Makar Sankranti - 2

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Legend has that, Sagar, an ancestor of Rama, had

performed the Ashwamedha Yajna, or horse-sacrifice, 99

times. This ceremony consisted in sending a horse round

the Indian world, with defiance to all the earth to

arrest its progress. If the horse returned unopposed, it

was understood to be acquiescence in the supremacy of

the lenger, and the animal was then solemnly

sacrificed to the gods. When King Sagar made preparations

for the 100th sacrifice, Indra, King of Heaven, who

had himself performed the ceremony a 100 times,

jealous of being displaced by this new rival, stole the

horse, and concealed it in a subterranean cell, where

the sage Kapila, or Kapil Muni, was absorbed in

meditation, dead to all occurrences of the external

world.<br><br>The sixty thousand sons of Sagar traced the horse to

its hiding-place, and, believing the sage to be the

author of the theft assaulted him. The holy man being

thus roused opened his eyes and cursed his assailants,

who were immediately burnt to ashes and sentenced to

hell. Bhagiratha, a descendent of Sagar, in search of

his father and uncles, at last came to Kapilmuni, and

begged him to redeem the souls of the dead. The holy man

replied that this could only be effected if the waters of

Ganga could be brought to the spot to touch the ashes.

Ganga was residing in Heaven, in the custody of Brahma

the Creator, and Bhagiratha prayed him to send the

Goddess to the earth. Through his prayers Brahma allowed

Ganga to visit the earth. Bhagirath let the way as far

as Hathigarh, in the 24-Parganas, near the sea, and

then declared that he could not show the rest of the

way. Whereupon Ganga, in order to make sure of

reaching the spot, divided herself into a hundred mouths,

thus forming the delta of the Ganges. One of these

mouths reached the cell, and, by washing the ashes,

completed the atonement for the offence of the sons of King

Sagar, whose souls were thereupon admitted into heaven.

Ganga thus became the sacred stream of the hundred

mouths. The people say that the sea took its name of

Sagar from this legend; and the point of junction of

the river and sea at Sagar Island is a celebrated

seat of Hindu pilgrimage, to which thousands of devout

pilgrims repair every year during the great bathing

festival.<br><br>The pilgrims come for a holy dip on Makar Sankranti

(last day of the Bengali Month ‘Magh’ — Mid January).

They take dips in the Ganges and offer ‘til’ and water

to the Sun God. The dip, as they say, purifies their

‘self’ and according to them, ‘punya’ can be obtained

thus. A special puja is performed which is offered to

the Sun God as a thanksgiving for good harvest.

During evening ‘árati’ worshippers offer leaf baskets

filled with flowers and ‘deep’ (small clay lamps)

holding camphor. The camphor is lit and these flickering

baskets are let adrift on the waters of the sacred Ganga

river.