Long ago, Indra killed Vritrasura, the son of Twastha. At that time Vritrasura was the king of heaven and according to the advice of Lord Vishnu, Indra was living by befriending Vritrasura. One day, on getting the opportunity, Indra killed Vritrasura, which resulted in Indra committing the sin of . Now Indra could not rest anywhere. Then he quietly left from heaven ,went to Manasarovar and started living there hiding in a lotus tube. The gods searched Indra at many places but they could not find him anywhere.
When they did not get Indra, all the gods and monks together established, Nahusha on the post of Indra. Nahush was fascinated by Indra’s wife sachi , by hearing about her beauty and qualities. Nahusha said to the gods, I have authority over all the things in heaven. I am completely free to enjoy them. Goddess Shachi is Indra’s wife, so I also have authority over her. That is why Shachi should become my wife.
When Shachi came to know that Nahush had such thoughts towards her, she went to the shelter of brihaspati, the master of the gods. Brihaspati said to Shachi, you can stay at my house. There will be no harm to you, I will protect you from Nahusha. After that Shachi started staying at his house. Hearing that shachi is staying at brihaspati’s home, Nahush becomes very angry. Being attracted towards sachi, his intelligence was corrupted. He could not understand the difference between good and bad. So he ordered the gods to go to the house of brihaspati and bring Shachi to him, by any means, pleasantly or forcefully.
Then all the gods went to brihaspati ji’s house. They told all the things said by Nahusha. Hearing this, the body of Goddess Shachi began to tremble. She became very afraid. Then brihaspati ji said to Shachi, Goddess should be patient at this time. You should try to avoid him by deceiving him. I have a solution, go to him with the gods and say to him, let me first find, whether my husband Devraj Indra is alive or not. Once I am sure of this, I can freely take a decision about being your wife . Because ,while my husband is alive, I cannot even bring the idea of thinking of another man into my mind.
Agreeing to what Brihaspati ji said ,goddess Shachi went with the gods to Nahusha. Telling Nahusha, as brihaspati had said, asked him for some time. Nahusha was very happy to see Shachi there. He agreed with Shachi and gave him time to find Devraj Indra. Then Goddess Shashi became very happy and came to Brihaspati ji and narrated the whole story to him. Now all the gods went to Lord Vishnu and asked him for help to guide Indra to get rid of the sin of killing Brahmin.
According to the advice of Lord Vishnu, the gods made indra perform the Ashwamedha Yagna. Vishnu took the sin of killing a Brahmin by Indra and divided it into rivers, mountains, forests and women. Because of which Devraj Indra was freed from the sin of killing a Brahmin. But still he did not become an king of heaven, because Nahusha was still appointed as king of heaven. Indra did not even visit his wife Shachi. For this reason, Shachi was very distraught and wanted to meet Indra. Then she worshiped Bhagwati Jagadamba according to brihaspati ji’s advice. By goddess jagdamba’s boon , she reached the place where Indra was. Shachi was very happy after meeting Indra.
Shachi tells Indra that Nahusha is giving her a lot of trouble. Indra then told her, dear, I have a way to get rid of Nahusha. You go to him alone and tell him that you are ready to be his wife. But to get you, he has to sit in a palanquin lifted by sages. Because of this reason, he will commit a great sin and will fall from heaven. The goddess Shachi, agreeing to Indra, met Nahush in solitude. To get her, he was conditioned to sit in a palanquin carried by the sages.
Listening to Shachi, Nahusha was overjoyed and called sages Agastya etc. . Nahusha told him, Devi Shachi, is ready to marry me. But her condition is that, in order to get her, I should go by sitting in the palanquin raised by the monks. You guys help me and carry me and take me to Shachi. Agastya agreed to him , may be due his compassionate nature , or may be because of nahusha’s fate. Monks, picked him up in the palanquin and were taking him to Shachi. At that time Nahusha, losing his sense and was loudly saying sarpa-sarpa, meaning, move -move and was also touching sage Agastya Ji with his feet.
Agastya Muni became very angry at the touch feet of Nahusha. He cursed Nahusha, at this time you become a snake and fall from heaven. You will have to suffer a lot in the serpent’s life. After spending thousands of years, you will meet a saintly person named Yudhishthira, born of the part of dharma. After hearing the answers to the questions from his mouth, you will be free from my curse. The gods thereafter installed Devaraja Indra in his post.
In this way Nahusha became a snake by sage Agastya’s curse.
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Categories: Devi Bhagwat Puran
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