Śrīmad Vālmīki Rāmāyana (English Translation)

The animal to be sacrificed at the sacrificial performance of King Ambarīsa having been stolen away by Indra appearing in disguise, the arch-priest enjoined the king to secure a human beast as a substitute. Wandering in search of such a beast, Ambarīsa saw the sage Rcīka at Bhrgutunga and requested him to hand over his juvenile son in exchange for a hundred thousand cows. On the parents declining...

At the instance of Viśwāmitra the sages assembled at his hermitage commence a sacrifice; on the gods failing to appear at the sacrifice to accept the offerings, Viśwāmitra sends Trisańku bodily to heaven by dint of his own spiritual power, but the latter is expelled by Indra, on which Viśwāmitra stops him in the air and proceeds to create a new heaven and desists from his purpose only on the gods...

Viśwāmitra assures Trisańku of his help, sends word to a number of sages, inviting them to conduct a sacrifice for Trisańku, and pronounces a curse on those who decline to come.

Having been repulsed by Vasistha’s sons as well, Trisańku gets ready to seek another priest, whereupon he is degraded by the curse of Vasistha’s sons to the position of a Cāndāla and approaches Viśwāmitra with the same request.

Viśwāmitra embarks on a severe course of austerities with a view to attaining Brahmanhood. In the meantime, King Trisańku of Ayodhyā requests Vasistha to conduct for him a sacrifice which may enable him bodily to ascend to heaven and, on Vasistha declining to comply with his request, approaches his sons for the same purpose.

With his Brahmanical staff alone Vasistha renders ineffectual all the mystic missiles discharged by Viśwāmitra, whereupon the latter condemns military strength and makes up his mind to practise austerities with a view to attaining Brahmanhood.

His entire army having been exterminated by the warriors produced by Śabalā and his hundred sons reduced to ashes by the very roar of Vasistha even as they assailed him, Viśwāmitra retires to the Himālayas for austerities and, receiving a number of missiles from Lord Śiva, tries them on the inmates of Vasistha’s hermitage; VVasistha meets him with a mere staff appropriate to a Brāhmana.

On Viśwāmitra attempting to take her away by force, Śabalā seeks to know Vasistha’s mind, and at his instance produces a multitude of warriors that disperse Viśwāmitra’s army.

Heartily entertained alongwith his army by Vasistha with delicious foods and drinks yielded by his cow of plenty, Viśwāmitra asks of him the cow, which Vasistha declines to part with.

Vasistha enjoins his cow of plenty, Śabalā by name, to yield necessary articles for entertaining Viśwāmitra.

At the request of ›atånanda, Viśwāmitra tells him how Ahalyā was redeemed by Śrī Rāma and entertained him with the help of her husband. And Śatānanda in his turn commences narrating to Śrī Rāma the story of Viśwāmitra.

Śrī Rāma and others reach Mithilā and are received in advance by King Janaka, headed by his family priest, Śatānanda; Viśwāmitra satisfies their curiosity about the two princes of Ayodhyā.

At the intercession of the gods, Indra is supplied with testicles of a ram; Ahalyaā gets back her pristine celestial form at the very sight of Śrī Rāma, the moment he enters the hermitage, and the two divine brothers are entertained by the lady with the help of her husband.

Having stayed overnight at Viśālā as an honoured guest of Sumati,Śrī Rāma, accompanied by Viśwāmitra and the other sages, heads towards Mithilā (the capital of King Janaka) and, on reaching on the way a deserted hermitage and, inquiring about it, is told by Viśwāmitra how Ahalyā, wife of Sage Gautama, whose hermitage it was, was subjected to a curse by her husband.

Viśwāmitra tells Śrī Rāma how on the very site of the grove where Diti practised her austerities, Vi‹åla, a son of Ikswāku, built the city of Viśālā. Sumati, the contemporary ruler of Viśālā, receives Viśwāmitra and his party as his distinguished guests.

Disconsolate over the death of her sons, Diti embarks on a course of austerities at Kuśaplava with the permission of her husband, Sage Kaśyapa, with the object of securing a son capable of killing Indra. The latter on coming to know of her intention serves her during the period of her consecration and, taking advantage of her falling asleep on one occasion with her head in a wrong position, and th...

Viśwāmitra tells Śrī Rāma how in the remote past the gods and the demons conjointly churned the ocean of milk, using Mount Mandara as the churning rod, how Lord ›iva drank off the deadly poison skimmed out of it, how as a result of that churning appeared Lord Dhanvantari, a bevy of Apsarās, the beverage known by the name of Vārunī, the horse Uccaihśravā the Kaustubha gem and nectar, and how the co...

Applauding Bhagīratha, Brahmā urges him to gratify the souls of his departed great grand-uncles by offering them the water of the Gangā, and after doing his bidding, Bhagīratha returns to his capital; the glory of hearing and reading the story of Gangā’s descent on earth.

Pleased with the asceticism of Bhagīratha, Lord Śiva receives the Gangā on His head and discharges it into Bindusarovara. Branching forth into seven streams it then accompanies Bhagīratha to Rasātala and liberates his forbears on the way.

Amśumān and his grandson, Bhagīratha, successively practise austerities for bringing down the Gangā to the terrestrial plane. Brahmā grants a boon to Bhagīratha and exhorts him to propitiate Lord Śiva and secure His consent to receive the Gangā on His head.

Under orders of Sagara his grandson Amśumān proceeds to Rasātala through the underground passage made by his uncles and, bringing back the sacrificial horse, tells the king about the fate of his uncles.

Brahmā reassures the gods by telling them that the sons of Sagara will be destroyed by the curse of Sage Kapila. The sons of Sagara in the course of their excavation arrive in the presence of Kapila and, behaving insolently towards him, are forthwith reduced to ashes by the fire of his wrath.

Indra steals away the horse released by Sagara as a prelude to his horse-sacrifice; his sixty thousand sons proceed to excavate the earth in quest of the horse and the gods in terror apprise Brahmā of this daring of theirs.

The narrative of King Sagara, a former king of Ayodhyā and a forefather of Śrī Rāma.

A detailed account of Kārtikeya’s birth through Gangā.