Sagar

In Hindu mythology, a celebrated king
of the Solar Line. Sagar, the son of King
Subahu and his wife Yadavi, gets his
name because one of Yadavi’s co-wives
has given her poison (gara) while she is
pregnant with him. Sagar has a very
hard early life. His father is driven from
his kingdom even before he is born, and
Sagar is raised at the ashram of the sage
Aurva, where his mother has taken asylum. When he comes to maturity Sagar
embarks on a series of military campaigns in which he wins back all the
lands his father lost, and becomes a
righteous and religious king whose only
concern is his lack of progeny.
To beget sons, Sagar calls on the sage
Bhrgu, who gives Sagar’s two wives a
choice: one wife will bear 60,000 sons
who will all die childless, and one wife
will bear one son who will carry on the
line. Each of his wives chooses, and in
due course both have their children—
Keshini delivers her one son in the normal way, whereas Sumati delivers a
lump of flesh that is divided and put into
60,000 pots, each of which develops into
a handsome son.
In his prosperity King Sagar continues to sponsor religious rites, and is on
the verge of completing his hundredth
horse sacrifice (asvamedha), which will
entitle him to the throne of Indra, the
god who is the king of heaven. To forestall this, Indra steals the sacred horse
and hides it in the ashram of the sage
Kapila. Sagar sends his 60,000 sons
to search for the horse, but they make
the mistake of insulting the sage, who
burns them all to ash through his
yogic powers. To rescue their souls it
is necessary to bring down the Ganges
from heaven, a job that Sagar’s descendants diligently attempt to complete.
After several generations of frustration,
his great-great-grandson Bhagirath is
finally successful.