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INTERVENING STORIES
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Sagara but in vain. When the sons of Sagara dug the moat, Manicula assumed the form of a snake and brought their end. Again he assumed the form of a Brahmin and reported to Sagara the death of his own son on account of the cruelty of Yama. Sagara advised him to perform penances to kill Yama and save the life of his son. At this stage the Brahmin broke the news of sad demise of the sons of Sagara. Sagara developed aversion towards the world and renounced it. Manicula revitalised all the dead sons of Sagara. The RPS further (ch.3) adds to the above account that Manicula had deprecated the sons of Sagara for their dependence on the earnings of their father. Sagara then engaged them to the work of digging the moat. The UP, the MP and the RPS mention that all the sons of Sagara afterwards renounced the world.
Of the Brahmanical literature, the VR (1.38-44) states that Sagara had two wives, Keśini and Sumati. Once a sacrificial horse of Sagara was kidnapped by Indra. Sumati's sixty thousand sons dug out the earth in search of the horse. It enraged the Nagas, Asuras etc. When they complained to Brahma, he prophesied that Kapila (Vasudeva) would burn the sons of Sagara. Further in search of the horse, the sons of Sagara reached Rasatala and saw the horse there. When they ran towards Kapiladeva, he burnt them to ashes.
Sagara sent his grandson Amśumat to trace out his sons. On reaching Patāla, Amśumat was requested by Garuda to perform 'jala-kriyā' of the deceased ones. He performed penances on the Himalayas but the Ganges did not descend. His grandson Bhagiratha observed penances for one thousand years and pleased Brahmā. He pleased Śiva also. Then the Ganges descended from the heaven on to the head of Śiva and followed Bhagiratha on the land. In its course the river destroyed the hermitage of Jahnu, a ṛṣi. Enraged Jahnu drank all the water of the Ganges. He released it from his ears only at the request of the Devas, Gandharvas and the Rṣis. The stream followed Bhagiratha upto the Rasatala and the deceased ancestors of Bhagiratha attained heaven. Thus the river came to be known as Jahnavi as well as Bhagirathi.
The Visnupurana (4,4) does not contain the intervention of Garuda and the penances of Amśumat. Here Kapila had prophesied before Amśumat that his grandson would bring the Ganges on the earth. It does not contain the episode of Jahnu. The Bhagavatapura na (9.8-9), the Padmapurana (Uttarakhanda, 21-22) and the MB (3.106-109) agree with the Vişnupurana. In the MB the names of the wives of Sagara are Vaidarbhi and Saibya, the latter having 60000 sons.
