How Ganga came down to the Earth
Once the king named Sagar Performed the Ashvamedh Yagyo. ( In this Yagya a horse is allowed to roam at its will and which ever the territory it covers becomes the property of the king who performs this yagya. The person who stops the horse has to fight against the army of the king who performs this yagya.)The king allowed ( Let loose ) a horse to roam at its will. One day Indra, the king of gods, stole the horse and tied it near Kapil Muni where he was sitting in deep Tapasya. The king Sagar's 60000 sons went in search of the horse. They found it tied near Kpil Muni. They mistook Kapil Muni for the thief and accused him of stealing the thief. Kapil Muni got angry at this false accusation and burned all the 60000 sons to ashes.
Then the king Sagar sent his another son Anshuman to search for his 60000 brothers, while searching for then he went to the Ashram of Kapil Muni and came to know what had happed to them. So he requesed Kapil Muni to tell him the way or means through which his brother could get salvation. At the sage Kapil Muni was pleased with Anushuman and told him that the waters of the Ganga could release the souls of all the sixty thousand sons of Sagar. At his advice Anshuman did Tapasya but could not get success in bringing the Ganga down to the earth from heaven.
At last the king Bhagirath, the son of Dilip, did Tapasya and got success in bringing down Ganga to the earth. Bhagirath led the way and the river Ganga followed. At last it reached the place where the ashes of sixty thousand princes lay. The water of the Ganga touched the ashes and as a result, their souls were liberated.
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