War of the worlds - Part 1

Once of upon a time,in the krita yugam, there was an asuran king called vritra. He was very powerful, strong & had a huge army of danavas known as Kalakeyas. They were invincible in battle.

He assaulted the devas and made them run for their lives. And he ruled all the three worlds.

The devas, headed by Indra, went to Brahma and cried for help. Brahma said, i know the reason for your sorrow and also the means to end it.

Brahma told the devas, there is a powerful rishi named Dadhicha. You all go to him and ask him to help you. Being big hearted he will say yes, then you ask him to give you his bones to be made as a weapon.

So the devas went to Dadhicha's aashramam, which was on the banks of saraswathi. There they fell on their knees and prayed at his feet to grant them a boon to end Vritra. Dadhicha being satisfied with the prayers of the devas, asked them what they wanted. The devas said, we want your bones to kill Vritra.

Dadhicha, renounced his life then & there and let devas take his bones. Devas took his bones and went to Twashtri (the weapon maker of the Devas). He made a very powerful weapon from the bones of Dadhicha known as "Vajrayutham". Having manufactured this weapon, he told Indra "Now go and conquer your enemies"

Indra armed with Vajrayutham, along with the other devas, went to fight Vritra.

There was a fierce battle between the devas & the Kalakeya army. The Kalakeyans were huge, powerful and the devas were no match for them. The Kalakeyas using their superior weapons destroyed the deva army, deva heads were rolling like dice. The Kalakeyas went on to crush the deva army, everyone fled.

Indra got dejected by the force of the Kalakeyas, fled and was trembling in fear. Seeing this, Vishnu went to Indra and told him that I will give you some of my power. All the devas & rishis also came forward and gave Indra a part of their powers to him.

Indra armed with Vajrayutham & powers of all the gods again went to fight Vritra. Vritra learning that all gods & rishis have given their powers to Indra, became furious. He let out a big roar and went to face Indra. Indra on hearing this loud roar, became terrified, hurled the Vajrayutham towards Vritra and ran. Indra did not stop to see the result. Vritra was slain by the Vajrayutham. Indra stopped running, only when, he heard others praising his valor for killing Vritra.

After Vritra was fallen, the devas started fighting spiritedly. The Kalakeyas on learning that their leader has fallen, fled to the depths of the ocean.

The devas & Indiran seeing no resistance, proclaimed their victory and went to their place to celebrate.

But the Kalakeyas, hiding under the ocean, had other plans. They would emerge from ocean under the darkness during night and kill, then go hiding under the ocean during day time.

People were getting slaughtered, no one knew why or how it was happening. The devas were concerned, because without the human beings serving them, they would not be able to sustain.

So they again went to Brahma, Brahma said I know why you are here and I also know the remedy. The Kalakeyas are hiding under the ocean, where you cannot go, so you need help.

Brahma says go to the great rishi Agasthiyar, he will help you.

The devas go to Agasthiyar and asks for his help, Agasthiyar says ok no problem. Lets check it out. The devas along with Agasthiyar go to the ocean. Agasthiyar says beach is great, whats your problem? The devas say, we need to get our enemies under this water. Can you help us?

Agasthiyar says, ah that is easy.

So he dips his hand in the ocean and starts drinking it. And he drinks all the water in the ocean, the devas are happy. The devas now could spot the Kalakeyas, they slay all of them. Once all the casualties are over, the devas ask Agasthiyar to release the water back again.

Agasthiyar, Oh I am sorry, I have digested it all. You only asked my help in clearing the ocean. And I have done that.

Now you are asking something different, please wait for the oceans to be filled, I am beyond helping you.

Eating Vathapi

Once upon a time, there was a rishi called Agathiyar.

Agathiyar was a short guy, but powerful. No one could dare him, not even the mighty Vindhyas.

But then, there were rules, that even the mighty Agathiyar cannot disobey. Without an offspring, you cannot save your ancestors. (The philosophy of our Hindu religion is that, when you are born, you are indebted to your ancestors. The only way you can repay your birth debt & save your ancestors from hell is to, raise an offspring)

So Agathiyar started searching for a suitable girl to marry. He could not find one, so created one. And he gave that girl child to a king, for upbringing.

While that girl was growing up.................

There was an asura named, "Ilvala". He was childless, so he prayed to the gods, and invited the priests to fulfill his yagams. But for some unknown reasons, they refused to do his bidding.

Now Ilvala was very angry with these priests people, so he decides to kill all the priests coming to him.

Ilvala has a good plan, his brother Vathapi can take any form at will. And he can be summoned, no matter where he is.

So Ilvala's plan is to make Vathapi to assume the form a goat, and give the vathapi biryani to the priests who visit him. After the priests eat the Vathapi biryani, Ilvala will call his brother. Then Vathapi will tear open that unfortunate priests stomach and come out, while killing that priest.

Like this, Ilvala was killing the priests and taking his revenge.

Now the Agathiyar girl has grown up ....................

Agathiyar goes to the king and orders him, to get that grown up girl and let him marry her.

The king is frightened, to say no to this powerful muni. The girl more frightened, so they get the girl married to Agathiyar.

But the marriage is only for namesake, the girl does not let Agathiyar near her.

The frustrated Agathiyar asks, why wont you love me?

She tells him to get a luxurious bedroom, lot of wealth & be rich like my father, before I love you.

So Agathiyar goes to a king, thats known to him. And Agathiyar asks that guy for all this. That poor king tells Agathiyar, you measure my earnings, measure my expenditures and measure what you are asking for, and take whats left.

Agathiyar realizes that, this king cannot help him. So both Agathiyar & the king goes to another king to get all these stuff.

So it goes on.....

And finally one king says that Ilvala, has got all we need. Lets go to him.

So they all go to Ilvala, to get wealth.

Now Ilvala is happy, he gotta bigger fish to fry (Agathiyar)

So Ilvala, goes and prays to Agathiyar & the kings following him to eat in his house.

Everyone knows what they are getting, (Vathapi Biryani), so all the kings are sad.

Agathiyar tells them not to worry, and that he will eat the full biryani.

Ilvala serves the Vathapi biryani to Agathiyar, he eats it.

Then Ilvala, calls his brother. Then comes the sound of burping from Agathiyar.

Ilvala calls Vathapi, Agathiyar burps.

Now Ilvala is confounded, asks Agathiyar "What have you done?"

Agathiyar tells him "Digested Vathapi"