Son of the sage विभाण्डक .

--- Birth --- Mark Title as "empty".

विभाण्डक , son of कश्यप was the father of ऋष्यशृङ्ग . There is a strange story about him in the महाभारत .

Once sage विभाण्डक happened to see उर्वशी at महाह्रद . At the very sight of her, the sage had an involuntary emission of semen. The semen fell in the water and just then a female deer came there to drink water. It swallowed the semen with water and in due course became pregnant and gave birth to a human child. But the child had the horns of a deer. Consequently विभाण्डक named the boy " ऋष्यशृङ्ग ". विभाण्डक and ऋष्यशृङ्ग lived together in the आश्रम . ऋष्यशृङ्ग grew up into a youth, but he had never seen anyone except his father विभाण्डक .

Rainfall in the kingdom of अङ्ग

At that time, the kingdom of अङ्ग was ruled by लोमपाद , a friend of दशरथ . Once he cheated a ब्राह्मण . Consequently all the ब्राह्मणस् in that country left the place and emigrated to other lands. From that time there was no rain in the land of अङ्ग . A severe drought and famine followed. लोमपाद invited devout ब्राह्मणस् and consulted them how they could bring rain to the land. They told him that if he could get a मुनि (sage) who had never seen women to perform a याग , there would be rainfall in the land. The King sent his men far and wide to find a मुनि who had never set eyes on a woman At last he got news that ऋष्यशृङ्ग , son of विभाण्डक was the sage who had never seen women. He then began to plan how ऋष्यशृङ्ग could be brought over to अङ्ग .

लोमपाद called together some prostitutes and asked them whether they could bring ऋष्यशृङ्ग to his country. All except one of them said it was quite impossible. One of them, however, agreed to try. As desired by her, the King sent her with several other damsels.

The young women went to the forest and made a floating आश्रम in a boat in which they sailed in the river by the side of विभाण्डाक 's आश्रम . They stopped the boat close to the आश्रम and one of the girls entered the आश्रम when विभाण्डक was not there. She had a talk with ऋष्यशृङ्ग in the course of which she used all the amorous enchantments of her sex to captivate the young मुनि . She told him that she was the daughter of a मुनि , living in an आश्रम , three योजनस् away. ऋष्यशृङ्ग felt a peculiar fascination for her and tried to please her by offering fruits etc. When she left him, he felt deeply distressed and unhappy. He was in that depressed and gloomy state of mind when विभाण्डक returned to the आश्रम . Finding him unusually restless and dejected, the father asked him whether anyone had come there. ऋष्यशृङ्ग who was an entire stranger to the feminine world told his father that a handsome youth of irresistible charm had visited him during विभाण्डक 's absence. But from ऋष्यशृङ्ग 's description of the "youth" विभाण्डक understood that the visitor must have been a woman. But he could not guess who it was.

On another occasion, the same woman came again to the आश्रम in the absence of विभाण्डक . At her sight ऋष्यशृङ्ग was enraptured and before his father's return, they left the आश्रम . They entered the floating आश्रम in the boat and the woman set the boat sailing in the river. It glided slowly down the river and at last reached near the palace of लोमपाद . They landed there and the King married his daughter सान्ता to ऋष्यशृङ्ग .

To appease विधाण्डक , लोमपाद sent him rich presents and much wealth. When विभाण्डक returned to his आश्रम he was met by the King's servants who had brought the presents and wealth. Ignoring them and their rich presents, the furious महर्षि set out to the city of चम्पा , the capital of the अङ्ग Kingdom. At the royal command, विभाण्डक was welcomed by the people with honour. When the sage found that the whole kingdom belonged to his son, his anger was allayed. After ordering his son to return to his आश्रम after the birth of a son, विभाण्डक left the palace. As a result of ऋष्यशृङ्ग 's याग there was rainfall in अङ्ग and famine ended. After the birth of his child he returned to the forest as ordered by his father. [mh-3-110-1 ] Mahābhārata • Vana parva (110-112) .

ऋष्यशृङ्ग in अयोध्या

King दशरथ of अयोध्या had no children for a long time. His Minister सुमन्त्र advised him to invite ऋष्यशृङ्ग to perform a याग for the purpose. लोमपाद sent ऋष्यशृङ्ग to अयोध्या at the invitation of दशरथ . He arrived at अयोध्या and performed a याग called पुत्रकामेष्टि . From the sacrificial fire there arose a dark monstrous figure, with a pot of pudding in his hand. दशरथ received it from him and gave one half of it to कौसल्या and the other half to कैकेयी . Both of them gave half of their shares to सुमित्रा . Thus सुमित्रा got two shares while the other two wives of दशरथ got only one share each. As a result कौसल्या and कैकेयी gave birth to a son each, while सुमित्रा had two sons. कौसल्या 's son was named राम , कैकेयी 's son was भरत and सुमित्रा 's sons were लक्ष्मण and शत्रुघ्न . (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 14-16) .