Uttaṅka Upākhyāna

This episode comes from the Aśvamedhika Parva of the Mahābhārata. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa is on his way to Dvārakā when he meets the ṛshi Uttaṅka in the desert. Uttaṅka hears that the Kauravas have been destroyed and is ready to give a śāpa (a curse). Bhagavān Kṛshṇa calms him with a talk on his own nature, shows him the Viśvarūpa, and grants him a vara (a boon) of water in the desert. That vara is the origin of the “Uttaṅka clouds”.

Janamejaya then asks Vaiśampāyana what tapas (austerity) Uttaṅka had gathered, that he dared to threaten Bhagavān Vishṇu with a śāpa. Vaiśampāyana tells how Uttaṅka served his guru Gautama for many years. As guru-dakshiṇā (the teacher’s gift), Gautama’s wife Ahalyā asked him for the jewelled earrings of Madayantī, the queen of King Saudāsa. A serpent stole the earrings, and Uttaṅka went down to Nāgaloka to win them back.

Kṛshṇa meets Uttaṅka in the desert

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was travelling toward Dvārakā through level desert country. There he came upon the radiant, wide-eyed muni Uttaṅka. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa honoured him, received his honour in turn, and asked after his welfare.

Uttaṅka greeted Madhusūdana warmly and asked him at once: “O Śauri! Did you go to the home of the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas and set up lasting brotherly peace among them? Did those heroes and their kinsmen go back to living happily in the worlds together with you? Are the Kaurava kings, calmed by you as their protector, enjoying happiness in their own kingdoms? O Tāta! Have you made successful, in the matter of the Bharatas, the regard that I have always held for you?”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa answered that he had made every effort beforehand to settle the Kauravas in peace, but they would not stay in that state. All those kings, with their sons and kinsmen, had died. Who can go against daiva (fate) by wisdom or by strength? He said: “O Mahārshi, Puṇyātmā! All this is already known to you. They went against my own counsel and that of Bhīshma and Vidura. They faced one another and went to Yama’s house. Of the sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra, only the five Pāṇḍavas remain. All of Dhṛtarāshṭra’s own sons died together with their sons and kinsmen.”

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 53)

Uttaṅka’s anger

Hearing this, Uttaṅka’s eyes widened with uncontrollable krodha (anger). He said to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa: “O Kṛshṇa! You were able to protect the Kaurava heroes, but you did not. They were your kinsmen and dear to you. Because you did not protect them, I shall pronounce a śāpa on you. You should have held them back by force if need be, and you did not. My whole body is boiling with anger. Therefore, O Madhusūdana, I lay a śāpa on you.”

He pressed further: “Though you were able, O Mādhava, you took a deceitful stand and watched without concern while they died. You killed all those best of Kauravas yourself.”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa answered him gently: “O son of Bhṛgu! Hear what I shall now explain at length, and accept my words. O Bhārgava! You are a tapasvī (one rich in austerity). When you have heard the adhyātma-tattva (the truth about the Self) that I am about to tell you, you will take back your śāpa. No man, even in the smallest way, can dishonour me through tapas alone. I do not wish your tapas to be destroyed. Your tapas blazes with the greatest brilliance, and you have gladdened even your own gurus. O excellent brāhmaṇa! I know well your childhood and your brahmacarya (celibate student life). I do not wish the tapas you won with such difficulty to be spent in vain.”

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 53)

Kṛshṇa tells Uttaṅka his true nature

Uttaṅka demanded: “O Keśava! Tell me the flawless adhyātma exactly as it is. When I have heard it, I shall either speak what is good for you or give you my śāpa.”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then gave a talk that is, in substance, like the teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā and the Anugītā. He said: “Tamas, rajas and sattva are states that rest on me alone. Know that the Rudras and Vasus too arise from me. Know with the clearest understanding that all beings exist in me, and that I exist in all beings. Of this there is no doubt at all. O dvija! Know that the whole host of daityas, yakshas, gandharvas, rākshasas, nāgas and apsarasas arise from me. Whatever is called sat or asat, avyakta or vyakta, akshara or kshara, all of this is my own svarūpa (own form). The dharmas that took the fourfold āśrama form, and all the Vedic dharmas without exception, know all of it to be my own tattva (truth).”

He went on: “Asat, sadasat, and that which is beyond sadasat, this whole universe, nothing exists apart from me, the Devadeva, the sanātana (eternal one). Know that the Vedas, beginning with Oṃkāra, are none but myself. The yūpa (sacrificial post), the soma, the caru (cooked offering), and every substance that pleases the devas in yajña, know all of it to be my own svarūpa. The hotā, the havya, the adhvaryu, the kalpaka, and the havis made with the deepest faith, all of these too are myself. In the great yajña the udgātā praises me alone. O brāhmaṇa! In the prāyaścittas (acts of atonement), the words of peace and blessing praise only me. O excellent brāhmaṇa! This whole universe is my own karma, and it praises me at all times. Know Dharma to be my firstborn son.”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then spoke of his purpose through the ages: “The mind whose very nature is dayā (kindness) toward all beings is dear to me. Men act, and men turn away from action, within its field, and I am present there. O Uttama! To protect dharma and make it known, I move through the three lokas. I enter many wombs, take many dresses and many forms. Vishṇu, Brahmā, Indra, creation (shṛshṭi) and dissolution (pralaya), all of these are myself. I am the maker and the destroyer of the whole host of beings. I am Acyuta. I am the destroyer of all who wander in adharma, and of everything. As each yuga turns, I build the bridge of dharma, entering wombs out of the wish to do good to the people.”

“O Bhṛgunandana! When I move among the devas, I act entirely as a deva would. When I move as a gandharva, I act entirely as a gandharva would. Of this there is no doubt. In a nāga’s womb I act as a nāga, and likewise in the births of yakshas and rākshasas. When I moved in a human birth, I pleaded with them humbly. But those sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra, overtaken by moha (delusion), would not heed my word. I showed them great fear, and in great anger I showed my own tattva to them as well. Those who clung to adharma met their end when their time came. They fell in battle according to dharma and went to svarga. Of this there is no doubt. O best of dvijas! The Pāṇḍavas have won fame throughout the lokas. I have told you the whole truth of all that you asked me.”

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 54)

Uttaṅka’s peace and the vision of the Viśvarūpa

Uttaṅka answered: “O Janārdana! I know well that you are the maker of this world, and I have no doubt at all that all this is truly your grace. O Acyuta! My mind, having reached your state, has become fully calm, O Parantapa. My śāpa has been fully turned back. O Janārdana! If you have even a little favour for me, I wish to see your form as Īśvara. Show it to me.”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, pleased in heart, then showed him the same eternal body of Vishṇu that Dhanañjaya, mighty in valour, had seen during the war. It was the great Viśvarūpa with mighty arms, bright as a thousand suns, bright as blazing fire, filling the whole sky, with faces on every side. Seeing this supreme form, belonging to Vishṇu, all-pervading, astonishing, the form of Parameśvara, the brāhmaṇa was filled with wonder.

Uttaṅka praised it: “O Viśvakarmā! O Viśvātmā! O Viśvasaṃbhava! Namas to you. Your feet fill the whole earth. Your head fills the sky, and this is astonishing! The whole space between earth and svarga is covered by your belly. The directions are filled by your arms. O Acyuta! All this is you alone. O undiminishing, supreme form of a deva, withdraw this form. I wish to see you once more in your eternal, own form.”

Govinda, glad in his heart, told him to ask for a vara. Uttaṅka answered: “O Mahādyutī! This supreme vara, that I am seeing your great form, O Purushottama, O Kṛshṇa, is itself enough for me.”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa said again: “You should not grieve over this. It was a thing that had to happen. My darśana (sight of me) does not go to waste.”

Uttaṅka then said: “O Vibhū! If you think this is truly bound to be, then grant me that water may arise wherever I wish for it, for it is so hard to find in these desert lands!”

Then Bhagavān Kṛshṇa drew back his radiance and told Uttaṅka: “When you want water, remember me.” Saying this, he left for Dvārakā.

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 55)

The vara of water and the Uttaṅka clouds

Some time later the revered Uttaṅka, overcome by thirst, was wandering in the desert and remembered Acyuta. He then saw a caṇḍāla. The man was naked, covered in filth, and surrounded by a pack of dogs. He was terrible to look at, with a sword tied at his waist and a bow and arrows in his hands. At the caṇḍāla‘s feet Uttaṅka saw streams of water flowing, as if rising from Bhogavatī itself.

Smiling gently, the caṇḍāla said to the mahārshi: “Uttaṅka! Come, take water from me. Seeing you so thirsty fills me with great pity.”

But the muni refused the water. As he refused, he threw harsh, piercing words of blame at Acyuta. The caṇḍāla urged him again and again to drink. But Uttaṅka, his heart boiling with anger he could not bear, refused firmly and turned the caṇḍāla away. The caṇḍāla then vanished on the spot, along with his dogs. Seeing this, Uttaṅka felt deep shame in his heart. He thought that Kṛshṇa, the destroyer of foes, had deceived him.

On that very same path, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself then appeared, bearing the conch, the cakra and the gadā. The wise Uttaṅka said to him: “O Purushottama! O Vibhū! It was not right of you to offer water to a foremost brāhmaṇa through the hand of a caṇḍāla.”

Janārdana comforted Uttaṅka with gentle words and replied: “I gave you water in the very form in which it was right for me to give it. You simply did not recognise it. For your sake I begged Vajrapāṇi Purandara himself to give you amṛta (the nectar of immortality) in the form of water. But Devendra told me many times: ‘O Kṛshṇa! A mortal cannot be given immortality. Give him some other vara instead.’ I insisted that amṛta must be given. He then begged me and said: ‘If it absolutely must be given, O Mahāmatī, then I myself shall become a caṇḍāla and offer the amṛta to the great Bhārgava. If Bhārgava accepts it thus today, I am going even now to give him amṛta. But if he refuses me, I shall never give him amṛta at all.’ He made this pact with me and came to you in that very form. Even as he offered you amṛta, you refused him. The one who came to you in the form of a caṇḍāla was none other than Bhagavān Indra himself.”

“Even so, I shall do what is in my power to fulfil your wish. I shall bring about the fulfilment of your unbearable wish for water. O best of brāhmaṇas, whenever in the days to come a longing for water arises in you, water-laden clouds will gather in that very desert and give you the sweetest of waters.”

Saying this, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa left, and the brāhmaṇa was filled with the greatest joy. O Bhārata! Even now those “Uttaṅka clouds” are famous, and they still rain on that desert land.

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 55)

Uttaṅka’s service to Gautama

Janamejaya heard this and asked Vaiśampāyana what tapas the great-minded Uttaṅka had gathered, he who had dared even to threaten Vishṇu with a śāpa. Vaiśampāyana then told the following.

Uttaṅka was a great tapasvī, deeply devoted to his guru, radiant, and devoted to no one else. Many sons of ṛshis wished to win Gautama’s care for themselves. But it was Uttaṅka whom Gautama held in the greatest affection, because of his self-control, his purity, his steady performance of duties and his excellent service. Over the years Gautama allowed thousands of his other śishyas to go home. But out of the deepest affection he was unwilling to let Uttaṅka go.

Old age slowly came over the great muni Gautama. Such was Uttaṅka’s devotion to his guru that even Gautama did not notice it coming. Uttaṅka too, absorbed in service, knew no happiness of his own and did not count the years.

One day Uttaṅka went to gather firewood and came back with a great, heavy load. Worn out by its weight, he set the bundle on the ground. Hunger had also overtaken him badly. As he did so, a lock of his own hair, now silver-white, caught among the sticks. He fell to the ground with the bundle, quite overcome. From the weariness of his body and this sign of old age, he saw how many years had really passed, and he wept.

Gautama’s daughter, lotus-faced and wide-eyed, caught his tears in her hand as they fell. Her father’s order made her do this, and she kept to dharma and did it, though the falling drops burned her hands. The earth itself could not bear those tears.

Then Gautama, his mind moved with affection, asked the brāhmaṇa Uttaṅka: “My child, why is your heart so full of sorrow today? Tell me plainly. I, a fellow brāhmaṇa, wish to hear exactly what has happened.”

Uttaṅka answered: “With my mind fixed wholly on you, wishing only to please you, devoted to you, and following your wishes, I did not notice this old age come upon me. I have known no happiness. For a hundred years I have stayed here, and still you have not let me go. O best of brāhmaṇas! Hundreds and thousands of śishyas junior to me you have allowed to leave.”

Gautama replied: “O excellent brāhmaṇa! Because of my affection for you, and because of your service to your guru, I too let a long span of time pass without noticing it. O Bhārgava! If you now wish to go, take my leave and go home quickly.”

Uttaṅka then asked: “O best of brāhmaṇas! What shall I give you as guru-dakshiṇā? Tell me. I shall bring it and give it to you, and then, with your leave, go.”

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 56)

Gautama’s answer and the task set by Ahalyā

Gautama answered: “Good people say that the guru’s own satisfaction is his true dakshiṇā. O brāhmaṇa! I have become fully pleased through your service. Of this there is no doubt. O best of Bhṛgus! Know that I am fully satisfied. If you were a youth of sixteen today, I would give you my own daughter, this maiden, in marriage. No other woman could rightly serve your radiance.”

At this Uttaṅka became a youth again and took the famed maiden as his wife. With his guru’s leave, he then spoke to his guru’s wife: “O Ammā! Tell me what guru-dakshiṇā I should give you. With my very life and with wealth, I wish to do what is dear and good for you. Whatever jewel in this world is most rare and most wonderful, I shall bring it through my tapas. Of this I have no doubt at all.”

Ahalyā answered: “O vipra! O faultless one! O son! I have become fully content always, through your devotion. This is enough. May you be blessed! Go as you wish.”

Uttaṅka pressed again: “Ammā, command me. To do what is dear to you is my duty.”

Ahalyā then said: “Bring for me the jewelled earrings that the wife of Saudāsa wears with the deepest love. This will be a blessing for you, and your guru-dakshiṇā will thus be rightly done.”

Janamejaya! Having given his word, Uttaṅka set out to fetch those jewelled earrings, to please his guru’s wife. The excellent brāhmaṇa went quickly to Saudāsa, the purushāda (man-eater), to ask for the earrings.

Gautama meanwhile asked his wife why Uttaṅka was nowhere to be seen that day. She told him that he had gone in search of the earrings. Gautama then said to her: “What you have done is not right. That man has already received a brāhmaṇa’s śāpa. Saudāsa will surely kill this brāhmaṇa.” Ahalyā answered: “O Bhagavān Gautama! Without knowing this, I set the brāhmaṇa to this task. Through your grace, may no fear at all come upon him.” Gautama said, “So be it.”

Uttaṅka, for his part, found the king in a deserted forest.

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 56)

Uttaṅka meets King Saudāsa

Uttaṅka saw the king. He was fearsome to look at, with a long moustache, and his body was smeared with the blood of men. He was terrible, radiant, and like Yama himself. Yet Uttaṅka was not afraid and felt no sorrow at the sight.

The king rose and came forward to greet him, saying: “O good one! By great fortune you have come to me, who wander seeking food, at just the sixth kāla (the evening hour).”

Uttaṅka said: “O king! Know that I have come here in search of guru-dakshiṇā. The wise say that one who strives for guru-dakshiṇā should not be harmed.”

The king answered: “O best of vipras! The sixth kāla of the day is fixed as my time to eat. My belly burns with hunger. I cannot let you go.”

Uttaṅka replied: “O Mahārāja! So let it be. Let us make an agreement. When I have properly finished my task of guru-dakshiṇā, I shall come back again to be at your disposal. O best of kings, Nareśvara! The wealth that I have promised my guru, I ask of you now. I beg you for it. Every day you give the finest things to brāhmaṇas and to great men. You are therefore a great giver, most worthy on this earth. And I for my part am a worthy receiver. I shall take from you the guru-dakshiṇā that is in your hands, O Rājendra, and by this very agreement I shall come back again to be at your disposal, as I have promised. This is a vow on satya (truth). It will never become false. I have never spoken untruth, even in jest. Why then would I speak otherwise now?”

Saudāsa replied: “If your task for your guru lies within my power, consider it already done. Tell me now whatever you wish to take from me.”

Uttaṅka said: “O best of men! You are at all times one from whom I may rightly receive. It is for this very reason that I have come to you seeking the jewelled earrings.”

Saudāsa answered: “O Brahmarshi! The jewelled earrings you ask for are fit only for my wife. Ask me for some other thing instead, O Suvrata. I shall give it.”

Uttaṅka said: “O king! Enough of your deceiving words. If we are worthy of your regard, give me the jewelled earrings. Be a man true to your word.”

Vaiśampāyana continues. Hearing this, the king told Uttaṅka: “O best one! Go and tell my queen, in my own words, to give you the jewelled earrings. If you speak to her thus on my behalf, she, who keeps pure vows, will surely give you the earrings without fail.”

Uttaṅka asked: “O king! Where may I see your wife? Why do you not come with me to her yourself?”

Saudāsa answered: “You will see her today at a stream in a certain forest. At the sixth kāla she cannot see me.”

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 57)

Madayantī’s conditions and the earrings

Uttaṅka set out and found Madayantī, and he told her his errand. Hearing Saudāsa’s message, the wide-eyed and wise Madayantī answered Uttaṅka: “O brāhmaṇa! It shall be exactly as you say. O faultless one! You do not speak untruth. But you must bring me some pramāṇa (token, proof).”

She then described the wonderful nature of the earrings: “These jewelled earrings of mine are divine. Devas, yakshas and mahārshis, by many means, always wish to seize them. Every day they watch for whatever chance (cidra) may arise. If they are placed on the ground, serpents will carry off this jewel. If they are worn while impure, with saliva or food stains, yakshas will seize them. Through the power of sleep, even devas will take them. Through these very lapses, devas, rākshasas and nāgas may seize the earrings. They must be worn without allowing any such lapse. Day and night these earrings shed gold. At night they outshine the light of the stars and constellations. When one wears them, O Pūjya, what fear could there be of hunger or thirst? There is never any fear at all of poison, fire or fierce beasts. If a short person wears them, they become small to fit. Whatever the height of the wearer, they take on that same measure. Such are these earrings of mine, of the greatest worth, famed through the three lokas. Therefore you must bring some token.”

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 57)

The token, the theft and the descent into Nāgaloka

Uttaṅka went to Mitrasaha (Saudāsa) and asked for the token. The Ikshvāku king gave him a token in the form of a śloka (verse):

This state of mine, that of a rākshasa, does not lead to well-being. I see no other release from it. Knowing this condition of mine, give him the jewelled earrings.

Uttaṅka told the king’s words to Madayantī. Hearing them, she gave him the jewelled earrings.

Taking the earrings, Uttaṅka asked the king once more: “O king! What is this hidden matter? I wish to hear it.”

Saudāsa answered: “Kshatriyas by their very nature honour vipras. Yet many faults arise on account of vipras as well. I myself bow to dvijas, yet it is from a vipra that I received this great harm. Together with Madayantī, I see no other way out for myself. O best of brāhmaṇas, best among those who know the way! I see no other way, either to the gate of svarga, or even to remain in this very state. A king who stands against the brāhmaṇa class above all cannot last in this world, nor find happiness after death. For this reason I have given you these earrings, dear to me though they are. Now keep the agreement we made together.”

Uttaṅka answered: “O king! I shall do exactly as you have said. I shall return and place myself again at your disposal. But first let me ask you one question.”

Saudāsa said: “O vipra! Ask as you wish. I shall answer and remove your doubt. I have no hesitation in this.”

Uttaṅka said: “Great souls who know the fine points of dharma say that a vipra is one who holds his speech in check. They also say that to act unfairly toward a friend is itself a kind of theft. You have today become my friend. Therefore give me a wise counsel that I can accept. I have gained a benefit from you, but you, for your part, are a man-eater. Is it truly right that I should come back to you again? Tell me.”

Saudāsa replied: “O foremost of brāhmaṇas! If the proper word must be spoken here, then you must never come to me again. O best of the Bhṛgu line! I say this out of concern for your own good (śreyas). O vipra! If you were to come here, death would be certain for you. Of this there is no doubt.”

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 58)

Uttaṅka took the king’s counsel as wise and good for him. He obtained the king’s leave and set out for Ahalyā’s home. He carried the divine earrings quickly toward Gautama’s āśrama, wishing to please his guru’s wife. Madayantī had told him, in keeping with the protective conditions she had described, to wrap the earrings in a deer-skin.

On the way Uttaṅka felt hungry. He came upon a vilva tree heavy with fruit and climbed it. He tied the deer-skin bundle to a branch while he shook down the fruit. He was absorbed in watching the falling fruit and did not notice that the vilva fruits were landing right on the deer-skin bundle. Their repeated blows loosened the knot that held the earrings inside. The deer-skin, its knot undone, suddenly fell from the tree to the ground.

A serpent of the Airāvata line saw the jewelled earrings. It quickly seized them in its mouth and went into an anthill. Seeing the serpent carry off the earrings, the greatly shaken brāhmaṇa fell from the tree in his haste. Overcome by sorrow and unbearable anger, he took up a long stick and began to dig into the anthill. For thirty-five days the excellent brāhmaṇa dug without a pause, his whole body burning with an anger that would not ease, and his resolve unbroken. The earth itself could not bear the force of his work with the stick. It crumbled and shook violently, its clods scattering like leaves.

As he dug, trying to force open a path to Nāgaloka, Devendra himself came to that place in his horse-drawn chariot, carrying the vajra, with immense radiance. He saw the excellent brāhmaṇa. Taking the form of a brāhmaṇa himself, and moved to sorrow by Uttaṅka’s sorrow, Indra said to him: “This is not something you can do. Nāgaloka lies thousands of yojanas from here. I think it is not a task to be done with a mere stick.”

Uttaṅka answered: “O best of brāhmaṇas! If I cannot get the earrings from Nāgaloka, I shall give up my life right here before your eyes.”

Indra could not shake the vipra’s resolve. He then joined his vajrāstra (vajra weapon) to the very stick Uttaṅka held. At once, struck by the vajra, the earth split open and a path to Nāgaloka was formed. Uttaṅka went in by that path and saw Nāgaloka. It was vast, more than a thousand yojanas across. It was adorned with great, divine golden walls set with gems and pearls, with wells with crystal steps, rivers of clear water, and countless trees full of birds of many kinds. He saw too the great gateway of that loka, five yojanas across and a hundred yojanas long. Seeing such a Nāgaloka, Uttaṅka lost heart and gave up all hope of getting the earrings back.

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 58)

The horse and the return of the earrings

At that moment a horse spoke to him. Its tail was black and white, its eyes slightly red, and it blazed with radiance. It said: “O vipra! Blow hard, with all your strength, at my hindquarters (apāna). The son of the nāga Airāvata has taken your earrings away, and you will get them back. O son! Do not feel any disgust in this matter at all. You have already earned this very result at Gautama’s āśrama.”

Uttaṅka asked: “How am I to know of that āśrama and of what I did there? I wish to hear it from you.”

The horse replied: “O vipra! I am the guru of your guru. I am Agnideva. You have always worshipped me faithfully, on your guru’s behalf. Being pure at all times, you worshipped me according to vidhi (rule). For this reason, do as I have said, and it will bring you good. Do not delay.”

So the brāhmaṇa did as Citrabhānu (Agni) told him. The blazing Agnideva, wishing to burn, flared up more fiercely still. As the vipra blew, thick smoke, terrible to Nāgaloka, rose from the horse’s very pores (romakūpas). As the smoke grew thick, nothing at all could be seen anywhere in Nāgaloka. In Airāvata’s own house great cries of hāhākāra (wailing) rose. So too, O Janamejaya, in the homes of Vāsuki and the other nāgas. Every building, wrapped in that smoke, became as dark as snow-covered forests and mountains, without any light at all.

Overcome by the smoke, their eyes stinging, and tormented by the heat of the fire, all the nāgas came at once to learn the resolve of the great Bhārgava. Hearing the resolve of the radiant mahārshi, they all, their eyes still swimming, worshipped him according to vidhi. The old and the young alike placed themselves at the front, bowed their heads to him and begged: “O Bhagavān Uttaṅka! Be pleased.”

When they had pleased the brāhmaṇa, offering him pādya (water for the feet) and arghya (a welcome offering), the serpents all brought the highly honoured earrings and gave them back. Having received this worship from the nāgas, the mighty Uttaṅka walked around Agnideva in pradakshiṇā (a circle with the right side toward him) and set out for his guru’s home.

He went quickly to Gautama’s house and gave the divine earrings to his guru’s wife. Janamejaya! The best of dvijas then told his guru the whole account of Vāsuki and the other nāgas, exactly as it had happened. In this way the great soul travelled through all three lokas and obtained those divine jewelled earrings. O best of the Bharatas! Such was the power of the muni Uttaṅka, who was rich in the greatest tapas. This is what you asked me, and I have told it to you.

(Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 58)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 53 to 58