How Trishanku got his name?

93. Thrisanku- How he got the name so? 

We all know about king Trisankhu and sage Visvamithra created a heaven for him called Trisanku swargam.  Friends, all the while I was thinking being in the middle with actual heaven it was called Trisanku swargam. 

But after reading it I correct myself. A swargaam created for a person with three dosham- Thri sankhu (dosham). Let us go to the story.

 

93.1. Linage of king Trisanku 

We have seen one of the sons of king Kubalashva not killed by demon Dhundu was Dridashva in the previous paragraph. 

From Dridashva was descended a king named Trayaruni. Trayaruni was a righteous king and followed all the religious dictates.  

But Trayaruni's son though named Satyavrata was quite the opposite and refused to follow the righteous path. King Trayaruni's chief   priest was the great sage Vashishtha. ( Vasistha is the Kulaguru of sage Srirama also. They are all chirangivies) 

Vashishtha advised the king that his evil son should be banished from the kingdom.  Trayaruni accepted the sage's advice. Consequently, Satyara    started to live with outcasts outside the kingdom. 

After some time, Trayaruni relinquished his kingship and went    away to the forest. The kingdom had no king and degenerated       into anarchy. The absence of a king is also frowned upon by  the gods and for twelve years there was a terrible drought. 

93.2 Appearance of sage Viswamithra 

Vishvamitra the great sage doesn't require any introduction and all of us know his rivalry with sage Vasistha. 

 While the famine  was going on, Vishvamitra was not present in the kingdom. He had gone    away to perform tapasya on the shores of the ocean, having  left his wife and children in a hermitage (ashrama) that was in the kingdom. 

There was such a long spell of  drought, which caused  famine in the kingdom. People started   to starve. 

Vishvamitra's wife decided to sell her son so   that she might have some foods to eat. She tied a rope round    the son's neck and took him to the market - place. There,  she sold him in exchange for a thousand cows. Since a rope had   been tied around the son's neck(gala), he came to be known as Galava. 

( NOW WE GET THE NAME OF SON BORN TO SAGE VISWAMITHRA ON HIS WIFE - GALAVA. SO SHAKUNTHALA HAS A BROTHER – FIRST COUSIN- GALAVA. SO DUSHYANTA'S BROTHER IN LAW IS GALAVA). 

But Satyavrata discovered what terrible straits  Vishvamitra's family was in. He freed Galava and started to   take care of Vishvamitra's wife and children.                 

 Satyavrata had not been terribly fond of Vashishta. He blamed   the sage for his banishment. When there was famine everywhere, 

 Satyavarata stole Vashishtha's cow. He killed the cow and  served the meat to Vishvamitra's sons, apart from eating it   himself. 

Vashishtha was in a terrible rage when he got to know about  this incident. He cursed Satyavrata. 

You have COMMITTED THREE SINS (SHANKU), Vashishtha told  Satyavarata. Firstly, you have angered your father Trayaruni..   Secondly, you have stolen and killed my cow. Thirdly, you have    eaten cow's meat , a forbidden one . Because of these three sins, you  will henceforth be known as Trishanku and be eternally cursed. (The word tri means three.) 

Satyavrata had however taken care of Vishvamitra's family when the sage was away on his meditation. After Vishvamitra    returned, he was very happy to learn about what Trishanku had done and offered to grant him a boon.

93.3 Sage Viswamihra get pleased with king Satyavrata(Trishanku) 

Trishanku desired the boon that he might be allowed to go to heaven in his own   physical body. Thanks to Vishvamitra's immense powers, even this virtually impossible task was accomplished. Trishanku  became king in Trayaruni's kingdom and Vishvamitra acted as  his chief priest. 

WHAT I NEWLY LEARNT- The original name of Trishanku was king Satyavrata and on account of a curse by sage Vasistha, he was later came to be known as TIRSHANU.