Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.30

c7.30

Nature protested against this deed of the King abandoning his heir and there was no rain in the country for twelve years. The people were all put to great trouble. Among those who suffered were the wife and children of Viśvāmitra. Viśvāmitra had at that time gone to the shores of the river Kauśiki, for doing penance. The family of Viśvāmitra was in great distress living without any means for food. The sight of the children crying for food to appease their hunger pained their mother much. So she decided to sell one child and feed the others by what she got from the sale. It was better to be without one child than all the children dying out of hunger.