Once Indra showed disrespect to Brhaspati due to the arrogance of his wealth
the devaguru and he left the sabha and disappeared. Indra regretting his
action searched for Brhaspathi but could not find him. Without the aacharya
anugraha the devaloka lost its lustre and the devas were easily defeated by
the asuras. Indra lost his kingdom and appealed to Brahma who told him to
ask Visvaroopa the son of Thvashta to act as their guru. Thvashta was one of
the twelve aadhithyas born to Adhithi and Kasyapa. But he married Racana who
was the sister of the asuras. Visvaroopa was the son of Thvashta and racana
and was well versed in Vedas. When Indra asked him he accepted to be their
guru, even though he said, his brahma thejas would be dimmed by doing the
work of a purohith, because the devas were like his fathers, and instructed
Indra with Narayanakavacha to protect him from his enemies. Through the
power of the Narayana kavacha Indra got back his kingdom.
Then Visvaroopa performed a sacrifice and gave the offerings to the devas
calling them by names but he also offered it secretly to the asuras who were
his uncles. Indra came to know this and severed the three heads Visravas
had. Thvashta angered by this did a homa to create a son who would kill
Indra with the manthra *indhraSSathro vivrDhasva,maa chiram jahi vidhvisham,
"*oh enemy of Indra grow and kill the enemy soon." But due to his agitation
he pronounced the manthra with a wrong accent. Giving the accent on the
letter *dhra* in *Indhra* it became a bahuvreehi compound meaning *indhraH*
*SathruH* *yasya*, the one to whom Indra is the enemy instead of giving the
accent on *thruH* of the word *sathruh*, which would have been a
thathpurusha compound meaning *Indhrasya* *SathruH*, the enemy of Indhra.
AS a result of the homa Vrthrasura rose from the fire, fierce looking and
the devas became afraid and resorted to Lord Vishnu for protection He
advised them to pray the sage dhaDheechi to give them his backbone and make
a weapon out of it strong like vajra. Sage dhaDheechi gave up his sareera
which, he said, had to be given up sometime in any case, and the Indra made
vajrayudha from his bones.
There ensued a fierce battle between the devas and asuras. This happened in
the beginning of Threthayuga. Vrthra abused the devas saying that they were
killers of guru, brother and one of brahmathejas, meaning the killing of
Visvaroopa by Indra.
Then he said the Lord Vishnu would not give riches to His devotees lest they
may swerve from the path of salvation and prayed to the Lord that he should
always be endowed with the devotion to the Lord. Indra was surprised to see
his devotion but nevertheless the two fought on and Indra struck Vrthra with
the vajrayudha which cut off his arms and Vrthra walked towards Indra with
his legs like a great mountain and swallowed Indra along with his chariot.
But since Indra was protected by the Narayana kavacha he was unharmed and
came out breaking his body with the vajrayudha and cut off his head with it.
A light came from the body of Vrthra and entered the Lord.
But Indra was affected by the brahmahatthi which was pursuing him in the
form of an old, sick and ugly female with foul odour and Indra ran away and
entered the manasa lake and lived inside the lotus stalk there for thousand
years out of sight of everyone. Then he was released by meditation on
Sathyanarayana and since he was protected by Mahalakshmi in the manasarover
he was not affected by the brahmahatthi.
In the absence of Indra, Nahusha became Indra by performing 100 aswamedha
sacrifices. But due to arrogance he wanted Sachidevi to come to him and she
asked him to come to her on a palanquin carried by the saptharshis. When
they were not going fast enough due to the gait of Agasthya, the dwarf sage,
he said "sarpa sarpa," go fast and Agasthya cursed j him saying "sarpo
bhava" and he fell down being transformed into a serpent.
The Indra regained his kingdom and became completely free from his sin by
the aswamedha sacrifice performed n by sage Marici and others by
propitiating Yagna naraayana.
--
कृष्णेति मंगलम् नाम यस्य वाचि प्रवर्तते |
भस्मीभवन्ति तस्याशु महापातककोटयः ||
knr
--
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God
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