sagara and related all that had happend. Amshumana had a son named Dilipa and Dilipa’s son was Bhagiratha. It was Bhagiratha who brought down the river Ganga from heaven.

One of Bhagiratha’s descendants was a king named Sudasa. Sudasa’s son was Mitrasaha, also known as Soudasa. Vashishtha cursed Soudasa that he would become a rakshasa (demon). But as soon as Soudasa touched the holy water of the Ganga, he returned to his human form.