Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c5.964

c5.964

2) Divodāsa's Reign. When Divodāsa began his rule in Vārāṇasī, there was a Rākṣasa named Kṣemaka. Divodāsa killed him and extended his kingdom. At that stage, Bhadraśrenya, King of Hehayas invaded Divodāsa. Divodāsa killed the hundred sons of Bhadraśrenya. At that time the sage Kumbhaka (Nikumbha) came to Kāśī. His practice was to live for a thousand years at any place where he reached at the time of dusk. Since he had reached Vārāṇasī at dusk, he set up an āśrama and lived there for a thousand years. At that time there was a famine in Vārāṇasī. The whole land was in the grip of a severe drought. Kumbhaka's āśrama and its surroundings alone remained green and cool. Herdsmen used to take cattle to graze in the neighbourhood of the āśrama. Once when they returned in the evening, they took with their cows, the sacrificial cow of Kumbhaka. It was dark and the sage searched for the cow everywhere but could not trace its whereabouts At last he came to know by intuition that his cow was taken away by the herdsmen. In his rage he cursed that Vārāṇasī should be ruined and left the place with his disciples. (See under Kumbhaka).