Ṛśyaśṛṅga in the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa

Ṛśyaśṛṅga was the ṛshi whose presence was needed for the Putrakāmeshṭi yāga, the great sacrifice that Daśaratha performed to obtain sons. From it came the births of Rāma, Lakshmaṇa, Bharata and Śatrughna. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Ṛśyaśṛṅga came to Aṅga, how his arrival ended a great drought, and how his marriage to Śāntā (in another reading, to Rāmā, a daughter of Romapāda) tied him to Ayodhyā. It also tells of his father, the ṛshi Vibhāṇḍaka.

Vibhāṇḍaka and the birth of Ṛśyaśṛṅga

The ṛshi Vibhāṇḍaka, son of the great ṛshi Kaśyapa, was a man of immense tapas (austerity) and strict discipline. He lived deep in the forest in complete celibacy and austerity.

Once, while he was making his water-offering at a sacred lake, the apsarā Urvaśī appeared in the water. Seeing her celestial beauty, Vibhāṇḍaka was overcome by desire he could not hold back, and his śukra (seed) fell into the water. A doe was drinking from that lake. She swallowed the water with the śukra in it, and from this Ṛśyaśṛṅga was born. He was a young man with a deer’s horn (śṛṅga) on his forehead, a sign of his partly deer birth.

Vibhāṇḍaka raised this unusual son deep in the forest, cut off from the world and above all from women. Ṛśyaśṛṅga grew up knowing nothing of women.

The drought in Aṅga

In the kingdom of Aṅga, ruled by King Romapāda (also called Lomapāda), a terrible drought came. No rain had fallen for years, and the kingdom was in great hardship. Seers and astrologers told Romapāda that the rains would come if the celibate ṛshi Ṛśyaśṛṅga could be brought to Aṅga and married to the king’s daughter Śāntā (or Rāmā, in some accounts). His celibacy gave him strong puṇya (merit), able to move the clouds.

The king made a plan. Beautiful young women were trained and sent into the forest near Vibhāṇḍaka’s āśrama on a floating pavilion or pleasure-boat. They carried delicious foods and wore fragrant garlands. They began to talk with the young Ṛśyaśṛṅga, who had never seen women before and found them strange and wonderful. They showered him with sweets and sang and danced for him. Little by little they drew him to their boat and in the end to the kingdom of Aṅga.

The moment Ṛśyaśṛṅga’s foot touched the soil of Aṅga, rain came in plenty. Romapāda received him with great joy and arranged his marriage to his daughter. Ṛśyaśṛṅga married and stayed in Aṅga.

Daśaratha’s yāga

Daśaratha was old and had no children. He asked the ṛshi Vasishṭha and other learned brāhmaṇas how he could obtain sons. Vasishṭha told him to perform the Putrakāmeshṭi yāga, the sacrifice for obtaining sons. He said that Ṛśyaśṛṅga, son of Vibhāṇḍaka, was the right ṛtvik (officiating priest) for it.

Daśaratha travelled to Aṅga. With Romapāda’s kind consent he brought Ṛśyaśṛṅga to Ayodhyā together with his wife Śāntā. Ṛśyaśṛṅga performed the Putrakāmeshṭi yāga at Ayodhyā with great care. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa describes the long preparations and the gathering of learned ṛshis.

The result of the yāga was the divine kshīra (sacred rice pudding, pāyasa) that rose from the fire, and then the birth of the four princes. This was the fruit of Ṛśyaśṛṅga’s work as priest.

Suvarcalā takes Kaikeyī’s pāyasa

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa adds a detail that is not in every version. The kshīra rose from the sacrificial fire and was shared among Daśaratha’s three queens. Then an apsarā named Suvarcalā (or Graddha, in some manuscript readings) swooped down, took Kaikeyī’s share of the pāyasa, and flew away with it.

The stolen pāyasa fell at last on Mount Añjanā. There the vānara woman Añjanī found it and ate it. It was the pāyasa meant for Kaikeyī, the mother of Bharata. It became part of what gave Hanumān his great powers.

Vibhāṇḍaka’s anger and return

After the yāga, Vibhāṇḍaka was furious that his son had been lured away by women. He saw it as a seduction and a betrayal of brahmacarya (celibate discipline). He came in great anger toward Aṅga and then Ayodhyā.

Daśaratha and Romapāda had been warned. They arranged for Ṛśyaśṛṅga to go out and meet his father with plentiful hospitality and offerings. Vibhāṇḍaka’s anger was calmed by his son’s respectful welcome and the rich gifts. In the end he went back to his forest āśrama.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 1