Ramayana of Krittivasa - 0010 - The Ashvamedha Yagna of King Sagara and the Fate of his Sixty Thousand Sons

Table of Contents

• 1. The sons of Sagara burnt
  • 1.1 The Ashvamedha Yagna
  • 1.2 The Search for the Horse
  • 1.3 The Confrontation with Rishi Kapila
• 2. Analysis
  • 2.1. Occurrence in the Valmiki Ramayana
    • 2.1.1 Differences between Krittibas and Valmiki
    • 2.1.2 Other Scriptural Sources

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The sons of Sagara burnt

Recap
The last post was on the birth of Sagara’s sons and why Sagara banished his eldest son, Asamanja.

The Ashvamedha Yagna

Asamanja was the son of Sagara’s first wife, Keshini. However, because of his cruel behaviour, Sagara was forced to exile him, which created a crisis of succession. With the eldest son gone, Sagara turned his focus and hopes toward his sixty thousand sons. He decided to conduct an Ashvamedha Yagna. This Yagna would serve as a way to engage these sixty thousand sons in a massive project, effectively testing their strength and solidifying their status as the protectors of the kingdom in the absence of Asamanja. He called his ministers and discussed this with them. They all agreed and the king decided to go along with this.

Ayodhya donned a festive mood. Every corner of the city was decorated. Sagara selected the horse that would be the star of the yagna. This was a stallion that was white with certain auspicious marks. Sagara would undergo a period of purification and the horse would be consecrated through specific rites, signalling it was now a representation of his honour. Once consecrated, the horse would be set free to wander wherever it chose, for exactly one year.

Sagara called his sons and said, “My sons, the horse of the Ashvamedha is now released. It carries the honour of the Ikshvaku race. Since your elder brother Asamanja is no longer among us to lead, the task falls upon all of you. Follow the stallion wherever it goes. Protect it from all enemies, mortal or divine. If it is captured, win it back. If it is hidden, find it. If the horse goes to heaven, those who are skilled in that should follow the horse and win it back. Similarly, if the horse decides to travel to Patala, some of you need to follow the horse and get it back. Kings of this earth shake with fear at the mere mention of my name. I want my lineage to expand and dominate all three worlds. Do not return to this city without the horse, for the sacrifice—and my vow—must be completed.”

With Asamanja’s exile, a shadow had fallen over the family. The sixty thousand brothers saw this as their opportunity to restore the family name and show that they were the true protectors of the people. Being sixty thousand strong, they felt invincible. They were powerful, tall, and skilled in warfare. They didn't fear any rival king; if anything, they were looking for a challenge to showcase their strength.

Sagara continued, “With the successful completion of this yagna, I will have command over all worlds. I am sure Indra will not like this. He will try to stop you. Do not let that worry you. Fight and come back victorious.”

The Search for the Horse

The sons set off, following the horse. They had left at dawn, when the horse had been let loose. The horse moved through the forests and riverbanks , followed by the sixty thousand princes. The horse first moved through Kosala, stopping to drink from the river Sarayu. People rushed to catch a glimpse of the sacred animal. As the day passed, the horse moved eastwards. The terrain became more rugged. The princes decided to tie up the horse there and decided to set camp and rest for some time.

In heaven, Indra heard about Sagara’s yagna. Not sure what to do, he went to Brahma and asked for advice. Brahma said, “Do what is destined. You are destined to steal the horse. Do not. Do not delay the process. Immediately take that horse and hide it somewhere.”

Indra left Brahma’s place and started earthwards. He gestured and suddenly the sky became pitch dark. The princes in their camp were shocked. What had happened? It was barely mid-day, and suddenly it was dark, darker than the darkest night they had ever seen. Not just darkness, there was a massive storm blowing and heavy rain. In the cover of the darkness, Indra took the horse and fled with it. Wondering where to take the horse, he decided to go to the ashrama of the great rishi Kapil. There he went and saw the rishi, lost in meditation. Indra quietly tied the horse to a tree, near the ashrama and left.

When the darkness cleared and the rain stopped, the princes rushed out to check on the horse. Where was it? There were no hoofprints in the mud, no signs of struggle. The sacred animal had simply been swept away by the storm.

The search turned into a desperate labour. The sixty thousand sons of Sagara divided themselves, fanning out across the continent. They scaled mountains, searching inside caves; they waded through marshes and deserts; they levelled forests and sifted the river banks but there was no sign of the horse. The brothers reconvened and decided that if a mortal had taken the horse, they would have found it by now. No, this horse was now either in heaven or in Patala. Their father had warned them about Indra. Would Indra take the horse to heaven? They decided to search the Patala first. The sixty thousand princes began to dig. They used shovels that were huge, and with those they had soon dug a giant pit which as good digging up the entire earth, massive destruction. They soon found themselves near the giant tortoise which was supporting the earth on it’s back. Moving past that, they found themselves in a new place.

The Confrontation with Rishi Kapila

The princes fanned out across the area when they saw it. The horse stood there, in the south eastern direction. It was tied to a tree and was busy grazing on the soft green grass that was growing there. And sitting just a few paces away from the horse, his back to the princes and his eyes closed in a meditation was rishi Kapila.

The princes, blinded by their toil and fuelled by the warning their father had given them about deceit, saw whom they thought was the culprit. They pointed at the rishi, confident that he had stolen the horse. Gripping their shovels, the princes surged forward. The shovels touched the rishi’s body. He was not hurt but his meditation was broken. Rishi Kapila opened his eyes. He saw the arrogant faces in front of him, accusing him of theft. Massive torrents of fire erupted directly from his eyes. Where an army of sixty thousand princes had stood a moment before, there was now only stillness. The ground was covered in a vast heap of ashes, the remains of the sons of Sagara.

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Analysis

• With Asamanja exiled for his conduct, the kingdom faced a gap in leadership. The Ashvamedha Yagna was a political tool used to re-establish the authority of the Ikshvaku line.
• When one is driven by anger and ego, one loses the ability to distinguish a rishi from a thief.
• Rishi Kapila is often identified as an avatar of Vishnu. His "fire" represents Knowledge. When the sons—representing the multifaceted desires of the ego—confronted pure Consciousness (Kapila), that ego was burnt to ashes.
• In Indian symbolism, numbers are rarely literal. The 60,000 represents this vast fragmented ego that must be "burned" to achieve spiritual progress.

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Occurrence in the Valmiki Ramayana

This story occurs in the Valmiki Ramayana, specifically in the Bala Kanda (Sargas 39–40).

Differences between Krittibas and Valmiki:

• In Valmiki’s version, the princes dig up the entire Earth, causing immense pain to the creatures living within. This emphasizes their cruelty.
• Indra takes the form of a Rakshasa to steal the horse during a New Moon (dark night).
• Valmiki describes the princes encountering the "Guardian Elephants" of the four quarters as they dig, who encourage them to keep going. While these elephants are not mentioned here, Krittibas mentions them later when talking about Anshuman.

Other Scriptural Sources

Text	Location/Portion	Variation/Detail
Mahabharata	Vana Parva (Sarga 107)	Narrated by Sage Lomasha to Yudhishthira.
Shrimad Bhagavatam	Skanda 9, Chapter 8	It explicitly mentions that the fire did not come from the rishi's anger, but from the internal heat of the princes' own sins.
Vishnu Purana	Book 4, Chapter 4	Mentions that Keshini (mother of Asamanja) was the daughter of the King of Vidarbha. It reinforces the Samkhya connection.
Narada Purana	Uttarbhaga	Where Suta tells the story to the rishis in the forest of Naimisharanya.