Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.862

c7.862

Indivarākṣa went to the sage Brahmamitra to learn Āyurveda. For some unknown reason, the sage did not teach him. Indivarākṣa decided to learn by overhearing what the guru taught the other pupils from a hiding place. In six months’ time he learnt Āyurveda. Overjoyed at the thought that he was able to acquire as much learning in this science as the other pupils, with-in a short time, and oblivious of his surroundings, he laughed loudly. The guru who understood the secret, uttered a curse that he would become a Rākṣasa within seven days. The repentant Indivarākṣa begged for his pardon. Then the sage told him that he would be restored to his own form and give up the Rākṣasa shape when he was shot with arrows by his own children. Once when he approached his daughter Maṇoramā to devour her, his son-in law, Svarocis who had learnt the science of archery from that girl, defeated him. In this way, Indivarākṣa got his own former form. After that he taught Svarocis, the sciences of archery which he had learnt from his own daughter and also from Brahmamitra.