Dugdhavati
The story of how the Dugdhavati River came to be from the cursed jar of blood buried by Ravan and from the birth of Sita.
Dugdhavati
Ravan, the king of Lanka, used to extort taxes from sages and ascetics by force. From the bodies of poor holy men who could not pay the tax, he squeezed out their very blood and collected it in a great earthen jar.
The tormented sages had laid a curse upon that jar: "Whoever opens or moves this jar shall bring utter ruin upon his own lineage."
Once, after being defeated in a scriptural debate by King Janak of Mithila, the humiliated Ravan buried that accursed jar secretly beneath the ground of Mithila with the wicked intention of destroying Janak.
Thereafter a terrible drought and famine fell upon the kingdom of Mithila. To rescue his people, King Janak performed a great yajna and at an auspicious moment began to plough the earth with a golden plough.
The ploughshare burst the jar lying beneath the ground, and from it appeared the divine maiden Sita. As soon as Sita appeared, the cow Kamadhenu descended from the sky, and from her udder a stream of nectar-like milk flowed straight into Sita's mouth.
The boundless milk that spilled there flowed on and became a lovely river, which was called 'Dugdhavati' (Dudhmati / Dudhkoshi).
Note: These are traditional Nepali folk tales (kimbadanti), passed down orally through generations. They may or may not reflect actual historical events, but they are told and believed as part of Nepal's cultural heritage.
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