In the previous episode, we had witnessed Vishwamitra being taken down single-handedly by Nandini, by releasing all the “Devas”, “Raakshasas” and other celestial beings to fight a rather unprepared Vishwamitra! Deeply hurt by this loss to Nandini, Vishwamitra tried his “Asthras” one by one to fire up Sage Vasishtaachaarya’s ashram along with him and family, but Sage Vasishtaachaarya proved to have an upper hand over Vishwamitra yet again. He placed his “Brahma-Dhandam” at the entrance of the ashram premises, which absorbed all of Vishwamitra’s “Asthras”, thereby preventing them from going forward and wreaking havoc. With this, Vishwamitra realized that neither physical strength nor “Asthras” are good enough to take Sage Vasishtaachaarya down. He should now think of some other methodology to do so. Angered and frustrated with subsequent losses, Vishwamitra leaves the place with embarrassment written all over his face! This was the first time in his entire life as a Kshatrya Prince that he was taken down embarrassingly like this. Thus, Vishwamitra also started to have a thought deep within himself that maybe the only way to take on Sage Vasishta is becoming a “Brahma-Rishi” himself and attain enormous “Tapo-Bhalam”.
Meanwhile, as things go forward, Sage Vasishtaachaarya had a son by name “Shakti”. He was also a great sage like his father. Once upon a time as Sage Shakti was walking down the road, he came across King Kalmaashapaada, who was a great king himself. As both of them came opposite to each other on the same path, King Kalmaashapaada asked Sage Shakti to give him some way. Irritated by this, Sage Shakti replied thus, “Oh Kalmaashapaada! I’m a great Brahmana Rishi! Why should I give you way? Instead, you should be the one who should pay the due respects to me and give me way!” Irritated by this, King Kalmaashapaada had his own ego coming in the middle. An argument broke out between the two of them! At the end, Sage Shakti cursed King Kalmaashapaada thus, “Oh Kalmaashapaada! For all your arrogance that you have within you, I hereby inflict a heavy curse on you that you would be born as someone who would thrive on human flesh and meat!”
As Sage Shakti curses heavily thus, King Kalmaashapaada’s form and appearance changed drastically. He took a fierce form of a “Raakshasa” who would do anything and everything for eating humans. As Sage Shakti curses thus, he leaves the place immediately and this was the opportunity for which Vishwamitra was waiting for! Vishwamitra understood that Kalmaashapaada is a wicked person now and he can use him to destroy Sage Vasishtaachaarya and his entire family lineage! Vishwamitra goes and talks to Kalmaashapaada thus, “Oh Kalmaashapaada! I heard that you were cursed by this Sage Vasishta’s son, Shakti! Is it true?” Kalmaashapaada angrily replied thus, “Oh yes! He cursed me for a simple argument that broke out as to who would give way for each other. This was a bit too much from him!” Vishwamitra saw this as an opportunity and shrewdly replied thus, “Oh Kalmaashapaada! Never mind what had happened in the past! What is going to happen in the future is more important. Now what was the curse that was inflicted on you? You should be someone who thrives on human flesh and meat, isn’t it? Why can’t you go and thrive on Sage Shakti’s flesh and meat? Anyways, the curse has to come true isn’t it? So let the person who inflicted the curse on you, be the start point for it? Subsequently, you can thrive on the meat and flesh of the others who are residing there!”
As Vishwamitra gives this “smart” idea, Kalmaashapaada too thought within himself that this is a good one! He should start executing Sage Shakti’s curse with Sage Shakti himself! With this “Raakshasa-Svabhaava”, and with enormous motivation from Vishwamitra, Kalmaashapaada comes straight to Sage Shakti! It should be remembered here that when Kalmaashapaada was a king originally, he was a righteous king. However, he became a “Raakshasa” because of Sage Shakti’s curse, which is aptly utilized by Vishwamitra, who was waiting for such an opportunity to take down Sage Vasishtaachaarya. Thus, Kalmaashapaada arrives at Sage Shakti’s place, picks up an argument with him again and declares thus, “Oh Shakti! You cursed me the other day that I shall thrive on human flesh and meat isn’t it? Now let me start executing that curse with your own flesh and meat! This is the best way that I can satisfy my vengeance and hunger at the same time!”
Saying thus, Kalmaashapaada straightaway attacks Sage Shakti, even before Sage Shakti could say or do anything to stop him. Kalmaashapaada “consumes” Sage Shakti and “eats” him up completely! As Kalmaashapaada was consuming Sage Shakti happily, Vishwamitra came running to check if everything was going according to his plan! Upon seeing Kalmaashapaada relishing and enjoying himself, Vishwamitra was extremely happy! He thus motivated Kalmaashapada even more: “Oh Kalmaashapaada! Do you think that your diet is satisfied? Not at all! This Sage Shakti was afterall just one son of Sage Vasishtaachaarya! There are many other sons in his ashram! You go straight to his ashram and devour all of them!” Buoyed by this advice from Vishwamtira, Kalmaashapaada makes his way to Sage Vasishtaachaarya’s ashram and wreaks havoc with his destructive abilities! At the end, Kalmaashapaada ended up consuming all of Sage Vasishtaachaarya’s sons, even as Sage Vasishtaachaarya was looking on!
As this happens, Sage Vasishtaachaarya sank into deep distress! Within a fraction of a second, everything was over! His grief knew no bounds! Vishwamitra has given him “tit-for-tat” at the right time in the right way! Sage Shakti has right royally fallen into Vishwamitra’s trap! Now what does Sage Vasishtaachaarya do? Let us wait till the next episode to witness an interesting turn of events! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 