Somaka Sacrifices His Son Jantu
King Somaka, desperate for a hundred sons, performs a sacrifice in which his only son Jantu is offered into the fire. The mothers of Jantu scream and try to pull him back, but the officiating priest drags the boy away and completes the rite — and the mothers, inhaling the smoke, fall down.
King Somaka had one hundred wives but only one son — a boy named Jantu. When Jantu was bitten by a snake and died, the king's grief was absolute. His preceptor told him: perform a sacrifice, and you will have a hundred sons.
Somaka performed the sacrifice. And he offered Jantu.
The mothers of Jantu — the king's wives — saw what was happening. Out of affection for their son, they forcibly tugged at him and cried out: "Alas! We are dead!" Overcome with great distress, they grasped him by his right hand.
But the officiating priest grasped him by the left hand and pulled.
As they screamed like female ospreys, the priest dragged their son away. Following the prescribed rites, he offered him as an oblation into the fire.
As the offering was made, the distressed mothers inhaled the smoke. And suddenly they fell down on the ground.
All the king's women then conceived. After ten months had passed, a total of one hundred sons were born to all of them and to Somaka.
Jantu was the eldest — born again to his former mother. They loved him more than their own sons. He had a golden mark on his left side. Among those one hundred sons, he was the best in terms of qualities. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 425