Aṣṭāvakra1, a ṛṣi. § 11 (Parvas.): I,
2, 449 (
viprarṣiḥ).
—§ 412 (Aṣṭāvakrīya): III, 132, 10599 (Kahodasūnuḥ),
†10601, †10603, †10608, †10613, †10614, †10620: Cursed
by Kahoda; Śvetaketu informed him who his father was;
they both go to the sacrifice of Janaka). 133, (†10623),
(†10626), (†10629), (10631), (†10637), (†10643), (10645),
(10647), (10648): A. defeats Bandin. 134, (†10651),
†10657, (†10659), (†10661), (†10663), (10665), (†10667),
(†10669), (†10670), †10671, †10672, (†10673), (†10676),
(10680), †10681, (†10688): Defeated by A., Bandin was
merged into the sea; Kahoda let A. bathe in the river
Samaṅga, at which all his limbs were immediately made
straight.—§ 731 (Aṣṭāvakra-Dik-s.): XIII, 19, 1390
(Aṣṭāvakrasya saṃvādaṃ Diśayā saha), 1391, 1395, (1406),
1417, (1454), (1469): A. asked for Suprabhā and made
a journey to the north. 20, (1496), (1498), (1500), (1505),
(1508): Here the goddess of the north put him upon a
trial. 21, 1513, 1521 (vipraṣe), 1529: A. came back to
his own hermitage, was wedded to Suprabhā, and continued
to dwell in his own hermitage.
AṢṬĀVAKRA .
1)
Birth. The sage Uddālaka had a disciple named
Khagodara (Kahodara) and a daughter named Sujāṭā.
Appreciating the devotion and good conduct of his
disciple, Uddālaka gave his daughter Sujātā in marri-
age to him. Sujātā became pregnant. When once
Khagodara was reciting from the Vedas the babe in the
womb of Sujātā said, “I have learnt the mantra you
are chanting but the way you chant it is wrong”. (The
vibrations of sound created by the utterance of each
word is important). Khagodara was angry and he curs-
ed his babe in the womb thus “Since your mind seems
to be crooked let your body also be of that type, with
curves all over”. When Sujātā delivered the child it
had eight bends and light curves and so the boy was
named Aṣṭāvakra, meaning one with eight bends.
(Chapter 132, Vana Parva, M.B.).
2)
Father died before he was born. When Sujātā was preg-
nant they suffered much from poverty and at the in-
sistence of Sujātā, Khagodara went to the King Janaka,
to beg for some money. Janaka was performing a yāga
then and so Khagodara had to wait. When at last he
went to the royal assembly he was asked to enter into
a polemical contest with Vāndīna, the court scholar and
having been defeated by him was asked to drown him-
self.
Uddālaka got a son named Śvetaketu and Sujātā deli-
vered Aṣṭāvakra. Both the boys grew in the āśrama
on great intimacy and Sujātā withheld the news of the
death of her husband from the boys. (Chapter 132,
Vana Parva, M.B.).
3)
How Khagodara was got back. One day the two boys
went to bathe in the river and during a controversial
talk Śvetaketu said that Aṣṭāvakra had no father. This
teased him much and Aṣṭāvakra went to his mother
and gathered all the facts about his father. He went,
then, straight to the royal assembly of King Janaka.
He was not allowed inside. The gate keeper said that he
was only a boy and only learned men could go inside
the sacrificial hall. Aṣṭāvakra contended that neither
size nor age was any indication of one's knowledge or
worth and got himself admitted into the hall. There
he entered into a polemical contest with the same court
scholar, Vāndīna, who had killed his father. Vāndīna
was defeated and was thrown into the same river in
which his father had drowned himself. The moment
Vāndīna fell into the river Khagodara rose up
from there and the father and son along with Śveta-
ketu returned to the āśrama. Khagodara then took his
son for a bath and when it was over Aṣṭāvakra became
a bright boy without crooks. (Chapter 133, Vana
Parva, M.B.)
4)
Marriage. Aṣṭāvakra wanted to marry Suprabhā, the
daughter of a sage named Vadānya. When Vadānya was
approached for this the Sage decided to test the love
which Aṣṭāvakra had towards his daughter and said: “I
am going to test you. You go to the north to the Himā-
layas. Pay homage to Śiva and Pārvatī and go further
north. There you will find a very beautiful damsel. You
talk to her and return and when you come back I shall
give you my daughter.”
Accepting this challenge Aṣṭāvakra went north. When
he went to the Himālayas Kubera entertained him. He
remained there for a year enjoying the dances of celes-
tial maidens and then, after worshipping Śiva and
Pārvatī went further north. There he came across seven
very attractive women. At the command of Aṣṭāvakra
the eldest of the lot, Uttarā, remained with him; all the
rest left the place immediately she started making love
with him and requested him to marry her. But Aṣṭā-
vakra did not yield and told her about his promise to
Vadānya. Pleased at this reply Uttarā revealed that she
was the queen of the north in disguise and was testing
him. She then blessed Aṣṭāvakra who fulfilling his
mission successfully, returned and married the girl he
wanted. (Chapter 19, Anuśāsana Parva, M.B.).
5)
Another version of how the body became crooked. There
is another story also about Aṣṭāvakra. Once there lived
a sage named Asita. He did great penance to please Śiva
to bless him with a child. Śiva blessed him and he got a
son named Devala. Rambhā, the queen of devaloka, fell
in love with him but Devala did not yield to her wishes.
Then Rambhā cursed him and made him into one with
eight crooks. Thus Devala came to be called Aṣṭāvakra.
He then did penance for six thousand years and Bhaga-
vān Kṛṣṇa accompanied by Rādhā appeared before him.
Rādhā was shocked by the ugliness of the sage and did
not relish his sight. But Kṛṣṇa asking her to remain
quiet went and embraced him. At once Aṣṭāvakra lost
all his crooks and became a beautiful man. At that time
a chariot descended from heaven and all of them went
to heaven in it. (Brahmavaivartta Purāṇa).
6)
Other information. (1) Aṣṭāvakra was also present
among the ṛṣis who partook in the coronation ceremony
conducted after Rāma's return to Ayodhyā from Laṅkā.
(Uttararāmāyaṇa).
(2) Aṣṭāvakra cursed those. celestial maidens who re-
buked him for his ugliness and they were born on earth
as the wives of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. When after the death of
Kṛṣṇa they were being taken by Arjuna to the north they
were forcibly taken by some of the shepherds. (Chapter
15, Agni Purāṇa).