Who Brought Ganga On Earth And Why? 

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Who Brought Ganga On Earth And Why?
King Sagara, a Suryavanshi ruler from the Solar dynasty, was an ancestor of Lord Ram. He was blessed by Goddess Saraswati to have 60,000 sons. Once the King decided to perform the Yashwamedha Yagya, to prove his supremacy over other rulers on Earth and for the betterment of his kingdom. In a yagya like this, Ashva, meaning a horse is of integral importance. Lord Indra was always jealous of the King’s power. Fearing that the successful end of this yagya will eventually lead to more powers to King Sagara, he decided to steal the horse, so the sacrificial ceremony would never be complete. He stole the horse of the Ashwamedha yagya and left the horse at the ashram (hermitage) of sage Kapila, who was in deep meditation. The King ordered his 60,000 sons to go in search of the horse in all the three Lokas. When the sons reached the hermitage of sage Kapila, they found the horse tied to a tree outside his ashram. Instinctively, they thought it was sage Kapila who had stolen the horse. Furious at this, they began cursing the sage eventually disrupting his Tapasya (penance) and waking him from his deep meditation. The sage angered by the actions of sons, cursed them all to be burnt down to ashes. The souls of the 60,000 sons of King Sagara wandered as ghosts as their final rites were not performed.
Over a period of time many men from the family of the Suryavanshis like Anshuman and Dilip tried to free the souls of the 60,000 men. However, none of them succeeded in this attempt.
Bhagirath reached the ashram of sage Kapila who brought his ancestors this fate. He humbly reached out the sage and with folded hands apologized for the sins of his forefathers. He then asked the sage how he could possibly free his ancestor from their sufferings. Sage Kapila advised that the souls could only attain Moksha if their ashes were poured into Ganga. However, the problem was that Ganga was not on Earth, but was in the Kamandala (water pot) of Brahma. So Bhagiratha would have to please Lord Brahma to bring Ganga on Earth.
Ganga told Bhagiratha that if she were to descend from the sky to the earth, her fall would be difficult to sustain as the mighty force of Ganga would destroy the entire planet and all of its creation. She asked him to request the mighty of the Trinity, Lord Shiva for help as no one except him would be able to control Ganga. Bhagiratha again did severe penance to please Shiva. Shiva, in favour of this plan for the welfare of mankind, accepted the request of Bhagiratha. Shiva asks Ganga to descend from the sky and fall on his head. He contained the force of Ganga in the locks of his matted-hair and let her fall on Earth in small streams.
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