Rama was pleased with the story of his ancestor narrated by Visvamitra. The latter elaborated upon it, saying that the sacrifice took place between the two mighty mountain ranges of the Himalayas and the Vindyas, almost facing each other. This region was known to be the most sacred and appropriate for such religious rites. Anshuman mounted on a magnificent chariot, stood guard over the sacrificial horse with bow in hand. Even as Sagara the patron of the yaga was conducting the rituals, Indra in the form of a rakshasa swooped down and stole the horse.Alarmed, the preceptors pronounced that such an act would be a taint on the sacrifice. They urged Sagara to kill the thief and retrieve the horse, or it would bring disaster to all. Calling his sixty thousand sons together Sagara spoke to them. "I can not see how the horse could be stolen from our midst.The yagna is being performed by the most venerable of priests, so I must remain here along with Anshuman. Do go, my sons and search league by league, the land girt by the oceans. Dig up the very earth if need be, until such a time the horse is found". The army of Sagara's sons roamed the earth in earnest enthusiasm.They tore at the crust of the earth with nails, sharp and hard as jagged diamonds. They dug with fearsome spears, which went in and out like bolts of lightening, and they plowed deep inside, on every side, until the earth cried out in anguish.

There arose terrible cries from creatures tormented.The outcry of the nagas, asuras and rakshasa being killed was sheer agony. The sixty thousand separate individuals of tremendous valor and energy dug into the very core of the earth, excavating sixty thousand yojanas into the underworld of Rasatala. With the sound of spears, plows and the wailing of living beings tortured, the noise reached a crescendo. They even scooped out parts of Jambu Island filled with majestic mountains. Petrified and crestfallen, the devatas along with the uragas, asuras and gandharvas, invoked Brahma. They implored him to save them from the wrath of the sons of Sagara, saying that even great sages living in the lower world were being killed.