Aruna, a just Surya Vanshi king listens to the advice given by his guru, Vashishta. Unfortunately, Aruna’s son Satyavarta is not very responsible and indulges in whatever he fancies. One day, Satyavarta abducts a beautiful Brahman girl when her wedding rituals are going on. When Aruna hears this, he is furious and says, “Since you have behaved like a Chandala, go and live amongst them!”
Satyavarta is shocked. He had not expected his father to take such an extreme step. Satyavarta realizes his folly albeit a little too late but nurses a grudge against Vashishta. He thinks Vashishta should have vouched for him but deliberately chose to remain silent.
Left with no other option, Satyavarta leaves the kingdom and lives with the Chandalas in a forest on the outskirts of his kingdom. He meditates upon Devi Bhagavati and leads an austere life.
Vishwamitra too lives in the same forest with his family. But he wants to get the power of a Brahmana so he decides to perform a penance on the banks of river Kaushiki on the Himalayas. So his wife and children have to fend for themselves in the forest.
Meanwhile, the people of Aruna’s kingdom are reeling under the impact of drought. They have had no rains for over a decade now. Vishwamitra’s wife finds it difficult to feed her children in the forest. One day, out of sheer desperation, she ties a rope around her eldest child’s neck and drags him to the market square. The child knows that his mother will sell him as a slave and use the money to feed her other children. So he wails loudly and begs her not to do so.
Satyavarta is out hunting when he sees Vishwamitra’s wife and son walking through the forest. He introduces himself to her and questions her actions. Vishwamitra’s wife tells him about the sorry plight that they are in. Satyavarta feels sad for them and promises to bring them fresh meat every day. Vishwamitra’s wife expresses her gratitude to Satyavarta and goes back to her hut in the forest with her eldest child.
Satyavarta keeps his promise to Vishwamitra’s wife. He brings them fresh meat every day. Her children are happy and grow up into fine healthy youngsters. But the drought worsens over time. Satyavarta too has to deeper and deeper into the forest to hunt for food. One day, he comes to a clearing in which guru Vashishta and his disciples live. He sees a plump cow tethered outside the guru’s ashram. He still nurses a grudge against Vashishta. So his thoughts take a turn for the worse. He steals and slaughters the cow. He eats a portion of the cow’s meat and gives the rest to Vishwamitra’s wife and children.
When Vashishta comes to know of what Satyavarta did, he curses him and says, “You abducted a woman when she was getting married. You have stolen and eaten the flesh of a cow-like a pisacha. For these three crimes let there be three leprous marks, Shankus, on your face. Henceforth you will be known as Trishanku, a man who behaves like a pisacha.”
Pisachatatva turns Satyavarta into a terrible demon called Trishanku and three vile marks appear on his face. Trishanku is horror-struck. He realizes that no yagna can revoke Vashishta’s curse. In total despair, Trishanku starts chanting the Devi’s mantra again, collects some firewood and tries to immolate himself. To his utter surprise, the Devi appears before him and says, “There is no greater crime than that of committing suicide. Be patient. You will be crowned king shortly.” Saying so, the Devi disappears.
Trishanku is elated to note that the Devi had nullified Vashishta’s curse. His pisachatatva had left him. Aruna is deeply moved when he hears of all the hardships that his son had experienced in the forest. He advises Trishanku on how he can be a just king, hands over the kingdom to him and departs to the forest to do tapasya.
Trishanku rules his kingdom wisely. He is blessed with a noble son called Harishchandra. But the eccentric strain in his character resurfaces after a while and he aspires to rise to Swargaloka in his mortal body.
He asks Vashishta to do the needful but Vashishta flatly refuses and says, “You aspire for the impossible, O foolish Trishanku. You will never change your ways. You are still full of vanity and your heart is as dark as that of a Chandala’s. May you become a Chandala this very instant and live like one till you die. You will never find Swarga even after you die!”
Trishanku is horrified to see his body turn black like a Chandala’s again. As usual, he realizes, too late, that he had succumbed to the temptation of fulfilling his eccentric dreams again. So he has to face the consequences of his actions now. He crowns Harishchandra as the king, sets up a hut beside the Ganga and performs tapasya to atone for his sins.
Meanwhile, Vishwamitra finishes his penance but is shocked to see the famine all over the country. He meets his wife and children and wonders how they survived. His wife tells him how Satyavarta had helped them during the crisis. She also informs him about how Satyavarta became Trishanku for the three sins he committed.
Vishwamitra meets Trishanku, expresses his gratitude and says, “I will use all my Punya Shakti to make you ascend to Swarga with your mortal body.” So saying Vishwamitra arranges for a Yagna. He uses all his Punya Shakti and Trishanku starts ascending towards Swarga.
But as soon as Trishanku starts rising heavenwards, Indra appears before Vishwamitra and says, “How can any human being, let alone a Chandala, reside in Swarga, O Muni? Don’t attempt to do the impossible. He is vile, an untouchable. Let him descend to the earth for that is where he belongs.”
Trishanku immediately starts descending downwards. Vishwamitra looks angrily at Indra and says, “I cannot break my promise to Trishanku. If there is no place for Trishanku in your Swarga Loka, I will create another Swarga Loka for him. Let Trishanku be the Indra of his own Swarga Loka then.” So saying, Vishwamitra starts creating a new Swarga Loka for Trishanku.
And as Vishwamitra and Indra debate about the matter, poor Trishanku hangs upside down between earth and Swarga. Indra pleads with Vishwamitra and asks him not to disturb the harmony in the cosmos. Vishwamitra relents but asks Indra to compromise. He says, “Let the new Swarga Loka that I have created be known as Trishanku’s Swarga. Let Trishanku reside there permanently but in an upside-down position. That way he will never be able to overpower you, Indra.” And as usual, Trishanku gets what he wants but ends up paying a heavy price for it.
We can’t and should not classify people into neat little categories like “good” or “bad”. We all have healthy doses of both. And we don’t and won’t get all that we yearn for in our lives. We need to accept that fact and learn to let go of our dreams. Yes, we do need to focus on our karma to the best of our ability. But the fruit of our efforts will never be in our hands. Let’s always keep this in mind. Let’s refrain from using our karma to change our destiny else we too may end up like Trishanku.
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