A page from ancient literature

‘O Brahmins, Satyavrata was now a devoted man. Not very virtuous past appeared to haunt the prince and it resulted in a makeover in the frame of mind of Satyavrata. A journey toward integrity and nobility had begun. However, there was still time for complete change in nature. He was resolute and wanted to stick to the pledge he had taken, and therefore, out of compassion, he had began to look after devotedly the holy spouse of sage Viswamitra, who had gone to undertake severe penance. It was his vow and he stuck to it.

“O Brahmins, as was the habit, he killed beasts, buffaloes, boars and other animals of the jungle and tied up chunks of meat to a big tree near the hermitage of sage Viswamitra. He observed complete silence –a kind of rite of keeping silent –Upamsu vrata, and it lasted for twelve years, and you know O holy men, he stayed there on the directions of his father. During the absence of king, who went to the forest for tapa and meditation, sage Vasistha, the family priest and teacher of the imperial people, looked after the affairs of the state of Ayodhya including woman, and others while enjoying regal comforts.

In fact, O holy men, you know prince Satyavrata never forgot the act of Vasistha when he advised the king and so he had to live in exile near the home of chandals of burial grounds and naturally, he nursed a perpetual grudge against the sage. Had it not been so, a favorite prince of king would not been banished and consequently, lived a life of misery and difficulties. Vasistha acted on the principles of dharma but still Satyavrata was angry.

“He knew dharma and yet he did not help me.” He would often think, and therefore, feelings of enmity continued to disturb Satyavrata. Principles of truth did not permit sage Vasistha to act differently, and so the abductor and violator of women’s modesty did not understand. Vasistha was also clear that a wicked man might not be a good king. In the circumstances, his silence and unwanted intervention proved effective, and Satyavrata had to live a life chandala. On the other hand, people suffered because lord Indra did not grant relief with the blessing of rain on earthly beings.

One day, he found no meat and it made him restless. He saw Kamadhenu, a cow of sage Vasistha. As he was terribly angry, he failed to control and as per the traditions of the land, he killed the cow to satisfy hunger. It could be anger or resentment against the sage or his fantasy that he did not hesitate to commit a monstrous offense. He filled his stomach and offered cow’s meat to the sons of sage Viswamitra and family. When sage Vasistha knew about the sin, he was obviously very furious.”

Sage Suta –Lomaharsana, looked at the facial expression of Brahmins and said, “Vasistha’s anger was irrepressible. He called him brute and callous. He did not wish to spare the prince for the sin. He told him that his sin was three-dimensional –first he annoyed a noble king father, and then, he abducted another man’s wife, and later, killed a cow that belonged to his guru. One cannot forgive him for the sins. He took note of three offenses, and called Satyavrata Trisanku.

When he returned after austere tapa, he was very much delighted to find prince Satyavrata, who was taking care of his wife and family. He asked Satyavrata to ask for any boon and he would fulfill the innermost longing.

Satyavrata said, “O holy man, I want to go to heaven with the earthly body.”

“Later, lord Indra appeared to have calmed down, and nature began to look after humankind with love and compassion. Now, the fear of drought and famine was over, and therefore, sage Viswamitra crowned and so he became the king of his father Traya-aruna’s kingdom. Afterward, he organized a great Yajna. He was a man of tapa and penance and without a moment delay, in the presence of another sage Vasistha, he sent him in mortal frame to the land of gods. Only a man of penance and devotion could do a great feat. The sages, the holy men, the celestial beings and the gods of heavens saw a divine happening when they found a mortal had reached heavens. O brahmins, the consort of Satyavrata was Satyaratha belonging to the dynasty of Kaykaya. She gave birth to son Harishchandra, a man of dharma, truth and piety, who organized a colossal Yajna –Rajasuya sacrifice.”

“He had one son Rohita, who had also one son Harita and Chanchu was Harita’s son. Vijaya, a son of Chanchu conquered the entire world and so people called him Vijaya. His son Ruraka was a man of dharma and an expert in the economics of the state. Later, in the third generation, Sagara, son of Bahu took birth. He was born with poison -gara and so people called him Sagara. Because of intense devotion and bhakti he pleased monk Aurava from the dynasty of Bhrigu, and the monk blessed him with fiery weapons that belonged to lord of Fire. With the use of these invincible arsenals in later years, he defeated powerful leaders of Ksatriyas –Taaljang and Haihaya and secured victory over the entire world. He was an untiring king, who pursued laws of dharma, and therefore, disapproved of certain rituals not good to humankind and so found solution of distortions in religious thoughts of Sakas, Pahalvas and Paradas with compassion and understanding and if he could correct deviations, he did it.”

Now, he speaks about the miseries of king Bahu a king who lost the kingdom because of carnal desires. It is time of birth of Sagara who carries poison in the body, and at this stage, the teachings of monk Aurava make him a mighty man. Later, he defeats enemy and gets back the lost kingdom.

Brahmins curiosity remained unquenchable. A question haunted the holy men. They asked, “O great sage, tell us about the birth of king Sagara. How he took birth? How he was born with poison in the body? He was a righteous man. Why in anger, he censored or corrected traditional rituals of the mighty Ksatriyas of grandeur- sakas, pahalvas and pardas practiced based on dynastic laws?”

Holy man Lomaharsana said, “King Bahu was a man of passion and indulged in corporeal pleasures. Gradually, weakness of the king attracted attention of enemies, and therefore, Ksatriyas of the dynasty of Haihaya with the help of armies of Taaljanga and Saka defeated Bahu, and deprived him of the kingdom. The powerful kings of the dynasties of Yavanas, Parada, Kambhoj and Pahalvas also rendered active help to Haihaya, and thus, Haihaya became the lords of the kingdom of Bahu.”

“Loss of kingdom made him sad and miserable, and therefore, Bahu along with queens went to the forest, and later because of obscurity and despair he died in sufferings and deprivation. At that time, queen Yadavi was pregnant. Unfortunately, the other queen, a co-wife, had already poisoned queen Yadavi. When Bahu died, she thought to end life along with Bahu, and so decided to enter the pyre of husband and die. Monk Aurava of the dynasty of Bhrigu took pity on the wretched condition of the queen. He stopped the queen from finishing her life and asked her not to enter the pyre of Bahu.

The monk brought the queen to the ashrama. Later, she gave birth to a child, who carried poison in the body.

Afterward, he became king Sagara.

Monk Aurava completed essential post-natal rites on the birth of baby boy, gave him education on the Vedas and other religious scriptures and then, taught him the art of wielding weapons. He gave him weapons with the terrific attributes of lord of Fire, which even gods of heavens could not dream to possess. Later, with the amazing fiery weapons, he destroyed Ksatriyas of the dynasty of Haihaya in war. He was as furious as Rudra, who had killed Vasus in a war. The great victory over enemies brought fame, reputation and glory to Sagara.

Afterward, he made concerted efforts to kill and destroy the kings of dynasties of Saka, Yavanas, Parada, Kambhoj and Pahalvas. Men of courage and gallantry they were but failed to confront forces of sagely king Sagara even after fighting against the enemy daringly, and therefore, in fright and fear all went to seek shelter at the hermitage of saintly man Vasistha and fell at his feet. Vasistha laid down certain conditions, asked them to adhere to the terms of concord, and so, granted freedom from fear. Thereafter, he asked Sagara to restrain and stop killings.

Sagara obeyed the directions of spiritual guide and teacher. The king eradicated or corrected evil practices and rituals and he did it as a reformatory measure, and then let off the kings with a token reprimand and chastisement. He shaved off half of the head of each king and soldier up to forehead belonging to Saka dynasty and bid them an imperial farewell. He asked Paradas to keep hair untied, and wanted others to grow beards and moustaches, and thus, they looked bizarre and ugly. He did not allow them to study the Vedas and other scriptures. O brahmins thus, the mighty Sagara did not permit Ksatriyas of the families of Sakas, Yavanas, Kambhojas, Paradas, Mahisakas, Daryas, Cholas and Kalasrpas to organize Yajnas or perform various customary religious practices as noble sage Vasistha had guided and advised.”

“Virtuous and triumphant Sagara, who adhered to the principles of dharma after securing victory over the kings of the entire earth, got education in Yajnas and then initiated the process of holding horse-sacrifice –Asvamegha Yajna. He later, unleashed the horse to go around the world. It was to demonstrate strength of the king and if anyone dared to catch hold of the horse, the king considered it as a challenge to supremacy.”

When the horse of Yajna was wandering on the seashore in eastern and southern direction, someone stole it, took the horse, and hid it stealthily beneath the earth. The king asked his sons to carry out an intensive search, and very soon, the princes of Sagara dug up the place and saw the primordial Purusa lord Vishnu also called Sri Hari, Krishna and Prajapati in the holy image of great sage Kapila, who had been sleeping at that time. He was disturbed, and therefore, when he opened his eyes, the fire of anger reduced sons of Sagara, the princes to ashes. Only four could survive sage’s anger.”

Holy man Lomaharsana Suta was silent.

“O Brahmins, his sons Barisketu, Suketu, Dharmratha and Panchananda survived. They carried on the dynastic tradition. The primordial Purusa, in the image of sage Kapila blessed the survivors that they would live for ages, and thus, the dynasty of king Ikaswaku would live forever and earn eternal fame and distinction.”

“Kapila, the image of lord Vishnu made ‘the vast Ocean, the son of Sagara and at the end, he granted a boon to him that he would live in heavens eternally and would enjoy all the joys and divine blessings. The Ocean folded hands and in entreating posture poured libation ardhya, and paid obeisance with a devoted heart to king Sagara. Ocean was son of Sagara, and so later on, people called ocean Sagara. He got back the horse of Yajna and through the Yajna horse, he completed a hundred Asvamegha Yajnas- horse sacrifices. He had sixty thousand sons, Srutis say.”

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Sagara had sixty thousand sons from the two queens. One of the queens gave birth to one son and `the other produced a big gourd that contained sixty thousands fetuses. In due course of time, baffling everyone, sixty thousand noble sons emerged from this big gourd. After a short account, the great Suta narrated the entire tale for the knowledge of monks.

Monks again made a request, “O great sage, how king Sagara got sixty thousand sons? Could you let us know the celestial process? It is amazing to have so many sons… they powerful, heroic and mighty? How it happened?”

The learned Sutaji said, “King Sagara had two queens. They were women of intense devotion and penance and had burnt sins in the fire of tapa. The eldest queen Kesini was a daughter of king of Vidharba. Mahati a daughter of Aristanemi was the younger queen. She was a woman of dharma and righteousness. No other woman in the world was equal to Mahati in charisma, beauty and charm.”

Once great sage Aurava visited the royal palace, blessed the queens, and said, “One queen will give birth to sixty thousand sons but the other queen will give birth to only one son, who will carry the torch of dynasty further and perpetuate the family tree. It is for the queens to make a choice out of the boons I conferred.”

One queen preferred to give birth to sixty thousand sons and the second one chose to have one son only. Monk looked at the faces of the queens and said, “Tathastu –so be it.”

Out of the womb of queen Kesini, Asamanjasa took birth, later called Panchajana. The second queen Mahati produced a gourd that was full of seeds, one learns. These were sixty thousands fetuses each equal to the size of a sesame. The fetuses began to increase in size as scheduled, and the time determined the growth of each fetus without any difficulty or hassle. The king thought long and then, put fetuses in many huge clay pitchers filled with ghee and gave nourishing food to each fetus and each one had a midwife to take care. After ten months, out of the pitchers emerged sixty thousand sons and all of them as expected enhanced the joy and delight of king Sagara. The princes had the sparkle of infinite divinity.”

“On the other hand, Panchajana became the king. He had one son Ansumana, who was courageous and powerful. His son Dilipa became famous as Khatwanga, who descended on earth from heaven and spent a life of few moments. With the strength of intellect and truth, he influenced the three worlds, won hearts of people, and devoted life to acts of parmartha.

He carried on, “O Brahmins, Bhagiratha a man of dharma and truth was a son of Dilipa, who brought the holiest river Ganges from heaven and led it up to the great sea and made Ganges his daughter, and so people call Ganges Bhagirathi. He had also a son Sruta. Nabhaga, a virtuous soul was son of Sruta. The dynasty goes on becoming strong and powerful and many brave, courageous and mighty kings governed the country namely –Ambarisa, a son of Nabhaga and father of Sindhudwipa.

Aytajit a heroic man took over from Sindhudwipa. Later, in the same dynasty, Sudasa was son of Artupani, a mighty king, who earned name and fame. Sudasa was also a friend of lord Indra. One hears through Srutis that Saudasa was son of Sudasa a man of dharma and morality. King Saudasa became famous as sage Kalmashpada, who earned eminence and later, people called him Mitrasaha.

The kings of this dynasty were all noble and distinguished and governed the kingdom with the traditions of fearlessness, truth, uprightness and morality, noble governance and justice.