Wednesday, January 1, 2014

17. Vibhasu and Supritika

There was a great saint by name Vibhavasu. He was known for his short temper. He had a younger brother by name Supritika. 

Supritika did not like the idea of the joint ownership of (ancestral) wealth with his brother. He had been asking for a partition. 

Vibhavasu was against the idea of partition and told his brother that people who desired partition had a blind love for wealth and that even after partition the fight would continue. The estrangement and resulting feud would ultimately lead to absolute ruin of everyone involved, he said. But Supritika persisted with his demand for partition.

Angered by Supritika’s intransigence, Vibhavasu cursed him to become an elephant. In retaliation, Supritika cursed his elder brother to become a tortoise moving in the the waters.


In their next birth, the brothers were born an elephant and a tortoise.


Kasyapa showed pointed to Garuda the elephant and the tortoise engaged in a tussle in the lake and told him that those two were the reincarnation of the two foolish brothers.


He then blessed Garuda that when he entered a combat with the Devas for getting the Amrita, he would be blessed by the Brahmins and other people with divine powers and that he would gain the needed strength from the four Vedas and the Upanishads.


Garuda took leave of his father and, taking a cue from the story narrated to him, went to the lake in pursuit of his food. He seized the elephant and the tortoise, one in each claw and soared high into the air. He came upon a sacred place called Alamva. The place had many divine trees which were struck by the wind raised by Garuda's wings and began to tremble with fear.


Considering that these trees capable of granting every wish, Garuda left them undisturbed and went for a group of giant trees. There was a large Banian tree among them. It requested Garuda to sit on its large branch. Garuda accordingly alighted on a huge branch of that tree.


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