A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.557

c5.557

GĀLAVA. A pupil of Viswāmitra. It is related in the Mahā-bhārata that at the conclusion of his studies he importuned his master to say what present he should make him. Viswāmitra was annoyed, and told him to bring 800 white horses, each having one black ear. In his perplexity Gālava applied to Garuda, who took him to King Yayāti at Pratishthāna. The king was unable to provide the horses, but he gave to Gālava his daughter Mādhavī. Gālava gave her in marriage successively to Haryaswa, king of Ayodhyā, Divo-dāsa, king of Kāsī, and Usīnara, king of Bhoja, receiving from each of them 200 of the horses he was in quest of, upon the birth of a son to each from Mādhavī. Notwithstanding her triple marriage and maternity, Mādhavī, by a special boon, remained a virgin. Gālava presented her and the horses to Viswāmitra. The sage accepted them, and had a son by Mādhavī, who was named Ashtaka. When Viswāmitra retired to the woods, he resigned his hermitage and his horses to Ashtaka, and Gālava having taken Mādhavī back to her father, himself retired to the forest as his preceptor had done. The horses were first obtained by the Brāhman Richika from the god Varuna. They were originally 1000 in number, but his descendants sold 600 of them, and gave the rest away to Brāhmans.