Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.3301

c9.3301

7) Viśvāmitra meets Triśaṅku. When Hariścandra became king, Triśaṅku was living in Ambāvana (forest of Ambā) as a great devotee of the goddess. It was at that time that Viśvāmitra returned home after his penance. Viśvāmitra enquired of his wife how they managed to live during the great famine. Then Satyavatī, wife of Viśvāmitra, told him the whole story of how Satyavrata helped them, why he killed Nandinī, Vasiṣṭha’s cow, and how they ate cow’s flesh, how Satyavrata was cursed to be a caṇḍāla, how he was called back as king and how he was at that time living in Ambāvana. The eyes of Viśvāmitra met wet when he heard the sorrowful story and he decided to end the caṇḍālatva (state of being a caṇḍāla) of Satyavrata. He went straight to Ambāvana and met Triśaṅku there.