Bengali Ramayana - Sagar's Sons

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Ruhidasa was a great king. His son was Sagar.

Sagar did not have any children. Unhappy he prayed to

Shiva for a child. He asked for many sons, when Shiva

told him to ask for a boon. So be it - said Shiva.

Soon Sumati and Keshini, Sagar's wives knew they were

going to have a child. Keshini gave birth to a

beautiful boy. The boy was named Asmanjus. Sumati gave

birth to a mound of flesh. Sagar was angry at Shiva.

Calling Shiva a liar, he kicked the mound. The mound

broke into 60 thousand pieces and each piece became a

baby boy. <br>Asmanjus one day thought - "this life is

Vishnu's boon.My should I let it go waste." He went on a

rampage, burning houses and killing people. Sagar seeing

Asmunjus's behavior banished him into the forest. That is

actually what Asmunjus wanted. He had wanted to dedicate

his life to Vishnu and go into the forests, but no

one would listen. No whe had his chance. In the

forests he started staying like a hermit meditating on

Vishnu. <br>One day, Sagar thought - "I am the king of

Ayodhya. I have 60 thousand sons. I'll perform the

Ashwamedha Yagna, and divide the three worlds amongst my

sons."<br>His sons agreed to follow the sacrificial horse. In

the heavens, Indra was disturbed. He thought he was

going to thrown out of the heaven. So, he created a

massiev storm and when teh 60 thousand sons were trying

to escape from the storm, he (Indra) stole the

sacrificial horse. He took it to teh nether world where the

sage Kapila was meditating. <br>The storm stopped

suddenly. The 60 thousand sons suddenly realised the horse

was missing. They looked all over. For years they

searched the earth and the heavens. Then they went towards

the nether world. <br>They dug a big hole and went

down into the center of the earth. Down there, they

saw the horse tied in Kapila Muni's ashrama. Calling

the rishi a horse thief, the 60 thousand sons rushed

towards the sage. They hit him once with their spades. As

soon they struck a blow, the rishi opened his eyes and

saw the men hitting him. Fire gushed out of his eyes

and the 60 thousand sons were burnt to ashes.