Vaidarbhi, the Mother of Sixty Thousand Sons

Vaidarbhi, also known as Sumati, and Kesini were King Sagara’s two wives. Both of them were pregnant and were due to deliver children shortly. 

I cannot forget the danger and suffering involved in performing tapas with my husband and Kesini in the Himalayas to secure blessings for an heir to the Solar Dynasty’s throne. The revered Sage Bhrigu was pleased with our penance and offered to give one son to one wife, and 60,000 sons to the other. I had jumped at the 60,000 sons, delighted that I would be a rare name in the history of Bharatvarsha. Kesini was happy to have just the one son. 

Vaidarbhi’s thoughts were arrested by the pain of labour. She also heard the cries from Kesini’s room. Soon, Kesini gave birth to a son. They named him Asamanjasa. Vaidarbhi gave birth to a big lump of flesh, which was broken into 60,000 pieces and preserved in pots of ghee. In due course, these pieces were born as her sons. 

The power of being the mother of powerful children was giddying. Vaidarbhi’s delight at her future prospects and that of her sons bordered on vanity. The children were brought up with care. They were taught and trained in the arts of warfare and politics. The 60,000 sons did their parents proud, too.

Once, after successfully expanding his power and influence over multiple territories of Bharatavarsha, King Sagara decided to perform the Ashwamedha Yajna to further his territorial borders. 

Vaidarbhi’s sons were in charge of following the sacrificial horse to ensure the areas it covered were either subdued or surrendered to become vassals of the Solar Dynastry headed by King Sagara.

Vaidarbhi’s Sons and Sage Kapila

Lord Indra was very worried in Indraloka. King Sagara was getting too strong and popular for his comfort. If he continued with the Ashwamedha Yajna, he could have the power to take the throne of Indraloka. Indra needed to do something to thwart the Yajna.

He had an idea. One day, when the sons were in a state of inactive lullness, Indra stole the sacred horse and left it in Sage Kapila’s ashrama, hoping the arrogance of King Sagara’s sons and the anger of the sage would do the trick.

When they woke up and found the horse missing, Vaidarbhi’s sixty thousand sons went in search of it, and in time, found it in Sage Kapila’s ashrama. 

The sage was in deep meditation for a while now and was completely unaware of the passage of events. He didn’t see Indra leaving the horse, nor did he notice the noise created by the hoofs of 60,000 horses ridden by King Sagara’s sons.

Seeing their father’s sacred horse in the ashrama, the sons immediately, and thoughtlessly, assumed the sage to have stolen it. They mocked him, calling him to battle or be ready to surrender to King Sagara. 

When the noise created by the sons reached a peak, the sage was disturbed from his penance. He opened his eyes and saw the men wreaking havoc in his ashrama. Angered by it and even more livid at being disturbed from his meditation, he glanced at the sons of Sagara, and in an instant, they were burned to ashes. The vain sons of Vaidarbhi and Sagara had underestimated the power of a sage’s meditation. 

Vaidarbhi Loses Her Sons and Her Ego

When Vaidarbhi heard of the utter destruction of her sixty thousand sons, she was beyond devastated. One second, she was the mother of 60,000 sons, and the next, they were turned to rubble, just by a mere glance. 

The death of her sons took away two things from her life: motherhood and vanity, irrevocably and unequivocally. She could do nothing except wait for the passing of her sons’ souls into the afterlife because the nature of their deaths prevented that, too, for the time being.

Her husband, King Sagara, had visited Sage Kapila’s ashrama, begged for forgiveness on his sons’ behalf and sought reparation for their lingering souls trapped between this world and the next. The sage had replied, “When Ganga comes down to Earth, and her pure water flows over the ashes of your sons, their souls will be redeemed. Until then, they will remain restless and stuck between this world and the next, bearing the burden of their karma.”

Author’s Note:

The story of Vaidarbhi, also known as Sumati, the mother of the 60,000 sons, is found in the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana. The story of their redemption coincides with that of Bhagirath, one of their grandnephews, who finds the temerity to bring Ganga to Earth.

This post is a part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026

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