By the power of his wife, King Bāhu’s child remained in her womb for seven long years. Yet, Bāhu himself, having grown old and weary, passed away near the hermitage of the sage Aurva. His devoted wife, stricken with grief, prepared his funeral pyre, placed his body upon it, and resolved to follow him in death, intending to ascend the flames in the ancient rite of self-immolation. At that very moment, the venerable sage Aurva, who knew the past, present, and future, emerged from his hermitage and addressed her with gentle authority: “Enough, enough of this wrongful resolve! Within your womb abides a universal emperor, destined to be lord of the earth, a child of immense strength and valor, who will perform great sacrifices and destroy the hosts of his enemies.” Moved by the sage’s words and his command not to act rashly, the queen abandoned her intention to follow her husband in death. Aurva then took her into his hermitage. There, within a few days, she gave birth to a radiant boy. The sage himself performed the birth rites and other ceremonies, and he named the child Sagara. When Sagara was invested with the sacred thread, Aurva instructed him in the Vedas, the scriptures, and the powerful Bhārgava missile known as Āgneya. As Sagara’s understanding blossomed, he turned to his mother and asked, “Mother, where are we? Where is my father?” In response, she told him all that had happened: the loss of their kingdom and the death of his father. Hearing this, Sagara’s heart flamed with anger at the usurpers of his father’s realm, and he vowed to destroy the Haihayas, Tālajaṅghas, and their allies. True to his word, Sagara vanquished most of the Haihayas and Tālajaṅghas. The Śakas, Yavanas, Kāmbojas, Pāradas, and Pahlavas, having suffered defeat, fled for refuge to their family preceptor, the sage Vasiṣṭha. Vasiṣṭha, with his spiritual power, rendered them “living dead” and addressed Sagara: “My child, enough of these living dead and those who have followed them in death. For the sake of your vow, I alone have caused them to abandon their own duties and the society of the twice-born.” Accepting the sage’s words with respect, Sagara allowed them to adopt different appearances: the Yavanas were made to shave their heads, the Śakas to shave only the tops of their heads, the Paradas to wear their hair long, and the Pahlavas to keep beards. All of them, along with other Kshatriyas, were made to abandon the recitation of sacred texts and ritual utterances. Thus, having abandoned their own duties, these peoples were cast out by the Brahmins and became known as mlecchas, outsiders. Sagara, meanwhile, returned to his kingdom and ruled the earth—encompassing all seven continents—with unwavering authority. Sage Parāśara then continued: Sagara had two wives—Sumati, the daughter of Kāśyapa, and Keśinī, the daughter of the king of Vidarbha. Desiring children, Sagara worshipped Aurva with great devotion, and the sage granted him a boon: one wife could bear a single son to continue the lineage, while the other could bear sixty thousand sons. Keśinī chose to have one son, while Sumati chose to have sixty thousand. In due course, Keśinī gave birth to a single son named Asamañjasa, who would carry on the royal line. To Sumati, sixty thousand sons were born. From Asamañjasa came a son named Aṃśumān. But Asamañjasa, even from his childhood, was of bad conduct. Sagara hoped that with age his son would grow wise, but even after passing out of childhood, Asamañjasa’s wickedness continued, and his father, grieved, abandoned him. The sixty thousand sons of Sumati followed the same unrighteous path as Asamañjasa. Because of the unruly conduct of Sagara’s sons, their sacrifices became corrupted, and the gods, untouched by fault and full of knowledge, approached Kapila, an incarnation of the Supreme Person, and pleaded, “O Lord, Sagara’s sons are following the wicked conduct of Asamañjasa. How will the world endure such behavior?” The Lord replied that in just a few days, they would perish, thus protecting the world from distress. Meanwhile, Sagara began the great horse sacrifice. As his sons guarded the sacrificial horse, someone stole it and disappeared into a hole in the earth. Determined to recover the horse, Sagara’s sixty thousand sons began to dig the earth, following the trail left by the horse’s hooves, each digging a yojana in their relentless search.