ALL civilizations of the world accept and believe that there was a great flood around 5000 to 10000 years earlier which engulfed the world.
Our ancient history also accepts this. Once again it was none other than Manu who escorted the surviving humanity through the difficult time of flood. Subsequently after lot of intermingling, humanity settled once again, and got engaged in the game they knew best: Survival.
However there is little information of post flood period. The only thing we know is that there were serious problems which required Vishvamitra to go on Tap. What were the problems we have no clear idea; we can only guess.
There were not enough females left for society to progress and grow. Progeny too, was an issue; may be a VERY SERIOUS issue.
Just as we have in the current period fasts, dharnaas, for creating awareness and asking society to make corrections, so at that time the issue must have been serious, requiring Vishvamitra to go for Tap. It must have been a publicized campaign which did provide result and Vishvamitra too fathered a daughter, through an Apsara called Maneka.
What exactly is an Apsara? Forget the meaning that is given in ancient texts that they are habitants of Swarg or Heaven. We are interested in more “earthly “meaning which can be used in the history that we know as Mahabharat. The meaning can only be with reference to the civil problems that were being faced.
The great flood destroyed the civil and social systems required for humanity to survive and move forward. This was further compounded by serious shortage of females and also there were problems regarding child bearing capacity of females. Keeping this in mind the Tap of Vishvamitra could be understood. And now it will become easy to understand the meaning of Apsara in the context of Vishvamitra Tap. An Apsara was a maiden whose identity was not disclosed and who voluntarily joined Vishvamitra for the having a child, with the understanding that once the child had successfully passed the infancy period she will leave the father and child.
Sage Vishvamitra handed over the child, a girl child to Rishi Kanva, as Vishvamitra had already renounced all earthly possessions. Yes let us get the facts right. The Tap of sage of caliber of Vishvamitra cannot be destroyed. Secondly heavens never get threatened by earthly efforts. Shakuntala, the daughter of Sage Vishvamitra was bought up by Rishi Kanva. She later married King Dushyant and they had a male child Bharat. The other thing to remember is that here we are dealing with a different Vishvamitra, and certainly not the same one we know of Treta yug. No here we have to understand that Vishvamitra is a title for 'Humanity Friendly Individual'.
Bharat ruled the entire continent, and Bharat or Bharatvarsh was the name given to this country, because Bharat ruled and established this empire.
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