Bhagiratha and the Ganga

In Sagara’s line, there was born a king named Bhagiratha. He was a truthful and righteous king. He regularly performed sacrifices. He was also handsome, brave and wise. The god Yama himself came to see what sort of a person Bhagiratha was.

The king worshipped Yama with offerings and said, “I am blessed that a great god like you has come to visit a mere mortal like me. Please tell me about dharma (righteousness). What are the characteristics of those who are righteous? Tell me about sins. What happens to those who are sinners?

Yama told Bhagiratha about the deeds that bring punya (store of merit).

The greatest punya is acquired from donating wealth to brahmanas. Or from providing them with employment. Another performer of good deeds is one who gets a pond digged. Punya is also acquired by building temples dedicated to Shiva or Vishnu. The best temple is one that is made of gold. Progressively lower down the ranking are the ones that are made of copper, crystal, stone, bricks and wood. He who maintains a pond, a temple or a village is also a performer of good deeds. Donating alms like cattle or land also brings punya. Other good deeds are establishing gardens and planting trees. Any one who plants a basil bush is eternally blessed. Sins are pardoned if one wears a garland of basil leaves around one’s neck. These who bathe Vishnu’s images with milk or clarified butter are certain to be taken to heaven. The images can also be bathed with coconut-milk or sugar-cane juice . Shiva’s images should also be thus bathed. A tithi is a lunar day. The lunar fortnight during which the moon waxes is known as shuklapaksha and the lunar fortnight during which the moon wanes is known a krishnapaksha. Certain specific tithis are particularly auspicious for bathing imates of Vishnu and Shiva. Examples are panchami (the fifth day of the lunar fortnight), ashtami (the eight day), ekadashi (the eleventh day), dvadashi (the twelfth day) and chaturdashi (the fourteenth day) in shuklapaksha. Purnima (the day of the full moon) and solar and lunar eclipses are also auspicious occasions.

Punya can be acquired through donating food to the hungry and water to the thirst. A person who donates these objects never has to go to hell (naraka). Another good deed is to massage the feet of guests with oil. Anyone who helps brahmanas or donates cows to them is blessed. One who protects those who seek refuge also obtains a lot of punya.

The importance of donating alms cannot be over-emphasised. Apart from cows, buffaloes can also be donated. Other objects which may be donated are curds, milk, clarifed butter, honey, sugar-cane, fragrant objects, flowers, fruit and molasses. Knowledge (vidya) is also a worthwhile object for donation. Gold, jewellery and precious stones too qualify for donations. Images of Shiva (linga) and Vishnu (shalagrama) should also be donated.

Other traits characterise those who have acquired punya. They do not criticise others and prefer to associate with people who are righteous. They have managed to control their senses and are not too addicted to food. They serve guests, brahmanas and teachers well. Vishnu and the other gods are forever in their minds.

Yama next told Bhagiratha about sins, and the various hells (naraka) where sinners have to suffer.

Hells are terrible places and there are several such narakas. The names of some such hells are Tapana, Valukakumbha, Rourava, Maharourava, Kum-bhipaka, Nirucchvasa, Kalasutra, Pramar-dana, Bhishana, Asipatravana, Lalabhakshya, Himothkata, Mrishavastha, Vasakupa, Shvabha-kshya, Mutrapana, Purishahrada, Taptashula, Taptashila, Shalmali-druma, Shonitakupa and Shonitabhojana.

In some of these hells sinners are made to eat their own flesh. In others, they are burnt in fire. Some hells are such that stones and weapons are showered down on the sinners. Narakas may be extemely hot or extemely cold. Sinners are fed molten iron. They are hung upside down. In some hells, sinners are hurled down from mountain-tops. Worms feed on sinners and they are compelled to lie down on burning coals. Throughout, Yama’s servants beat the sinners with clubs. Their bodies are sliced with swords and bitten by snakes. Scorpions are also let loose on the sinners. Jackals and tigers feed on their meat. There are so many different types of misery in the hells that it would take a thousand years to catalogue all of them.

Sinners are those who kill brahmanas, drink wine or steal gold. It is sinful to criticise brahmanas or elders. One who promises to donate alms but goes back on his word, also commits a crime. An egotist is a sinner. It is forbidden to dabble in medicine or astrology without knowning the shastras. One who interprets the shastras without knowing them is a sinner. Slander, vanity, lying, fraudulence and murder are crimes. One who partakes of food offered by a shudra (the fourth of the four classes) is a sinner. Thieves are bound to be punished. One who associates with a sinner becomes a sinner by contamination.

Sins can be atoned for by performing penance (prayashchitta). But there are some sins for which there is no penance. Such a sin is the worshipping of an image of Shiva or Vishnu that has been worshipped by a shudra or by a woman. Shudras and women are not supposed to touch images of Shiva and Vishnu. One who murders a brahmana may perform prayashchitta for his sin. But there is no penance for someone who hates brahmanas. This is also true of someone who criticises his teacher or the sacred Vedas. A brahmana who strays into the fold of Buddhism cannot hope for deliverance through penance.

After sinners have paid for their sins in hell, they are born again. One who commits a severe sin is first born as a tree. In successive births, he is then born as a worm, a snake, an animal and as someone who does not believe in the Vedas. Eventually, he is born as a poor brahmana. Other sinners spend seven lives as donkeys, ten lives as dogs and pigs, a hundred years as worms, a hundred years as rats, and twelve lives a snakes. A thousand lives thereafter are spent as animals like deer, before the sinners are finally born as cows. Seven lives then have to be spent as chandalas (outcasts), sixteen lives as shudras, two lives as kshatriyas and two lives as vaishyas (the third of the four classes). Next, sinners are born as brahmanas, but only as poor and diseased brahmanas.

Vishnu delivers humans from all evil. The fruits of all actions should be vested with Vishnu. Devotion to Vishnu is of paramount importance, but there are different types of devotion to Vishnu. The three basic elements (guna) are sattvika, rajasika and tamasika. Sattvika guna is holy and pure, rajasika guna is passionate and tamasika guna is torpid. Thus sattvika guna is superior rajasika guna is medium and tamasika guna is inferior.

Different types of devotion ot Vishnu owe their nomenclature to these three elements. A person who prays to Vishnu for someone else’s destruction is adhama-tamas. A devotee who makes a pretense of praying to Vishnu is madhyama-tamasa. A person who picks up devotion to Vishnu by observing others praying is uttma-tamasa. An adama-rajasa devotee claims wealth from Vishnu as a reward for his devotion, a madhyama-rajasa devotee claims the fame of great deeds and an uttama-rajasa devotee desires freedom from all illusions. A devotee who prays so as to atone for his sins is adhama-sattvika. One who prays because such prayers are loved by Vishnu is madhyama-sattvika. And a devotee who prays for the sake of devotion alone is uttama-sattvika. This list thus has nine different types of devotion to Vishnu. But there is one further type of devotion to Vishnu, and this is the best form of devotion that one can think of. This is known as uttamottama devotion and occurs when the devotee feels no difference between himself and Vishnu. There is complete union and identification.

Concluding the account, Yama told Bhagiratha, “King, I have answered all your questions. Be righteous and prosperous. Rule well and be devoted to Vishnu. But do not forget that there is no difference between Vishnu and Shiva, they are one and the same. Your ancestors were evil and are now rotting in hell. They will be freed when the waters of the river Ganga touch their ashes. I bless you. Do now as you will.”

Yama departed. Bhagiratha resolved that he would perform tapasya so as to bring down the Ganga from heaven. He accordingly went off to the Himalayas to meditate.

(The Narada Purana gets slightly confused here. Having stated that Bhagiratha went to the Himalayas to meditate, it states that the king went to the banks of the river Godavari. The accounts in the Ramayana and the Matysa Purana are unambiguous in stating that Bhagiratha went to the Himalayas).

To return to the account of the Narada Purana, Bhagiratha went to the banks of the river Godavari, where the sage Bhrigu had a beautfiul hermitage. In the nearby forest lived black buck, elephants and boars. Birds chirped on the trees, peacocks danced in gay abandon. The forest was full of trees and flowers.

Bhagiratha worshipped Bhrigu and said, “Great sage, you are well-versed in the ways of dharma and learned in the shastras. Please tell me how I may please the Lord Vishnu.”

“King,” replied Bhrigu, “you are indeed holy . Had that not been the case, you would not have thought of trying to free your ancestors. Be truthful, do not lie, and always associate with those who are good. Give up all thought of violence. And most important of all, always meditate on Vishnu. That will bring you punya.”

“What is truth?” asked Bhagiratha. “What is non-violence? Who are the people who are good? What is punya? How does one go about worshipping Vishnu? Great sage, you are well-versed in the knowledge of all the shastras. Treat me like a son and tell me the answers to all these questions.

Bhrigu obliged. He told Bhagiratha that truth consisted of saying that which was in consonance with the dictates of religon and did not contradict it. Non-violent acts were those that did not cause other living beings any harm. The evil were those who treated other people as enemies were against religon and were also stupid. Those who were not evil were good. They did that which was right, followed the Vedas and performed acts that were beneficial to other living beings. All that good people did constituted punya. There were no prescribed rites for worshipping Vishnu. The best form of worship was to realize that Vishnu was everywhere in the universe, that he was the cause of everything, and that every living being was completely identified with Vishnu.

Armed with this wisdom, Bhagiratha bade adieu to Bhrigu and went to the forest to meditate. After spending some time in the forest, he went to the Himalayas. The river Ganga flowed there, at a tirtha (place of pilgrimage) named Nadeshvara.

It was there that Bhagiratha decided to meditate. The tapasya that he performed was extemely difficult. He lived on fruits and roots and made offerings of leaves, flowers, fruit and water to Vishnu. Several years passed. Bhagiratha next began to control his breath though the technqiue of pranayama. For sixty thousand years Bhagiratha prayed in this way. So difficult was the meditation that smoke started to billow out of Bhagiratha’s nostrils.

The gods got frightened at these happenings. They were worried that Bhagiratha might obtain a boon as a reward for his tapasya and try to dislodge them from heaven. The gods therefore went to the northern shores of the ocean known as Kshiroda and began to pray to Vishnu. Vishnu appeared before them and assured them that Bhagiratha had no such evil intentions. In any case, he would go and find out what it was that Bhagiratha wanted.

Vishnu accordingly appeared before Bhagiratha and the king fell down at Vishnu’s feet in obeisance.

“Bhagiratha,” said Vishnu, “I know that you want to free your ancestors. Shiva is no different from me, we are really one and the same. Please pray to Shiva. He will do what you desire.”

After Vishnu had left, Bhagiratha started praying to Shiva. Shiva appeared before the king. He had five heads and ten arms, and he wore the crescent moon on his forehead. Snakes hung like garlands around his neck and he wore the skin of an elephant as clothing.

“Bhagiratha,” said Shiva, “I am pleased with your meditation. Crave a boon. I grant you the boon that you will prosperous and will attain eternal bliss.”

“Lord,” replied Bhagiratha. “If you are indeed pleased with me, grant me the boon that the heavenly river Ganga might be brought down from heaven. I wish to free amy ancestors.”

Shiva granted the boon.

Bhagiratha started to return and the river Ganga followed the king wherever he went. It is for this reason that the river is also known as the Bhagirathi. Bhagiratha held the river to the place where Kapila’s hermitage was, that is the place where his ancestors had been burnt to ashes. As soon as the water from the holy river touched those ashes. Sagara’s sons were freed from hell and ascended to heaven.

(The account in the Narada Purana differes slightly from the accounts given in the Ramayana and the Matsya Purana. In those accounts, Bhagiratha first prayed to Brahma. It was Brahma who asked the king to pray to Shiva and please him.)