Finding the Sacrificial Horse
Volume 1, Chapters 36-40
Key pronunciations
1. Sagara (Sa-ga-ra) – it is ‘Sa’ with a short ‘a’ and not Saa
2. Bhruguprasravana (Bhru-gu-pra-sra-va-na) - while pronouncing the ‘na’ in this case, the tip of the tongue should not touch the front teeth, but rather it should roll back a bit and touch the rear end of the palate.
3. Aryavarta (Aarya-vur-ta)
In the previous article, we saw that Uma cursed all the Gods. We also saw that Kartikeya was born in the forest of Reed plants. Kartikeya’s birth was, of course, the result of Shiva’s essence, which Agni bore. But the thing is, it was only a part of the essence that resulted in his birth. The rest of the essence was still with Agni. The Gods who were cursed by Uma, approached Brahma and asked for a solution. Brahma’s suggestion was straightforward: “Go to Himavanta and ask if his daughter Ganga can carry Shiva’s essence in her Womb. I am pretty sure Uma would not be upset for that”. It turned out to be positive, and Ganga agreed to bear the energy. When Agni poured all of it, she could only tolerate some. She then released it by the mountains (Himalayas). By doing so, she flooded the land. From the heated energy she released, a part of it turned into gold and silver. When the energy was cooling down further, Iron and Copper were formed. The last bit of the remaining energy (the coolest) formed Tin and Lead. This way, Vishwamitra explained the details of Ganga to Rama and Lakshmana. Vishwamitra noticed that both of these boys were still energetic in listening. Non-stop! Vishwamitra continued further.
“Boys, we learnt about the story of Ganga. Following this, let me tell you the story of Sagara. So, he was your ancestor. He ruled Ayodhya back then. He had two wives. The first one was Keshini, and the second one was Sumati. Since they did not have children, all three decided to perform a Tapas. To do so, they travelled to a mountain called Bhriguprasravana (a hill located in the Himalayas). After they did their Tapas, the sage Bhrigu who lived there, was really happy with their Tapas and gave them a boon saying, ‘O Sagara, you will be blessed with children. One of your wives will be blessed with one child who would continue your lineage, and the other will be blessed with 60000 children’
(A quick note. 60000 doesn’t literally mean it. It is understood as a lot of children)
As Bhrigu told this, the wives were now excited. They started discussing among themselves and asked him who among them would get only one son. As the choice was opened to them, the older wife said she wanted to have a single child. They all travelled back to Ayodhya. In a few months, both their wives were pregnant. As the sage Bhrigu said, they were blessed with children. Keshini named her son Asamanjaya. Unfortunately, the behaviour of the Asamanjaya was not good. As he grew up, he used to throw small children into the Sarayu River. Looking at the children drowning, he used to get happy. This created a big problem in Ayodhya. Looking at all this, his father Sagara, banished him as an exile. After a few years, Asamanjaya’s son was born. His name was Amshuman. Fortunately, he was completely the opposite of his father. He was loved by the people. He roamed around a lot in Ayodhya. As time passed, Sagara wanted to do a Yaga (A Ritual). For that, he chose a really nice location. This place was called Aryavarta and was located between the Himalaya and the Vindhya mountains. As per the ritual, Sagara had to bring the sacrificial horse to the location of the ritual. Amshuman brought the horse along with him. The ritual started smoothly. The day before the sacrifice of the horse, Lord Indra changed his form into a demon and stole the horse. The next day, the Rishis observed the absence of the horse and immediately brought it to the notice of Sagara. Deeply upset by this, he asked his 60000 children, “O my dear children. The horse I had to sacrifice has been stolen. I now ask you all to spread in all directions and find the horse. Also, find the one who stole it. If you can not find them on the land, start digging the land and explore as much as you all could.” Considering the words of their father, the children went in search of the horse. They spread, they searched, they dug. Neither was there a sign of the horse nor the thief. They returned after a few days and reported this to their father. Sagara said ‘It’s good that you dug and searched. However, without this horse, I cannot continue this ritual. Dig more. Go wherever possible. But bring me back my horse’. This time, they went to an extreme. They searched in all four directions. They did not find it. Later, when they went northeast, they found a horse grazing. They quickly recognised it as their horse. In the vicinity was a Rishi named Kapila, who was doing Tapas. Without enquiring, they immediately came to a conclusion that Kapila Rishi was the one who stole the horse. They took all their tools and sprang onto the Rishi. Reacting with anger, Kapila Rishi’s power burnt all of the 60000 into ashes.”
The 60000 children are gone. Sagara is waiting over there. The horse is grazing over here. What happens next?
Let’s see that in the next article.