Mudgalapurana 3.25: sagarabhagīrathacaritaṃ nāma pañcaviṃśatitamo'dhyāyaḥ

Salutation to Śrī Gaṇeśa.

Nara and Nārāyaṇa said: / "The son of Ambarīṣa was another known as Yauvanāśva. / Harita was the son of Yauvanāśva, and Hārita was his son.

He was the son of Purukutsa, and from him Trasaddasyu was born. / Anaraṇya was his son, [and then] Haryaśva, approved by the virtuous.

Aruṇa was his son, said to be born from a boon of the Sun. / His son was Satyavrata, wise and noble-minded.

He indeed was named Triśaṅku, who went to heaven in his bodily form. / His son was Hariścandra, devoted to all dharmas.

Learning of Vighneśa from Viśvāmitra, he became a devotee of Gaṇeśa; / in the end, that highly renowned one went to the lord of gaṇas in Svānanda.

Rohita was his son; from him Harita indeed came to be; / Campa from him; then Sudeva; then Vijaya; Bharuka after that.

Then Vṛka; then Bāhu; and Sagara was his son. / Sagara had two wives: Prabhā and Bhānumatī.

By the two of them, the supremely pure yogin Bhṛgu was propitiated. / (

For the sake of a son, he gave them a supreme boon that grants sons.

Sixty thousand sons were chosen by Prabhā; / Bhānumatī chose one bearer of the lineage, O great sage.

By the grace of Bhṛgu, there was born in Bhānumatī / a son named Asamañjasa, the bearer of the lineage, O sage.

He, endowed with yoga, highly renowned, seized all the infants / and, as a boy who was a destroyer of boys, cast them into the Sarayū.

Then, abandoned by his father, he went to the forest, O great sage, / having revived all the infants by the power of his yogic illusion.

His son was born, Aṃśumān, devoted to dharma. / In Prabhā, sixty thousand sons indeed were born.

Then Sagara performed a hundred horse-sacrifice rituals by force of arms; at this, Indra was perturbed.

When the final sacrifice had begun, the lord of the gods, employing illusion, seized the horse and placed it in the netherworld near

Kapila. Thereupon, those sons of Sagara, sixty thousand [in number], exceedingly hard to conquer, were enraged.

Examining the horse's footprints within the earth, those discerning [princes], endowed with strength, then dug up the earth on every side.

By them, O Brahmin, the salt-ocean was expanded; therefore, because of their action, it was called Sāgara from that time on.

They saw that king of horses roaming near Kapila. Thinking him to be the thief, the sons of Sagara readied their weapons to kill him.

The sons of Sagara were reduced to ashes in the fire of Kapila's wrath. Because of that, the majestic Purandara was filled with joy.

Having learned [this] from Nārada, Sagara then dispatched his grandson Aṃśumat. That very radiant [youth] bowed down to the Brahmin [Kapila].

Praised and worshiped by him, Kapila gave back the horse. Taking it, O Brahmin, he went to his grandfather Sagara.

Then that renowned [king] brought that horse sacrifice to full completion; having anointed his grandson in the kingdom, he departed for the forest.

Having received from his guru the great mantra of Gaṇeśa that grants peace through yoga, and having mastered it, that yogin became exceedingly luminous.

With an undivided mind, the king worshiped the god Gaṇeśa; in the end, O Brahmin, intent upon Brahman, he went to Gaṇapa.

Aṃśumat too, having attained knowledge from Kapila, of great renown, constantly worshiped Gaṇeśa out of his nature as a Gāṇapatya.

His son was Dilīpa, and from Dilīpa came Bhagīratha. Dilīpa, having [entrusted] the kingdom to the other, went to that supreme Vighneśa.

Then King Bhagīratha, established [on the throne] by Dilīpa, protected the entire kingdom with a disposition towards true dharma.

Once, O sage, Nārada went there to the king; worshiped by him, he addressed excellent words to the king.

Nārada said: / 'O Bhagīratha of great fortune, hear my beneficial words! Your great-grandfathers were burned by the fury of a Brahmin.

For those who are burned by the anger of a Brahmin, there is no [auspicious] destiny; therefore, O great king, bring about their supreme welfare.

Bring down the river of heaven and flood them with its waters; in this manner your ancestors will become dwellers of heaven.'

Having spoken thus, the great yogin Nārada, remembering Gaṇapa, / (

Section 3, Chapter 25, Page 51) departed for heaven, O Brahmin. Thereupon the king became deeply sorrowful.

Leaving that kingdom of his in the hands of his ministers, he went to the forest, and Bhagīratha propitiated the river of heaven with austerities.

When a full century of years had passed, the celestial river came to him, and pleased the devoted king with a boon.

That powerful king Bhagīratha worshiped that goddess, praised her with various hymns, and spoke:

Bhagīratha said: / 'If you are pleased, O fortunate one, then drench my great-grandfathers who remain in the earth.' She said to him, 'So be it.

Find a vessel to hold my violent torrent, O wise one! [Then] I, the highly fortunate, will descend to the surface of the earth.'

Saying 'So be it,' that protector of the earth worshiped Śaṅkara; in one year, Śambhu was pleased with him and granted a boon.

'Receive the river of heaven, O Śaṅkara, if you are pleased!' Saying 'So be it' to him, Śiva [agreed, and] he remembered the great river.

He then said to her who had arrived: 'Fall to the surface of the earth, O goddess! Śaṅkara, the ocean of compassion, will sustain your torrent.'

Full of pride, the celestial Gaṅgā said 'So be it' and fell upon Śiva's head with a thousand streams from every direction.

'Having inundated Śiva's head, I shall proceed to the nethermost realm'—having resolved thus in her mind, she rushed on with immense speed.

Knowing her pride, Śaṅkara concealed the goddess in his matted hair by his power of illusion; there the river merely wandered about.

She could not reach the end of Śambhu's matted hair, and she bowed down to him. Then, released by Śiva for the king's sake, she went to the earth.

There the celestial river saw King Janhu. To him who was performing severe asceticism, she said: 'Move aside, ascetic!

Otherwise, I shall sweep you away!' When he did not answer her, she became enraged and rushed to sweep him away.

Knowing that she had arrived, the king was filled with anger; by the power of his austerities, the powerful lord drank her up and remained in his penance.

Then Bhagīratha of great renown bowed down to him; when beseeched, he split his own thigh and released the river from it.

She attained the status of his daughter; therefore she is called Jāhnavī. Flowing with speed once again, she submerged the sons of Sagara.

Mounted on excellent celestial chariots in the presence of Bhagīratha, they went to the realm of heaven at that very moment by the touch of the water.

Having been thus worshiped by King Bhagīratha, the celestial river was regarded as a daughter; from that she became Bhāgīrathī.

Thus did Bhagīratha possess power and majesty. Bhagīratha's son was also a ruler of the earth, named Śruta.

Having established [his son] in his place in the kingdom, he went to the excellent forest; having learned the yoga of Gaṇeśa from Vasiṣṭha, O sage,

and having mastered it, that king became a Gāṇapatya; in the end, by practicing yoga, he attained union with Gaṇeśa.

Whichever best of men hears or recites this narrative of Bhagīratha, O Brahmin, to him it grants worldly enjoyment and liberation.

Oṃ tat sat. Thus ends the twenty-fifth chapter, named 'The Narrative of Sagara and Bhagīratha,' in the story of Mahodara, in the third section of the glorious and supreme Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa, an Upaniṣad of the Purāṇas.