When Sri Krishna was living on earth, a chameleon entered a
well, the only source of water in a village. People thought the chameleon would
spoil the water so they attempted to remove it. All the efforts of the
villagers failed. Sri Krishna who heard about the problem visited the well. On
seeing him, the chameleon changed into a human being and he narrated his previous
life.
The chameleon was a king named Nriga in his previous life.
The king used to perform charity. He distributed cows and wealth among the poor
and needy.
The king derived lot of pleasure from the charity and this
made him arrogant and careless.
Once, the king donated a good looking cow to a Brahmin. But
the cow escaped from the house of the Brahmin and joined the king’s herd.
King Nriga was careless and without noticing donated the cow
again to another person.
Soon, the Brahmin and the new owner had a fight over the
issue.
They then approached Nriga for a solution.
Nriga realized that he had erroneously donated the cow
twice.
The king was readr to correct the mistake by donating 1000
cows to them. But they did not agree to it and wanted only the disputed cow.
Nriga died without finding a solution.
When Nriga deposed before yama, he told about the donation
of a cow twice.
As redemption of sin, Yama punished him to be born as a
chameleon.
Yama also told that he will get back his human form when he
happens to see Sri Krishna.