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Curse On Dharma

 

There was a Rishi named Mandavya. He used to observe the vow of silence by raising his arms at the entrance of his hermitage. Once a gang of thieves came near his hermitage and hid their stolen goods. When the guards of the king came in search of the thieves, they saw the Rishi Mandavya and asked him their whereabouts. Since, the Rishi was observing the vow of silence, he did not reply. At that time the guards saw the stolen goods hidden near the Rishi. Assuming he was also one of the gang members they took the Rishi to the king. Later they found the other thieves and took them to the king as well. The king asked the guards to impale all of them! When the guards did so, all the thieves died except Mandavya. Other Rishis came in the form of birds took pity on him and asked him why he had to suffer such a plight. When Mandavya replied, the guards told the king that the Rishi was alive. The king came there and begged for the Rishi's forgiveness and offered to remove the pole from his body. But he was unable to do so. So Mandavya was called Ani-Mandavya (Mandavya with a pole within). After being freed, Mandavya started performing severe austerities again and travelled to the region of Yama (Dharma) to ask him why he had to suffer such a punishment. Yama told when Mandavya was a child, he had killed an insect with a blade of grass. Hearing this Mandavya got angry and asked Yama why he had to endure such a severe punishment for a sin committed in his childhood and said henceforth sins committed by any child till the age of fourteen years is not a sin at all. He also cursed Yama to be born on earth as Vidura.




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