Dasaratha did not have to his credit the dharma necessary for the birth of a son although in all other respects he had pursued the course of righteousness. Birth of a son, according to Shrutis, frees man from debt, lifts him from hell, assures a place in heaven hereafter and continuation of the family line. The Shruti has it, “A brahmin is born with three debts. He returns the debt of the sages by observing celibacy in the first stage of life. By performing the sacrifices enjoined by the scriptures he returns the debt of the gods and by producing a son he is freed from the debt that he owes to the forefathers”. “Putra is called so because he saves the father from a hell named pum”. And again, “There is no abode for him who is without a son”, “Do not break the thread of continuity of the family line”.
Bodhayana also says, “When a grandson is born he (man) reaches the abode of Ananta. And when a grandson to the son is born, he ascends straight to the heaven”. And again, “He who begets a righteous son dispels the fear of sin from the minds of previous six (including himself, seven) and following six (including himself seven) generations. By begetting a son one creates himself”. The sastra says, “He is your own self called a son. Thus even as one is alive one should see his second self”.
In the “Adiparva” of the Mahabharata, Pandu says to Kunti, “O, fortunate one, no entry into the future abode awaits the childless. When his body perishes the destruction of the manes is inevitable. Human beings are born on this earth along with four debts, which he owes to manes, gods, sages, human beings numbering in hundreds and thousands. Whoever does not realise this in due course of time is deprived of a righteous abode after death. He should please gods with sacrifices, sages with Vedic studies and austerities, manes by producing sons and performing yearly shraddha and human beings, by kindness. Producing a child establishes one in a righteous abode in the other worlds. O Kunti, such is the belief of those who always follow the righteous path. Sacrifices, charity, austerities, scrupulously observed vows-everything becomes unholy if done by a childless person”.
Jaratkaru katha:
Also regarding Astikya, the passage in the Adiparva goes as follows- “During the same time, the great ascetic, Jaratkaru by name, was wandering on the vast expanse of the earth. The irresolute cannot do the feat but with his great spiritual power, Jaratkaru roamed all over till sunset. During these wanderings he had sacred ablutions in the holy places (situated on the river banks). Eating nothing except air the sage shrank by the day. One day he saw manes hanging in a cave with heads down from the blade of virana (a kind of grass) to a single thread. A rat from a hole was pulling that thread, too. He approached them, as they were without food, emaciated, pitiable and were seeking help from the cave and pitiable though he himself was, he spoke to those pitiable ones. ‘Who are you hanging here from the blade of virana facing a great calamity? How can I help you? With the help of one-fourth, one-third or even one half of my penance you may overcome the calamity. Tell me. Do not waste time. Or else, you may use my entire merit accumulated through penance to overcome this calamity’. The manes replied, “You are an old celibate. You want to save us. But, O eminent brahmin, this calamity cannot be overcome by penance. O best of the orators, we too, have some merit to our credit. We are going to fall in the dirty hell for want of progeny. Child is the supreme means of piety as the wise have said. We are sages not residing in a home after fulfilling our vows. We have fallen here from a holy abode due to absence of an issue. Our holy vows have also gone waste. We have left no thread of continuity behind us. A famous scholar of the Vedas and the auxiliary sciences, Jaratkaru by name is fascinated by penance and has reduced us to this pitiable state. He does not have a wife, children or anyone else for that matter. Hence like destitute we hang here in the cave from the blade of virana grass as you can see. This blade of grass is our present thread of continuity, our scion. The roots of the creeper, O brahmin, are our threads consumed by Time. The half-eaten root is our only support to which all of us hang. The rat you see is the mighty Time. He afflicts that foolish Jaratkaru, greedy of penance, not knowing what he is doing, by biting with the teeth. You will soon see us fallen to hell like sinners, with our roots severed when Time consumes us. When we perish here, he too after his death will fall in the same hell along with his forefathers and relatives. Whether it is penance or sacrifices or any other greatly purifying deed for that matter, none is comparable with progeny. Such is the opinion of the saintly”. On hearing this, Jaratkaru experienced intense, agonising pain. With words choked with tears, he said to his own ancestors, “I am Jaratkaru, your son, the sinner. Seeing you hanging here like birds I withdraw my mind from the vow of lifelong celibacy. O my forefathers, I shall certainly fulfil your desire by procreating a son”.
Krishna to Rukmin on the importance of a son:
In the Harivamsha, too, Krishna says to Rukmini who longs for a virtuous son, “They attained their higher spiritual abodes only by begetting sons who are the bestowers of the desired fruit like cows, providers of milk. A hell called ‘Put’ is said by the wise to be torturous. People desire sons here and here after so that they are saved from this ‘Put’ (the word ‘Putra’ is derived here from put + tra-to protect). My dear, there are innumerable auspicious abodes which await one after one’s death if one has a son. When a husband enters his wife he actually enters a mother’s womb, becoming an embryo. In a renewed form he is reborn there in the tenth month. Even Indra is afraid of him who has a son. Indeed what is it that he cannot conquer? The sonless one is not rewarded with any spiritual abode. However, barrenness is better than a bad son. As a bad son is like hell, a good one is like heaven. Therefore, one should long for a son who is humble, knowledgeable, kind-hearted and righteous, who is a fountain of learning and humility. So make every effort to beget such a son”.
That Dasaratha did not have such a son is the subject of the eighthSarga.
When king Dasaratha thought about a remedy for begetting a son, his mind turned automatically to the most righteous and sought after means since his mind and life were dominated by righteousness and since the merit that he had accumulated over the past several births had fructified at that time. It is evident from the next verse.
Ashvamedha Sacrifice 1.8.2-13
Ashvamedha is the most righteous means to have a son because it is a single atonement for all sins, because it is the means to attain the abode of Brahma and also because it leads to the final emancipation. The scripture says, ‘He who performs the ashvamedha is freed from all sins, including the sin of killing a brahmin. The Shruiti speaks of attaining Brahmaloka through the performance of ashvamedha. In Brihadaranyaka, ashvamedha is stated to lead one to Hiranyagarbha in his cosmic form. In the following passage, which begins with words, ‘Usha of Ashva’ and ends as, ‘He also does not have to meet an unnatural death’. To Manu ‘no sin is worse than killing a brahmin and no merit is higher than ashvamedha’. ‘A killer of a brahmin is freed from the sin by taking the sacred, ceremonious bath at the completion of the ashvamedha’ observes Apastamba. And again, ‘It is learnt that all those who inhale the smell of the horse offered in the sacrifice attain holy abodes after death. Even the sinners joining hands with the meritorious lead the whole group to a spiritual rise. All of them attain a holy abode’. A great man is destined to have a son. This conviction also impelled Dasaratha’s mind to choose the most righteous of the remedial measures.
Sarga-8
The Importance of having a Son 1.8.1
Dasaratha did not have to his credit the dharma necessary for the birth of a son although in all other respects he had pursued the course of righteousness. Birth of a son, according to Shrutis, frees man from debt, lifts him from hell, assures a place in heaven hereafter and continuation of the family line. The Shruti has it, “A brahmin is born with three debts. He returns the debt of the sages by observing celibacy in the first stage of life. By performing the sacrifices enjoined by the scriptures he returns the debt of the gods and by producing a son he is freed from the debt that he owes to the forefathers”. “Putra is called so because he saves the father from a hell named pum”. And again, “There is no abode for him who is without a son”, “Do not break the thread of continuity of the family line”.
Bodhayana also says, “When a grandson is born he (man) reaches the abode of Ananta. And when a grandson to the son is born, he ascends straight to the heaven”. And again, “He who begets a righteous son dispels the fear of sin from the minds of previous six (including himself, seven) and following six (including himself seven) generations. By begetting a son one creates himself”. The sastra says, “He is your own self called a son. Thus even as one is alive one should see his second self”.
In the “Adiparva” of the Mahabharata, Pandu says to Kunti, “O, fortunate one, no entry into the future abode awaits the childless. When his body perishes the destruction of the manes is inevitable. Human beings are born on this earth along with four debts, which he owes to manes, gods, sages, human beings numbering in hundreds and thousands. Whoever does not realise this in due course of time is deprived of a righteous abode after death. He should please gods with sacrifices, sages with Vedic studies and austerities, manes by producing sons and performing yearly shraddha and human beings, by kindness. Producing a child establishes one in a righteous abode in the other worlds. O Kunti, such is the belief of those who always follow the righteous path. Sacrifices, charity, austerities, scrupulously observed vows-everything becomes unholy if done by a childless person”.
Jaratkaru katha:
Also regarding Astikya, the passage in the Adiparva goes as follows- “During the same time, the great ascetic, Jaratkaru by name, was wandering on the vast expanse of the earth. The irresolute cannot do the feat but with his great spiritual power, Jaratkaru roamed all over till sunset. During these wanderings he had sacred ablutions in the holy places (situated on the river banks). Eating nothing except air the sage shrank by the day. One day he saw manes hanging in a cave with heads down from the blade of virana (a kind of grass) to a single thread. A rat from a hole was pulling that thread, too. He approached them, as they were without food, emaciated, pitiable and were seeking help from the cave and pitiable though he himself was, he spoke to those pitiable ones. ‘Who are you hanging here from the blade of virana facing a great calamity? How can I help you? With the help of one-fourth, one-third or even one half of my penance you may overcome the calamity. Tell me. Do not waste time. Or else, you may use my entire merit accumulated through penance to overcome this calamity’. The manes replied, “You are an old celibate. You want to save us. But, O eminent brahmin, this calamity cannot be overcome by penance. O best of the orators, we too, have some merit to our credit. We are going to fall in the dirty hell for want of progeny. Child is the supreme means of piety as the wise have said. We are sages not residing in a home after fulfilling our vows. We have fallen here from a holy abode due to absence of an issue. Our holy vows have also gone waste. We have left no thread of continuity behind us. A famous scholar of the Vedas and the auxiliary sciences, Jaratkaru by name is fascinated by penance and has reduced us to this pitiable state. He does not have a wife, children or anyone else for that matter. Hence like destitute we hang here in the cave from the blade of virana grass as you can see. This blade of grass is our present thread of continuity, our scion. The roots of the creeper, O brahmin, are our threads consumed by Time. The half-eaten root is our only support to which all of us hang. The rat you see is the mighty Time. He afflicts that foolish Jaratkaru, greedy of penance, not knowing what he is doing, by biting with the teeth. You will soon see us fallen to hell like sinners, with our roots severed when Time consumes us. When we perish here, he too after his death will fall in the same hell along with his forefathers and relatives. Whether it is penance or sacrifices or any other greatly purifying deed for that matter, none is comparable with progeny. Such is the opinion of the saintly”. On hearing this, Jaratkaru experienced intense, agonising pain. With words choked with tears, he said to his own ancestors, “I am Jaratkaru, your son, the sinner. Seeing you hanging here like birds I withdraw my mind from the vow of lifelong celibacy. O my forefathers, I shall certainly fulfil your desire by procreating a son”.
Krishna to Rukmin on the importance of a son:
In the Harivamsha, too, Krishna says to Rukmini who longs for a virtuous son, “They attained their higher spiritual abodes only by begetting sons who are the bestowers of the desired fruit like cows, providers of milk. A hell called ‘Put’ is said by the wise to be torturous. People desire sons here and here after so that they are saved from this ‘Put’ (the word ‘Putra’ is derived here from put + tra-to protect). My dear, there are innumerable auspicious abodes which await one after one’s death if one has a son. When a husband enters his wife he actually enters a mother’s womb, becoming an embryo. In a renewed form he is reborn there in the tenth month. Even Indra is afraid of him who has a son. Indeed what is it that he cannot conquer? The sonless one is not rewarded with any spiritual abode. However, barrenness is better than a bad son. As a bad son is like hell, a good one is like heaven. Therefore, one should long for a son who is humble, knowledgeable, kind-hearted and righteous, who is a fountain of learning and humility. So make every effort to beget such a son”.
That Dasaratha did not have such a son is the subject of the eighthSarga.
When king Dasaratha thought about a remedy for begetting a son, his mind turned automatically to the most righteous and sought after means since his mind and life were dominated by righteousness and since the merit that he had accumulated over the past several births had fructified at that time. It is evident from the next verse.
Ashvamedha Sacrifice 1.8.2-13
Ashvamedha is the most righteous means to have a son because it is a single atonement for all sins, because it is the means to attain the abode of Brahma and also because it leads to the final emancipation. The scripture says, ‘He who performs the ashvamedha is freed from all sins, including the sin of killing a brahmin. The Shruiti speaks of attaining Brahmaloka through the performance of ashvamedha. In Brihadaranyaka, ashvamedha is stated to lead one to Hiranyagarbha in his cosmic form. In the following passage, which begins with words, ‘Usha of Ashva’ and ends as, ‘He also does not have to meet an unnatural death’. To Manu ‘no sin is worse than killing a brahmin and no merit is higher than ashvamedha’. ‘A killer of a brahmin is freed from the sin by taking the sacred, ceremonious bath at the completion of the ashvamedha’ observes Apastamba. And again, ‘It is learnt that all those who inhale the smell of the horse offered in the sacrifice attain holy abodes after death. Even the sinners joining hands with the meritorious lead the whole group to a spiritual rise. All of them attain a holy abode’. A great man is destined to have a son. This conviction also impelled Dasaratha’s mind to choose the most righteous of the remedial measures.