Ṛshyaśṛṅga
Ṛshyaśṛṅga · ṛshya-śṛṅga, “the one with a deer’s horn”
Ṛshyaśṛṅga is the son of the ṛshi Vibhāṇḍaka. He was born with the horn of a deer on his forehead. His name means “deer’s horn” (ṛshya, a kind of deer; śṛṅga, horn). He is also written Ṛśyaśṛṅga. He grew up in the forest with no contact with the world. He brought rain to the drought-struck kingdom of Aṅga, married Śāntā, and was the officiating priest (ṛtvik) of the Putrakāmeshṭi yajña for Daśaratha. From that yajña came the divine pāyasa (sweet rice pudding) and the births of Rāma, Lakshmaṇa, Bharata and Śatrughna.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa gives his mother as Hariṇī, and elsewhere calls him the maharshi born from the womb of a deer. It tells that by the ishṭi he performed, whose devatā is Indra, sons were born both to Romapāda and to Daśaratha. It names him among the saptarshis of the eighth manvantara, the age of Sāvarṇi Manu, who even now stay in their own āśramas by their yogaśakti (power of yoga). In the teaching of Dattātreya, he is the maharshi who came under the sway of the dance and song of young women, the example of the lesson of the deer.
Birth
In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata
Ṛshyaśṛṅga was born in unusual circumstances. His father Vibhāṇḍaka did fierce tapas (austerity). His seed fell into the water in the forest. A doe drank from the water and conceived through it. Ṛshyaśṛṅga was born of the doe. He bore the mark of his deer-mother, a single horn on his forehead.
He grew up wholly in his father’s āśrama (hermitage), deep in the forest. He knew only tapas, Vedic study and the forest. He had never seen a woman. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 9)
The Mahābhārata says Vibhāṇḍaka’s seed fell into a lake while he was bathing. A doe drank from the lake and gave birth to Ṛshyaśṛṅga. He grew up in the forest with a single deer’s horn on his forehead, with no contact at all with women. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 110–113)
In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa
The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa says Ṛshyaśṛṅga’s birth came from a union that was not of his father’s choosing, between Vibhāṇḍaka and the apsarā Urvaśī. Vibhāṇḍaka was making his water-offering at a holy lake. Urvaśī appeared in the water. Vibhāṇḍaka was overcome by desire he could not stop, and his śukra (seed) fell into the lake.
A doe drinking from the lake swallowed the water with Vibhāṇḍaka’s śukra in it. In time she gave birth to a human boy. His one special mark was a deer’s horn (śṛṅga) on his forehead. So he was named Ṛshyaśṛṅga.
Vibhāṇḍaka brought up his son with great care in his āśrama deep in the forest, away from the world and from all women. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 1)
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa
Śrī Śuka Maharshi, telling Parīkshit the line of Aṅga, says that Ṛshyaśṛṅga was the son of Vibhāṇḍaka, born in Hariṇī. In the teaching of Dattātreya to King Yadu he is called the maharshi born from the womb of a deer. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23; Skandha 11, Chapter 8)
His life in isolation
Ṛshyaśṛṅga grew up knowing only the āśrama, the forest and his father’s teaching. He had never seen a woman, a city or ordinary human life. His brahmacarya (celibacy) was therefore perfectly pure. It came from no effort of will. It came from not knowing. This perfect, unplanned brahmacarya made great puṇya. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 1)
His purity was not the result of effort but of never meeting the world that stirs desire. This made his tapas very pure and his person full of power. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 11)
The drought in Aṅga
In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
Romapāda was king of Aṅga. His country suffered a drought because of the king’s pāpa (sin). The learned brāhmaṇas gave one remedy: bring Ṛshyaśṛṅga to Aṅga. The moment his feet touched the land of Aṅga, rain fell. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 11)
In the Mahābhārata
Lomaśa told this account to Yudhishṭhira during the Pāṇḍavas‘ time in the forest, as part of his talk on the greatness of tīrthas (tīrtha-māhātmya). In it, King Romapāda of Aṅga suffered a terrible drought as the result of the king’s pāpa. The Mahābhārata names this as the king’s dishonesty to a brāhmaṇa.
The assembly of brāhmaṇas said that only the presence of Ṛshyaśṛṅga, the celibate ṛshi of pure virtue, could bring back the rain. Romapāda made a clever plan. He sent gaṇikās (courtesans) in a beautifully decorated boat through the forest. They asked Ṛshyaśṛṅga to come aboard and gave him pleasures he had never known. They gently steered the boat, and him, toward Aṅga. The moment he arrived, rain fell. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 110–113)
In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa
King Romapāda (also called Lomapāda) of Aṅga suffered a terrible drought that lasted many years. Seers told him that the presence of the celibate Ṛshyaśṛṅga would end it, and that he must marry a woman.
Women who were skilled in music, dance and cooking were sent on a floating pavilion to the forest near Vibhāṇḍaka‘s āśrama. They met the young and wholly unworldly Ṛshyaśṛṅga. They gave him delicious food he had never tasted, sang and danced for him, and slowly drew him toward their boat.
Ṛshyaśṛṅga was trusting and had no guile. He followed them to Aṅga. The moment he stepped on the soil of Aṅga, heavy rain fell. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 1)
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa
Śuka gives the line of Aṅga: Aṅga’s son was Khanapāna, his son Diviratha, his son Dharmaratha, and his son Citraratha. Citraratha, who had no children, was also famous as Romapāda. He was the friend of Daśaratha, and Daśaratha gave him his daughter to raise as his own.
When the rain-deva sent no rain in Romapāda’s kingdom, beautiful young women went to Ṛshyaśṛṅga, the son of Hariṇī and Vibhāṇḍaka. Before him they danced with music and the sound of instruments. They showed him their graces, embraced him, gave him gifts and brought him to the capital. Then the rains fell. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23)
The gaṇikās and Ṛshyaśṛṅga’s innocence
The story of how the gaṇikās sent by Romapāda drew Ṛshyaśṛṅga out of his father’s forest is one of the best known in the Bāla Kāṇḍa. It shows his innocence: he could think of the gaṇikās only as unusual students of the Vedas. It also shows how clever Romapāda’s plan was.
When Vibhāṇḍaka came back to the āśrama and understood what had happened, he was furious. But it was already done. Ṛshyaśṛṅga was in Aṅga, where he was received with great honour and married to Śāntā. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 10–11)
Marriage to Śāntā
In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Śāntā was the daughter of Daśaratha, given in adoption to Romapāda. She was a woman of great gifts, beauty and character. Her marriage to Ṛshyaśṛṅga joined the Solar dynasty of Ayodhyā to this unusual forest ṛshi. This made it natural for Daśaratha to ask Ṛshyaśṛṅga to perform the Putrakāmeshṭi yajña. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 11)
In the Mahābhārata, Romapāda tells Vibhāṇḍaka that Ṛshyaśṛṅga was married to Śāntā, Romapāda’s daughter, with full honour. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 110–113)
In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Romapāda welcomed Ṛshyaśṛṅga with thanks and arranged his marriage to the princess Śāntā. In some versions, the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa says, she was the king’s adopted daughter, who was first Daśaratha’s daughter. Ṛshyaśṛṅga married Śāntā and stayed in Aṅga. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 1)
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Śuka says simply that Ṛshyaśṛṅga married Śāntā. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23)
The Putrakāmeshṭi
In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ṛshyaśṛṅga performed both the Aśvamedha mahāyajña and the Putrakāmeshṭi for Daśaratha at Ayodhyā. The Putrakāmeshṭi is a special rite for getting sons. A divine Yajña Purusha rose from it, carrying a golden vessel of pāyasa. This was given to Daśaratha’s queens, and from it Rāma, Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna were born. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 15–16)
In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Daśaratha went to Vasishṭha to ask how to get sons. Vasishṭha named Ṛshyaśṛṅga as the best ṛtvik for the Putrakāmeshṭi yāga, the great yajña that gives children. Daśaratha went to Aṅga, received Romapāda‘s blessing, and brought Ṛshyaśṛṅga and Śāntā to Ayodhyā.
Ṛshyaśṛṅga performed the long Putrakāmeshṭi with care. He called on the divine powers, made the right offerings, and turned the forces of the cosmos toward the goal. A divine being (yajña-purusha) rose from the fire, carrying the pāyasa. It was shared among Daśaratha’s three queens, and the four princes were born from it. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 1)
The Mahābhārata account also tells that Ṛshyaśṛṅga afterwards performed the Putrakāmeshṭi for Daśaratha, through which Rāma and his brothers were born. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 110–113)
In the Agni Purāṇa, Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi the Rāmāyaṇa as Nārada told it to Vālmīki. To slay Rāvaṇa and the others, Śrī Mahāvishṇu made himself fourfold and was born through Daśaratha Mahārāja: as Rāma in Kausalyā, as Bharata in Kaikeyī, and as Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna in Sumitrā. The pāyasa obtained in the yajña done with the help of Ṛshyaśṛṅga was given to Kausalyā and the other queens, and when they ate it, Rāma and his brothers were born, equal to their father. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 5)
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Ṛshyaśṛṅga performed an ishṭi (a Vedic offering) whose devatā is Indra, and by its power children were born to Romapāda Mahārāja, who had none. By that same yāga, Daśaratha, who had no sons, also begot sons. Romapāda’s son was Caturaṅga; his son was Pṛthulāksha, whose three sons were Bṛhadratha, Bṛhatkarmā and Bṛhadbhānu. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23)
Vibhāṇḍaka’s anger
In the Mahābhārata, Vibhāṇḍaka went after his son in fury and threatened to destroy Romapāda‘s kingdom. Romapāda calmed him by telling him that his son had been married to Śāntā, Romapāda’s daughter, with full honour. Lomaśa tells this at the tīrtha where Ṛshyaśṛṅga lived, which links the holy places of that region to the ṛshi’s story. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 110–113)
In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vibhāṇḍaka learned that women had led his son away. He set out in great anger for Aṅga and then Ayodhyā. Romapāda and Daśaratha were warned in advance. They arranged for Ṛshyaśṛṅga to go out and meet his father with rich hospitality. The ṛshi’s anger softened when his son welcomed him with respect and he was shown the lavish gifts. In the end Vibhāṇḍaka went back to his forest. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 1)
A saptarshi of the eighth manvantara
Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells Parīkshit of the manvantaras to come. In the eighth, Sāvarṇi will be Manu, and Bali, son of Virocana, will be Indra. Its saptarshis will be Gālava, Dīptimān, Paraśurāma, Aśvatthāmā the son of Droṇācārya, Kṛpācārya, Ṛshyaśṛṅga, and Bādarāyaṇa Vyāsa, whom Śuka calls “my revered father”. “They are now, by their yogaśakti, in their own āśramas.” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 13)
In Dattātreya’s teaching
Dattātreya Maharshi tells King Yadu of the gurus from whom he learned. The fifteenth is the deer. The hunter lures and captures the deer with the call of a doe, so the striving sādhaka should stay alone, established in the ātmā, and should not listen to songs of sensual pleasure. Ṛshyaśṛṅga, the maharshi born from the womb of a deer, is the example: delighting in the dances, music and songs of young women, he came under their control like a plaything. Śrī Kṛshṇa tells this teaching to Uddhava. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 8)
Sources
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–16
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 110–113
- Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 1
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 5
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 13; Skandha 9, Chapter 23; Skandha 11, Chapter 8