Richíka

Role: sage · First appears: Book I, Canto 35 · Visvámitra’s Lineage

In Book I, Canto 35, Richíka married Satyavatí, who followed him after his death and became a celestial stream. In Book I, Canto 61, Śunahśepha, Richíka’s middle son, offered himself to Ambarísha as a sacrificial victim; the king bought and took him. In Book I, Canto 75, Vishṇu lent Richíka his bow.

Relationship record

Life events

• Satyavatí was wed to Richíka.(Book I, Canto 35 · Visvámitra’s Lineage)
  • With: Satyavatí
  • “My sister—elder-born was she— The pure and good Satyavatí, Was to the great Richíka wed.”
• After her husband died, Satyavatí followed him and became a celestial stream.(Book I, Canto 35 · Visvámitra’s Lineage · 📍 Himálaya)
  • With: Satyavatí
  • “Still faithful to her husband dead, She followed him, most noble dame, And, raised to heaven in human frame, A pure celestial stream became.”
• Śunahśepha offered himself as the sacrificial victim, and Ambarísha bought and took him.(Book I, Canto 61 · Sunahsepha · 📍 Bhrigu’s sacred height)
  • With: Ambarísha Śunahśepha
  • “Young Śunahśepha, of the three The midmost, cried unurged and free: ‘My sire withholds his eldest son, My mother keeps her youngest one: Then take me with thee, King: I ween The son is sold who comes between.’ The king with joy his home resought, And took the prize his kine had bought. He bade the youth his car ascend, And hastened back the rites to end.”
• Vishṇu lent his bow to Richíka.(Book I, Canto 75 · The Parle)
  • With: Vishṇu
  • “To great Richíka Vishṇu lent To be a pledge and ornament,”

Book I, Canto 35 · Visvámitra’s Lineage

• married with Satyavatí “Was to the great Richíka wed. Still faithful to her husband dead,”

Book I, Canto 61 · Sunahsepha

• with Ambarísha (Ambarísha offers kine to buy Richíka's son as a sacrificial victim.) “Bought with a hundred thousand kine, Give me, O Sage, a son of thine To be a victim in the rite, And thanks the favour shall requite.”
• child: Śunahśepha (Richíka is identified as Śunahśepha's sire by the surrounding passage.) “Young Śunahśepha, of the three The midmost, cried unurged and free: ‘My sire withholds his eldest son, My mother keeps her youngest one: Then take me with thee, King: I ween The son is sold who comes between.’”

Book I, Canto 75 · The Parle

• patron: Vishṇu “To great Richíka Vishṇu lent To be a pledge and ornament,”
• protégé: Jamadagni (The passage states Jamadagni inherited the bow from Richíka.) “Then Jamadagni, Bráhman dread, My sire, the bow inherited.”
• child: Jamadagni “To great Richíka Vishṇu lent To be a pledge and ornament, Then Jamadagni, Bráhman dread, My sire, the bow inherited.”

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Extracted from the original text of The Rámáyan of Válmíki. Made with Rho MD.