Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.3908

c9.3908

VARIṢṬHA. The son of Manu Cākṣuṣa. The following story, how Variṣṭha cursed the hermit Gṛtsamada, occurs in Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 18. Indra once performed a sacrifice which lasted for a thousand years. Variṣṭha and Gṛtsamada, as friends of Indra were present at the sacrifice. Gṛtsamada committed some mistakes in the recitation of Sāmans. Variṣṭha got angry and cursed Gṛtsamada that he would wander in the forest as an animal for one hundred and eighteen years. Accordingly Gṛtsamada wandered through forests in the form of an animal for a very long time.