—§ 51 (Parvasaṅgr.): I, 2, 449: A. atraiva vivādo yatra
Bandinā, etc.—§ 412 (Tīrthay.): III, 132 ff.: Uddālaka
gave his own daughter Sujātā in marriage, together with
sacred learning (śrutaṃ), to his disciple the brahman Kahoda,
who had served him long. The embryo in her womb had
become versed in the Śāstras and the Vedas with the aṅgas,
and blamed Kahoda, who had been reading the whole night.
The great ṛṣi Kahoda cursed him to become crooked on
eight parts of his body, wherefore he, when born, was
called Aṣṭāvakra. In order to procure wealth for Sujātā,
Kahoda went to king Janaka (son of Indradyumna, v. 133,
10624), where he was defeated in a controversy with the
sūta (v. 10613, etc., sūtaputram v. 10671) Bandin and was
immersed into water. Uddālaka prevailed upon Sujātā to
keep it a secret from Aṣṭāvakra, who regarded Uddālaka
as his father and Śvetaketu, the son of Uddālaka, who was
of the same age with himself, as his brother, until in his
12th year Śvetaketu in anger happened to disclose the
matter to him. He and Śvetaketu then went to the sacrifice
of Janaka, and on being driven from the entrance Aṣṭāvakra
met the king (III, 132), and in the course of a conversation
with him and the doorkeeper he compared Janaka to Yayāti,
and said that he had heard that Bandin caused those whom
he had vanquished in disputation to be drowned in the sea
by men sent by Janaka, and he declared that he had come to
maintain the unity with Bráhman (Brahmādvaitam) and to
defeat Bandin; then he answered several enigmatical questions
(about the wheel of Time, the thunder and lightning, the
fish, egg, stone, and river) and was admitted (III, 133).
Here they disputed in such a way that Bandin enumerated
things of which there is only 1 (fire, Sun, Indra, and Yama),
Aṣṭāvakra groups of 2 (Indra and Agni, 2 devarṣis:
Nārada and Parvata, 2 Aśvins, 2 wheels of a chariot;
husband and wife), Ba° of 3 (3 times the creatures are born,
etc.; see Nīl.), A° of 4 (4 are the āśramas of the brahmans;
4 orders perform this sacrifice(!), etc.), Ba° of 5 (5 fires, etc.),
A° of 6 (6 cows, it is asserted by some, are the dakṣiṇā
for establishing the sacred fire, “ādhāne,” etc.), Ba° of 7
(7 domesticated animals, 7 wild animals, etc.), A° of 8 (8 śāṇas
make a śatamāna, see BR., 8 are the legs of the śarabha,
etc.), Ba° of 9 (9 are the sāmidhenī verses for the Pitṛs, etc.),
A° of 10 (10 are the cardinal points, etc.), Ba° of 11 (11 are
the ekādaśinas of the creatures, see Nīl., 11 are there the
yūpas, etc.), A° of 12 (12 months, etc.). As Bandin had said
the first half-śloka with 13 (the 13th tithi is deemed most
auspicious, 13 are the islands of the earth), he stopped, and
Aṣṭāvakra fulfilled the śloka. Bandin was then deemed to be
vanquished, and at the request of Aṣṭāvakra he merged into
the sea, after he had declared himself to be the son of Varuṇa
and that he had caused the brahmans to be drowned in order
that they might see the twelve years sattra of Varuṇa that
was performed simultaneously with that of Janaka. They
at once reappeared, and Kahoda let Aṣṭāvakra bathe in the
river Samaṅgā, and all his limbs were immediately made
straight, and the Samaṅgā became a remover of sin. “There-
fore you also should bathe there” (III, 134).
listed in the contents of the Āraṇyakaparvan
1. 2. 120.
Here is told how the sage Aṣṭāvakra
in a contest (vivāda) defeated Bandin and
brought back his father who was plunged into
the ocean water 1. 2. 120; comprises Adhyāyas
3. 132-134.