page_title: Rishyasringa
section_title: Hindu versions of the story
hierarchical_section_title: Rishyasringa / Hindu versions of the story
caption_attribution_description: English: Folio from the Ramayana of Valmiki (The Freer Ramayana), Vol. 1, folio 22; recto: Rsyasrnga travels to Ayodhya with Santa; verso: text 1597-1605 Govardhan , (Indian, Indian) Mughal dynasty Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper H: 26.5 W: 13.9 cm Northern India Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1907.271.22
context_page_description: Rishyasringa was a boy born with the horns of a deer in Hindu religious history who became a seer and was seduced by royal courtesans, which had various results according to the variations in the story.
context_section_description: Rishyasringa was a boy born with the horns of a deer in Hindu religious history. His father was the Vibhandak Rishi, and his mother was a celestial paramour. According to another legend, he was believed to have been born of a doe and from the slight protrusion of his forehead. 
  According to legend, his father was seduced by the celestial danseuse Urvasi by order of Indra, the king of gods, who feared the yogic powers gained out of penance by the rishi could prove fatal to the very existence of heavenly world. The father was seduced and out of his relation with the danseuse was born Rishyasringa.
  However, immediately after the child was born, Urvashi, after completing the duty she was sent for, left the young born child and her lover and made her way to the heavens. The incident left the father with extreme hatred towards women folk, and he raised the boy in a forest, isolated from society. He never saw any girls or women, and was not told of their existence. The tradition states that he was endowed with magical and miraculous powers.
  In the usual version of the story, at the time that the boy becomes a young man, the kingdom of Anga suffers from drought and famine. The king, King Romapada, is told that this can only be alleviated by a brahmin with the powers that come from observance of perfect chastity. The only such person is Rishyasringa. He has to be brought to the city, and be persuaded to carry out the necessary ceremonies.  
  Despite his fear of the power and anger of the boy's father, the king sends young women to introduce the boy into normal society. This was successfully done by Vaishali, Rishyasringa uses his powers, the kingdom receives bountiful rains and Rishyasringa marries Shanta. Much of the story is taken up by accounts of the feelings of the young man as he becomes aware of women for the first time.  
  In another version of the story, the forest in which the boy is brought up is part of Anga. The boy's upbringing without knowledge of women is itself the cause of the troubles of the kingdom.
  The story can be found in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. According to the Ramayana, Ekashringa was the chief priest when the king Dasharatha performed a yajna to beget progeny, and Rama, Bharata, and the twins Lakshmana and Shatrughna were born.
caption: Rsyasrnga travels to Ayodhya with Santa
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