The story of Ashtavakra is taken from the great ancient Indian epic, the
Mahabharata. It is the story of a deformed young boy whose intelligence
surpassed many old sages of his time.
Sage Uddalaka ran a school (Ashram) teaching Vedic knowledge. Kahoda was
one of his best disciples. Uddalaka was so pleased with him that he got his
daughter Sujata married to him. Sujata, eventually got pregnant and wanted
her child to surpass all the sages of his time. So, she began to sit in
the classes taught by Uddalaka and Kahoda, listening to their chanting with
the unborn baby. It was one day, in a class taught by Kahoda, the unborn
baby spoke up from inside the womb, "This is not the way to chant the
verse, father." Kahoda felt insulted in front of the class and cursed, "You
will be born deformed."
Sujata did not take the instance too seriously and was ambitious. She
wanted more money to raise her child the best. So she asked her husband to
go to king Janak who was then preparing for a fire worship ceremony (Yagna)
hoping that the ceremony will bring money to the family.
When Kahoda approached Janak, the king received him respectfully but said
with regret "Kahoda, I am unable to perform the Yagna which I decided to
perform several years back. Sage, Bandhi arrived from no where and asked me
to start the Yagna only after he is defeated in an academic discussion with
the sages participating in the Yagna. His condition further includes that
the sages who come forth for the debate, if defeated, will be drowned. So
far he has killed many learned sages. Now it is up to you to take the
challenge." Kahoda agreed to debate with Bandhi. He was defeated and
drowned in the nearby river.
The widowed Sujata heard the news and repented her actions. A few months
later she gave birth to a boy who was deformed at eight joints and so named
Ashtavakra. He got his education from his grandfather Uddalaka. Ashtavakra
was extremely intelligent and his grandfather loved him dearly and was
very proud of him. When Ashtavakra was only twelve, he finished all that he
needed to know from his grandfather. He also heard the fate of his father
and the Yagna of king Janak which still remained unfinished as no one could
defeat Bandhi.
One night Ashtavakra ran away from the hermitage and came to king Janak.
Looking to his deformed body, the guards were amused. Ashtavakra retorted,
"Do not judge a person by his appearance and age, judge him by what he
knows. Inform your king that there is a person ready to challenge Bandhi."
The king came and was surprised to see a small deformed boy. He asked a few
questions and was greatly impressed by his knowledge. King Janak soon
arranged for the debate with Bandhi. When the spectators laughed on seeing
the deformed Ashtavakra, Ashtavakra said with anger, "I did not know that
the so called learned gathering is no better than a bunch of cobblers who
judge a person by the skin and not by the knowledge he has."
To everyone's surprise Ashtavakara defeated Bandhi in no time. With
vengeance he then requested the king to drown his father's killer. Bandhi
then disclosed his identity. He said, "I am the son of Varuna, the god of
water. I came to earth on the request of my father to get the best sages
from here to perform his twelve years of Yagna. The only way I could get
them to my father was to challenge them in a debate and throw them into
water. Now that my father has completed the Yagna, let us go to the river
band and watch the sages walk out of the river."
People rushed to the river bank and watched the sages return from the
river. Kahoda came and embraced his learned son Ashtavakra. He then
openly admitted that his son Ashtavakra was a lot more intelligent than he.
Bandhi then asked Ashtavakra to take a dip in the river, with the
blessings of his father, Varuna, which would make him normal. Ashtavakra
did as he was told and came out of the river as a handsome young man. Janak
rewarded Ashtavakra and Kahoda. They went back to their hermitage to be
united with the family. Uddalaka, was so happy to see his worthy grandson
surpassing in knowledge to all the great sages of his time. Sujata rejoiced
at seeing her handsome son and the husband.
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