Anga
Many years ago, Anga, a noble king marries Sunita, the daughter of Mrityu. Despite being married for several years, they have no son. So Anga consults rishi Brighu who asks him to perform an Ashwamedha yagna.
Anga invites the rishis of the three worlds to perform the yagna perfectly. But sadly, none of the gods, not even Yagna Deva appears to receive their share of the havis. Anga is aghast. He looks at rishi Brighu and says, “Have I committed any sin in this life? Why is no deva interested in the havis? Will my yagna remain incomplete?”
Rishi Brighu says, “O Anga, your yagna remains incomplete because you sinned in your past life. Worship Vishnu first. He will forgive you. And after that, the other devas too will come to collect the havis. You will be blessed with a son who will inherit your throne. There is no doubt about that.”
So Anga worships Vishnu who appears out of the yagna fire with a cup of payasam. He offers it to Sunita and disappears with an enigmatic smile on his face. Anga is relieved because now the other devas willingly take the havis from the ritviks and the yagna ends on a positive note. He rewards the rishis generously and returns to his palace.
Sunita however intuitively senses that an evil spirit has entered her womb. She ignores the sense of doom that keeps haunting her and is overjoyed when she gives birth to a boy. But Anga’s and Sunita’s happiness is short-lived.
Vena
They realize that Vena, their son has inherited his grandfather’s evil spirit for he practises Adharma and Mrityu. Vena loves violence. He molests and kills all kinds of creatures. Servant boys, street children, stray animals – he spares no one – and enjoys tormenting them.
Anga tries his best to reform him. But Vena does not change. Anga feels he is living through a nightmare. And when he is unable to bear the torturous ways of his son anymore, he just leaves his kingdom and goes away forever.
Anarchy reigns supreme in Anga’s kingdom now. Thieves and murderers loot the towns and villages and kill innocent people ruthlessly. So rishi Brighu and the other rishis approach Sunita and say, “We must crown Vena the king. Else we will lose the kingdom itself.” All the other rishis are against this. But they don’t have a choice either. There is no other heir to Anga’s kingdom. So they crown Vena the king.
Peace prevails immediately for the thieves and bandits are familiar with Vena’s ruthlessness. But now the people have to live under the rule of Vena. The rishis know that Adharma rules over Vena’s mind and Mrityu is his constant companion. They discuss the matter amongst themselves and decide to persuade Vena to mend his ways.
When the learned rishis try to make Vena understand the Dharmic path that kings should follow – Vena haughtily says, “All Gods reside within the king. I am the king. So I am God. You should worship me and me alone. You, rishi Brighu and the other rishis are jealous that I have the powers of God at my disposal. So you want to dilute my powers. If you want to live in my kingdom worship me – else be prepared to die.”
The rishis sense the warning in Vena’s menacing words. An eerie silence falls in Vena’s court. Rishi Brighu and the rishis have come prepared for this eventuality too. They nod at one another in quiet approval. And chant a deadly humkara in perfect unison. The humkara reaches a crescendo in no time. And a deadly hissing flame of apocalypse stifles the prana out of Vena. Vena drops dead on his throne. Rishi Brighu and the rest of the sages then walk out of the court and the kingdom into the jungle without pausing for even a second.
Sunita is heartbroken. She does not know what to do. So she preserves Vena’s body in oils. Things are back to square one in the kingdom again. The robbers and dacoits plunder Anga’s kingdom and kill innocent citizens.
The rishis realize that is their duty to help the weak and the afflicted now. They unanimously decide that the race of Anga must continue. So rishi Brighu and the other sages gather around Vena’s body and chant arcane mantras continuously. After a while, they start kneading Vena’s lifeless thigh with their hands.
And suddenly a strange dark creature, an ugly dwarf, appears out of Vena’s thigh. The old, haggard-looking evil creature looks at the rishis meekly and says, “Lords, what do you want me to do?”
Rishi Brighu says, “You are Nishada. And only your tribe and you dare to take on Vena’s most terrible sins upon yourself. Live like outcasts in the mountains and jungles and remain hidden from society.”The Nishada nods his head and disappears from there.
Prithu
The rishis heave a sigh of relief. The worst is over. But they still have a lot more to do. They start chanting a different set of mantras and knead Vena’s arms now. And after a long while twins appear out of Vena’s right arm. The rishis know, instantly, that an amsavatar of Vishnu and Lakshmi is born in their midst. They name the prince Prithu and the princess Archis. Rishi Brighu and the other rishis are relieved and at peace – finally – for they know that Prithu and Archis will follow the principles of Dharma and will rule over Anga’s kingdom justly and wisely. A beautiful idea is embedded in this story…..
Let’s be realistic. And honest. At least to ourselves. Vena, the tormentor lives within us too. We do torment people with our caustic comments, gestures, actions, silences and expectations – to feed and protect our ego. Like Anga, people sever their ties with us forever – they prefer giving up on the relationship itself – because we have hurt them so much.
Yet, like Vena, we believe we know better than others and are perfect – and are God incarnate. So we ridicule our well-wishers who, like the rishis, try to bring our flaws to our notice. And then we wonder why we suddenly feel so alone and empty and dead from inside.
When we realize our follies – and hopefully it is not too late yet – we will seek the counsel of our well-wishers – the rishis – again. And learn to use our awareness and intellect to discard our evil egoistic thoughts/emotions – the Nishadas – from our minds and hearts. We will treat them like outcasts now for we understand how our ego distorts our perceptions and wreaks havoc in our relationships.
And then, slowly, ever so slowly, we will master the art of nurturing Prithu – we regain our inner balance – Dharma and peace flow into our lives – and we bow our heads with utmost humility when we see Sri Lakshmi entering our homes and souls.
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