# Bāla Kāṇḍa 58 — Story of Viśvāmitra: Triśaṅku’s sacrifice and the priests’ refusal

*Viśvāmitra promises Triśaṅku bodily ascent and summons priests, then curses Vasiṣṭha’s sons & Mahodaya for rejecting the sacrifice*

Portion: Story of Viśvāmitra · Verses: 23 · Ref format: 1.58.<verse>

## Sequence

- Viśvāmitra promises protection and says Triśaṅku will ascend in his present body despite the curse (58.1–5)
- he orders his sons to collect sacrificial supplies and sends disciples to invite the ṛṣis, requiring them to report every response, including insults (58.6–9)
- maharṣis gather from many regions (58.10–12)
- the disciples report that Vasiṣṭha's sons and Mahodaya refuse: they scorn a sacrifice officiated by a kṣatriya for a caṇḍāla and question whether Suras and ṛṣis could accept its havis (58.13–16)
- enraged, Viśvāmitra curses Vasiṣṭha's sons to destruction and seven hundred births as deformed, pitiless corpse-eaters called Muṣṭikas, living on dogs' flesh (58.17–20)
- he curses Mahodaya to a long, miserable existence as a Niṣāda hunter → having pronounced the curses, he falls silent (58.21–23).

## Verses

**1.58.1**  
uktavākyaṃ tu rājānaṃ kṛpayā kuśikātmajaḥ  
abravīn madhuraṃ vākyaṃ sākṣāc caṇḍālarūpiṇam  
To the king who had thus spoken—there before him in the form of a caṇḍāla—the son of Kuśika, out of pity, spoke sweet words:

**1.58.2**  
ikṣvāko svāgataṃ vatsa jānāmi tvāṃ sudhārmikam  
śaraṇaṃ te bhaviṣyāmi mā bhaiṣīr nṛpapuṃgava  
'Welcome, O descendant of Ikṣvāku, my child; I know you to be most righteous. I shall be your refuge; do not fear, O bull among kings.'

**1.58.3**  
aham āmantraye sarvān maharṣīn puṇyakarmaṇaḥ  
yajñasāhyakarān rājaṃs tato yakṣyasi nirvṛtaḥ  
'I shall invite all the great seers of holy deeds, who will lend aid at the sacrifice, O king; then you shall sacrifice, content.'

**1.58.4**  
guruśāpakṛtaṃ rūpaṃ yad idaṃ tvayi vartate  
anena saha rūpeṇa saśarīro gamiṣyasi  
'This form, produced by the teacher's curse, which abides in you—with this very form and in your own body you shall go (to heaven).'

**1.58.5**  
hastaprāptam ahaṃ manye svargaṃ tava nareśvara  
yas tvaṃ kauśikam āgamya śaraṇyaṃ śaraṇaṃ gataḥ  
'I regard heaven as already in your hand, O lord of men, since you have come to Kauśika and taken refuge in one worthy of giving refuge.'

**1.58.6**  
evam uktvā mahātejāḥ putrān paramadhārmikān  
vyādideśa mahāprājñān yajñasaṃbhārakāraṇāt  
Having spoken thus, the one of great splendour instructed his supremely righteous, greatly wise sons regarding the gathering of the sacrificial materials.

**1.58.7**  
sarvāñ śiṣyān samāhūya vākyam etad uvāca ha  
Summoning all his pupils, he spoke these words:

**1.58.8**  
sarvān ṛṣivarān vatsā ānayadhvaṃ mamājñayā  
saśiṣyān suhṛdaś caiva sartvijaḥ subahuśrutān  
'My children, at my command bring here all the best of seers, together with their pupils and friends, with their officiating priests, deeply learned.'

**1.58.9**  
yad anyo vacanaṃ brūyān madvākyabalacoditaḥ  
tat sarvam akhilenoktaṃ mamākhyeyam anādṛtam  
'And whatever word another might speak, prompted by the force of my message, all of it—spoken in full, disrespectful though it be—must be reported to me.'

**1.58.10**  
tasya tadvacanaṃ śrutvā diśo jagmus tadājñayā  
ājagmur atha deśebhyaḥ sarvebhyo brahmavādinaḥ  
Hearing that word of his, they went off to the (various) quarters at his command; and then from all regions came the expounders of the Veda.

**1.58.11**  
te ca śiṣyāḥ samāgamya muniṃ jvalitatejasaṃ  
ūcuś ca vacanaṃ sarve sarveṣāṃ brahmavādinām  
And those pupils, having returned to the sage of blazing splendour, all reported the word of all the expounders of the Veda:

**1.58.12**  
śrutvā te vacanaṃ sarve samāyānti dvijātayaḥ  
sarvadeśeṣu cāgacchan varjayitvā mahodayam  
'Having heard your word, all the twice-born are assembling; from all regions they came—save Mahodaya.'

**1.58.13**  
vāsiṣṭhaṃ tac chataṃ sarvaṃ krodhaparyākulākṣaram  
yad āha vacanaṃ sarvaṃ śṛṇu tvaṃ munipuṃgava  
'And hear, O bull among sages, the whole word that Vasiṣṭha's entire hundred (of sons) spoke—its syllables all confused with anger:'

**1.58.14**  
kṣatriyo yājako yasya caṇḍālasya viśeṣataḥ  
kathaṃ sadasi bhoktāro havis tasya surarṣayaḥ  
'The officiant is a kṣatriya, and the sacrificer especially a caṇḍāla; how, in the assembly, would the gods and seers be eaters of his oblation?'

**1.58.15**  
brāhmaṇā vā mahātmāno bhuktvā caṇḍālabhojanam  
kathaṃ svargaṃ gamiṣyanti viśvāmitreṇa pālitāḥ  
'Or how would the great-souled brahmins, having eaten a caṇḍāla's food, go to heaven, merely protected by Viśvāmitra?'

**1.58.16**  
etad vacanaṃ naiṣṭhuryam ūcuḥ saṃraktalocanāḥ  
vāsiṣṭhā muniśārdūla sarve te samahodayāḥ  
'This harsh word the sons of Vasiṣṭha spoke, their eyes reddened (with anger), O tiger among sages—all of them, together with Mahodaya.'

**1.58.17**  
teṣāṃ tadvacanaṃ śrutvā sarveṣāṃ munipuṃgavaḥ  
krodhasaṃraktanayanaḥ saroṣam idam abravīt  
Hearing that word of all of them, the bull among sages, his eyes red with anger, wrathfully said this:

**1.58.18**  
yad dūṣayanty aduṣṭaṃ māṃ tapa ugraṃ samāsthitam  
bhasmībhūtā durātmāno bhaviṣyanti na saṃśayaḥ  
'Since they revile me, who am blameless and engaged in fierce austerity, these evil-souled ones shall be reduced to ashes, no doubt.'

**1.58.19**  
adya te kālapāśena nītā vaivasvatakṣayam  
saptajātiśatāny eva mṛtapāḥ santu sarvaśaḥ  
'Today, dragged by the noose of Kāla to the abode of Vaivasvata (Yama), let them, one and all, become corpse-eaters for a full seven hundred births.'

**1.58.20**  
śvamāṃsaniyatāhārā muṣṭikā nāma nirghṛṇāḥ  
vikṛtāś ca virūpāś ca lokān anucarantv imān  
'Having dog's flesh for their fixed food, pitiless, called Muṣṭikas, deformed and misshapen, let them wander through these worlds.'

**1.58.21**  
mahodayaś ca durbuddhir mām adūṣyaṃ hy adūṣayat  
dūṣiṭaḥ sarvalokeṣu niṣādatvaṃ gamiṣyati  
'And the evil-minded Mahodaya, who reviled me, the unassailable one—himself defamed in all the worlds, he shall come to the state of a Niṣāda.'

**1.58.22**  
prāṇātipātanirato niranukrośatāṃ gataḥ  
dīrghakālaṃ mama krodhād durgatiṃ vartayiṣyati  
'Given to the taking of life, sunk in pitilessness, through my anger he shall for a long time endure a miserable existence.'

**1.58.23**  
etāvad uktvā vacanaṃ viśvāmitro mahātapāḥ  
virarāma mahātejā ṛṣimadhye mahāmuniḥ  
Having spoken just this word, Viśvāmitra, the great ascetic of great splendour, the great sage, fell silent in the midst of the seers.