Srimad Bhagavatam — Navama Skandha, Shloka 28
Mahārāja Sagara, Kapila Muni, and the Deliverance of the Sixty Thousand Sons
श्रीभगवानुवाच अश्वोऽयं नीयतां वत्स पितामहपशुस्तव । इमे च पितरो दग्धा गङ्गाम्भोऽर्हन्ति नेतरत् ॥ २८ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca aśvo ’yaṁ nīyatāṁ vatsa pitāmaha-paśus tava ime ca pitaro dagdhā gaṅgāmbho ’rhanti netarat
Die Höchste Persönlichkeit Gottes sprach: Mein lieber Aṁśumān, hier ist das Tier, das dein Großvater für das Opfer suchte; nimm es mit. Was deine Vorfahren betrifft, die zu Asche verbrannt wurden: Nur das Wasser der heiligen Gaṅgā kann sie erlösen, durch kein anderes Mittel.
FAQs
In this verse, the Lord states that Sagara’s forefathers, burned to ashes, can be purified only by the waters of the Gaṅgā—highlighting Gaṅgā-jala as uniquely sanctifying for ancestral deliverance.
Because the horse was the rightful sacrificial animal of Aṁśumān’s grandfather (King Sagara) for the Aśvamedha, and the Lord clarifies it should be returned to complete the sacrifice properly.
It teaches respect for dharma and responsibility to one’s lineage, while emphasizing that true purification comes through sacred, God-centered means—cultivating humility, devotion, and sincere acts of remembrance and prayer for one’s ancestors.