Legend has that, Sagar, an ancestor of Rama, had
performed the Ashwamedha Yajna, or horse-sacrifice, 99
times. This ceremony consisted in sending a horse round
the Indian world, with defiance to all the earth to
arrest its progress. If the horse returned unopposed, it
was understood to be acquiescence in the supremacy of
the lenger, and the animal was then solemnly
sacrificed to the gods. When King Sagar made preparations
for the 100th sacrifice, Indra, King of Heaven, who
had himself performed the ceremony a 100 times,
jealous of being displaced by this new rival, stole the
horse, and concealed it in a subterranean cell, where
the sage Kapila, or Kapil Muni, was absorbed in
meditation, dead to all occurrences of the external
world.<br><br>The sixty thousand sons of Sagar traced the horse to
its hiding-place, and, believing the sage to be the
author of the theft assaulted him. The holy man being
thus roused opened his eyes and cursed his assailants,
who were immediately burnt to ashes and sentenced to
hell. Bhagiratha, a descendent of Sagar, in search of
his father and uncles, at last came to Kapilmuni, and
begged him to redeem the souls of the dead. The holy man
replied that this could only be effected if the waters of
Ganga could be brought to the spot to touch the ashes.
Ganga was residing in Heaven, in the custody of Brahma
the Creator, and Bhagiratha prayed him to send the
Goddess to the earth. Through his prayers Brahma allowed
Ganga to visit the earth. Bhagirath let the way as far
as Hathigarh, in the 24-Parganas, near the sea, and
then declared that he could not show the rest of the
way. Whereupon Ganga, in order to make sure of
reaching the spot, divided herself into a hundred mouths,
thus forming the delta of the Ganges. One of these
mouths reached the cell, and, by washing the ashes,
completed the atonement for the offence of the sons of King
Sagar, whose souls were thereupon admitted into heaven.
Ganga thus became the sacred stream of the hundred
mouths. The people say that the sea took its name of
Sagar from this legend; and the point of junction of
the river and sea at Sagar Island is a celebrated
seat of Hindu pilgrimage, to which thousands of devout
pilgrims repair every year during the great bathing
festival.<br><br>The pilgrims come for a holy dip on Makar Sankranti
(last day of the Bengali Month ‘Magh’ — Mid January).
They take dips in the Ganges and offer ‘til’ and water
to the Sun God. The dip, as they say, purifies their
‘self’ and according to them, ‘punya’ can be obtained
thus. A special puja is performed which is offered to
the Sun God as a thanksgiving for good harvest.
During evening ‘árati’ worshippers offer leaf baskets
filled with flowers and ‘deep’ (small clay lamps)
holding camphor. The camphor is lit and these flickering
baskets are let adrift on the waters of the sacred Ganga
river.