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The Eight-Letter Hymn

 

One day Lord Indra came to the banks of Maanasasarovara. There he saw a beautiful woman named Chitrasena, who was the wife of Kubera (god of wealth). Chitrasena had come to that lake to worship Goddess Parvati. As soon as Indra saw her, he fell in love with her. Indra immediately summoned Kamadeva(god of love) and asked him to make Chitrasena fall in love with him. Kamadeva obeyed Indra's command and shot the arrow of love at Chitrasena. As soon as Chitrasena opened her eyes and saw Indra, she fell in love with him. Indra asked her who she was and after she introduced herself, he invited her to a secret cave in Mandarachala. She agreed and both of them boarded an aircraft to that place. When Chitrasena's maids returned to Kubera's kingdom without her, Kubera asked them what had happened to Chitrasena. When they told him the story, his face became dim. His minister, Kanthakubja consoled him and advised him to go to his brother, Vibhisana. When Kubera went to Vibhisana's abode and told him about the incident, Vibhisana summoned Nadijangha, a demoness and asked her to search for Chitrasena. She obeyed his command and disguised herself as a beautiful woman and went to the abode of Indra. As soon as Indra saw her he was enchanted by her beauty and asked what she wanted. She told him she wanted to see all his wives. When he showed her all his wives, she told he still had concealed one. He told he will take her to Chitrasena but asked her to keep it as a secret. She agreed. On their way, Sage Narada greeted them by their names and Nadijangha's true identity was revealed to Indra! Indra was furious and when they were near the hermitage of Sage Trinabindu, he killed her even though the Sage forbid him to do so. So, Trinabindu cursed Indra to turn into a female. Devastated, Indra returned to heaven. As advised by the other gods, Sachi, the wife of Indra, returned Chitrasena to Kubera's kingdom. When Lord Brahma heard of this incident, he asked Indra to pray to Lord Vishnu with the eighteen-letter hymn, "Om Namo Narayanaya" two lakh times. Indra obeyed Brahma's command and became a man again. 




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