Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.2586.2

c9.2586.2

A Brāhmaṇa who was a native of Daśārṇa land ate the rice which was cooked from the ears of those paddy plants. Śukra’s soul in the shape of Śukra entered the womb of the Brāhmaṇa’s wife and in due course took his birth. Because of his close association with Munis, that boy grew up like a sage and spent a period of one Manvantara, leading an austere life in the valley of the Meru mountain. At that time his Apsarā woman had been born as a female deer, as the result of a curse. By their connection in the previous birth, the Brāhmaṇa fell in love with that female deer and begot a human child by his union with her. With that the austerities of his life were at an end. All his thoughts were now directed towards the future glory of his son and he ignored even his spiritual duties. Not long after, he died of snake-bite. Later, he was born as the son of the king of Madra and ruled the country for many years. After that he took birth in many other wombs and at last was born as the son of a Maharṣi living on the bank of the river Gaṅgā. Śukra’s body which was by the side of Bhr̥gu dropped to the earth after being exposed to the wind and sun for a long time. But owing to Bhr̥gu’s power of tapas and the holiness of the āśrama, birds and animals did not eat the body. After 1,000 divyavatsaras, sage Bhr̥gu opened his eyes from his samādhi but he did not find his son near him. A famished and worn out body was lying before him.