Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.4753

c9.4753

Once Hariścandra, while he was hunting, met a lonely woman in the forest. She was moaning. The King asked why she was lamenting. She replied, "Oh King. I am Siddhirūpiṇī (a goddess who helps people to attain anything). Viśvāmitra is doing penance to possess me. I request you to protect me.” The King promised her to see that she was not subjected to the molestation of Viśvāmitra any longer. After that Hariścandra went to the hermitage of Viśvāmitra and made an enquiry. He then asked the hermit to stop penance, as his severe, intense, penance was harmful to many people in the country. The King returned to the palace. Viśvāmitra got angry and stood up. Up to this time only a cold war existed between them. Hostility became open now. Viśvāmitra began to make moves against Hariścandra quickly. He changed a fierce asura into a hog and sent it to the garden of Hariścandra. The hog destroyed the garden. All the attempts made by the guards to drive the hog away ended in failure. They informed the King. The King mounted on a horse and with weapons started for the garden. Without paying any heed to the arrows of the King, the hog ran away. The King began to chase it. The hog seemed to be near. Then it was away, then in front of the King and suddenly it appeared behind him. Then it would disappear instantly. In this manner the hog played around the King. After a while, the King was separated from his army and was entrapped, all alone, in a thick forest. He did not find any way out. He lost his way in the forest. As he was thus walking slowly, he saw a stream of pure water in front of him. Both the King and the horse drank from the stream. As he was standing thus without knowing the way to return home, Viśvāmitra went to him in the guise of an old Brahmin.