Śunaḥśepa
mythological figure · 3 works · 4 mentions · 7 anchored passages
in the texts
Rigveda
The sage bound to three sacrificial posts who called upon Varuṇa for release, a legendary episode of captivity and divine deliverance.
He whom Śunaḥśepa called when bound — may that King Varuṇa release us.
For Śunaḥśepa called out when seized, when bound to three posts, upon the son of Aditi.
Even Śunaḥśepa, bound to the thousand-post yūpa, was released — for he prayed.
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
Legendary figure from the Śunaḥśepa narrative, invoked as a precedent for the Indra-heap offering.
That which Śunaḥśepa carried, that which Indra and Bṛhaspati carried — that the ṛṣis have made auspicious for us, a pleasant thing for our living.
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
The middle son of Ṛcīka, sold by his father to Ambarīṣa as a sacrificial substitute and saved from death by Viśvāmitra's hymns and Indra's grace.
Then Sahasrākṣa (Indra), pleased and satisfied by the esoteric hymns of praise, granted long life to Śunaḥśepa, O Rāghava.
With the assent of the officiants, the king dressed Śunaḥśepa with sacred marks and a red garment and bound him to the sacrificial post.
When the sage had spoken thus and the sage's wife likewise, the middle son, Śunaḥśepa himself, O Rāma, spoke these words.