Story of Rishyasringa
Rishyasranga's story is very interesting as the
great sage was born of a hind but was a human being. He was the son of a great
sage Vibhandaka, son of great sage Kashyapa. The hind was actually a godess who
was freed after her son was born. There was a horn on his head and thereby he
came to be known as Rishyasringa (sage with a horn). He passed his days with his
father in severe penances and knew nothing beyond the forest and the ascetic
life. During the same period there was a king in Anga called Lomapada who was
a friend of Dasaratha, the father of Rama. Lomapada had antagonized a Brahmin
and hence no Brahmin wanted to become his priest. Therefore he could not perform
sacrifices and hence Indra, the god of the heaven stopped showering rain in his
kingdom. All the people thereby suffered. He consulted some sages who advised
him to bring forth Rishyasringa, the pure sage in his kingdom. By his mere
presence the gods and the Brahmins will be happy and there will be
rain.
The king therefore ordered a number of women to go
and fetch Rishyasringa. However all of them declined being afraid of
Rishyasringa's father, the great sage. Only one consented to go and the king
equipped her with all she needed for her venture. The woman had a plan. She
built an artificial hermitage in a vessel with trees and flowers and fruits and
kept the vessel not far from the hermitage of the father of the sage whom she
intended to capture. She then sent her duaghter in the guise of a Rishi's son to
rishyasringa who was alone in his cottage as his father had gone for tapasya.
The young girl in the guise of a youn man came with many delicious food and
drink and made friendship with rishyasringa. Rishyasringa, who had never seen a
woman, did not doubt for a moment that he was dealing with a lady and not a
rishi. He was delighted in talking and eating and drinking together and had a
lot of enjoyable moments in the company of his new friend. The girl then
returned and Rishyasringa waited impatiently for her arrival the next day. The
next day however she hatched her plan and in the name of taking Rishyasringa to
her hermitage she took her to the vessel and immediately the vessel set sail.
When the boat arrived in Anga the king and the people were much delighted and
the state had a fair share of rain. The king, in order to keep rishyasringa
permanently with him, decided to give his only daughter Shanta in marriage to
Rishyasringa. He had also decided to invited the great ascetic, father of
Rishyasringa to the wedding but was very afraid of his wrath. He therefore
ensured that all the villages in his kingdom through which the great ascetic
should pass, pile up lots of food and staff for enjoyment and the villagers,
when asked, should most humbly reply that everything belonged to the great
ascetic and to Rishyasringa.
When Rishyasringa's father came to know of his
son's kidnapping, he was enraged and immediately, through his meditation came to
know about everything. He decided to curse Anga and therefore set forth for
bringing his son back. However on the way villagers treated him like God and he
was mighty pleased. Then on reaching the capital when he came to know that his
son was being married to the princess and when the king and all his subjects
came forward humbly to invite him and treated him in the most courteous manner,
his anger was dissolved and he blessed his son and daughter in law. However he
said that as soon as a son was born to Rishyasringa, he must get back to the
forest to continue with his penances. To this proposition everybody agreed and
the marriage was over.
After his son was born, Rishyasringa once again
went back to forest and acquired great powers through his ascetism. Subsequently
it was he who was responsible for conducting the sacrifice which led to the
birth of Lord Rama, the son of king Dasaratha.
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