A History of Sanskrit Literature c13.s2.25

c13.s2.25

The *Rāmāyaṇa* contains several interesting episodes, though, of course, far fewer than the *Mahābhārata*. One of them, a thoroughly Indian story, full of exaggerations and impossibilities, is the legend, told in Book I., of the descent of the Ganges. It relates how the sacred river was brought down from heaven to earth in order to purify the remains of the 60,000 sons of King Sagara, who were reduced to ashes by the sage Kapila when his devotions were disturbed by them.