Bāhu and Sagara

King Bāhu was a ruler of the Sūryavaṃśa (the Solar dynasty). He was a just king, but pride (ahaṃkāra) entered his mind and he lost his kingdom and his life. After his death his son Sagara was born in the āśrama of Aurva Maharshi. Sagara later became king, and his sixty thousand sons were burned to ash by Bhagavān Kapila in Pātāla. Their ash was finally washed by Gaṅgā, whom Bhagīratha brought down to earth.

The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa gives this account. Sanaka and Sūta use it to teach what pride, envy (asūyā) and disrespect to a guru lead to, and how great the purifying power of Gaṅgā is.

King Bāhu: his rise and his fall

In the Sūryavaṃśa, a king named Vṛka had a son named Bāhu. Bāhu was a dharmātmā (a person of dharma) and a just ruler. He guarded his subjects with strict righteousness, and all four varṇas and even the animals lived in happiness in his reign. He performed seven Aśvamedha yāgas across the seven dvīpas (continents). He gave rich dānas (gifts) of cows, land, gold and garments to brāhmaṇas, and he won over his enemies by nītiśāstra (the science of policy). In his time the earth gave grain without being sown, the trees bore fruit in plenty, and Indra gave rain at the right time. Adharma was gone completely.

But in time a great pride arose in Bāhu. He thought: “I am the ruler of all people. I have performed great yāgas. I am wise, rich and unconquerable. Who on this earth is greater than I?”

From pride came envy (asūyā), and from envy came desire (kāma). The Purāṇa says plainly that where pride, envy and desire live together, the person has entered the path of vināśa (ruin). It also says that when any one of four things is present, it brings harm. These four are yauvanam (youth), aiśvaryam (wealth), adhikāram (authority) and avivēkam (lack of discernment). When all four are together, ruin is certain.

Bāhu’s growing envy turned away the grace of Śrī Mahāvishṇu. The Haihayas and the Tālajaṅghas became his enemies. In a fierce battle that lasted one month they defeated him. Bāhu lost his kingdom and fled to the forest with his pregnant wife.

Bāhu’s death and Aurva’s help

Bāhu and his wife wandered in the forest and came to a beautiful lake. The birds there sensed the danger in Bāhu’s state of mind and warned each other: “A terrible being is coming. Fly to your homes.” Bāhu and his wives bathed in the lake and rested under a tree.

Bāhu wandered in disgrace. His former subjects blamed him and were glad at his exile, as people are glad when the heat of summer passes. Bāhu was eaten up by grief. In time, weakened by disease and by the fire of grief in his mind, he died near the āśrama of Aurva Maharshi.

His young queen, who was with child, decided to perform sahagamana (to die on her husband’s funeral pyre). She built a pyre, placed her husband’s body on it, and was about to climb up. Aurva Maharshi saw all this by his divya-dṛshṭi (divine sight). He came and stopped her. He said: “There is a great cakravartin (emperor) in your womb. A pregnant woman, a woman with small children, a woman in her period and a woman not in her period: none of these should perform sahagamana. One who destroys the child in the womb has no prāyaścitta (act of atonement).”

The grieving queen understood that the ṛshi had shown her his kindness (anugraha). She gave up her plan and performed her husband’s last rites (antyakriyās) on the bank of the lake. Bāhu’s spirit was made pure by the sight of the great ṛshi. It rose from the pyre in a divine form, climbed into a shining vimāna (flying chariot), and went to the supreme dharma.

The birth of Sagara

Bāhu’s older co-wife burned with envy at the younger queen’s pregnancy. In secret she poisoned the younger queen’s food. But the younger queen served Aurva with great devotion every day. She swept his āśrama, drew rangoli (patterns at the door) and gave faithful service (śuśrūshā). Because of this the poison lost its power.

The younger queen stayed three more months at Aurva’s āśrama and then gave birth. The child came out together with the poison in his body. For this reason he was named Sagara: sa (with) and gara (poison), “born with poison”. The poison did not harm him. It was a sign of the great fate that waited for him.

Aurva performed the jātakarma (birth rite) and gave the child the name Sagara. He performed the caula (first haircut) and the upanayana (sacred-thread rite). He taught Sagara all the śāstras that a king needs. He also gave Sagara divine weapons: the Aindra, Vāruṇa, Brahma and Āgneya astras, and a sword that had no equal.

Sagara asks about his father

When Sagara grew up, he asked his mother who his father was and from which line he came. She told him everything: Bāhu’s glorious rule, his pride and fall, the enemies, the exile and the death. Sagara’s eyes turned red with anger. He vowed to take revenge on all who had wronged his dynasty. He took leave of Aurva, bowed to his mother, and set out.

First he went to the āśrama of Vasishṭha Maharshi, the kula-guru (family teacher). He bowed and told Vasishṭha everything. The wise Vasishṭha was moved by kindness and gave him more divine weapons, among them a khāḍga (sword) as strong as the thunderbolt of Indra.

With these weapons Sagara destroyed his father’s enemies all by himself, together with their sons, grandsons and relatives. The Haihayas and Tālajaṅghas who ran away took shelter with Vasishṭha. Vasishṭha followed dharma for one who seeks shelter (śaraṇāgata) and protected them. But he made the Śabaras bald, left the Yavanas with untidy hair, and shaved the moustaches of the other enemies. In this way all of them became veda-bahishkṛtas, people cast out of Vedic society.

Sagara came and saw his enemies reduced to the state of the dead. He laughed, accepted the wisdom of his guru, and gave up his anger.

Vasishṭha performed Sagara’s rāja-abhisheka (the king’s anointing). Sagara married Keśinī and Sumatī, the daughters of Kośyapa, king of Vidarbha. Aurva Maharshi came from the forest to bless the occasion.

The two queens and their children

The queens asked respectfully for children, and Aurva was pleased. He went into meditation (dhyāna) and then said: “Of you two, one will have one son who will carry on the dynasty. The other will have sixty thousand sons.” Keśinī chose one son. Sumatī chose sixty thousand. So Keśinī bore one son, named Asamañjasa, and Sumatī bore sixty thousand sons.

Asamañjasa grew up wild and cruel. By his bad example he spoiled the other sons. But his own son Aṃśumān was good. He was learned in all the śāstras, followed dharma, and was devoted to his grandfather Sagara.

The sixty thousand sons of Sumatī grew up strong but wholly wicked. They broke up the yāgas of the devas. They carried off the women of Svarga by force. They robbed the divine wish-trees. They tormented good people (sādhujanas).

Indra and the other devas could not bear these acts. In secret they went down to Pātāla and prayed to the great ascetic Kapila Maharshi, who lived there in samādhi, shining like a thousand suns. Kapila told them: “Those who torment innocent beings destroy their own life (āyus), strength (balam), dharma and wealth (aiśvaryam). The sons of Sagara will soon be destroyed by Daivam itself.”

The Aśvamedha and the destruction of Sagara’s sons

Sagara began an Aśvamedha yāga with Vasishṭha and other great ṛshis. Indra stole the horse of the yāga and hid it near Kapila Maharshi in Pātāla. Sagara sent his sixty thousand sons to bring it back.

They searched all the worlds and did not find it. Then they decided to go down to Pātāla. Each of them dug through one yojana of earth and piled the soil on the shore of the ocean. In this way, without meaning to, they dug out the bed of the ocean. This is why the sea has the name sāgara.

In Pātāla they found the horse grazing near Kapila Maharshi, who was in meditation. They were blind with mada (intoxication), anger (krodha) and lack of knowledge (jñānahīnatā). They thought Kapila had stolen the horse. They attacked him with weapons and even kicked him with their feet.

Kapila woke from his samādhi and looked at them. The Purāṇa makes this remark: “Those whom wealth has dazzled, those eaten up by hunger, those made mad by desire, those blinded by pride: they cannot gain vivēkam (discernment).”

Kapila then spoke about their wickedness: “Wealth that burns underground makes the earth smoulder. Is it strange that people touched by that fire should burn? It is no wonder that wicked people torment good people. The current of a river pulls up the trees on its banks.”

He looked at the sons, and fire came out of his eyes. In one moment it burned all sixty thousand of them.

When the news reached Sagara, he was not overcome by grief. The Purāṇa says: “The destruction of the wicked is a source of uccāha (uplift) for the satpurusha (good person).” Sagara took his grandson Aṃśumān as his son, so that the yāga could be completed.

Aṃśumān’s prayer to Kapila

Sagara sent Aṃśumān, who was righteous and good with words, to Pātāla. His task was to bring back the horse and to beg Kapila’s pardon. Aṃśumān bowed to the ground before Kapila in full sāshṭāṅga-praṇāma (bowing with eight limbs touching the ground). He offered a gentle stotra (hymn of praise). In it he called Kapila parabrahman in a body, “brahmarūpa, brāhmaṇapriya” (one in the form of brahman, dear to the brāhmaṇas), who had come down to protect the worlds.

Aṃśumān begged forgiveness for the wrongs of his uncles. He asked for two varas (boons): the freeing of his uncles, and the return of the horse.

Kapila was pleased. He told Aṃśumān: “Your grandson (pautra) will bring Gaṅgā to the earth. Her holy waters will touch the ash of your forefathers and carry all of them to Svarga. Take the horse to your grandfather so that he can finish the yāga.”

Aṃśumān went back with the horse. Sagara completed the yāga. Through tapas to Vishṇu he reached the paramapada (the highest state).

Bhagīratha brings down Gaṅgā

Aṃśumān’s son was Dilīpa, and Dilīpa’s son was Bhagīratha. Bhagīratha was filled with the aim that had been handed down through the generations. First he met Bhṛgu Maharshi at the Godāvarī. Bhṛgu taught him the Vishṇu mantras of eight syllables (Ashṭāksharī) and twelve syllables (Dvādaśāksharī).

Then Bhagīratha performed hard tapas (kaṭhora tapas) at the sacred place called Nādeśvara on the Himavat. Brahma was pleased and gave him the vara that Gaṅgā would come down. Bhagīratha then pleased Śiva, so that he would take the force of her fall. Śiva kindly agreed.

Gaṅgā came down through the matted hair (jaṭā) of Śiva to the earth. She followed the chariot of Bhagīratha and reached the place in Pātāla where the ash of the sixty thousand sons lay. The touch of her waters made all of them pure, and they rose to Brahmaloka.

In the Sūryavaṃśa, Sudāsa was born from Bhagīratha, and Mitrasaha was born from Sudāsa.

Gaṅgā frees Mitrasaha (Kalmāshapāda Saudāsa)

From the line of Bhagīratha came Saudāsa, who is also called Kalmāshapāda. He suffered a śāpa (curse) from Vasishṭha and became a rākshasa. One single drop (bindu) of Gaṅgā’s water touched him. It destroyed his rākshasa body and gave him back his royal form with a pure mind. He became a devotee of Śrī Hari and ruled with righteousness.

Teachings in the narrative

Sanaka and Sūta use the account of Bāhu and Sagara to teach these things.

• Pride destroys discernment. Even a great and righteous king like Bāhu was ruined as soon as pride entered his mind.
• Envy and desire follow pride. These three together are the triple gate to pātana (a fall).
• The grace of Śrī Hari protects. When Bhagavān Vishṇu is kind, even dull people become heroes. When he is against a person, even the wisest fall.
• The presence of a good person (satpurusha) is a protection. Aurva’s presence alone prevented two wrongs: a woman’s death on the pyre and the death of the child in her womb. By the sight of Aurva even Bāhu’s spirit reached moksha.
• Sagara did not mourn his wicked sons. Kapila had told the devas that Daivam itself would destroy them.

Sources

• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 7–11
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Chaturdhāmsa, Chapters 3–4