Stories From The Bhagawatham - The Fall Of Nahusha

 

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There was a king named Nahusha who was a just and kind ruler. He took good care of his kingdom and his people. He performed several yajnas and lived a pious life. Naturally, when Indra had to leave his heavenly kingdom to atone for the sin of Brahmahatya that he had incurred by killing Vritrasura, the son of a Brahmin, the devas considered Nahusha as the best person to take up the place of Indra in the celestial world. Considering this as a great honour, Nahusha readily agreed.

However, position, power and riches can corrupt even the gentlest of minds. Over a period of time, Nahusha grew arrogant. All the wealth that he had amassed himself, the power that he now had over the world, the pride of having performed several yajnas and most of all, having been chosen by the devas themselves to replace none other than Indra, Nahusha’s pride knew no bounds.

Indra had a special honour. His palanquin was borne by the sapta-rishis. This was a mark of respect for the position of the King of the devas, and not for any specific person. Nahusha, not realizing this, started enjoying and relishing this service whenever the rishis carried his palanquin. He became deluded to this extent that he felt the rishis were doing this for him, and started treating them as his slaves.

One day, a wicked thought struck Nahusha. Since he was the Indra for the time being, he decided that he should also be allowed to have Indra’s wife Sachi as his own now. He decided to pay her a visit and he called out for his palanquin. The rishis arrived and started carrying his palanquin. In his eagerness to see Sachi, Nahusha felt as if the rishis were moving very slowly. To ridicule their motion, he used the word sarpa, intending to say that they were crawling. This angered the rishis, the most angered among them being Agastya Rishi.

He knew Nahusha’s purpose in visiting Sachi, and all the ridicule and disrespect that the rishis had been suffering at the hands of Nahusha finally caught up with Agastya. “Fool! Do you even know what you are saying or doing??” He shouted at the unfortunate king. “Your arrogance has grown out of bounds. It is time to put you in your place. Sarpa, you said?! So be it! I curse you that you should become a sarpa (snake) and not just any snake, but a reptile that will not be able to move and will have to wait for food to come its way. You will be in this state in the forest of Dvaitavana for a very long time!”

It was as if the king had woken up from a long spell. All arrogance and pride left him as he realized how wrongly he had behaved all this while. With great humility he bowed to the sage and said, “I have behaved in a very wrong way with all of you, and you have every right to curse me. Please be kind to me and let me know how long will I be in the cursed state, and how my curse can be lifted.”

Agastya Rishi had calmed down and felt pity for the king. “You will be rid of the form of a python during Dwaparayuga. In your own lineage, there will be born a man named Yudhisthira, who will be Dharma incarnate. He will be the one to release you from your curse.”

Thus began Nahusha’s period as a sarpa and he lay waiting in the Dvaitavana for a thousand years until, one day, as the five Pandava brothers, at the termination of their twelve-year old exile, passed through the forest. As a python, Nahusha captured Bheema. When Yudhisthira came to his rescue, Nahusha engaged him in a philosophical debate which was won by Yudhisthira and finally. Nahusha found release from the curse. I hope to write more on this incident in my later blogs.

Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaaya!