Ṛśyaśṛṅga and the Rain

Ṛśyaśṛṅga was a young ṛshi (seer) born in the forest, the son of the great ascetic Vibhāṇḍaka. He grew up without ever seeing a woman, and his purity gave him power over rain. The Mahābhārata, in the Vana Parva (Chapters 110–113), tells how he brought rain to the kingdom of Aṅga, how he married Śāntā, and how he later performed the yajña (fire ritual) that gave King Daśaratha his sons. Lomaśa tells this account to Yudhishṭhira as they visit the tīrthas (holy places).

Vibhāṇḍaka and the birth of Ṛśyaśṛṅga

Vibhāṇḍaka was a great ascetic of extraordinary powers, a son of the ṛshi Kaśyapa. He lived deep in the forests and kept the hardest tapas (austerity), with his senses turned away from the world.

One day, while he was bathing in a lake, he saw the apsarā Urvaśī, and he was overcome. His seed fell into the water. A doe drank from that water and became pregnant. She gave birth to a human child, a boy with the antler of a deer growing from his head. This was Ṛśyaśṛṅga. His name means “one who bears a deer-antler.” (Vana Parva, Chapter 110)

Vibhāṇḍaka raised his son deep in the forest, far from the human world. No woman and no person from villages or cities ever came near the boy. He knew only the āśrama (forest dwelling), the fire, the trees, the Vedas and his father. His purity was complete. No desire and no contact with ordinary human life had touched it.

The drought in Aṅga

The kingdom of Aṅga, ruled by King Romapāda, fell into a terrible drought. No rain came. The harvests failed, the rivers shrank and the wells dried up.

Romapāda asked his brāhmaṇas what to do. They told him that Ṛśyaśṛṅga, the forest boy of total purity, must be brought to the kingdom. His presence in a place would make Indra send rain, because Indra feared the tapas of those whose purity is complete and unstained. If Ṛśyaśṛṅga came to Aṅga, the rains would come. (Vana Parva, Chapter 110)

There was a difficulty. Ṛśyaśṛṅga lived with his father, who was very powerful and who had raised him in isolation exactly so that the world’s faults could not reach him. A direct approach was impossible. Vibhāṇḍaka would never allow it, and his anger, if his son were taken, would be terrible.

The courtesan’s mission

Romapāda consulted his ministers, and they devised a plan. A courtesan of great beauty and skill was sent into the forest while Vibhāṇḍaka was away on a longer journey. She found young Ṛśyaśṛṅga and presented herself to him.

Ṛśyaśṛṅga had never seen a woman and did not know what she was. He thought she was an unusual kind of ascetic, because she was radiant and graceful. He welcomed her as an āśrama welcomes a guest. He gave her fruits and water, and he was drawn to her company. (Vana Parva, Chapter 111)

She used her art gently. She woke in him a feeling he had no way to understand or resist. In the end she persuaded him to come with her, saying that she had an āśrama of her own, full of wonderful beauty, which she wished to show him. He went with her. She took him by boat along the river to Campā, the capital of Aṅga.

The moment Ṛśyaśṛṅga stepped onto the soil of Aṅga, rain fell. Indra released the rains at once. (Vana Parva, Chapter 111)

Marriage to Śāntā

King Romapāda received Ṛśyaśṛṅga with great honour. He gave him his adopted daughter Śāntā in marriage. Śāntā was born the daughter of King Daśaratha of Ayodhyā. Daśaratha had given her to Romapāda, out of affection and friendship, when Romapāda had no children. Romapāda raised her as his own. The couple, the forest ṛshi and the king’s daughter, lived at Romapāda’s court. (Vana Parva, Chapter 112)

In time Vibhāṇḍaka found out where his son was. He came toward Aṅga in great fury, and his anger could have burned the kingdom to ash. Romapāda’s ministers were warned of his coming. They had the whole road from the border to the city lined with cows. They also had the people greet Vibhāṇḍaka as if every estate and herd along the way belonged to Ṛśyaśṛṅga. These gifts slowly calmed Vibhāṇḍaka’s anger.

When he reached Romapāda’s court and saw his son honoured, with a queen, established in dignity, his fury faded. He accepted the situation and blessed the couple. (Vana Parva, Chapter 112)

The Putrakāmeshṭi for Daśaratha

Years later, King Daśaratha of Ayodhyā had no sons, in spite of his great power and his many wives. He came to Ṛśyaśṛṅga and asked him to perform the Putrakāmeshṭi, the yajña for obtaining sons.

Ṛśyaśṛṅga agreed and came to Ayodhyā. He performed the yajña with great care and divine power. From the sacred fire rose a purusha carrying a vessel of pāyasa, the divine food. This pāyasa was shared among Daśaratha’s wives Kausalyā, Kaikeyī and Sumitrā, in set portions. From it were born Rāma, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna. Rāma, the greatest of the avatāras, was born from this yajña performed by Ṛśyaśṛṅga. (Vana Parva, Chapter 113)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 110–113