Mahabharata Orginals! #13. Uttanka's Journey!

                        Uttanka's Journey!                                                                                                       Last blog - Uttanka by command of his Guru-Patni (Teachers wife) sets out on a journey to get kundals (ear-rings) for her as Guru-Dakshina from king Paushya's wife.                                                                                                       As commanded by Guru-Patni who instructs him to come within 4 days as she needed to wear the Kundals on an auspicious occasion , Uttanka at once leaves his teacher's abode.  On the way he saw a very huge bull and similarly a very huge man sitting on it.  That person said   " Uttanka you should eat this bull's manure " but Uttanka did not feel like eating it.  Again that person insisted  " Uttanka don't think too much , eat it , your Guru also ate it earlier".  After hearing this Uttanka without hesitation ate the dung and drank the bull's urine.  He had washed his face and hands while standing and walking as he was in a hurry.  Once he reached King Paushya's palace he saw him sitting on his throne , and said  " My king , I have come here today with a request".  King Paushya said " My Lord , I am your servant Paushya, please tell me what can I do for you?". Uttanka said " King , I have come here today with a task at hand to complete in order to fullfill my Guru-Dakshina.  I would like to borrow the 2 kundals your queen is wearing now for my Guru-Patni."  King Paushya said  " Please help yourself by going into the queens chamber and ask her yourself ".                                                  As Uttanka went inside he could not see anyone.  Furious he came out and said    " It's not right for a king to lie and please just with words.  I could not see anyone in the queens chamber!".  After hearing this king Paushya thought exactly for a second and said  " Definitely you are lying , remember that my wife is very pure and is dedicated , she has the boon that an impure and unclean person cannot see her!. You are unclean so is the cause that you are unable to see her!" Uttanka said " Yes I remember! I had washed my face and hands while walking on my way here".  Paushya said  " Brahman, hence you have broken the rules of cleanliness as washing of face and hands while walking is prohibited and it's similar to not having washed at all!" So Uttanka said very well and went to a nearby well. He cleansed himself thoroughly three times. Dried himself up and then visited the queens chamber. He then saw the queen who greeted him and asked him what can she do for him? He narrated his story to which the queen replied " I'm impressed with you devotion towards your Guru. Hence you can take my kundals . But beware , Naag-raaj Takshak (king of snakes)  is also searching for these kundals!". Uttanka said  " My queen do not worry as Naag-raaj takshak will not dare to confront me".  Saying so Uttanka went to king Paushya and said " I am pleased with your service , give me permission to leave as I am in a hurry." King Paushya said " Please stay here for sometime , have shudh (pure) food and then resume your journey."   Very well said Uttanka and sat to eat. When food was brought he noticed that it had hairs and was cold , hence concluded that it was impure. So in anger he said to king Paushya " You served me impure food! You will become blind! ".  King Paushya replied in anger  " You are calling perfectly pure food - impure on purpose. Hence you will be Santana-heen" ( that is not have any children).  To this Uttanka said " King , first you give impure food and then you curse ! This is not appropriate for a king. At least have a look at this food!".  Then king Paushya saw the impure food and got to know that the hair was there because a women cooked it with her hairs open and as it was made earlier and had became stale. He said to Uttanka " Bhagwan , I apologize for my behavior , please do something so that I may not go blind!".  Uttanka said " I never lie , you will become blind but after a few days your vision will be restored , now please take your curse back too". To this king Paushya said " I am unable to subside my curse as my anger is still not subsided , being a Kshatriya I cannot calm myself so I am unable to take my curse back".  To this Uttanka replied " Your curse holds no importance as you said that you will become impotent as you are saying impure to perfectly pure food. But it turned out impure so your curse has irrelevant base and will not take effect.". Saying this Uttanka left.                                                                             On the way he saw a Kshapanak ( a nude person/sadhu - in Jain philosophy a Digambar Muni) who followed him and used to hide whenever Uttanka tried to look at him. He stopped by the river side to take bath and put his clothes and the kubdals on the bank of river and went in the river. Then from his hiding the Kshapanak came running and took the kundals with him. Sage Uttanka completed his bathing and ran behind Kshapanak swiftly. In reality it was Naag raaj Takshak. As Uttanka caught him he changed into his real form and pushed Uttanka aside and disappeared into a big hole in the earth nearby. He went to Naag- loka his home. Uttanka tried to dig his way down with a wooden stick but with no success so Indra-dev watching all this asked his weapon Vajra to help the Brahmin. It made a big hole leading a way directly into the Paatal loka. So he went deep down in the earth and reached Naag loka and was amazed! It had no boundaries , had many temples , palaces with many doors decorated with gems. So to please the snakes sage Uttanka said " Ayeraavat - the one who is your king , whose glory is far known , like the lightening and wind which makes the cloud pour rains , similar is your achievement. I salute you". Further he said   " Snakes born in Ayeraavat clan look beautiful and wear kundals. Have aura similar to Surya-dev (Sun-God). The big snakes living near the river Ganga , I salute you!. The one who always stays in Kurukshetra and Khandav -van(forest) that Naag raaj Takshak  I request you to give back my kundals. Takshak and Ashwasen you two always roam together. You both stayed in Kurukshetra near the banks of the river Ikshumati.  Shrutasen who is younger brother of Takshak and is always praying to Surya-dev, I salute you too!". Thus after praying so much he did not get his kundals then he got worried.                                                                                                                                  #Next Blog - Will Sage Uttanka get his kundals back in time ? What awaits for Sage Uttanka at the end of this event?