Aṃśumān

Aṃśumān is a king of the Ikshvāku Vaṃśa, the great solar dynasty. He is the grandson of Sagara, the mighty cakravartī (universal emperor) who ruled the earth of seven islands. When Sagara’s sixty thousand sons were burned to ash by the glance of Kapila Maharshi in Pātāla, Sagara sent Aṃśumān to bring back the Aśvamedha horse. There Aṃśumān received from Kapila the word that only the descent of the celestial Gaṅgā could free the sons of Sagara. He brought the horse back, and Sagara finished his Aśvamedha. The freeing of the ancestors was done later by Bhagīratha.

Identity and lineage

Aṃśumān belongs to the Ikshvāku Vaṃśa. His grandfather was Sagara. His father was Assamañjasa, a man of wicked character whom Sagara had in the end sent away. Sagara was therefore grieved twice, by the wickedness of his son and by the loss of his sixty thousand sons.

The mission to Kapila’s āśrama

The sixty thousand sons of Sagara were chasing the stolen Aśvamedha horse. They dug down through the earth to Pātāla. There Kapila Maharshi’s glance reduced them to ash. Sagara heard the news with deep grief. He called Aṃśumān, the son of Assamañjasa and a prince of spotless character, and sent him down the same way that the sixty thousand had dug, the great tunnel through the earth toward Rasātala.

Aṃśumān went down by that tunnel and came near the āśrama (hermitage) of Kapila Maharshi. He saw the heaps of ash of all sixty thousand princes. The Aśvamedha horse was grazing nearby. He also saw Kapila, who blazed like the sun coming out from behind clouds. Kapila was a figure of great tapas (austerity), a part of Bhagavān Vishṇu in the form of a Maharshi.

With full humility and devotion, Aṃśumān praised Kapila with hymns (stotras). The Maharshi was pleased and spoke kindly to him.

Kapila’s instruction

Kapila said to Aṃśumān, “Take the horse and give it to your grandfather so that he can finish the yajña. Ask a vara (boon), whatever you wish.” Aṃśumān answered with great reverence, “These ancestors of mine were struck down by a divine being. They cannot reach svarga (heaven) by ordinary means. Grant that the celestial Gaṅgā may come down to earth, so that her waters, touching their bones and ash, may free them.”

Kapila replied, “You will not be the one to do this. Your son, or your son’s son, will bring Gaṅgā from svarga to the earth by great tapas. When her waters touch the bones and ash of the sons of Sagara, they will be freed and reach svarga. The waters from the lotus feet of Bhagavān Vishṇu have this power. One touch is enough, with no special saṃkalpa (formal resolve).”

The return and Sagara’s yajña

Aṃśumān bowed to Kapila, took the horse and climbed up the long tunnel to the surface. He gave the horse to his grandfather Sagara, who was then able to finish the Aśvamedha. Sagara, moved by grief for his sons, took the ocean (sāgara) as his son in a symbolic way and gave it his own name.

Aṃśumān did not live to see Gaṅgā come down. His son was Dilīpa, and Dilīpa’s son was Bhagīratha. Bhagīratha did tapas of prāṇāyāma for sixty thousand years and brought Gaṅgā to earth. She freed the sixty thousand sons of Sagara.

The Mahābhārata account, Vana Parva

The Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapters 106 to 109) gives the same account of Aṃśumān’s mission. Lomaśa tells it to Yudhishṭhira during the Pāṇḍavas’ pilgrimage to the tīrthas (holy places).

In this telling, Sagara had two queens, Vaidarbhī and Śaibhyā. Vaidarbhī gave birth to one son, Asamañja. Śaibhyā gave birth to sixty thousand sons. Indra stole the Aśvamedha horse and hid it in Kapila’s āśrama under the earth. The sixty thousand sons of Śaibhyā dug through the earth to find it. They took the meditating ṛshi for the thief, and Kapila’s glance reduced them to ash at once.

Sagara then sent his grandson Aṃśumān, the son of Asamañja and a prince of gentle character, to bring back the horse. Aṃśumān went down through the tunnel dug by his uncles. He found the heaps of ash of the sixty thousand and found the horse near Kapila. He came to Kapila with full humility and praised him. Kapila gave him the horse. Kapila also answered his question about the sixty thousand. Only the waters of the celestial Gaṅgā, brought down to earth, could touch their ash and free them. The work would pass through three generations. Aṃśumān did great tapas for the rest of his life to bring Gaṅgā down, but he did not succeed. He handed the task to his son Dilīpa, and Dilīpa handed it to his son Bhagīratha, who in the end did what the earlier ones had sought.

Sources

• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Chaturdhāmsa, Chapter 4
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 106–109