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The Story of Yavakrit (Part 3)
All the rishis gathered to console Rishi Baladhi when they saw him crying out loud at the death of his son. Rishi Bharadwaj, Yavakrit’s father, who was narrating the story of Baladhi’s son to Yavakrit said, “This is what happens when one gets boons through tapas, they only serve to make us more egoistic and destructive. You have, through your austerities, acquired knowledge of the Vedas. You did this out of jealousy of Rishi Raibya and his two sons. Please remember that the rishi and his sons are very powerful, do not be rude or torment them in any way, else you too will share the same fate as of Rishi Baladhi’s son.”
Yavakrit said, “O father please do not worry. The rishi Raibya is like a father to me I will never try to harm him in any way.”
Saying these sweet and deceptive words to his father, Yavakrit, who felt that now he had nothing to fear, started doing exactly the opposite; troubling all the rishis. By tormenting them began feeling more and more satisfied.
Many days came to pass. Once, in the month of Vaisakha, Yavakrit came near the ashram of Raibya. It was a picturesque ashram full of trees and flowers. The scent of the flowers was such that it could send anyone into a dream-like state. Yavakrit saw the rishi’s beautiful daughter-in-law collecting flowers for the pooja. Her beauty enraptured him and his whole being was filled with desire, and he lost all sense of right or wrong. He asked the young girl to come to him. Even though she was shy, she knew the power of Yavkrit’s tapas and was frightened of him and so followed him to an isolated spot. There, Yavakrit forced her into submission.
Rishi Raibya was not in his ashram at that time and on his return, he saw his beautiful daughter-in-law crying away in a corner. In a very gentle voice, he consoled her and asked the reason for her sadness. She told him what had happened. On hearing the incident, he was filled with terrible anger. He removed a strand of his long hair and threw it into the sacrificial fire. A beautiful girl, who looked exactly like his daughter-in-law, emerged from the fire. Once again he threw another lock of hair into the fire. From this, arose a terrible demon with fiery eyes and a frightening form. Both the forms bowed down to the rishi and asked what service they could do for him. He asked them to kill Yavakrit.
Both the forms went to where Yavakrit was. Their strategy was to get the kamandal (vessel of water which all Brahmins hold) out of Yavakrit’s hand, rendering him powerless. The female form first went and with her beauty trapped Yavakrit into handing over his kamandal to her. The demon then threw a three pointed spear at Yavakrit.