But that best of Brahmanas, seeing
with his spiritual sight that the food was unholy and, therefore, unworthy
of being eaten, said these words with eyes red with anger, 'Because that
worst of kings offereth me food that is unholy and unworthy of being taken,
therefore that wretch shall have himself a fondness for such food. And
becoming fond of human flesh as cursed by Saktri of old, the wretch shall
wander over the earth, alarming and otherwise troubling all creatures.'
The curse, therefore, on that king, thus repeated a second time, became
very strong, and the king, possessed by a Rakshasa disposition, soon lost
all his senses.
"A little while after, O Bharata, that best of monarchs, deprived of all
his senses by the Rakshasa within him, beholding Saktri who had cursed him,
said, 'Because thou hast pronounced on me this extraordinary curse,
therefore, I shall begin my life of cannibalism by devouring thee.' Having
said this, the king immediately slew Saktri and ate him up, like a tiger
eating the animal it was fond of. Beholding Saktri thus slain and devoured,
Viswamitra repeatedly urged that Rakshasa (who was within the monarch)
against the other sons of Vasishtha. Like a wrathful lion devouring small
animals, that Rakshasa soon devoured the other sons of the illustrious
Vasishtha that were junior to Saktri in age. But Vasishtha, learning that
all his sons had been caused to be slain by Viswamitra, patiently bore his
grief like the great mountain that bears the earth.
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