Trishanku was the son of Suryavanshi king Nibhandan. Somewhere his father’s name is also given as Trayyarun. Trishanku’s real name was Satyavrata. He was the father of the famous king Harishchandra.
Evil natured king
There is mention of this majestic but evil-natured king in Brahmapuran, Padmapuran, Devi Bhagwat, and Valmiki Ramayana. He also disobeyed his father. He had kidnapped the married wife of a Brahmin. On this, the father threw him out of the state. Satyavrat started living in the forest. Vishwamitra’s ashram was nearby there. It served his family in his absence. When no animal’s meat was found to feed Vishwamitra’s children, he killed Vashishtha’s cow. On this, Vashishtha’s sons cursed him to become a Chandal.
Vishwamitra a great sage
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Vishwamitra, son of Maharaj Gaadhi, was a great sage and ascetic. On the strength of his penance, he had done great things for the gods. Apart from imparting the knowledge of weapons and scriptures, he also took Lord Ram to Sita Swayamvar. But very few people know that he had started creating a different creation for King Trishanku, the ancestor of Lord Ram, through his penance. Later, after the persuasion of all the gods, he stopped that work.
Story of Vishwamitra and Trishanku
Trishanku was the ancestor of Lord Ram and king of the Ikshvaku dynasty. His name was also Satyavrat. He wanted to perform such a yagya, with the effect of which he could go to heaven along with his body. When he put this wish before his family priest Maharishi Vashishtha, he refused to perform the yagya, saying it was against the decorum. His sons also rejected this proposal but Trishanku did not listen to them. Ignoring him, they started looking for another sage for the Yagya. Seeing this, the sons of sage Vashishtha cursed him to become a Chandal.
Trishanku became Chandal
Trishanku became a Chandal due to the curse. His brothers, ministers, and subjects abandoned him. Then he became very sad and went to sage Vishwamitra. Seeing his condition, sage Vishwamitra took pity on him and he invited the sages and started a yagya for Trishanku, but Vashishtha’s sons and a Brahmin refused to come to the yagya saying that in the Yagya Chandal hosted and priest are not Brahmins. Yes, gods cannot come in it. The same thing happened. No deity came to the yagya of sage Vishwamitra. Then Vishwamitra sent Trishanku to heaven with the power of his penance.
Indra did not accept him in heaven
But when he reached heaven, even gods like Indra did not give him a place. Vishwamitra did not let him fall on the earth, so he stayed in the middle and Vishwamitra started building another heaven for him. Sage Vishwamitra got angry at this. He started creating another creation for Trishanku. He started creating other planets and constellations in the sky. The gods got scared by this. He came to Vishwamitra ji and requested him to stop this work. After this Vishwamitra stopped his work. After which Trishanku remained situated in the void like this. After falling from there, he remembered Vishwamitra. Knowing this, Indra himself took him to heaven.
