Mahabharata Vol. 3 (Penguin Translated Texts) (15 page)

‘“Sagara said, ‘O son! I am aggrieved that I abandoned your father, at the death of my sons and I am also tormented because I have not been able to obtain the horse. O grandson! Therefore, I am tormented by misery and am deluded because of impediment to the sacrifice. You must bring back the horse from hell.’”
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‘Lomasha said, “Having been thus addressed by the great-souled Sagara, Anshuman sadly went to the place where the earth had been torn apart. Through that path, he entered the ocean and saw the great-souled Kapila and the horse. On seeing that ancient and supreme of rishis, he bowed down his head on the ground and informed him about the task for which he had come. O great king! Kapila was pleased with Anshuman. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The one with dharma in his soul told him to ask for a boon. First, he
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asked for the horse needed for the sacrifice. Second, he asked for water to purify his fathers.
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The immensely energetic Kapila, bull among sages, told him, ‘O fortunate one! O unblemished one! I will give you the boons you have asked for. Forgiveness, dharma and truth are established in you. Sagara will become successful through you. Your father has truly got a son. Through your powers, the sons of Sagara will go to heaven. Your grandson will bring down the three-coursed one from heaven.
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He will satisfy Maheshvara
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and purify the sons of Sagara. O bull among men! Be fortunate and take back the sacrificial horse. O son! Complete the sacrifice of the great-souled Sagara. Having been thus addressed by the great-souled Kapila, Anshuman took the horse and returned to the sacrificial ground of the great-souled one.
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There he bowed at the feet of the great-souled Sagara and told him everything and he inhaled the fragrance of his
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head. He told him everything that he had heard and seen and about the destruction of the sons of Sagara. He told him that the horse had been brought to the sacrificial ground. On hearing this, King Sagara stopped grieving for his sons. He honoured Anshuman and completed the sacrifice.

‘“When the sacrifice was completed, Sagara was honoured by all the gods. He thought of the ocean, Varuna’s abode, as his son.
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After ruling over the kingdom for a long time, the lotus-eyed one handed over the burden to his grandson and went to heaven. O great king! Anshuman, with dharma in his soul, ruled over the earth, up to the frontiers of the ocean, as his grandfather had. His son was Dilipa, devoted to dharma. Having handed over the kingdom to him, Anshuman left. But Dilipa had heard about the great destruction of his fathers.
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Overwhelmed with grief, he thought about their end. The king made great efforts to bring down the Ganga. But though he tried with all his strength, he could not ensure the descent. He had a handsome son, devoted to dharma. He was known as Bhagiratha. He was truthful and no one spoke ill of him. Instating him in the kingdom, Dilipa resorted to the forest. O bull among the Bharata lineage! O descendant of the Bharata lineage! After obtaining success in austerities, in due course of time, that king went to the forest and then to heaven.”’

‘Lomasha said, “That great king and emperor, a maharatha and a great archer, was the delight of the minds and eyes of all the worlds. That mighty-armed one heard about the terrible destruction of his fathers from the great-souled Kapila and how they had failed to attain heaven. With misery in his heart, the lord of men handed over the kingdom to his advisers and went to the slopes of the
Himalayas to torment himself with austerities. Cleansed of sins, he performed austerities to worship Ganga. O best of men! He saw the Himalayas, supreme among mountains. It was adorned with peaks of many forms, decorated with minerals. It was embraced on all sides by clouds floating on the wind. It was adorned with rivers, groves and ridges. It was infested by lions and tigers in its caves and caverns. There were birds of diverse forms that sung diverse tunes—
bhringaraja
s,
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swans,
datyuha
s,
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waterhens, peacocks,
shatapatra
s,
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cuckoos,
jivajivaka
s,
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chakoras with black-tinged eyes and those that love their young. The waterbodies were beautiful and decorated with lotuses. They were ornamented with the sweet notes of cranes. The flat plains were frequented by kinnaras and apsaras. In all directions, the trees had been marked by the sharp tusks of the elephants of the directions.
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The place was frequented by
vidyadhara
s
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and adorned with diverse gems. It was infested by snakes with virulent poison, their tongues flaming. Some parts were like gold, others glittered like silver. Some places were like a mass of collyrium. He reached these Himalayas.

‘“The best of men engaged in terrible austerities there. He lived for a thousand years on fruits, roots and water. After one thousand celestial years had passed, the great river Ganga showed herself in personified form. Ganga asked, ‘O great king! What do you wish from me? What can I give you? O best of men! Tell me and I will do as you say.’ Having been thus addressed, the king replied to the daughter of the Himalayas.
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‘O granter of boons! O great river! My grandfathers, the sixty thousand great-souled sons of Sagara, were taken to Vaivasvata’s eternal world by Kapila, while they were searching for the horse. They confronted Kapila’s energy and were instantly destroyed. Having been destroyed, they cannot reside in
heaven until their bodies are sprinkled with your water. O immensely fortunate one! Take my fathers, Sagara’s sons, to heaven. O great river! I am praying to you for their sake.’ Having heard the king’s words, Ganga, worshipped by all the worlds, was extremely delighted with Bhagiratha’s words and replied, ‘O great king! There is no doubt that I will do what you say. But when I descend from the sky to the earth, my force will be difficult to bear. O king! There is no one in the three worlds who can withstand it, other than Nilakantha
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Maheshvara, foremost among the gods. O mighty-armed one! Satisfy Hara, the granter of boons, through your austerities. The god will sustain my fall on his head. He will do what you desire for the welfare of your fathers.’ O king! On hearing these words, the great king Bhagiratha went to Mount Kailasa and satisfied Shankara
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through austerities. O king! After some time had passed, the supreme of men obtained from him the boon that he would bear Ganga, so that his fathers might be entitled to reside in heaven.”’

‘Lomasha said, “After hearing Bhagiratha’s words, to do that which would ensure the welfare of the gods, the illustrious one replied to the king, ‘O mighty-armed one! O supreme among kings! For your sake, I will bear the pure, auspicious and divine river of the gods when she falls from the sky.’ O mighty-armed one! Having said this, he
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went to the Himalayas, surrounded by his terrible attendants, who held diverse upraised weapons. Having established himself there, he told Bhagiratha, best of men, ‘O mighty-armed one! Now ask the river, the daughter of the king of the
mountains. I will bear the best of rivers when she falls from heaven. Having heard these words spoken by Sharva,
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the king bowed and began to meditate on the Ganga, his mind controlled. On seeing the king meditating and Ishana
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established there, the one with the pure waters was suddenly dislodged from the sky. On seeing her fall, the gods, together with the maharshis, and the gandharvas, the nagas and the rakshasas, assembled to witness the sight. Then Ganga, daughter of the Himalayas, infested with fish and crocodiles and full of giant whirlpools, fell down from the sky. O king! Hara bore Ganga, the girdle of the sky. Falling on his forehead, she looked like a garland of pearls. O king! Thus did the one who goes to the ocean divide herself into three streams. Her water, filled with foam, looks like an array of swans. In some places, she is coiled tortuously. In others, she stumbles. In others, she speeds like a drunken woman, clad in a garment of foam. In some places, her waters raise a great roar, uttering the supreme of sounds. In this fashion, she performed many acts on falling from the sky.

‘“On reaching the surface of the earth, she told Bhagiratha, ‘O great king! Show me the path that I should follow. O lord of the earth! It is for your sake that I have descended on earth.’ O best of men! Hearing these words, King Bhagiratha went to the place where the bodies of the great-souled sons of Sagara were kept, so that they might be purified with the sacred waters. Having borne Ganga, Hara, worshipped by the worlds, went to Kailasa, best of mountains, with the thirty gods. Going to the ocean with Ganga, the king forcefully filled up the ocean, Varuna’s abode. The king thought of Ganga as his daughter. His desires having been fulfilled, he offered oblations to his ancestors there. I have told you everything about the three-streamed Ganga and how she descended on earth to fill up the ocean, which was drunk up by the great-souled one for a specific reason, and how Agastya brought Vatapi, the killer of brahmanas, to his destruction. O lord! O great king! I have told you everything that you asked.”’

Vaishampayana said, ‘O bull among the Bharata lineage! In due course, Kounteya
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travelled to the two rivers Nanda and Aparananda, the cleanser of sins and fear. On reaching Mount Hemakuta, the granter of health, the king saw many extraordinary and unthinkable things. From mere words, clouds are created there and there are showers of thousands of stones, so that people are saddened that they are incapable of ascending. The wind always blows there and the gods shower down. In evening and in the morning, the lord who is the bearer of sacrificial offerings,
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is seen. The Pandava saw many such extraordinary things and again asked Lomasha about these extraordinary things.

‘Lomasha said, “O destroyer of enemies! O king! I will tell you as I have heard it earlier. Listen attentively to me. An ascetic by the name of Rishabha lived on this Mount Rishabha. The ascetic was aged many hundreds of years and was extremely prone to anger. On being addressed by others, he angrily told the mountain, ‘Shower stones on whoever utters a word here.’ The ascetic summoned the wind and said that not a sound should be uttered. Thus, if a man speaks a word, he is restrained by the clouds. O king! Through such deeds, the maharshi performed some acts out of anger and he restrained others from being done.

‘“O king! We have heard that in ancient times, the gods came to Nanda and suddenly men assembled, in their desire to see the gods. The gods, with Shakra at the forefront, did not desire to be seen. By erecting mountains, they made the region difficult of access. O Kounteya! From that day, men cannot even look at the mountain, not to speak of ascending it. O Kounteya! One who has not performed austerities cannot see the great mountain, or climb it. Therefore, control your speech. It was here that the gods performed
great sacrifices. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Their marks can be seen even today. The
durva
grass here is like kusha grass
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and the ground is strewn with it. O lord of the earth! There are many trees that look like sacrificial stakes. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The gods and the rishis live there even today. Their sacrificial fires can be seen in the evenings and in the mornings. O Kounteya! If one bathes there, one’s sins are instantly destroyed. O best of the Kuru lineage! Therefore, perform your ablutions there, together with your younger brothers. Then, having washed your limbs in Nanda, go to Koushiki, where Vishvamitra performed terrible and supreme austerities.”’

Vaishampayana said, ‘The king and his companions washed their limbs there. Then they went to the sacred and beautiful Koushiki, the river whose waters are auspicious.’