Ashtavakra Rishi the writer of Ashtavakra Gita

 Maharishi Ashtavakra

Ashtavakra was a famous and stunning saint of ancient times. He was counted among the great scholars of that time. Rajapandit of King Janak of Mithila was defeated by Ashtavakra in scripture. The story of Ashtavrak Rishi is also in 'Mahabharata' and 'Vishnupurana'.

Ashtavakra named as he was handicapped from 8 parts of his body as the cursed by his own father. But still, Ashtavakra respects his father a lot.

Ashtavakra Rishi the writer of Ashtavakra Gita

Story of Ashtavakra

Ashtavakra Uddālaka was the son of Kahod Muni, a beloved disciple of the sage Uddālaka married his daughter Sujātā with Kahod. No one in the state could win from them in the debate.

 Once when Sujatha was pregnant and Kahod was performing Vedpath, then the voice came from the womb saying "Your pronunciation is impure". On hearing this, In anger, Kahod cursed the unborn child to get his eight limbs crooked.

When Kahod went to Janakpur in search of money, the Rajbhad Acharya captive there defeated him in the scriptures and dipped him in water. Here the baby with eight crooked limbs was born and named 'Ashtavakra'.

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Ashtavakra considered Pratibha Sampurna Uddālaka as his father. The talented Ashtavakra acquired all knowledge in a short time. At the age of twelve, when he came to know about the father from Sujatha, along with his maternal uncle Shvetaketu, he went to the court of King Janak and defeated Pandit Acharya Bandhi, who defeated the father in a debate. Now it was the turn to sink in that water. He told the king that he has so far sent the defeated birds into the water by drowning them. In this case, all the birds including Kahod became present. The defeated Raj Pandit wanted to take water samadhi but Ashtavakra forgave him.

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Then the captives said that, O Maharaj! I am the son of Varuna and I have sent all the lost Brahmins to my father. I present them all to you right now. As soon as the captive had said so, after losing the captive to the scriptures, the sars immersed in the water came to the meeting of the Brahmin Janak, which included Ashtavakra's father Kahod.

Ashtavakra touched the feet of her father. Then Kahod was pleased and said that son! You go and bathe in the Samanga River, because of that you will be freed from my curse. Then Ashtavakra came to this place and bathed in the Samanga River and all its curved limbs became straight. The composition of the Ashtavakra Gita is his invaluable work.

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