Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1890

c7.1890

Soon after this there was a famine in the land. Human beings and animals began to die of starvation. At that time Viśvāmitra was performing penance in the forest after leaving behind his wife and children in the country. When he saw that the whole family was in danger of death by starvation, he decided to make some money by selling one of the sons, in order to save the lives of the rest of the family. Satyavrata who came to know of this, met Viśvāmitra and dissuaded him from selling his son. He promised to supply some flesh every day to the family by hunting animals in the forest and keeping the flesh suspended from the branch of a near-by tree. Accordingly, he began leaving the flesh regularly hanging from the branch of the tree. One day he could not get any flesh by hunting. That night he went to Vasiṣṭha's āśrama and stole Kāmadhenu. He killed the cow and ate some of its flesh. The rest he gave to Viśvāmitra's family.