Skandapurana 7.20.112

7.20.112

duṣkṛtakarmaṇā durgatiṃ gatānāmapi pitṛbhaktivaśācchubhagatiprāpterudāharaṇāya somanandinaḥ pūrvavṛttamākhyātuṃ saptavyādhopākhyānam . saptānāṃ dvijaśiṣyāṇāṃ gurorvacanād gāmānetuṃ daśārṇato māhiṣmatīgamanam . gurvarthe gāmādāya pratinivartamānānāṃ teṣāṃ pathi durbhikṣavaśād nirāhāratayā mumūrṣūṇāṃ kṣudhāturāṇāṃ gatyantarābhāvāt- pitruddeśena tāmeva gāmālabhya tanmāṃsabhakṣaṇam . tadvijñāya kruddhena guruṇā teṣāṃ kaṣṭā gatirbhavitrīti śāpapradānam . guruśāpavaśānnaṣṭasaṃjñānāṃ teṣāṃ daśārṇātīravartini vane vyādhaputratvena janmagrahaṇam . vyādhavṛttyā vane vicaratāṃ teṣāṃ karuṇāviṣṭacetasopādhyāyena jātismaraṇayogyatāpādanenānugrahakaraṇam . tato gṛhaṃ pratyāgatānāṃ teṣāṃ tatpitrā vyādhena svapūrvavṛttakathanam . vyādhe pitari svaryāte mātari ca saṃsthitāyāṃ saptānāmapi teṣāṃ kālañjarādiṣu krameṇa mṛgādijanmaprāptiḥ . cakravākayonau vartamānānāṃ teṣāṃ saptānāṃ madhye prathameṣāṃ trayāṇāṃ kāmpilyādhipateraṇuhasya sāntaḥpurasya sarovare jalakrīḍādarśanājjātarāgāṇāṃ yathākramaṃ brahmadattabrahmadhanvapāñcālanāmnā rājapurohitamantri- putratvena janmagrahaṇam .

The tale of the seven hunters to narrate the past life of Somanandin, as an illustration of how even those who fall into an evil realm of existence on account of sinful deeds attain an auspicious realm through devotion to parents: the going of seven brahmin disciples from Daśārṇa to Māhiṣmatī to fetch a cow at the bidding of their guru; as they return with the cow for the guru's sake, being without food on the road due to famine, starving, on the verge of death, and having no other recourse, their slaughtering of that very cow dedicated to the ancestors and eating its flesh; the guru, upon learning this, angrily uttering a curse that they shall have a dreadful fate; losing their consciousness on account of the guru's curse, their taking birth as sons of a hunter in a forest on the banks of the Daśārṇā; as they wander in the forest living as hunters, the teacher, his heart filled with compassion, confers grace upon them by granting them the ability to remember their past births; then, after they return home, the narration of their past deeds by their father, the hunter; when their hunter father departed to heaven and their mother died, all seven sequentially obtain births as deer and so on on Kālañjara and elsewhere; among the seven living in the form of cakravāka birds, the first three, smitten with passion upon seeing the water sports of Aṇuha, the king of Kāmpilya, with his harem in a lake, take birth respectively as the sons of the king, the royal priest, and the minister under the names Brahmadatta, Brahmadhanvan, and Pāñcāla.