Chapter 12

Bhagiratha

Sixty thousand men were already ash, and saving them meant bringing a river down out of the sky

The ones who followed the horse

King Sagara performed an ashvamedha sacrifice, and during it the sacrificial horse disappeared.

He sent his sixty thousand sons to search for it. They dug through the earth in every direction, and tradition connects the name Sagara with the sea they are said to have opened up.

Eventually they found the horse beside the hermitage of the sage Kapila, who was sitting in meditation.

They did not stop to ask what had happened. They assumed the sage had stolen it and rushed at him.

Kapila opened his eyes, and the sixty thousand sons were reduced to ash.

The generations it took

But their story was not over. Their remains could not be released until the waters of the Ganga reached them — and the Ganga was not yet flowing on earth.

Sagara's grandson Anshuman tried to bring the river down and failed. Anshuman's son Dilipa tried after him and failed as well.

Then came Dilipa's son, Bhagiratha.

He gave up his kingdom and undertook penance for ancestors he had never met.

A condition, and another condition

The Ganga agreed to descend, but raised a problem.

If she fell from the heavens with her full force, the earth would not survive the impact.

So Bhagiratha began another penance, this time to Shiva.

Shiva received the falling river in his matted hair and released only as much as the earth could bear.

The chariot in front

What follows is one of the story's most memorable images.

Bhagiratha drives ahead in his chariot while the Ganga follows his path. Wherever he turns, the river turns.

Along the way, the river floods the hermitage of the sage Jahnu. He drinks up her waters and later releases them, giving rise to the name Jahnavi.

At last the Ganga reaches the ashes of Sagara's sons.

The task is finally complete — generations after the mistake that made it necessary.

Note: The story of Sagara's sons, Kapila and Bhagiratha is in the Vishnu Purana (fourth amsha), and the same story is also found in the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana and in the Mahabharata — which is to say it returns in all three. The episode of the Ganga being held in Shiva's hair is part of those same accounts. The roots of the Ganga's names — Bhagirathi and Jahnavi — are tied to this story, and the name "Sagara" for the sea to Sagara's sons.

Source: from several texts, Bhagiratha

Now — how much stayed with you?

Fact

Why were Sagara's sixty thousand sons burned to ash?

In a battle
By drowning in the sea
They accused the sage Kapila, sitting in meditation, of stealing the horse, and attacked him
By a curse

Read the whole story — Assuming without asking

The root of the whole story is a piece of haste — the horse was found there, so the thief must be him.

Kapila said nothing and pronounced no curse. According to the story he simply opened his eyes.

And what had to be paid for it ran on for generations. This is the one story in the gatha where the mistake belongs to one set of people and the labour to another.

Who am I?

I gave up my kingdom and did penance, and for people I had never seen. Who am I?

Bhagiratha
Sagara
Dhruva
Kapila

Read the whole story — A name that became a phrase

"A Bhagiratha effort" is still said of any attempt that is very long and very hard.

The root of the phrase is this story — a man who gives up a throne to repair his ancestors' mistake.

And there is nothing of his own in it. The people he does all of it for were ash long before he was born.

What happened?

What difficulty did the Ganga raise before coming down?

That the earth would not bear her force, so somebody must hold her
That she did not know the way
That she did not want to go to the earth
That she wanted a boon

Read the whole story — Another penance, in the middle

The story does not take the easy road here. The result of the first penance is a new problem, and a second penance has to be done for it.

Which is why Shiva enters this story although the gatha is Vishnu's — and the texts do not hide it.

The image of the Ganga tangled in his hair belongs to this moment, and it is among the most repeated images in Indian art.

Why is that?

Why did Bhagiratha ride ahead in a chariot?

So that people could see him
So that he would arrive before the Ganga
Because the Ganga had told him to
Because the river needed a road, and she came along behind him

Read the whole story — The one who goes ahead

This scene is the loveliest part of the story — a man in front, and a river following.

Wherever he turns, the river turns there. Which is why one of the Ganga's names is Bhagirathi.

And that detail is the story's meaning too: the river did not come by herself, somebody led her by showing the way.

Fact

Where does the Ganga's name "Jahnavi" come from?

From emerging from Shiva's hair
From following behind Bhagiratha
From the sage Jahnu, who drank the flowing water and then released it
From Sagara's sons

Read the whole story — Names picked up on the way

Several of the Ganga's names come out of this one story, and each name is an event along the road.

Bhagirathi — because she came behind Bhagiratha. Jahnavi — because Jahnu drank her and let her go.

In the same way the sea's name, Sagara, is tied to Sagara's sons, who dug the ground and made it. The story goes along naming the roots of names.

Riddle

I was in the sky. One man's stubbornness brought me down, and another man's hair held me. Who am I?

The Yamuna
The Ganga
The Saraswati
Kamadhenu

Read the whole story — A river that was brought down

In this story the Ganga is not only a river — she is a character who sets a condition, speaks, and takes offence too.

Her coming down does not happen by itself. It needs two penances, one condition, and somebody to show the way.

Which is why this story is less about a river and more about an effort.

The texts disagree

Where else is this story found?

Only in the Vishnu Purana
In the Bala Kanda of the Ramayana and in the Mahabharata as well, alongside stories already on this site
Only in later folk tradition
In no other text

Read the whole story — One story, three places

The story of Bhagiratha and Sagara's sons is told in the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana, from Vishvamitra's mouth, and it comes in the Mahabharata too.

Which is to say it is among the stories that keep returning across different epics — like Parashurama, and like the meeting of Hanuman and Bhima.

The Ramayana is already on this site, so this chapter tells the same story from the Vishnu-Puran side — and it can be read there as well.

Put it in order

What is the correct order of this chapter's events?

The Ganga's descent → the horse going missing → Kapila's anger → Bhagiratha's penance
Kapila's anger → the horse going missing → Bhagiratha's penance → the Ganga
Bhagiratha's penance → Kapila's anger → the horse going missing → the Ganga
The ashvamedha and the horse going missing → the sons burned to ash → generations of attempts → Bhagiratha's penance → Shiva → the Ganga coming down

Read the whole story — One mistake, many generations

The largest thing about this order is how much time is in it. Between the beginning and the end lie several generations.

Sagara, then his grandson Anshuman, then Anshuman's son Dilipa, and only then Dilipa's son Bhagiratha.

It is the one story in this gatha that does not complete inside one man's lifetime, and perhaps that is why its name became a phrase.

Why is that?

Why has this story been given a place in this gatha, when there is no avatar in it?

Because Vishnu himself appears in it
Because the story is short
Because there was nothing else left in the Vishnu Purana
Because this gatha belongs to those who stayed as much as to those who descended, and this story is of that second kind

Read the whole story — A story without an avatar

Nobody descends in this chapter. No pillar splits, no form changes.

What happens is entirely a man's own doing — giving up a kingdom, doing penance, doing penance again, and walking in front.

Which makes it the best example of this gatha's second half: here the strength does not come from above, it is built by not letting go.

What happened?

What was the real purpose of bringing the Ganga down?

To bring water to the ash of Sagara's sons, so that they could be given rest
Water for farming
To add to the kingdom's glory
To please Shiva

Read the whole story — Work the one who began it never saw finished

The purpose of the whole story is very narrow — to get water to a heap of ash.

For that a river has to be brought down out of the sky, two penances performed, and several generations spent.

And the man who began it was not alive to see it finished. The story states that not as a complaint but as a plain fact.