Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.524

c7.524

When Guṇāḍhya went to the forests Kāṇabhūti, King of the Satans was not in his place. He heard the satans speaking in their peculiar language and intelligent that he was he picked up the language. and when Kāṇabhūti came he spoke to him in his own language. Kāṇabhūti told in the satanic language the great stories of seven Vidyādharas. Guṇāḍhya took seven years to write the stories in the satanic language and compile them into seven lakhs of granthas to form a Mahākāvya. There were no writing materials available for him and Guṇāḍhya wrote them all on leaves using blood and twigs. When he started reading his book all the devas assembled in the sky to hear it. On hearing it Kāṇabhūti got release from the curse. It is this book containing seven lakhs of granthas that is called the Bṛhatkathā.