Ambarisha

In Hindu mythology, a king of the
Ikshvaku dynasty about whom various
sources paint very differing pictures. In
the Ramayana, the earlier of the two
32
Amaruka
great Hindu epics, he is portrayed as a
man who is willing to sacrifice a boy,
Sunassepha, in place of a sacrificial cow
that Indra has stolen. At the moment of
the sacrifice, Sunassepha prays to the
gods, and Indra appears to bless both
Ambarisha and Sunassepha. In another
story, from the Bhagavata Purana,
Ambarisha is portrayed as a fervent
devotee (bhakta) of Vishnu. When the
sage Durvasas tries to disrupt
Ambarisha’s ekadashi (“eleventh day”)
observances, Ambarisha calls for help
from Vishnu’s discus weapon,
Sudarshana. At Ambarisha’s prayer, the
discus pursues Durvasas throughout the
universe and gives him no place of
refuge. In the end, a humbled Durvasas
is forced to beg Ambarisha’s forgiveness,
and the latter informs Durvasas of the
powers of ekadashi observance.