Satyavrata to Sagara

Suta said

Out of devotion, compassion and his pledge Satyavrata supported Vishvamitra's wife. Sage, he killed deer, boar and buffalo roaming the forest and threw the meat near Vishvamitra's hermitage. Since Vasishtha happened to be the priest and preceptor, given the circumstances, he protected tirthas, cattle and the inner quarters. Because he was childish, or from the force of the inevitable, Satyavrata always bore excessive intolerance towards Vasishtha. When his father cast out his son from the kingdom, Vasishtha had not restrained him; that was the reason. The marriage mantras are complete when seven steps are taken together, but Satyavrata did not allow those seven steps to be completed. He thought that Vasishtha did not understand, that the great soul had intended only to satisfy his father, that the brahmana had harmed the line, that the illustrious Vasishtha did not stop his father from abandoning him and did not say that the son should be installed. The powerful one took the initiation and kept that vow for twelve years. Once, when no meat could be had, the prince saw great-souled Vasishtha's cow, able to yield milk to satisfy every desire. Sage, overcome by anger, greed, exhaustion and hunger, and following the dharma of shudras, the king killed it, ate the flesh himself and fed it to Vishvamitra's sons. Hearing he had fed them this, Vasishtha was enraged and said: cruel one, even if you had not committed two other sins, I would have brought you down for this one. Failing to satisfy your father, killing your guru's cow and having relations with one you should not are the three sins you have committed. Because of the three sins he called him Trishanku, and he came to be known as Trishanku. Vishvamitra returned and saw that his wife had been supported. Delighted with Trishanku, the sage granted him a boon. The prince told his preceptor the boon he wanted. The fear of twelve years' drought was over. While the gods and Vasishtha watched, the sage Koushika performed a sacrifice and installed him in the kingdom, and made him ascend to heaven in his own body.

His wife was Satyaratha, born in the Kekaya line. She bore a spotless son, Harishchandra, called Traishankava, who performed a rajasuya and was famed as an emperor. Harishchandra's son was Rohita, Rohita's son Vrika and Vrika's son Bahu. Brahmana, he followed dharma not for himself but for dharma's sake. The Haihayas and Talajanghas drove the king out. Bahu had a son, Sagara, born along with poison. He took refuge in Ourva's hermitage and was protected by Bhargava. King Sagara got the fire weapon from Bhargava, killed the Talajanghas and Haihayas and conquered the earth. He established excellent dharma among Shakas, Bahudakas, Paradas, Taganas and Khasas and ruled the earth by dharma.

Shounaka asked

Why was he born with poison? How did he win against the kshatriyas, and how was he victorious? Son of a suta, please describe in detail.

Suta replied

Sage, listen single-mindedly. This is exactly what Vaishampayana was asked by Parikshit's son.

Parikshit's son asked

Sage, why was King Sagara born with poison? How did he kill so many? Please explain.

Vaishampayana replied

Son, lord of the earth, Bahu indulged in vices and his kingdom was seized by the Haihayas and Talajanghas, with the Shakas, Yavanas, Paradas, Kambojas and Pahlavas. King, five classes of rakshasas are mentioned: Yavanas, Paradas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Bahudakas, and these five lent their valour to the Haihayas. The kingdom was taken by force. Having lost it King Bahu went to the forest and gave up his life there, and his miserable wives followed him. One of them was born in the Yadava line and, though pregnant, followed him. Her co-wife, jealous that she was pregnant first, had earlier given her poison. Having lit her husband's funeral pyre, she prepared to climb onto it, but Bhargava Ourva, moved by compassion, stopped her. To protect the foetus the queen went and stayed in his hermitage, serving the noble sage with Shankara in her heart. At a good muhurta and a good ascendant, with the five planets favourable, the child was born along with the poison. Supreme among sages, when the ascendant was powerful in every way the mighty-armed king named Sagara was born. Great-souled Ourva performed his birth rites and others, taught him the Vedas and texts and gave him weapons, including the fire weapon, hard even for the immortals to withstand. Sagara, supreme among kings, gladly accepted all by the rules and, by the strength of these weapons, became powerful. Enraged, with those weapons he swiftly slaughtered the Haihayas, and the most renowned spread his fame through the world. Sagara established dharma across the earth. The Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas, slaughtered by him, took refuge with Vasishtha. The very radiant one gave them his word and pledge, freed them from fear and restrained King Sagara. Sagara heard his guru and kept the pledge he had made, but he destroyed their dharma and changed how they wore their hair. He shaved half the heads of the Shakas and let them go, shaved the Yavanas' and Kambojas' heads entirely, made the Paradas crop their hair loose and the Pahlavas wear beards. The great soul robbed them of study and the vashat call. All the dharmic kings on earth had earlier been defeated, and thus earlier all kshatriyas had been deprived of their dharma. The king was victorious by dharma and conquered the whole earth.

The king prepared a horse for a horse sacrifice. Followed by sixty thousand of his sons the horse went to the south-eastern shore of the ocean. For his own selfish ends Shakra, king of the gods, stole the horse from the ocean shore and hid it in the earth. To look for the horse the great king Sagara had his sons dig up the ground in every direction. As they dug along the great ocean they came upon the original Purusha, the divinity Kapila, whose form is the universe. As he woke the fire from his eyes burned all sixty thousand sons except four: Harshaketu, Suketu, Dharmaratha and brave Panchajana, kings who carried the line forward. Bhagavan Hari Narayana himself gave him five boons: a lineage, intelligence, fame, the ocean as a son and wealth. By his deeds the ocean became Sagara's. From the ocean he also got the horse for the horse sacrifice. The very illustrious one performed a hundred horse sacrifices, excellent in his vows, sacrificing for the gods and gaining prosperity from Shambhu.