After Viśvāmitra finished recounting the tale of Ganga and the miraculous birth of the radiant Kartikeya, he explained to Rama how all the immortals, led by Agni, had anointed Kartikeya as the commander of the divine armies. He assured Rama that anyone devoted to Kartikeya would be blessed with sons and grandsons, and would ultimately attain the world of Skanda. Thus, the thirty-seventh chapter of the Bālakāṇḍa in the glorious Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa came to its end. With the beginning of the thirty-eighth chapter, Viśvāmitra, having told the sweetly-worded story to Rama, spoke further to him. He began to narrate the tale of King Sagara, a righteous ruler of Ayodhyā, who longed for children but remained childless. Sagara had two wives: the elder, Keśinī, daughter of the king of Vidarbha, virtuous and truthful; and the second, Sumati, sister of Suparṇa and daughter of Ariṣṭanemi. Together with his two wives, the great King Sagara undertook severe austerities, journeying to Mount Himavat and reaching the sacred Bhṛguprasravaṇa peak. After a hundred years had passed, the sage Bhṛgu, foremost among the truthful, was pleased by their devotion and granted Sagara a boon: he would obtain great offspring and attain incomparable fame in the world. Bhṛgu declared that one of Sagara’s wives would bear a single son to continue the royal line, and the other would bear sixty thousand sons. Delighted, the two queens respectfully asked the sage which of them would bear the single son and which would bear the many, eager for his words to come true. The supremely righteous Bhṛgu replied that their desires would be fulfilled as each wished: one could have a single son to continue the lineage, and the other could have many mighty, renowned, and energetic sons. Keśinī, in the presence of the king, chose to have a single son to continue the line, while Sumati, sister of Suparṇa, chose to have sixty thousand sons, all energetic and renowned. After circumambulating the sage and bowing to him, Sagara and his wives returned to their city. In due time, Keśinī gave birth to Sagara’s firstborn son, Asamañja. Sumati, meanwhile, brought forth a gourd-like womb, from which sixty thousand sons emerged when it was split open. Nurses raised these sons in jars filled with ghee, and as time passed, all attained youth and beauty. Thus, Sagara became the father of sixty thousand sons. However, Asamañja, the eldest, behaved sinfully. He would take children and throw them into the waters of the Sarayu, laughing as he watched them drown, obstructing the good people and harming the citizens. Displeased, Sagara banished him from the city. Asamañja’s son, Aṃśumān, was a man of great strength, approved by all and kindly spoken, and in time, wisdom arose in him. Sagara, resolved to perform a grand Vedic sacrifice, prepared for the ritual with his teachers. With the commencement of the thirty-ninth chapter, Rama, delighted by Viśvāmitra’s tale, asked the sage to recount in detail how his ancestor Sagara completed the sacrifice. Smiling, Viśvāmitra agreed, eager to narrate the story. He explained that Sagara’s father-in-law was Himavat, and that the sacrifice took place between Mount Himavat and Mount Vindhya, a region highly esteemed for sacrificial rites. There, the mighty archer Aṃśumān, following Sagara’s instructions, tended the sacrificial horse. During the ceremony, Indra, assuming the form of a demoness, stealthily stole the horse. As the noble horse was carried away, the groups of priests alerted Sagara, saying, “This sacrificial horse is being swiftly led away during the ceremony. O descendant of Kakutstha, slay the thief and bring back the horse; otherwise, a flaw will arise in the sacrifice, which will bring misfortune to us all.” Thus unfolds the tale, as Viśvāmitra recounts the story of Sagara, his wives, sons, and the sacrificial horse, weaving together the ancient history of Rama’s ancestors.