The King in the Hermitage

In the line of Śaryāti, son of Manu, two kings arose among the Vatsas, Hehaya and Tālajaṅgha. Hehaya had a hundred famous sons by ten wives, all heroes who never turned back, skilled in arms and in the Veda. The Mahābhārata calls these hundred both the sons of Hehaya and the sons of Vītahavya. They killed Haryaśva, king of Kāśi, in battle between the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā. They defeated Haryaśva's son Sudeva. Sudeva's son Divodāsa built the city of Vārāṇasī at the command of Indra, king of the gods, but the Vītahavyas attacked him there too, and after a hundred days of battle, his army lost and his treasury empty, he fled the city.

Divodāsa went to the hermitage of the sage Bharadvāja and took refuge with him, and Bharadvāja performed a sacrifice for a son for him. A son was born, Pratardana, who grew in an instant to the age of thirteen and learned the whole Veda and the science of arms, and Bharadvāja filled him with power by his yoga. Pratardana, a kṣatriya, of the warrior order, set out in armour with his bow, like a blazing fire, against the Vītahavyas. They came out of their city against him with a rain of arrows, and he cut them down with his own, and they fell like flowering kiṃśuka trees cut down. When all his sons were killed, King Vītahavya left his city and fled to the hermitage of Bhṛgu, and took refuge with him. Bhṛgu gave him protection, and Bhṛgu's pupil gave him a seat.

Pratardana followed close behind. He came to the hermitage and called out: Ho! Which of the pupils of great Bhṛgu are here? I wish to see the sage. Tell him I am here. Bhṛgu came out of the hermitage and honoured him with the highest rites, and asked him what he wanted.

Brahmin, said the king, give up this King Vītahavya. His sons destroyed my whole line and laid waste the land of Kāśi and its treasures. I have killed the hundred sons of this man, who was so proud of his strength. By killing him I will pay my debt to my father.

Bhṛgu, the best of those who keep dharma, the right way, was moved with pity, and said: There is no kṣatriya here. All these are brahmins.

When Pratardana heard Bhṛgu's words, which were true, he touched the sage's feet, and laughed softly, and said: Even so, sir, I have done what I set out to do, for by my strength I have made this king give up his own birth. Give me leave, brahmin, and bless me. And with Bhṛgu's leave he went back the way he had come, like a snake that has spat out its venom.

By Bhṛgu's word alone, Vītahavya became a brahmin seer and a speaker of Brahman. His son was Gṛtsamada, handsome as a second Indra, a seer whose verses stand in the Ṛgveda, honoured by brahmins.