Sagara Obtains a Boon from Shiva

King Sagara ruled in the lineage of Ikshvaku. He was beautiful, strong, and powerful — he had exterminated the Haihayas and the Talajanghas, conquered every king who opposed him, and governed his own kingdom with authority. But he had no son. And without a son, a king’s line ends. He had two wives, both proud of their beauty and their youth. One was from Vidarbha — Vaidarbhi. The other was from Shibi — Shaibya. Sagara took both of them with him to Mount Kailasa, determined to obtain a son through austerities so extreme that the gods would have no choice but to answer. He performed great austerities. He immersed himself in yoga. And there, on the mountain, he saw the god he had been seeking — the great-souled Tryaksha, the destroyer of Tripura, Shankara, Bhava, Ishana, Shulapani, Pinaki, Tryambaka, Shiva, Ugresha, Uma’s consort, the one with many forms. As soon as Sagara saw the granter of boons, he prostrated himself with his two wives and asked for a son. Shiva was pleased. He spoke to the king and his wives: “Considering the moment when you have asked me for a boon, sixty thousand brave sons who will be proud in war will be born to one of your wives. One son will be born to the other wife. But they will all be destroyed together. You will have one brave descendant from the one who bears the single one.” Then Rudra vanished. Sagara returned to his residence with his wives, happy in his heart. In time, both wives conceived. Vaidarbhi gave birth to a gourd. Shaibya gave birth to a son as beautiful as the gods. Sagara looked at the gourd and thought about throwing it away. But a voice spoke from the sky — deep in sound. “O king! Do not act in haste. Do not abandon your sons. Take the seeds out from the gourd. Let them be carefully preserved in a warm vessel partly filled with ghee. You will then obtain sixty thousand sons. Mahadeva has decided that your sons will be born in this fashion. Do not make your mind act contrary to this.”