Bhagiratha
| Bhagiratha | |
|---|---|
 Sculpture of Bhagiratha's penance,Descent of the Ganges,Mahabalipuram | |
| Texts | Ramayana,Mahabharata,Puranas |
| Region | Ayodhya |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents |
|
| Children | Śruta (son), Haṃsī (daughter) |
| Dynasty | Suryavamsha |
Bhagiratha(Sanskrit:भगीरथ,IAST:Bhagīratha) is a legendary king of theIkshvaku dynastyinHindu literature.He is best known for his legend of bringing the sacred riverGanges,personified as theHinduriver goddessGanga,fromheavenupon the earth, by performing a penance.[2]
Legend
[edit]Bhagirathaprayatnam
[edit]KingSagara,the great-grandfather of Bhagiratha, once performed theashvamedhasacrifice, but the sacrificial horse was stolen byIndra.The deity had the animal sequestered inPatala,where SageKapilawas performing apenance.The 60,000 sons of Sagara discovered the horse in Patala, whereupon they disturbed Kapila with their hoarse noises. Infuriated, the 60,000 sons of Sagara were reduced to ash by the fiery eyes of the sage. The responsibility of performing the funeral rites of these sons passed down from generation to generation, until it was acquired by Bhagiratha, who upon his ascension to the throne ofAyodhya,went to practice austerities in the Himalayas, to invoke the goddessGanga.Ganga told Bhagiratha that were she to descend fromSvargato the earth, the force of her fall would be difficult to sustain. She asked him to obtain the favour of the matted-haired, blue-throated deityShiva,as no one except him would be able to sustain her. Heeding her words, the king then performed a penance that lasted for a millennium for Shiva atKailasa,and sought his cooperation in allowing Ganga to flow through his hair. Shiva granted him the boon, and stood in position, even as the torrent of Ganga's stream rushed upon his hair. Ganga flowed along the matted hair of Shiva for a thousand years. Bhagiratha performed another penance to please Shiva, until the deity shook his hair and allowed a single drop to descend upon theIndo-Gangetic plain,which became the Ganges. For Bhagiratha, the river flowed along the plain to Patala, and performed the funeral rites of Sagara’s sons.[3]This episode is referred to asBhagīrathaprayatnam,literally meaning, "Bhagiratha's labour".[4][5]
To commemorate his efforts, the head stream of the river is calledBhagirathiby locals, till it meets theAlaknanda riveratDevprayag.[6] The mythicalpātālawhere the sage Kapila meditated is identified with the Sāgar Island, at the confluence of the Bhagirathi stream of the Ganges (flowing by Kolkata and revered as Ganga) and the Bay of Bengal. The sea (sam-udra) is called Sāgara in honour of Bhagiratha's ancestor the King Sagara. Kapila's ashrama is located at Sagar Island and hosts the annual Ganga Sagar Mela and bathing rituals on Makara Sankranti day every year.
While flowing towards Patala, the Ganga flooded theashramaofSage Jahnu.To punish the haughtiness of the goddess, the sage swallowed the river. It was with the insistent entreaties of Bhagiratha that the sage consented to push the river out through his ear, which offered the goddess the epithetJahnavi.[7][8]
Reign
[edit]After completing the funeral rites of his ancestors, Bhagiratha governs once more as king, and his people were wealthy and prosperous under his reign.[9]
TheMahabharatastates that the king had a great efficacy of gifting cows, offering hundreds of thousands of cows and their calves to the sage Kohala.[10]
He marries his famous daughter, Haṃsī, to the sage Kautsa, before departing the earth.[11]
Literature
[edit]Narada Purana
[edit]In theNarada Purana,King Bhagiratha appeasesYama,and holds a discussion with him regarding the nature of righteousness. Yama offers the king various modes of being righteous, including offering employment and donating wealth toBrahmins,buildingVishnuandShivatemples, rituals that should be performed for the aforementioned two deities, donating food to the hungry, and the acquisition ofpunya.Yama goes on to describe the nature of sin, as well as the various hells that exist. The deity instructs the king to worship Vishnu, who is the equivalent of Shiva, and informs him of his future of freeing his ancestors fromNarakaby causing the descent of the Ganga.[12]
Bengali literature
[edit]In most accounts of Bhagiratha, he is born to his father Dilipa and his unnamed mother in an unremarkable fashion.[citation needed]However, a number of Bengali accounts tell how Dilipa dies without begetting an heir.[citation needed]This story may first be attested in the Bengali-script recension of the SanskritPadma Purana;it recurs in the influential, probably fifteenth-century CE BengaliKrittivasi Ramayan,and thereafter in other texts from Bengal such as Bhavananda'sHarivansha,Mukundarama Chakravartin'sKavikankanachandi,and the sixteenth-centuryRamayanaby Adbhutacharya.
Dilipa's lack of an heir troubles the gods, because it has been prophesied thatVishnuwill be born to Dilipa's line, and this prophecy cannot come true unless Dilipa has a child. Therefore, through the advice of a sage or god, two of Dilipa's widows have sex with one another and in this way one gets pregnant and gives birth to Bhagiratha. However, the baby is deformed (in thePadma Puranaversion, for example he is boneless, while in theKrittivasi Ramayanhe is merely a lump of flesh) until he encounters the crippled sageAshtavakra,who transforms him into a beautiful, strong child/youth. TheKrittivasi Ramayaneven goes on to describe Bhagiratha being bullied at school for having two mothers rather than heterosexual parents. Some of the texts too use the story to provide afolk-etymologyfor Bhagiratha's name, claiming that it comes frombhaga('vulva').[13][14][15][16]: 146–60 [17]
Gallery
[edit]A sculpture of Bhagiratha can be seen beneath the spout of almost everydhunge dhara(hiti) ortutedhara(jarun, jahru, jaladroni), two types of drinking fountain found in the old settlements of Nepal. Bhagiratha is pictured sitting, standing or dancing while holding or blowing aconch.A similar figure can be seen below thegargoylesin some temples in India.[18]
-
Bhagiratha beneath the main spout of Sundhara,Kathmandu,Nepal -
Bhagiratha on a jarun of Nag Pokhari, Bhaktapur, Nepal -
Bhagiratha beneath the stone spout of Lamugah Hiti, Bhaktapur, Nepal -
Bhagiratha on a jarun at Taumadhi Square, Bhaktapur, Nepal -
Bhagiratha beneath a gargoyle at the Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, India -
Shiva Gangadhara, Parvati, Bhagiratha (left) at the Ravana Phadi Cave,Aihole,India -
Bhageeratha statue inHyderabad,India
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^Ruth Vanita (2005). "Disability as Opportunity Sage Ashtavakra Mentors Bhagiratha, the Disabled Child of Two Mothers".Gandhi's Tiger and Sita's Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality, and Culture.Yoda Press.ISBN9788190227254.
The story of Bhagiratha's birth to two women occurs, as far as I know, only in texts produced from the fourteenth century onwards in Bengal. Other manuscripts of the Sanskrit Padma Purana, in the Devanagari script, and other Puranas too relate that Bhagiratha was born in the regular way to his father, Dilipa. As is standard in patrilineages, these latter texts do not mention his mother's name.
- ^Edits, The Divine (2023-04-22).Padma Purana - A Concise Guide.by Mocktime Publication. p. 10.
- ^Parmeshwaranand, Swami (2001).Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Puranas.Sarup & Sons. p. 161.ISBN978-81-7625-226-3.
- ^Thomas, Paul (1955).Epics, Myths and Legends of India: A Comprehensive Survey of the Sacred Lore of the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.D.B. Taraporevala. p. 102.
- ^Mani, Vettam (2015-01-01).Puranic Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Work with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature.Motilal Banarsidass. p. 114.ISBN978-81-208-0597-2.
- ^Lochtefeld, James G. (2002).The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M.Rosen. pp. 95–96.ISBN978-0-8239-3179-8.
- ^Mankodi, Kirit (1973) "Gaṅgā Tripathagā"Artibus Asiae35(1/2): pp. 139-144, p. 140
- ^"The Mahabharata, Book 3: Vana Parva: Tirtha-yatra Parva: Section CVIII".sacred-texts.Retrieved2019-04-14.
- ^Vālmīki (1952).The Ramayana of Valmiki.Shanti Sadan. p. 89.ISBN978-0-85424-048-7.
- ^The Mahabharata.Bharata Press. 1893. p. 621.
- ^Mani, Vettam (2015-01-01).Puranic Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Work with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature.Motilal Banarsidass. p. 115.ISBN978-81-208-0597-2.
- ^Chaturvedi, B. K. (2015-01-23).Narada Purana.Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd. p. 24.ISBN978-81-288-2812-6.
- ^Ruth Vanita, '"Wedding of Two Souls": Same-Sex Marriage and Hindu Traditions',Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion,20.2 (Fall, 2004), 119-35.
- ^Ruth Vanita, 'Disability as Opportunity: Sage Ashtavakra Mentors Bhagiratha, the Disabled Child of Two Mothers', inGandhi's Tiger and Sita's Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Culture(New Delhi: Yoda, 2005), pp. 236-50;ISBN81-902272-5-4.
- ^Ruth Vanita, 'Born of Two Vaginas: Love and Reproduction between Co-Wives in Some Medieval Indian Texts',GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies,11 (2005), 547–77,doi:10.1215/10642684-11-4-547.
- ^Ruth Vanita,Love's Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
- ^Ruth Vanita, 'Naming Love: The God Kama, the Goddess Ganga, and the Child of Two Women', inThe Lesbian Premodern,ed. by Noreen Giffney, Michelle M. Sauer, and Diane Watt (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 119-30;ISBN978-1-349-38018-3doi:10.1057/9780230117198.
- ^Water Conduits in the Kathmandu Valley (2 vols.) by Raimund O.A. Becker-Ritterspach,ISBN9788121506908,Published by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India, 1995
Sources
[edit]- The Ramayana(2001) byRamesh Menon
- Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend(ISBN0-500-51088-1) by Anna L. Dallapiccola
