Week 3 Story: Ashes

REIGN OF KING SAGARA

King Sagara’s grandson Anshumat found the ashes in an open plain.  The horse was there also, but hours passed before he realized that the powdered grey sands he trod upon were the ashes of his uncles. As any good nephew would, he searched for water to consecrate their deaths. There was none. He traveled north, then east, and finally south. In the far south of the plains he found a man, who explained that no water would suffice for oblation save that of the Ganga, the holy celestial rivers of heaven. Anshumat left the plain of ash, and returned the horse to his grandfather. King Sagara despaired, but resolved to find some means of moving the Ganga to earth.

King Sagara spent his reign in mourning for the loss of his sixty-thousand sons.

He failed to attract the attention of the gods. 

His rule lasted thirty-thousand years.

REIGN OF KING ANSHUMAT

I wait.

Many thousand years have passed, and I wait. My brothers wait with me, all save Asamanja. Sixty thousand strong we lie in ashes, seeping through the soil beneath the plain. Lacking limbs to feel and eyes to see, still we burn from the fire in Kapila’s eyes. Why do we remain here? Did we not live good and virtuous lives? Did we not bring glory to our father, and will he not release us with oblation? Why can we not leave and enter our celestial heaven?

Is there a celestial heaven?

Only stillness and death for the sons of Sagara.

King Anshumat spent his reign in search of holiness, living a life of purification and austerity on the Himavat summit.

He failed to attract the attention of the gods. 

His rule lasted thirty-two thousand years.

REIGN OF KING DILIPA

Kapila slumbered near the stallion as we found him. We prepared to end his sleep, and his life. No preparation could have saved us; his eyes blazed and we were consumed, rendered screams and ashes. Shall we be doomed to eternal purgatory in this cursed place? Many millennia have passed, and still we wait. We cannot leave this place, though we have tried again, and again.

We are forgotten, and we are doomed.

There are none who now remember our names.

King Dilipa spent his reign obsessed with the Ganga and the souls of his uncles, making innumerable sacrifices throughout his lifetime.

He failed to attract the attention of the gods. 

His rule lasted thirty-thousand years.

REIGN OF KING BHAGIRATHA

King Bhagiratha, the son of King Dilipa, devoted himself unceasingly to the practice of holiness in pursuit of the Ganga’s water to rescue the souls of his lost uncles. He lived a life of absolute ascetism, eating but once each month, surrounding himself with the five holy fires, uplifting his arms to heaven. Brahma saw and approved. Brahma descended before the king, and chose to assist this pious man. Brahma advised King Bhagiratha that the help of Shiva was necessary to pull the Ganga from the heavens.

King Bhagiratha worshipped Shiva then, and continued. He spent one year in this pursuit, when Shiva’s eye turned at last.

Shiva agreed to allow Ganga to fall from heaven to earth, but Ganga in her eagerness splashed atop Shiva’s head. Her impudence irritated Shiva, and he forced her to wander within his hair for the next several years as punishment.

King Bhagiratha resumed his devotions to Shiva, and Shiva at long last cast Ganga from his head. She landed on the mountains and flowed down through the plains until reaching the ocean, sinking into the underworld.

King Bhagiratha was rewarded for his lifetime of diligence, finally achieving peace for his uncle's souls with the waters of the holy Ganga.

His reign, for them, continues still. 

Water!

Light!

Light, water, and sound approach!

 Ninety-three thousand years of darkness and ash end now.

I wait no longer.

I am not forgotten.

Author’s note

The original story of Bhagiratha and Ganga tells of the origins of the river Ganges. Told by Vishvamitra to Rama on their travels, the sixty-thousands sons of King Sagara are killed by a sleeping Vishnu disguised as the sage Kapila, and the descendents of King Sagara spend their lives trying to find a way to let their souls transcend to heaven. This can only be done with water, and he is informed that not just any water will do. The holy river Ganga in heaven is the only water that can be used. Of all his descendants, only Bhagiratha is determined enough to catch the attention of the gods, and upon his success the river Ganga crashes down, nearly 100,000 years after the death of King Sagara’s sons.

The retelling I chose was to focus on the viewpoint of the dead sons; what would their tale be like waiting for that long? Would they think they were forgotten by their family? I realize a wait is hardly the most exciting thing to read about, but the idea of being stuck somewhere for practically forever is rather horrifying to me, and that’s why I chose to focus on this tale from their point of view. It’s a very dark tale, but I enjoy those. And there is still a happy ending, so it’s not too dark.   

Bibliography

“Bhagiratha and Ganga” from The Great Indian Epics by John Campbell Oman. Web Source

Image Source: MaxPixel