Brahmadatta
There used to be a sage named Koushika. Koushika had seven sons named Svasripa, Krodhana, Himsra, Pishuna, Kavi, Vagadushta and Pitrivarti. These sons all became disciples of the sage Garga.
After Koushika died, there was a terrible drought on earth. Famine raged and people went hungry. Garga had asked his disciples to tend to his cattle and the seven brothers had taken the cattle to the forest so that they might browse on the grass that grew there.
The brothers suffered so much from hunger that they decided to slay one of the cows and eat it.
“Killing a cow would be a sin,” remarked the youngest. “If we have to kill the cow, let us at least perform its funeral ceremony. Perhaps that will reduce the severity of the sin that we are committing.”
The other brothers agreed to this. The funeral rites of the cow were observed. It was then killed and eaten. The brothers returned to Garga and told him. “A cow has been killed and eaten by a tiger.”
Garga saw no reason to disbelieve them. But the sin remained a sin. And as a consequence of having committed a crime, the brothers were born as hunters in their next lies. But they were born as jatismaras. That is, they remembered the incidents of their earlier lives.
Since the brothers remembed what they had been in their earlier lives, they saw no reason to live as hunters. They therefore fasted until they died. They were next reborn as deer. But the deer continued to be jatismaras and fasted to death. The brothers were reborn as birds. Four of the brothers continued to be detached from material pursuits and spent their time in meditation. But the three remaining brothers were not so lucky.
The king of Panchala had once come to the forest with his retinue. The king’s name was Vibhraja. One of the birds was struck by the king’s pomp and glory and wished to be born as a king in his next life. King Vibhraja and two ministers with him and all the soldiers seemed to be following the instructions of the ministers. Accordingly, two of the birds desired to be born as ministers in their next lives.
The one who wished to be a king was born as Brahmadatta, King Vibhraja’s son. The two who desired to be born as ministers became Pundarika and Suvalaka, the sons of the two ministers whom they had seen. The remaining three brothers were not attached to material pursuits and were born as brahmanas (the first of the four classes).
Brahmadatta married Kalyani. You will never guess who Kayanti had been in her earlier life. She had been the cow whom the brothers had killed.
What was most remarkable was the fact that Brahmadatta could understand the languages of all living beings.
Brahmadatta and Kalyani were once taking a walk in their garden. Brahmadata heard two ants conversing. Since he could understand the languages of all living beings, he could follow what the ants were saying.
“Why are you angry with me?’ asked the male ant. “Why are you refusing to speak to me?”
“Go away and do not pester me,” replied the female ant. “You say you love me very much. And yet, when you got some grains of sugar yesterday, you gave them to another ant and not to me. I refuse to speak to you.”
“That was my mistake,” said the male ant. “I thought that it was you to whom I was giving the grains of sugar. I will never make such a mistake in the future. Please pardon me and smile. I cannot bear to see you so angry.”
The ants made up.
The conversation made Brahmadatta laugh. Kalyani naturally wanted to know why Brahmadatta was laughing and the king reported the entire conversation to his wife.
But Kalyani refused to believe her husband. “How can any man understand the language of ants?” she wanted to know. “You are lying. You must have been laughing at me.”
Brahmadatta tried to convince his wife, but Kalyani would not listen. The king did not know what to do. But while he was sleeping, he dreamt that Vishnu appeared before him and told him to wait till the next morning. Brahmadatta’s mind would be set at rest then.
I hope you have not forgotten that four of the brothers had been born as brahmanas. They had been born as brahmanas. They had been born as the sons of a brahmana named Sudaridra and were named Dhritimana, Tattvadarshi, Vidyachanda and Tapotsuka. Since they were born as jatismaras, they remembered their earlier lives and had no desire to tied down by material pursuits. They wanted to retire to the forest and meditate.
But Sudaridra tried to restrain his sons. “How can you do that?” he asked “How can you retire to the forest to meditate? Your duty is to look after me in my old age. If you do not look after, I shall starve to death. Please do not commit that sin.”
“You will not starve to death,” replied his sons. “Go to King Brahmadatta and ask him for wealth. He will give you gold and villages. Tell him to remember the sage Garga, the hunters, the deer and the birds. The four sons went away to the foest. Sudarida came to meet the king. He met the king on the day following Brahmadatta’s dream. Sudaridra’s words reminded Brahmadatta of what he had been in his earlier lives. He was ashamed that he had forgotten those incidents and had become addicted to material pursuits. He decided to join his brothers in the forest. He gave Sudaridra as much wealth as the brahmana wanted and handed over the kingdom to the prince, Vishvaksena. The brothers Pundarika and Suvalaka also accompanied Brahmadatta to the forest. It was thus that Koushika’s seven sons eventually attained salvation. “There is one thing we do not understnad,” said the sages. “How came Brahmadatta to understand the languages of all living beings?” “That is easily explained.” Replied Lomaharshana. “King Vibraja had prayed to Vishnu that he might obtain such a son and the boon was granted.”
The Matysa Purana now continues with a cataloguing of the major tirthas.Chandra and Budha “You forgot to tell us how Budha was born,” remarked the sages. “Nor did you tell us anything about Chandra’s birth.” Lomaharshana filled in the blanks. The sage Atri was Brahma’s son. Atri once performed very difficult tapasya. A tremendous amount of energy was released as a result of this meditation and the moon-god, Chandra or Soma, was born from this energy. Brahma appointed Chandra ruler over all stars, planets and herbs (oshadhi). Twenty-seven of Daksha’ daughter were married to Chandra. These were the nakshatras (stars). Chandra performed a rajasuya yajna (royal sacrifice) and the ceremony was an outstanding success. Bt all this sucess. But all this success and glory went to Chandra’s head. The preceptor of the gods was the sage Brihaspati and Brihaspati’s wife was Tara. Chandra’s eyes fell upon Tara and he forcibly abducted her. On several occasions Brihaspati asked Chandra to return Tara, but the moon-god would not listen. A terrible war then raged between the gods and demons over Tara. The gods fought on Brihaspati’s side and the demons aided Chandra. Shiva also fought on the side of the gods. As the war raged, Shiva let fly a terrible divine weapon named brahmashirsha at Chandra. Chandra countered this with another terrible divine weapon named somastra. These two weapons of destruction threatened to burn up the entire universe.
Brahma decided that it was time for him to intervene. “Stop this nonsense at once,” he told Chandra. “What you have done is most improper. Return Tara at once.” These words ashamed Chandra and he returned Tara. But Chandra and Tara had already had a handsome son named Budha. Budha became very skilled in the handling of elephants. In fact, the knowledge of tackling and handling elephants goes back to Budha. You already know that Budha married Ila and that they had a son named Pururava. Pururava and Urvashi Pururava was a very strong king who ruled the earth well. He performed one hundred ashvamedha yajnas. The three goals of human life are dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth) and kama (that which is desired). (Usually, a fourth goal of moksha salvation) is added.) These three goals wished to see which of them Pururava revered the most. They therefore adopted human forms and came to visit Pururava. Pururava treated them with utmost respect and gave them golden seats to sit on. He offered them all sorts of offerings. But in the process, Dharma received more of the offerings than Artha and Kama. This angered Artha and Kama. “You will be destroyed,” Artha cursed Pururava. “You will go mad over Urvashi,” Kama cursed Pururava But Dharma blessed Pururava. “You will live for long and you will never deviate from the righteous path,” he said. “Your descendants will rule for ever.” Having thus cursed and blessed Pururava, Dharma, Artha and Kama disappeared.
On one particular occasion, Pururava was driving his chariot through a forest. He suddenly found that a demon named Keshi was abducting an apsara (dancer of heaven). This apsara was none other than Urvashi. Pururava defeated the demon and rescued Urvashi. He restored her to Indra, the king of the gods. Indra was deligthed at this act and Indra and Pururava became friends. The sage Bharata taught mankind how to sing and dance. To celebrate Urvashi’s return, Indra asked Bharata to stage a performance. As artistes, Bharata chose three apsaras. They were Menaka, Urvashi and Rambha. Menaka and Rambha danced as they should. But Urvashiw as attracted by King Pururava and kept looking at him. The result was that Urvashi fell out of step. This angered Bharata and he cursed Urvashi that she would have to spend fifty-five years on earth. On earth, Urvashi married Pururava and they had eight sons named Ayu, Dridayau, Ashvayu, Dhanayu, Dhritamana, Vasu, Shuchividya and Shatayu.
