Free The Ramayana by Ramesh Menon Page B

his kingdom to his son Bhagiratha, and passed on from the world.
    â€œBy now, the curse on the Ikshvaku line told not just on the royal family but on the common people. Bhagiratha was the first of his line to realize that there was no hope in ruling, as best he could, and keeping darkness at bay, as well as he might. The curse already afflicted him grievously: he could not father a son. It was as if the sons of Sumati cried out in his blood for the expiation of their sin. Bhagiratha knew he had to exorcise the curse at its root. He knew he must spend his life in tapasya, if need be, to bring the Ganga down into the world to wash his ancestors’ ashes.
    â€œBhagiratha left his kingdom in the hands of some trusted ministers. He went to the mountains and sat in an excruciating penance. At last, one day, at the end of a thousand years spent on the icy Himalaya, Brahma appeared before the king. The Grandsire of the worlds said, ‘Ask for anything you want.’
    â€œBhagiratha’s eyes swam with tears. His voice was long unused, since he had taken a vow of silence; besides, to whom would he speak in that blizzard-swept fastness, where not even mountain rakshasas ventured? Choking, Bhagiratha said, ‘Father of worlds, grant that I may perform the niravapanjali for my ancestors with the waters of the Ganga; and that they attain Swarga. Brahma, grant also that I have a son to continue the line of Ikshvaku.’
    â€œUnable to refuse this king of tapasya anything, Brahma said, ‘You will have a noble son, to be king after you. But just think, if the Ganga comes down into the world, who will break her fall? The very earth will be shattered. If you want her to flow here, you must petition Siva to bear her fall.’
    â€œBhagiratha turned in bhakti to the Lord Siva, who is easily moved. When he had fasted in Siva’s name, living on just air for a year, the God of Gods appeared before the Ikshvaku king.
    â€œSiva said, ‘You should not have to sit in tapasya for a cause as just as yours. I am pleased with your devotion to your ancestors. I will break Ganga’s fall, and her pride as well.’
    â€œAfter ages of flattery, verging on worship, by the Devas of the sky who adored her, Ganga had grown vain. When Brahma told her to flow down in the world, she scoffed at him. ‘The earth will perish from this madness. For there is no one who can bear my descent!’
    â€œBut she could not refuse to do as Brahma asked. On the appointed night, the Devas gathered in the sky in their ethereal chariots, like a flotilla of full moons; while below, on a plateau of the Himalaya in the icebound north, Bhagiratha stood with his gaze trained on the heavens. There was no sign of Siva.
    â€œSuddenly a deafening roar shook the firmament. High above him, beyond the chariots of the Devas which they flew out of harm’s way, Bhagiratha saw her coming: she was a sheet of silver, filling the night sky. He shut his eyes with a prayer. He was sure this was the end of the world; for who indeed could support the fall of that ocean? Like a cosmic flash flood she came, hurtling down the Milky Way, and laughing as she did: she was amused that Brahma had not cared to heed her warning.
    â€œBut then, another figure loomed beside Bhagiratha. He appeared out of the very air. He was the Lord of night, Sarvaripati Siva, and his face was loftier than the moon and the Devas’ vimanas. The Devas began to sing his praises when they saw him like that. But Ganga swept on, and only Siva knew what was in her arrogant heart. Exhilarated by her plunge down the constellations, she thought to herself, ‘I will show Siva who I am. I will thrust him down into Patala!’
    â€œSiva, who knows all things, stood smiling, his head exposed to her mad descent. With a crash like thunder in the galaxy, Ganga fell straight down upon Siva’s hallowed head. Bhagiratha shut his eyes, certain this was the end. Even the Devas