Shunahshepa - The Substitute Sacrifice

Dadi: "Guddu, tonight I'll tell you a very old story - one of the oldest in our scriptures. It's about a boy who was to be sacrificed, and the prayers that saved him."

Guddu: "Sacrificed? Like... killed?"

Dadi: "In ancient times, people believed that offering something precious to the gods would grant them boons. This story shows why such practices were wrong - even the gods intervened to stop it."

Guddu: "Tell me what happened."

Dadi: "King Harishchandra desperately wanted a son. He had one hundred wives but no heir. So he prayed to Lord Varuna, the god of waters, and made a terrible promise: 'Give me a son, and I will sacrifice him to you.'"

Guddu: "He promised to sacrifice his own child?!"

Dadi: "People do desperate things when they want something badly. Varuna granted the wish, and a son named Rohita was born. But when Varuna came to collect the sacrifice, the king kept delaying. 'He's too young,' he'd say. 'Wait until he's older.' Year after year, excuses."

Guddu: "What happened when Rohita grew up?"

Dadi: "When Rohita became an adult and learned what was planned, he ran away into the forest! He refused to be sacrificed. In anger, Varuna struck the king with a terrible illness."

Guddu: "So the king was punished, but what about his promise?"

Dadi: "For six years, Harishchandra suffered while Rohita wandered the forest. Then Rohita found a starving brahmin family - a father named Ajigarta with three sons. They were so poor they were dying of hunger."

Guddu: "*nervously* What did Rohita do?"

Dadi: "He offered Ajigarta one hundred cows in exchange for one of his sons to be sacrificed in his place."

Guddu: "He BOUGHT a child to die instead of him?!"

Dadi: "*nodding sadly* And the desperate father agreed. The eldest son couldn't be chosen - he had to perform funeral rites. The youngest son was protected by the mother. So the middle son, Shunahshepa, was selected."

Guddu: "That poor boy..."

Dadi: "It gets worse. When they brought Shunahshepa to the sacrifice, four great priests were called to perform the ritual. But ALL four refused to tie the boy or harm him. 'We will not touch an innocent brahmin child,' they said."

Guddu: "Good! At least they had morals!"

Dadi: "*voice dropping* But then Ajigarta - the boy's own father - offered to do it. For another hundred cows, he would tie his own son. For another hundred, he would kill him."

Guddu: "*horrified* His own FATHER?!"

Dadi: "Money and desperation can corrupt anyone, beta. Ajigarta tied his son to the sacrificial post and raised the blade."

Guddu: "Did he... did he kill him?"

Dadi: "In that final moment, Shunahshepa began to pray. With all his heart, he called upon the gods. He prayed to Prajapati - no answer. To Agni - no answer. To Savitri - no answer. Each god was afraid to challenge Varuna's claim."

Guddu: "No one would help?"

Dadi: "Finally, with his last prayer, Shunahshepa called upon Ushas, the goddess of dawn. And something miraculous happened - his bonds loosened by themselves and fell away! At the same moment, King Harishchandra was cured of his illness."

Guddu: "He was saved!"

Dadi: "The sacrifice was complete - not through blood, but through prayer. Shunahshepa's sincere devotion had satisfied the divine requirement without any killing."

Guddu: "What happened to the horrible father?"

Dadi: "One of the priests, the great sage Vishwamitra, was so moved by what he'd witnessed that he offered to adopt Shunahshepa as his own son. He gave the boy a new name - Devarata, meaning 'given by the gods.'"

Guddu: "Did Shunahshepa accept?"

Dadi: "He did. And he publicly rejected his birth father, calling him 'worse than the lowest' for trying to sell and kill his own child for money. Vishwamitra's younger sons accepted Devarata as their elder brother, but the older sons refused. Vishwamitra cursed their descendants to be exiled."

Guddu: "Dadi, this story is so dark. What's the lesson?"

Dadi: "Many lessons, beta. First - human sacrifice is wrong. The gods themselves intervened to stop it. Second - a parent's love should be unconditional, never for sale. Ajigarta became a monster when he put money above his child."

Guddu: "And Rohita? He also ran away and bought a replacement!"

Dadi: "Yes - everyone in this story shows different kinds of moral failure. Harishchandra made a promise he shouldn't have. Rohita valued his own life over another innocent's. Ajigarta sold his son. Only Shunahshepa, the victim, showed true faith and was saved."

Guddu: "Prayer was more powerful than sacrifice."

Dadi: "That's the deepest teaching. The gods don't want blood - they want sincere hearts. Shunahshepa's desperate prayers reached heaven when no actual sacrifice could. And this story is so old, so important, that some scholars say it was told precisely to teach people that human sacrifice should never happen."

Guddu: "It's like the story of Abraham and Isaac in other traditions."

Dadi: "Very similar! Many cultures have stories where God stops a human sacrifice at the last moment - perhaps teaching humanity the same lesson from different angles."

Guddu: "*yawning* Dadi, I'm glad our religion doesn't have sacrifices anymore."

Dadi: "We learned, beta. Sometimes it takes dark stories to teach us to choose light. Now sleep, and remember - true devotion never requires harming the innocent."

Guddu: "Goodnight, Dadi. May all the Shunahshepas be saved."

Dadi: "And may no parent ever become an Ajigarta. Goodnight, my compassionate boy."