GANGA WATER LIBERATES – STORY
Following the instructions of the great sage Aurva, King Sagara reformed many clans, including the Yavanas, Sakas, Haihayas and Barbaras.
The king did not kill them, but reformed them.
Then, again following the instructions of Aurva, King Sagara performed asvamedha sacrifices, but the horse needed for such a sacrifice was stolen by Indra, the King of heaven.
King Sagara had two wives, named Sumati and Kesini.
While searching for the horse, the sons of Sumati extensively dug up the surface of the earth and in this way dug a trench, which later became known as the Sagara Ocean.
In the course of this search, they came upon the great personality Kapiladeva and thought Him to have stolen the horse.
With this offensive understanding, they attacked Him and were all burned to ashes.
Kesini, the second wife of King Sagara, had a son named Asamanjasa, whose son Amsuman later searched for the horse and delivered his uncles.
Upon approaching Kapiladeva, Amsuman saw both the horse meant for sacrifice and a pile of ashes.
Amsuman offered prayers to Kapiladeva, who was very pleased by his prayers and who returned the horse.
After getting back the horse, however, Amsuman still stood before Kapiladeva, and Kapiladeva could understand that Amsuman was praying for the deliverance of his forefathers.
Thus Kapiladeva offered the instruction that they could be delivered by water from the Ganges.
Amsuman then offered respectful obeisances to Kapiladeva, circumambulated Him, and left that place with the horse for sacrifice.
When King Sagara finished his yajna, he handed over the kingdom to Amsuman and, following the advice of Aurva, attained salvation.
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 9.9 Summary:
The son of Maharaja Amsuman was Dilipa, who tried to bring the Ganges to this world but who died without success.
Bhagiratha, the son of Dilipa, was determined to bring the Ganges to the material world and for this purpose he underwent severe austerities.
Mother Ganges, being fully satisfied by his austerities, made herself visible to him, wanting to give him a benediction.
Bhagiratha then asked her to deliver his forefathers.
Although mother Ganges agreed to come down to earth, she made two conditions: first, she wanted some suitable male to be able to control her waves; second, although all sinful men would be freed from sinful reactions by bathing in the Ganges, mother Ganges did not want to keep all these sinful reactions.
These two conditions were subject matters for consideration.
Bhagiratha replied to mother Ganges, “The Personality of Godhead Lord Siva will be completely able to control the waves of your water, and when pure devotees bathe in your water, the sinful reactions left by sinful men will be counteracted.”
Bhagiratha then performed austerities to satisfy Lord Siva, who is called Asutosa because he is naturally satisfied very easily.
Lord Siva agreed to Bhagiratha’s proposal to check the force of the Ganges.
In this way, simply by the touch of the Ganges, Bhagiratha’s forefathers were delivered and allowed to go to the heavenly planets.
(BHAGAVAD GITA LIBERATES – STORY! READ HERE!)