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3-Curses to Lower
Divinities
Hindu scriptures are full of boons
and curses. Boon is grace to be bestowed on somebody for his good, mostly
boons are asked but sometimes they are given also when somebody is pleased
with somebody. On the contrary curse is never asked it is only given to
somebody when the other person is very angry at him. It always does bad to
him. Boons and curses are not only among human beings but also between gods
and human beings also. Of course there is no reference of any boon from a
human being to a god. Here are given some small less known curses among
lower divinities, Rishi, Yaksh, Apsaraa etc --
(1) 5 Apsaraa, Cursed by Rishi
Once there were 5 Apsaraa - Vargaa, Saurabheyee and Samichee and Budbud and
Lataa. They were the Apsaraa of Kuber. Once they were going to Kuber's place
that they saw a Rishi on the way. He was so handsome and his ascetic powers
were spreading so much that they went to him and tried to tempt him. For some
time he did not speak anything, but then he opened his eyes and cursed them to
become crocodile for 100 years. You will seize the men entering in the waters
and take them away far. At the end of the period, an exalted man will come and
will take you out of the water, then only you will come in your original form.
And after that that place will be called Naaree Teerth." Naarad Jee suggested
them to go to the Southern Sea where five water bodies were very holy. They started
living there in the form of crocodiles. When Arjun was on his 12-years exile, he
took them out and brought them to their original form.
[MBH,
G-3-Youth/13]
(2) Gangaa and Mahaabhish, Cursed by Brahmaa Jee
Once Brahmaa Jee came to Indra's court. There some Apsaraa were dancing.
Mahaabhish king was alo sitting there. he was a friend of Indra. Meanwhile the
wind blew and it removed cloth from Gangaa's body. Everybody lowered his head,
but Mahaabhish did not lower his head, rather he continued to stare at her. At
this Brahmaa Jee got angry and he cursed both of them to be born on Prithvi. So
both were born on Prithvi as Shaantanu and Gangaa and had a son named Bheeshm.
[MBH
(3) Garud Jee, Cursed by Saubhari Rishi
There was a pond in Yamunaa River. There lived
Kaaliya Naag. How did he live there because he is not a water animal? Because
this pond was not accessible to Garud, besides it was very deep and even others
could also not go there. Why? Once, hungry Garud ate a fish at this place, in
spite of prohibiting by Saubhari Rishi. All fishes got sad on the death of their
chief. Maharshi Saubhari pitied on them and he gave Shaap to Garud that if he
will come to this pond to eat fish he will lose his life. Nobody else knew about
this Shaap except Kaaliya Naag, that is why he used to live here with the fear
of Garud. After Kaaliya Daman Krishn had sent him back to Ramanak Dweep to live
fearlessly there.
[Bhaagvat Puraan, 10/p6]
(4) Hu Hu Gandharv,
Cursed by Durvaasaa
Once Hu Hu Gandharv was playing with Apsaraa in waters that Durvaasaa Muni came
that side. Hu Hu saw him but instead of respecting him he continued to play
around. Durvaasaa cursed him to be a Raakshas. He then asked for his
forgiveness. Durvaasaa Rishi got pleased and said - "Bhagavaan is coming on the
way to Dandak Van, so you will meet Him there and then you will be free from
your curse."
[V-Raamaayan]
(5) Jaya and Vijaya,
Cursed by Sanakaadi Muni
This story comes in
Maanas, 1/7, and
Bhaagvat Puraan, 3/8. Jaya and Vijaya were the two Paarshad, gatekeepers, of
Vishnu. Once wandering around Sanakaadi Muni (they are four and look like 5-year
boys), came to see Vishnu. They came to the gate and told the gatekeepers that
they wanted to see Vishnu. Jaya and Vijaya did not recognize them and told them
that Vishnu was taking rest so He could not see them. At this Muni got angry and
scolded them - "You don't deserve to be the Paarshad of Vishnu, so you be born
on Prithvi as Raakshas." Hearing this Jaya and Vijaya got frightened. They asked
their forgiveness.
In the meantime Vishnu also came
out and welcomed Muni. Then He came to know about His Paarshad's behavior. So
Vishnu also asked Muni's forgiveness. Sanakaadi Muni said - "You are the Lord of
Tri-Lok, you decide what to do with them." and they went away. Now Vishnu asked
His Paarshad - "I can soften your curse to two choices - (1) One is that you be
born 7 times as my great Bhakt, (2) Two that you be born 3 times and be my
greatest enemy. Whichever you choose now." Jaya and Vijaya said - "We cannot
live without you for long time, so we will prefer to be born 3 times as your
greatest enemy. But grant us a boon that we should be killed by you only and we
should not forget our Gyaan." So they were born as (1) Hiranyaaksh (killed by
Varaah Avataar) and Hiranyakashyap (killed by Narasinh Avataar) in Sat Yug; (2)
Raavan and Kumbhkarn (killed by Raam) in Tretaa Yug; and (3) Shishupaal and
Dantavakra (killed by Krishn) in Dwaapar Yug.
(6) Manjughoshaa Apsaraa, Cursed by Rishi Medhaavee
Rishi Medhaavee is the son of
Maharshi Chyavan. Once an Apsaraa Manjughoshaa attracted Rishi Medhaavee
and stayed with him for 57 years, but Muni was so much attracted to her that
he could not keep the track of time. When she wanted to leave him, he said,
"Just wait till I do my morning Sandhyaa." Then Apsaraa said -
"Do you know how many Sandhyaa have passed?" Then Muni came into
senses and gave Shaap to her to become Pishaach. She requested him to be kind
on her, so he suggested her to keep Chaitra Krishn Ekaadashee Vrat so that her
all sins were destroyed.
[Padm Puraan,
5/5]
(7) Many Apsaraa, Cursed by Rishi Ashtaavakra
Once Rishi Ashtaavakra, whose body was crooked from eight places, was doing
Tapasyaa in a river. Some Apsaraa were going from skyway. They saw him in
the waters and admired him. They came to him and prayed him. Pleased with
their prayer, Muni asked them to ask for any boon. They said - "We all
want Purushottam as our husband." "So be it." And Muni came
out of the waters, they saw his ugly crooked body. They could not resist
themselves and laughed at him. Angrily, the sage cursed them - "Even
though you will be wife of Purushottam but you will meet robbers."
Apsaraa tried to please him again, pleased with them he said - "After
that you will go to Swarg." These were the same Apsaraa who were Shree
Krishn's wives and after Krishn had left this world, Arjun was bringing them
from Dwaarakaa to Hastinaapur to rehabilitate them as Dwaarakaa was going to
immerse in the sea. On the way some he met robbers and they took away those
women with them and Arjun couldn't do anything. He felt so bad that he went
Muni Vyaas Jee and told everything. Then Vyaas Jee told him about the curse
of Ashtaavakra Jee.
[Vishnu Puraan, 5/15]
(8) Naarad Jee, Cursed by Daksh
Prachetaa Gan (10 in number) had a son named Daksh. First Daksh created Devtaa,
Asur, human beings etc but they were not increasing in number as they should be,
so Daksh Jee did hard Tap to get children. He got Bhagavaan's Darshan and Bhagavaan
gave him Asiknee named woman and blessed him to have many children from her. Daksh
produced 10,000 sons from her. he asked them to produce children, so they went to
do Tap. Seeing this Naarad Jee came there and said to them - "When you have
not seen the end of prithvi, how can you create anything?" They understood
and went away on the path of Moksh. Hearing this daksh got very sad but Brahmaa
Jee calmed him down. He again produced 1,000 son from Asiknee and asked them to
produce children. They also followed their elder brothers' path. But Naarad Jee
again came there and sent them on Moksh's path. This time Daksh got very angry
with Naarad Jee and he cursed him. He said to Naarad Jee - "You have done very
bad to us. They have not paid their Rishi Rin yet through Brahmcharaya, Dev Rin
through Yagya, and Pitri Rin through producing sons and you have destroyed their
pleasure of both Lok. I have tolerated it once, but this time I will not tolerate
it this time. I curse you that you will also not be able to live at one place and
you will be wandering all around." Since that day, Naarad Jee has not been able
to marry, make a home, live at one place and has been wandering all around.
[Bhaagvat Puraan. 6/2]
(9) Sthoonkarn Yaksh, Cursed by Kuber
This is related to Shikhandinee. Shikhandinee was born as a girl, while Shiv
Jee granted the King Drupad for a son. But Drupad had faith in Shiv's words
so he brought up his girl as a boy and when the time came to marry him, he
married him to a girl. The girl came and went back to her father's house saying
that the boy she was married to was not a boy, but was a girl. The girl's father
sent some courtesans to find out the truth. Shikhandinee found herself the root
of all this, so she ran away from her house and went to a forest. There she met
a Yaksh named Sthoonkarn who kindly gave her his manhood for a certain period.
Shikhandinee came back with a new vigor, passed the test. Later when Kuber came
to know about this the Yaksh had lent his manhood to Shikhandinee without his
consent, he cursed him to live like a woman throughout his life. After this
Shikhandee did not need to return his manhood to him.
[G-
(10) Sudaamaa, Cursed by Raadhaa
This Sudaamaa was a
Paarshad of Krishn in Gau Lok. He was cursed by Raadhaa to be born on Prithvi.
he was born as Shankhchood Asur. He performed severe penance and got an armor
from Brahmaa Jee. The armor was un-failed till his spouse was chaste to him.
With this armor he started tormenting Tri-Lok. Devtaa prayed to kill him. Vishnu
asked Shiv to fight with the Asur and in the meantime He himself went to his
wife Tulasee in the form of her husband and desired to have her. She yielded to
her husband, but soon realized that it was not her husband but was Vishnu.
Shankhchood's armor got weak and he was killed by Shiv. Tulasee cursed Vishnu in
frustration to become stone. Vishnu converted Tulasee into Gandakee River and
promised her to live in her heart as Shaalgraam stone. He converted her hair in
Tulassee plants and promised her that He would not accept any food without
Tulasee leaves.
(11) Sudarshan Vidyaadhar, Cursed by Rishi Ashtaavakra
There was one Sudarshan named Vidyaadhar. Once Ashtaavakra Muni gave him Shaap
and as a result of that Shaap he was born as python on Prithvi. One day Nand
Jee, Krishn's father, was sleeping on the banks of Saraswatee River after
worshipping Bhagavaan Shankar and Paarvatee Jee on a Shiv Raatri day, that
he came there and being hungry took him to his place. Nand Jee called his son,
so Krishn came immediately and touched His foot to python's body. Sudarshan's
all sins were washed away at the same time and he went to his Lok after telling
his story. He said - "One day I teased an ugly Rishi of Angiraa Gotra,
Ashtaavakra Muni - he was crooked from eight places in his body, that is why
his name was Ashtaavakra, so he gave me Shaap to be born in python Yoni. This
was the result of my sins. Today you have touched me so I have got Mukti from
this Yoni. Now please permit me to go to my Lok." and he went to his Lok.
(12) Tulasee, Cursed by Raadhaa
She was the incarnation of Lakshmee and had to be born on Prithvi because of the
curse of Raadhaa. She did severe Tapasyaa to get Vishnu as her husband and got
the boon from Brahmaa jee of this. He suggested her to marry
Shankhchood Asur who
was the Paarshad of Vishnu (Sudaamaa) and was also born on Prithvi because of
the curse of Raadhaa. Tulasee married to Shankhchood. Later Vishnu HImself broke
her Paativrat and sent her His Lok to be absorbed in Lakshmee.
(13) Tumburu Gandharv, Cursed by Kuber
Once Tumburu Gandharv got attracted to Rambhaa Apsaraa and did not perform his
duty properly to Kuber, so Kuber cursed him to be born as a Raakshas on Earth.
Kuber further told him that he would get his original form when he would be
killed by Raam.
(14) Urvashee, Cursed by Mitraavarun
Once Mitraavarun cursed Urvasheee to live on Prithvi, so she came on Prithvi
and lived with the King Pururavaa.
(15) Vasu, Cursed by Vashishth Jee
Once Vasu were passing by Vashishth's Aashram that the youngest Vasu's wife saw
Maharshi's cow Nandinee. She came to know that by drinking her milk one would be
young forever. She desired her for her on friend, so she asked her husband to
bring it. There was no other way to bring it, so he stole it. Vashishth Jee knew
that a Vasu had stolen his cow. He cursed all of them to be born on Prithvi. At
the same time Gangaa was also cursed to be born on Prithvi. They told their saga
to her and she got ready to bear them and give Mukti as soon as possible. She
said - "I will give you Mukti by drowning in Gangaa River, but one of you will
stay on Prithvi. He will not have any progeny and he will have to die in Uttaraayan
to get Mukti, otherwise he will return to Prithvi. The youngest Vasu who stole the
cow agreed for this. The same Vasu was born as Bheeshm. he did not get married and
died in Uttaraayan and got Mukti.
[MBH
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