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King Mitrasaha and Sage Vasishta – The Story of the Curse on Mitrasaha

King Mitrasaha belonged to the Ikshvaku Dynasty that ruled Ayodhya. The story of the curse on Mitrasaha by Sage Vasishta is found in the Uttara Ramayana. During a hunting expedition, Mitrausaha came across two tiger cubs. The cubs were really two demons in disguise.

The Story of the Curse on Mitrasaha

The king, who was unaware of it, killed one of the cubs with an arrow. The other cub suddenly assumed his true form and warned Mitrasaha that he would take revenge at the appropriate time.

The demon vanished and the king then returned to this kingdom.

In due course of time, the king decided to perform Ashwamedha Yajna and invited Sage Vasishta for this purpose.

The demon now appeared in the form of Sage Vasishta and told the king that he had a desire to eat cooked meat. He asked the king to bring it to his ashram secretly.

The king and his queen prepared meat and took it to the Ashram of Sage Vasishta.

Sage Vasishta was furious to find meat in his ashram and cursed the King to become a man-eating demon.

King Mitrasha protested that he knew nothing of the matter and he just did what the sage had asked.

Sage Vasishta learnt through his inner eye of knowledge that King Mitrasaha was not to blame.

However, the curse could not be taken back. It was reduced to 12 years. The king then roamed the forest as a man-eating demon for 12 years.

It must be noted that there are several versions of the same story in different Hindu scriptures.

The king had to go through many more troubles during the 12 years and was finally relieved of all trouble after offering prayers on a Shivratri day at Gokarna.