Sagara
Sagara was a cakravartī (ruler of the whole earth) of the Sūryavaṃśa, the Solar line, and the son of Bāhuka. He was born with poison in his body, yet he rose to great glory. His sixty thousand sons dug the ocean while searching for his yajña horse. They were burned to ash by the sight of Bhagavān Kapila. Gaṅgā had to come down to earth to free them, and this was done generations later by his descendant Bhagīratha.
Birth and early life
Sagara’s father Bāhuka lost his kingdom to his enemies and went to the forest with his wife. He died there of old age. His co-wives were jealous of the pregnant queen, and they mixed poison in her food. The great ṛṣi Aurva stopped the queen from following her husband into death by fire. The child was born with the poison still in his body. So he was named Sagara (sa + gara, “with poison”). This bad start did not make him smaller. He grew to be one of the mightiest kings of his age.
The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the 9th Skandha, Chapter 8.
Sagara as cakravartī
Sagara followed the guidance of his guru Aurva Maharṣi. He performed many Aśvamedha yajñas to mark his rule and to honour Śrī Hari. His rule reached over the whole earth. During one of these yajñas, Indra stole the horse and hid it near the āśrama of Kapila Maharṣi in the north-east.
Sagara also defeated the Tālajaṅghas, Yavanas, Haihayas and Barbaras. Aurva advised him not to kill them. Instead he shamed them. He made them wear distorted clothing and shaved half of their heads.
The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the 9th Skandha, Chapter 8.
The sixty thousand sons and the ocean
Sagara had two wives, Sumatī and Keśinī. Sumatī bore sixty thousand proud sons. Keśinī bore one son, named Asamañjasa.
The sixty thousand sons were sent to find the stolen horse. They dug through the earth in every direction and made the basin of the ocean. For this reason the ocean is called sāgara. In the north-east they found the horse near Bhagavān Kapila, who sat in meditation. Indra’s trick made them believe that Kapila had stolen it, and they rushed at him with raised weapons. Kapila opened his eyes. In an instant the fire inside their own bodies burned them all to ash.
The Bhāgavata says that Kapila’s anger did not destroy them. Kapila knows all and is a form of Śrī Hari, so he is free of tamas (dullness) and krodha (anger). The result of their own wrong conduct toward a mahātmā (a great soul) came out as fire from their own bodies.
The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the 9th Skandha, Chapter 8.
Asamañjasa and Aṃśumān
Sagara’s other son, Asamañjasa, seemed to act in a wild way. He threw children into the river Sarayū. This was his yogic play from a past birth. Sagara did not know his true greatness and sent him away in anger.
Asamañjasa’s son, Aṃśumān, who was Sagara’s grandson, was sent to bring back the horse. He followed the path that his sixty thousand grand-uncles had dug. He came to Kapila Maharṣi and offered a beautiful stotra (hymn of praise). In it he said that the all-knowing Bhagavān Kapila cannot be grasped through the body and mind.
Kapila was pleased with his devotion. He gave Aṃśumān the horse and told him that only the waters of Gaṅgā could free the sixty thousand sons. Aṃśumān brought the horse back, and Sagara finished his yajña. Sagara then gave the kingdom to Aṃśumān and followed Aurva’s teaching to mokṣa (liberation).
The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the 9th Skandha, Chapter 8.
The Nārada Purāṇa account
The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa gives a fuller account of how Sagara was born and how he rose.
His father Bāhu Mahārāja had ruled the earth in perfect dharma. He had performed seven Aśvamedha yajñas across the seven dvīpas (continents). Then ahaṃkāra (ego), asūyā (envy) and kāma (desire) clouded his mind and took away the kṛpā (grace) of Śrī Hari. He lost his kingdom and died in the forest near the āśrama of Aurva Maharṣi.
Bāhu’s older co-wife had poisoned his pregnant younger queen out of jealousy. But the younger queen served Aurva with daily devotion. She swept, drew rangoli (floor designs) and gave faithful śuśrūṣā (service). So the poison lost its power. Three months after Bāhu’s death she gave birth to the boy, with the poison still in his body. He was named Sagara (sa + gara). Aurva stopped the pregnant queen from going with her husband in death (sahagamana). He performed the jātakarma (birth rite) for the child and named him Sagara. He taught Sagara all the śāstras. He also gave him the Aindra, Vāruṇa, Brahma and Āgneya astras (divine weapons).
When Sagara grew up, his mother told him his father’s story. He vowed revenge on the Haihayas and Tālajaṅghas. First he went to Vasiṣṭha Maharṣi, his kula-guru (family teacher). Vasiṣṭha gave him a sword equal to Indra’s vajra. Alone, Sagara destroyed all the family lines of his enemies. The survivors ran to Vasiṣṭha and asked for shelter. Vasiṣṭha kept the dharma for those who seek shelter (śaraṇāgata) and protected them. But he took away their place in the Vedic order. The Śabaras had their hair cut. The Yavanas were left untidy. Other enemies had their moustaches shaved. All of them became veda-bahiṣkṛtas (those cast out of the Vedic order). When Sagara came and saw his enemies in this state, he laughed and accepted his guru‘s decision. Vasiṣṭha performed his rāja-abhiṣeka (royal coronation). Sagara married Keśinī and Sumatī. Aurva Maharṣi came from the forest to bless the wedding.
The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa also tells of the Aśvamedha, the sixty thousand sons, Kapila’s burning of them, Aṃśumān’s prayer, and Bhagīratha’s bringing down of Gaṅgā. It adds that Sagara did not grieve for his sixty thousand wicked sons. He felt uccāha (uplift) at their end. He understood that “the destruction of the wicked is a source of joy for the satpuruṣa” (the good person).
The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the Pūrvārdha, Chapters 7 to 9.
The Viṣṇu Purāṇa account
The Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa tells of Sagara in the Caturdhāṃśa, Chapters 3 and 4.
Sagara’s enemies were the Śakas, Yavanas, Kāmbhojas, Pāradas, Pahlavas, Haihayas and Tālajaṅghas. After they were beaten, they asked his guru Vasiṣṭha for shelter. Vasiṣṭha protected them, but under Sagara’s condition. They lost the Vedic rites and were marked by special dress and hair. They became veda-bahiṣkṛtas.
The Viṣṇu Purāṇa also tells how Aṃśumān entered Kapila’s cave and spoke with the Maharṣi. Kapila told him that only the coming down of Gaṅgā could free the sixty thousand sons who had been turned to ash.
Chapter 4 gives the birth of Aśmaka within the same genealogy of the Solar line. It tells of Kalmāṣapāda, the śāpa (curse), Vasiṣṭha’s niyoga (an appointed union for a child) with Madayantī, and Aśmaka’s stone-birth. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa gives Sagara’s line from Khaṭvāṅga through Daśaratha to Rāma.
The Brahma Purāṇa account: Gautamī Māhātmya
The Brahma Mahā Purāṇa tells of Sagara in the Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 8. There it explains how the Bhāgīrathī and Gautamī branches of Gaṅgā came to be.
Sagara was a king born in the family of Vaivasvata Manu and the Ikṣvāku line. The ocean (sāgara) takes its name from him. He performed yajñas, gave freely in charity and thought deeply about dharma. He had two wives who were devoted to him, but he had no children. He did pūjā to Vasiṣṭha, who meditated and gave him counsel. Later an ascetic came, and Sagara honoured him as was proper. The ascetic was pleased and granted a vara (a boon). One wife would have a son who would carry on the family. The other would have sixty thousand sons.
Indra stole the Aśvamedha horse, and then asuras hid it in the nether world. The sixty thousand sons searched the worlds above, the mountains, the forests and the seas, and they did not find it. A divine voice told them: “O sons of Sagara, the horse is kept bound in the nether world.” They began to dig the earth all around. In their hunger they ate dry soil day and night as they dug downward. In the nether world they found the horse tied near the sleeping Kapila Maharṣi. They took him for the thief and woke him roughly. The glance of the angry Maharṣi at once burned all sixty thousand to ash.
Nārada came to Sagara and told him what had happened: the plan of the asuras, the place of the horse, and the death of his sixty thousand sons. Meanwhile Sagara’s other son, Asamañjas, who was known for wild behaviour, had already been sent away at the request of the citizens. So Asamañjas’s son Aṃśumān was sent. He pleased Kapila Maharṣi with devotion and got the horse. Sagara finished the yajña. Aṃśumān’s son Dilīpa ruled after him, and Dilīpa’s son was Bhagīratha. Bhagīratha finally brought Gaṅgā to earth to free the sixty thousand.
Sagara in the Hari Vamśa Purāṇa
The Hari Vamśa Purāṇa (Hari Vamśa Parva, Chapters 13 to 15) places Sagara in the Sūryavaṃśa through the Ikṣvāku line. It links him to Triśaṅku and Hariścandra. The line it gives is: Ikṣvāku, Kakutstha, Purukutsa, Trasaddasyū, Anāraṇya, Haryaśva, Aruṇa, Tribandhu (Tryāruṇa), Satyavrata (Triśaṅku), Hariścandra, Rohita, Harita, Cañcu, Vijaya, Ruruka, Vṛka, Bāhu, Sagara.
Bāhu’s fall and Sagara’s birth
Bāhu, also called Bāhuka, fell into gambling and other bad habits (vyasanas). A league of the Śakas, Yavanas, Kāmbojas, Pāradas, Pahlavas, Haihayas and Tālajaṅghas took his kingdom. Bāhu went to the forest with his wife and died there. A co-wife had poisoned his wife. The Bhārgava Aurva Maharṣi stopped her from going with her husband in death. Sagara was born in Aurva’s āśrama with the poison in his body. Aurva performed the jātakarma, named the child Sagara, taught him all the śāstras and gave him the Āgneya astra. This is in Chapter 14.
The boon of Bhagavān Viṣṇu and the ocean as son
The Hari Vamśa Purāṇa describes Kapila Maharṣi as a form of Viṣṇu in yoga. After the sixty thousand sons of Sagara were burned to ash by his sight, Bhagavān Viṣṇu himself appeared to Sagara and gave him a direct vara (a boon): “Your lineage will not perish. You will gain great kīrti (fame). The ocean will be your son.”
At that moment the deva of the ocean himself came with materials for pūjā. He bowed to the ground before Sagara and took the place of Sagara’s putra (son). This is why the ocean got the name sāgara. Sagara then took his yajña horse back from the ocean itself and completed one hundred Aśvamedha yajñas. This is in Chapter 14.
Surviving sons and succession
The Hari Vamśa Purāṇa says that four sons lived through the burning: Barhaketu, Suketu, Dharmaratha and Pañcajana. Pañcajana was made king. His son Aṃśumān carried the line on toward Bhagīratha’s bringing down of Gaṅgā. This is in Chapter 15.
Sagara in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa: Bāla Kāṇḍa
In the Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 38 to 41, Viśvāmitra tells the whole account of Sagara to Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa on their journey to the north.
It begins with Sagara’s two wives. Keśinī bore one son, and Sumatī bore sixty thousand. Then comes the Aśvamedha yajña, from which Indra stole the horse and hid it near the āśrama of Kapila Maharṣi in the north-east.
The sixty thousand sons dug through the earth in all four directions and then downward into pātāla (the nether world). As they dug, the earth shook, and even the devas were disturbed. When they reached Kapila’s āśrama, a glance from the meditating Maharṣi burned all sixty thousand to ash in a single moment.
After that Sagara sent Aṃśumān. He went down the path that his ancestors had dug and found the horse and the ash. Garuḍa told him that only the waters of Gaṅgā could free the sixty thousand.
Viśvāmitra tells of Bhagīratha’s great tapas (austerity) right after this, in Chapters 42 to 44.
Mahābhārata account: Vana Parva
The Vana Parva, Chapters 106 to 109, has the account of Sagara told by Lomaśa to Yudhiṣṭhira during the tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage).
Sagara performed an Aśvamedha yajña. Indra stole the horse and hid it near the āśrama of Kapila Maharṣi in pātāla. Sagara sent his sixty thousand sons, born of his second wife, to look for it. They dug through the earth in all four directions. At last they found the horse near Kapila, and his glance burned all sixty thousand to ash.
Sagara then sent his grandson Aṃśumān. Aṃśumān got the horse back and learned from Kapila that only the waters of Gaṅgā could free the sixty thousand. He returned with the horse, and the yajña was completed.
The freeing of the sixty thousand sons waited for three generations of tapas. The text names Dilīpa and Bhagīratha.
Sagara and Ariṣṭanemi: staged renunciation
The Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata, in the Mokṣadharma Parva, Chapter 288, gives a talk between Sagara and Ariṣṭanemi (the Sagara-Ariṣṭanemi Saṃvāda). In it Sagara is a king who asks how to pass from the life of a householder (gṛhastha) to saṃnyāsa (renunciation). The account does not say whether this Sagara is the cakravartī of the Sāgara account or a later king of the same name. Ariṣṭanemi, a ṛṣi of the Kaśyapa line, gives the teaching.
Staged renunciation
Ariṣṭanemi teaches that letting go of family ties (wife, children and home) should not be sudden. It should come in steps.
- First, let go of the inner attachment (āsakti) to the results of household action, while still doing household duties.
- Then reduce the activity itself, little by little, as the family members become independent.
- Last, make the formal renunciation of the gṛhastha life, only when the inner detachment is already complete.
The outer leaving of the home is the last step, not the first.
Karma decides what each being meets
A main theme of Ariṣṭanemi’s teaching is that what every being meets is decided by its own karma. It is not decided by whether the householder is there to protect it. No child will thrive because of a parent’s worry, and no child will suffer because the parent has renounced. Each being carries the karma that decides what it meets. This is not a reason to neglect one’s family. It corrects the ego’s belief that it is the maker of its family’s welfare.
Letting go of deha-abhimāna
The deepest teaching is the letting go of deha-abhimāna, the habit of taking the ātmā (soul) to be the body. As long as the ātmā takes itself to be a certain body with a certain family, the ties of household life feel like real bonds and not like chosen ties. Ariṣṭanemi points toward knowing that the ātmā is not touched by the birth, ageing, sickness and death of the body. It is equally not touched by the presence or absence of family members. This knowledge is mokṣa. It makes true renunciation possible, because the ātmā is already free. It also makes renunciation needed, because the practice of renunciation clears away the gathered force of deha-abhimāna.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skandha, Chapters 8–9
- Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 7–9
- Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 48–55
- Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Caturdhāṃśa, Chapters 3–4
- Brahma Mahā Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 8
- Hari Vamśa Purāṇa, Hari Vamśa Parva (Chapters 13–15)
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 38–41
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 106–109
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokṣadharma Parva, Chapter 288