After a night by the Sona river, the sage Vishvamitra wakes Rama at dawn. “Get up, Rama! Get ready to travel.” The brothers walk on with him and many other sages. At midday they see the great river Ganga, with swans on her holy water.
Everyone is glad. They stop on her bank, bathe, and offer her water to their ancestors. Then they sit around the sage. “Sir, the Ganga flows through three worlds: heaven, earth and the world below,” says Rama. “How does she come to the sea?”
So the sage begins a story of long ago. Ganga was the elder daughter of Himavat, king of the mountains. The gods asked him for her, and he let her go. She went up with them and became a river in heaven.
Once, a good and brave king of Ayodhya, named Sagara, longed for children. But he had none. So with his two queens, Keshini and Sumati, he went to the Himalaya mountains. There he did tapas for a hundred years.
The sage Bhrigu blessed them. “One queen will have one son, the other sixty thousand. Choose.” Keshini chose one son. Sumati chose sixty thousand! They came from a round egg, like a gourd, and grew up in jars of ghee, melted butter.
When the sons were grown, Sagara began a great yajna. By the river, Rama asks, full of joy, “How did my ancestor Sagara finish his yajna?” The sage smiles and goes on. The yajna horse walked free, guarded by Sagara’s grandson Amshuman.
On one day of the yajna, Indra, king of the gods, took the form of a demon and led the horse away. Sagara told his sixty thousand sons, “Search the whole earth. Dig until you find the horse! I will wait here with Amshuman.”
The sons searched all the earth, but found no horse. So they dug down toward the world below, with arms as hard as diamonds. The Earth cried out, and so did the creatures under the ground. Still no horse! “Dig deeper,” Sagara told them.
Deep down, they found a great elephant, as big as a mountain, holding the eastern earth on its head. When it moves its tired head, the earth quakes! Three more elephants held up the south, west and north. The sons walked around each with respect.
In the north-east, they saw Kapila, a sage who was truly the god Vishnu, with the horse nearby. “You stole our horse!” they shouted, and ran at him with their digging tools. Kapila made one deep sound, “Hum!”, and all sixty thousand sons became heaps of ash.
Sagara waited a long time, then sent Amshuman, who was kind to everyone. “Find your uncles and the horse,” he said. Amshuman took his bow and sword and went down the sons’ long tunnel. Each elephant blessed him: “You will go back with the horse.”
At last Amshuman came to the heaps of ash, and he cried for his uncles. The horse was eating grass nearby. Amshuman wanted to offer water for his uncles’ souls, but there was no water anywhere.
Then Amshuman saw Garuda, the mighty king of birds and the brother of Sumati. “Do not cry, Amshuman,” he said. “Only the water of the Ganga, Himavat’s elder daughter, can wash these ashes and lead your uncles to heaven. Now take the horse home.”
Amshuman took the horse home, and Sagara finished his yajna. He ruled for thirty thousand years, but found no way to bring the Ganga down. Amshuman did tapas for thirty-two thousand years. His son Dilipa did many yajnas and worried all his life. Still the river did not come.
Dilipa’s son Bhagiratha became king. He longed to bring the Ganga down, so he left his kingdom in the care of his ministers. In the Himalayas, he did tapas among five fires, arms raised, eating only once a month. Thousands of years went by.
At last Brahma, who made the worlds, came with the gods. “I am pleased with you,” he said. “Ask for a gift.” Bhagiratha joined his palms. “Let my ancestors get Ganga’s water through me, and let them go to heaven.”
“So be it,” said Brahma. “The earth cannot bear Ganga’s fall. Only the great god Shiva can hold her.” For a year, Bhagiratha stood on the tip of his big toe, praying to Shiva. Then Shiva said, “I will hold the Ganga on my head.”
Ganga rushed down from the sky, so fast and strong that she thought she could carry even Shiva away. So Shiva caught her in the coils of his hair. Round and round she whirled in it for many years, and she could not get out.
Bhagiratha did not give up. He did tapas again, and Shiva was pleased. Shiva let the Ganga out into a lake called Bindu, and seven streams flowed from it. Three flowed east and three flowed west, and the seventh followed Bhagiratha’s chariot.
With a roar, the river followed the king over the earth. Fish and tortoises tumbled in her water. Gods watched from flying chariots as big as cities. White foam and swans made the sky look like silver autumn clouds. Sages sipped the holy water.
On the way, the river flooded the yajna of a sage named Jahnu. So Jahnu drank up all her water! The amazed gods asked him to make Ganga his daughter. Gladly, he let her out through his ears. She is also called Jahnavi, Jahnu’s daughter.
Again Ganga followed Bhagiratha’s chariot, all the way to the sea. Then she went down to the world below, into the hole Sagara’s sons had dug. Bhagiratha saw the ashes and was sad. But Ganga’s water washed over them, and all sixty thousand sons rose up to heaven.
Brahma said, “They will live in heaven as long as the sea has water. Sagara, Amshuman and Dilipa could not do this, but you did. Ganga will be called Bhagirathi, after you.” Bhagiratha offered Ganga’s water to his ancestors and went home, glad at heart.
By the Ganga, evening has come, and the sage ends his story. Rama and Lakshmana think about it all night, and the night passes like a moment. At dawn, the sages bring a boat, and all cross the Ganga to her northern bank.
For grown-ups
Where this story comes from
This story is from the Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda, sarga 35 (verses 1–24) and sargas 38 to 44, with the last page from 45.1–9: by the river Ganga, the sage Vishvamitra tells Rama and Lakshmana how Ganga went up to heaven, how King Sagara’s sixty thousand sons dug down into the earth after a stolen horse and became ashes before the sage Kapila, how Sagara, Amshuman and Dilipa each tried all their lives to bring the river down, and how Bhagiratha’s tapas brought her down through Shiva’s hair to wash the ashes and lift the sons to heaven. The sarga and verse numbers follow the English translation by Desiraju Hanumanta Rao on valmikiramayan.net. They were not cross-checked with the Gita Press (Gorakhpur) edition and can differ by a few verses there. It is a faithful simplification. We shortened and left out parts, and we name them below. We did not add events, and we did not change anyone’s reasons. The words people say are a plain rendering of the translation, not a word-for-word quotation. Nine lines need a note.
1. “Heaven, earth and the world below” (page 2). Rama asks about the river “that has a trinal course … on pervading all the three worlds” (35.12). The page names the three worlds as Brahma names them at the end of the story: “svarga, bhuu, paataala … heaven, earth and netherworld” (44.6).
2. “Led the horse away” (page 7). Valmiki says that Indra “assumed the form of a demon and stole the ritual horse” (39.7b–8a). The verses give no reason, and the book adds none.
3. “The Earth cried out, and so did the creatures under the ground” (page 8). Valmiki says that Mother Earth “bewailed” (39.19), and that the serpents, asuras, demons and other beings below cried out “while they are killed” as the sons dug (39.20). The sons later tell their father that many beings were “eliminated” (40.8–9). The page keeps that the digging hurt the earth and those who live in it.
4. Kapila (page 10). Valmiki calls him “the Infinite Vasudeva in the form of sage Kapila” (40.25–26) and “rather Vishnu with unimaginable power” (40.30b–c). The sons ran at him “wielding crowbars, ploughs, and various trees and boulders”, calling him “the malicious one” (40.27–29a); the page keeps their shout and their digging tools. Kapila, “beset with high wrath”, made a “hum” sound, and the sons became “heaps of ashes” (40.29b–30). The page tells this in one line.
5. “The brother of Sumati” (page 13). Sumati is “the sister of Garuda” (38.4, 38.14), so Garuda is the uncle of the sixty thousand on their mother’s side (41.16). Garuda also says that Kapila burned them, so ordinary funeral water “will not be apt” (41.18).
6. “She thought she could carry even Shiva away” (page 18). Ganga thinks, “let me enter netherworld, indeed whisking Shiva with my streams” (43.5b–6a). Valmiki goes on: “Discerning her egotism god Shiva is infuriated” (43.6b–7a). The page keeps her thought, which is why Shiva holds her, and leaves out the words for pride and anger.
7. “Bhagiratha did not give up” (page 19). Valmiki: “when Ganga’s emanation from those coils is intangible Bhageeratha again firmed up in a marvellous penance” (43.9b–10a).
8. Jahnu (page 21). Valmiki says that “on knowing her hubris” Jahnu “has become irritated” and drank off all her water (43.35b–36a). The page keeps the cause, the flooded yajna ground, and tells the feat as a wonder. The gods “started to worship” him before they asked (43.36b–37).
9. Himavat (pages 3 and 13). The translation spells the king of the mountains “Himavan” (35.14) and “Himavanta” (41.19). The book uses “Himavat”, as our adult retelling does.
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Three things this telling leaves out, and why
- Uma and Kartikeya (35.15–16, 35.20–23; sargas 36–37; 38.1). Himavat’s wife is Mena, and his younger daughter is Uma. Uma does fierce tapas, and her father gives her in marriage to Rudra, the god Shiva (35.20–21). Sargas 36–37 tell of Uma’s curse and the birth of Kartikeya, the leader of the gods’ army. This is a story for older readers and is not part of this arc. Page 3 keeps only Ganga, the elder daughter.
- Asamanja (38.16, 38.20–22a). Keshini’s one son was Asamanja. He used to throw the children of Ayodhya into the Sarayu river and laugh as they drowned, so Sagara sent him away from the city. Amshuman is his son, “acceptable … for all people” (38.22b–23a). The book leaves Asamanja out, and calls Amshuman Sagara’s grandson (39.6b; 41.1).
- The priests’ advice (39.8b–11a). When the horse is stolen, the priests tell Sagara, “you kill him who stole the horse, and let that horse be fetched”, because a break in the yajna would bring ill luck on them all. Page 7 goes straight to Sagara’s order to his sons.
- The gods go to Brahma (39.23–40.5). The frightened gods tell Brahma that the sons are destroying the beings of the earth and suspect everyone of the theft. Brahma answers that the earth belongs to Vishnu, who in the form of the sage Kapila will burn the sons to ashes. The book tells the burning only once, on page 10.
- Garuda’s other words (41.17). Garuda says, “this eradication of your paternal-uncles is worthwhile to the worlds.” Page 13 keeps only “Do not cry”.
- Dilipa’s illness (42.9). Dilipa found no way to bring the river down, “took to illness”, and died. Page 14 says only that he did many yajnas and worried all his life.
- Bhagiratha’s second wish (42.11, 42.20; 44.5). Bhagiratha had no children, and he asked Brahma for a second gift: a son, so that the family of Ikshvaku would not end. Brahma answers “so be it” (42.22), but these sargas do not tell of the son. Brahma also says that Ganga “will become your eldest daughter” (44.5). The book keeps the first wish and the name Bhagirathi.
- More wonders of the river (43.12–13, 43.20b–21a, 43.23b–25a, 43.27b–30a). The seven streams have names: Hladini, Pavani and Nalini flow east, and Sucakshu, Sita and Sindhu flow west. The gods’ jewels make the sky shine “as if it is with a hundred of suns”; porpoises leap with the fish; the river runs fast, slow, straight and winding; and beings who had fallen from heaven bathe in her and rise to heaven again. Page 20 keeps the roar, the fish and tortoises, the gods’ flying chariots, the foam and swans, and the sages sipping the water.
- The evening prayer and the blessing of the story (44.20–23). Vishvamitra ends at evening and tells Rama that it is time to meditate on the Gayatri. He says that whoever tells or hears this story gains a long life, fame and children, and pleases the ancestors and the gods. Page 24 keeps the evening and the end of the story.
- Between this story and the next. Before this story, the travellers spend a night by the Sona river, where Vishvamitra tells them of King Kushanabha’s daughters and of his own family (31.17–34). Page 1 keeps that night in one clause. After the crossing, they see the city of Vishala (45.9b–10), and the sage tells the churning of the ocean. These are not in this book.
Page 1 joins the dawn call by the Sona (35.1–3), the walk with the sages (35.5–6) and the sight of the Ganga at midday (35.7–8); Rama’s question about how to cross the Sona (35.4–5) is left out. Page 2 joins the camp, the bath, the water offered to the ancestors and the fire offering (35.9–11). Page 3 joins 35.13–19 and 35.24. Page 4 leaves out the name of the mountain where Sagara did tapas, Bhrigu-prasravana (38.5). Page 6 joins Sagara’s decision (38.23b–24) and Rama’s question (39.1–4a) with the horse and its guard (39.6b–7a); the yajna took place between the Himalaya and the Vindhya mountains (39.4b–6a). Page 8 joins the search and the digging (39.17–21) with the sons’ report and Sagara’s order to dig further (40.6–11). Page 9 joins the four elephants of the four directions (40.13–23); their names are Virupaksha, Mahapadma, Sumanasa and Bhadra. Page 11 joins 41.1–11; Sagara also tells Amshuman to greet those who deserve it and to remove anyone who blocks his way (41.3–4). Page 14 joins three generations (41.22–42.10): Sagara ruled for thirty thousand years (41.26); Amshuman gave the kingdom to Dilipa and did tapas on a Himalayan peak for thirty-two thousand years (42.3–4); Dilipa also ruled for thirty thousand years (42.8). Page 15 leaves out the mountain’s name, Gokarna (42.12). Page 16 joins 42.14–19. Page 17 joins 42.21–24 and 43.1–3; Brahma leaves before Bhagiratha’s year on one toe (42.25). Page 20 joins 43.15b–34a. Page 23 joins 44.2–19. Page 24 joins 44.20 with 45.1–9a.
The question children ask here
“Why did it take Bhagiratha so long to bring the Ganga down?” Valmiki gives the reasons:
- The river lived in heaven (35.19, 35.24), and for three lifetimes no one found a way to bring her down. Sagara “could not get at any resolve” in thirty thousand years (41.25–26), Amshuman did tapas for thirty-two thousand years (42.3–4), and Dilipa “could not find a way” (42.8). Brahma says that each of them tried “throughout his lifetime” (44.8–11).
- Bhagiratha did tapas among five fires, eating once a month, while “thousands of years have rolled by” before Brahma came (42.12–14).
- The earth could not bear the river’s fall, and only Shiva could hold her (42.23–24). So Bhagiratha stood on the tip of his big toe for a year (43.1).
- Ganga then “whirled round and round” in Shiva’s hair “for many number of years”, and Bhagiratha did tapas again until Shiva let her go (43.9b–11a).
“The river lived in heaven and was too strong for the earth, so Bhagiratha prayed for a very long time, until Shiva caught her and let her out.”
A Sanatani Production
