SriRamayana on Telebridge #33

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Balakanda 38

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha!

 

After hearing the story of Ganga and Kartikeya, Rama asked Vishvamitra, "Why

did Ganga flow in three paths?" In this query, Vishvamitra recognized the hidden

question of why Ganga came to earth and started narrating the story of Ganga's

descent to earth.

 

"Long ago there was a king called 'Sagara' who ruled Ayodhya and He had two

wives. First wife Kesini was king Vidarbha’s daughter who was blameless, pious

and always spoke the truth. Arishtanemi's daughter 'Sumati' was Sagara's second

wife who was the sister of Garuda. She was very beautiful. Sagara didn't have

children. So, he went to a place in Himalayas called 'Bhrigu Prasravanam' along

with his two wives and meditated there. After a hundred years of meditation,

Bhrigu Maharishi was happy with his Tapas and gave him the boons of progeny and

fame. The Rishi also said that one of the wives will give birth to a boy who

will bring great name to the dynasty and the other wife will give birth to six

thousand boys. Both the wives were curious and asked the Rishi who will have one

boy and who will have six thousand boys. The Rishi gave them the option to

choose. Kesini asked for one boy who will enrich their dynasty and Sumati asked

for six thousand boys.

 

The king went back to Ayodhya. Both his wives got pregnant and Kesini gave birth

to a boy called 'Asamanjasa'. Sumati gave birth to a big lump of embryo from

which six thousand children emerged. The nannies protected the six thousand

babies by keeping them in pots filled with ghee as they were born small and weak

and brought them up carefully. Gradually they all grew up and reached youth. The

eldest son Asamanjasa fell into evil ways. He used to throw his brothers into

Sarayu River and laugh and enjoy when they were drowning. The citizens of

Ayodhya despised him for his evil behavior, so Sagara banished him from the

kingdom. Asamanjasa had a son called 'Amsumanta' and he was very moral and was a

well-wisher of the people and the citizens of Ayodhya were very fond of him.

 

After some time, Sagara wanted to perform a Vedic ritual. He consulted the

Upadhyayas (vedic teachers) and started the ritual.

 

-to be continued-

Jai Srimannarayana

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