Aurvyopakhyana: The story of Aurva

There was a celebrated king of the name of Kartavirya. That bull among the kings of the earth was the disciple of the Veda-knowing Bhrigus. That king, after performing the Soma sacrifice, gratified the Brahmanas with great presents of rice and wealth. After that monarch had ascended to heaven, an occasion came when his descendants were in want of wealth. Knowing that the Bhrigus were rich, those princes went unto those best of Brahmanas, in the guise of beggars. Some amongst the Bhrigus, to protect their wealth, buried it under earth; and some from fear of the Kshatriyas, began to give away their wealth unto other Brahmanas; while some amongst them duly gave unto the Kshatriyas whatever they wanted. It happened, however, that some Kshatriyas, in digging as they pleased at the house of particular Bhargava, came upon a large treasure. The treasure was seen by all those bulls among Kshatriyas who had been there. Enraged at what they regarded as the deceitful behaviour of the Bhrigus, the Kshatriyas insulted the Brahmanas, though the latter asked for mercy. Those mighty bowmen began to slaughter the Bhrigus with their sharp arrows. The Kshatriyas wandered over the earth, slaughtering even the embryos that were in the wombs of the women of the Bhrigu race. While the Bhrigu race was thus being exterminated, the women of that tribe fled from fear to the inaccessible mountains of Himavat. One amongst these women, desiring to perpetuate her husband's race, held in one of her thighs an embryo endued with great energy. A certain Brahmana woman, however, who came to know this fact, went from fear unto the Kshatriyas and reported the matter unto them. The Kshatriyas then went to destroy that embryo. Arrived at the place, they beheld the would-be mother blazing with inborn energy, and the child that was in her thigh came out tearing up the thigh and dazzling the eyes of those Kshatriyas like the midday sun. Thus deprived of their eyes, the Kshatriyas began to wander over those inaccessible mountains. Distressed at the loss of sight, the princes were afflicted with woe, and desirous of regaining the use of their eyes they resolved to seek the protection of that faultless woman. Then those Kshatriyas, afflicted with sorrow, and from loss of sight like unto a fire that has gone out, addressed with anxious hearts that illustrious lady, saying,

“By your grace. O lady, we wish to be restored to sight. We shall then return to our homes all together and abstain for ever from our sinful practice. It beholds you with your child to show us mercy. It beholds you to favour these kings by granting them their eye-sight.”

The Brahmana lady, thus addressed by them, said,

“You children, I have not robbed you of your eye-sight, nor am I angry with you. This child, however, of the Bhrigu race has certainly been angry with you. There is little doubt, you children, that you have been robbed of your sight by that illustrious child whose wrath has been kindled at the remembrance of the slaughter of his race. You children, while you were destroying even the embryos of the Bhrigu race, this child was held by me in my thigh for a hundred years! In order that the prosperity of Bhrigu's race might be restored, the entire Vedas with their branches came unto this one even while he was in the womb. It is plain that this scion of the Bhrigu race, enraged at the slaughter of his fathers, desires to slay you! It is by his celestial energy that your eyes have been scorched. Therefore, you children, pray you unto this my excellent child born of my thigh. Propitiated by your homage he may restore your eye-sight.”

Hearing those words of the Brahmana lady, all these princes addressed the thigh-born child, saying, “Be propitious!” And the child became propitious unto them. That best of Brahmana Rishis, in consequence of his having been born after tearing open his mother's thigh, came to be known throughout the three worlds by the name of Aurva (thigh-born). Those princes regaining their eye-sight went away. But the Muni Aurva of the Bhrigu race resolved upon overcoming the whole world. The high-souled Rishi set his heart, upon the destruction of every creature in the world. That scion of the Bhrigu race, for paying homage unto his slaughtered ancestors, devoted himself to the austerest of penances with the object of destroying the whole world. Desirous of gratifying his ancestors, the Rishi afflicted by his severe asceticism the three worlds with the celestials, the Asuras and human beings. The Pitris, then, learning what the child of their race was about, all came from their own region unto the Rishi and addressing him said:

“Aurva, O son, fierce you has been in your asceticism. Your power has been witnessed by us. Be propitious unto the three worlds. Control your wrath. O child, it was not from incapacity that the Bhrigus of souls under complete control were, all of them, indifferent to their own destruction at the hands of the murderous Kshatriyas. When we grew weary of the long periods of life allotted to us, it was then that we desired our own destruction through the instrumentality of the Kshatriyas. The wealth that the Bhrigus had placed in their house underground had been placed only with the object of enraging the Kshatriyas and picking a quarrel with them. As we were desirous of heaven, of what use could wealth be to us? The treasurer of heaven Kubera had kept a large treasure for us. When we found that death could not, by any means, overtake us all, it was then, that we regarded this as the best means of compassing our desire. They who commit suicide never attain to regions that are blessed. Reflecting upon this, we abstained from self-destruction. That which, therefore you desire to do is not agreeable to us. Restrain your mind, therefore, from the sinful act of destroying the whole world. Destroy not the Kshatriyas nor the seven worlds. Kill this wrath of yours that stains your ascetic energy.”

Hearing these words of the Pitris, Aurva, replied unto them to this effect:

“You Pitris, the vow I have made from anger for the destruction of all the worlds, must not go in vain. I cannot consent to be one whose anger and vows are futile. Like fire consuming dry woods, this rage of mine will certainly consume me if I do not accomplish my vow. The man that represses his wrath that has been excited by adequate cause, becomes incapable of duly compassing the three ends of life. The wrath that kings desirous of subjugating the whole earth exhibit, is not without its uses. It serves to restrain the wicked and to protect the honest. While lying unborn within my mother's thigh, I heard the doleful cries of my mother and other women of the Bhrigu race who were then being exterminated by the Kshatriyas. You Pitris, when those wretches of Kshatriyas began to exterminate the Bhrigus together with unborn children of their race, it was then that wrath filled my soul. My mother and the other women of our race, each in an advanced state of pregnancy, and my father, while terribly alarmed, found not in all the worlds a single protector. Then when the Bhrigu women found not a single protector, my mother held me in one of her thighs. If there be a punisher of crimes in the worlds no one in all the worlds would dare commit a crime; if he finds not a punisher, the number of sinners become large. The man who having the power to prevent or punish sin doth not do so knowing that a sin has been committed, is himself defiled by that sin. When kings and others, capable of protecting my fathers, protect them not, postponing that duty preferring the pleasures of life, I have just cause to be enraged with them. I am the lord of the creation, capable of punishing its iniquity. I am incapable of obeying your command. Capable of punishing this crime, if I abstain from so doing, men will once more have to undergo a similar persecution. The fire of my wrath too that is ready to consume the worlds, if repressed, will certainly consume by its own energy my own self. You masters, I know that you ever seek the good of the worlds: direct me, therefore, as to what may benefit both myself and the worlds.”

The Pitris replied saying,

“Throw this fire that is born of your wrath and that desires to consume the worlds, into the waters. That will do you good. The worlds, indeed, are all dependent on water. Every juicy substance contains water, indeed the whole universe is made of water. Therefore, cast you this fire of your wrath into the waters. If, therefore, you desire it, let this fire born of your wrath abide in the great ocean, consuming the waters thereof, for it has been said that the worlds are made of water. In this way, your word will be rendered true, and the worlds with the gods will not be destroyed.”

Then, Aurva cast the fire of his wrath into the abode of Varuna. And that fire which consumes the waters of the great ocean, became like unto a large horse's head which persons conversant with the Vedas call by the name of Vadavamukha. And emitting itself from that mouth it consumes the waters of the mighty ocean.