Once upon a time, rucheeka, the son of Bhrigu Maharshi wanted to marry the daughter of Gadhi, the king of Kanyakubjam. She was satyavati. Gadhi laid a condition that, he’ll give his daughter’s hand to the person who can bring 1000 white horses with one black ear. With his Tapas, Ruchika went to varuna loka(The adhipati or lord of the west side) and bowed down to Varuna deva to grant him 1000 white horses with one black ear. Ruchika was asked to bath near the banks of Ganga in Kanya Kubjam, and after coming out of Ganga, you can see all the 1000 horses coming out of the river at aswa teertha.
Ruchika gave these horses to King Gadhi, and he gave his daughter in hand to Sage Ruchika. They were living happily, and one day Bhrigu Maharshi came to their house. She fed him good food, and taking care of him very well. Bhrigu was impressed and told her “I want to grant you a boon, ask me if you have any wish”. She fell at this feet and asked him, “I am my father’s only daughter, he doesn’t have a son to take care of the kingdom after him. So please grant a boon that my mother will have a son, and I too want a dharmic son”. He performed a homam, and gave two separate plates of havishya annam (a food that is purified by homam), to Satyavati, and carefully told her which plate she should eat and the plate which her mother should eat. And he also told her to hug Audambar tree and her mother should hug a peepal tree. Satyavati’s mother cameback after a pilgrimage, and her daughter told the story and gave the havishya annam to her mother.
Later satyvati realized that she ate the wrong plate, and she has hugged a wrong tree, i.e, both are swapped. She realized her mistake and informed this to Bhrigu Maharshi. He was aghast. He told her that “You will give birth to a man with Kshatriya qualities, a great tapasvi, who is invincible in war and your mother will give birth to a child who will become a great sage, he who is on par with chaturmukha Brahma, who is the master of mantras”. She asked him, “Your son has married me by giving 1000 white horses to my father. It is my mistake that I couldn’t follow your instructions properly. So what has happened has happened, can you atleast defer the son being born to me for a generation? I want to give birth to a great sage who will become a self realized being”. He said “Thathaasthu”.
After a few months, Satyavati’s mother gave birth to Sage Jamadagni, and her mother gave birth to ‘Kaushika’ (who will be known as Sage Vishwamitra in the future). Jamadagni also married a kshatriya lady, Renuka Devi.
Jamadagni was a great sage, as bright as a fire ball. He was playing a ball game with his wife one day during her pregnancy. He saw her sweating profusely, and unable to walk on the hot floor. He looked at the Sun and said, “ O Suryadeva, how dare you make this earth and the atmosphere hotter. I will curse you if you don’t reduce the intensity of your heat”. Suryadeva responded saying that, “ It is my dharma, according to the period of the year and solar cycles I have to function, else it will defy the laws of the nature. I am granting two boons to you. An umbrella and footwear. Both of you please wear them and continue playing”. (From that day onwards, these two things came into use for mankind).
Jamadagni Maharshi and Renuka Devi had five sons Rumanvant, Sushena, Vasu, Vishwa Vasu, Rama.
(To be continued with the stories of parasurama and Vishwamitra..)
