Tapti

Tapti

One day, King Panchal attacked the kingdom of king Sarvan. Panchal's army was bigger and stronger and soon defeated Sarvan's army. King Sarvan had to leave his kingdom; he started living in the forest. One day, Sage vashishtha came to his home. King Sarvan asked the sage vashishtha to bless him so that he could win his kingdom back. King Sarvan collected his army and challenged Panchal King to a battle. He fought very bravely and won his kingdom back. 

Tapti, the daughter of Lord Surya, the sun god, had seen the courage of King Sarvan in the war and fell in love with him. She decided to find out whether King Sarvan would be willing to take her as his bride .

After becoming a king again, Sarvan went hunting. He saw a beautiful dear in the forest and chased it. After some time the deer suddenly disappeared and a beautiful woman appeared before him. She glowed like gold. The moment he set his eyes on her he fell in love with her. He asked her who she was and she told him that she was Tapti, the daughter of Lord Surya. King Sarvan expressed his desire to marry her. Trapti said that he would have to seek the permission of her father. King Sarvan started performing tapasya to please Lord Surya . After twelve days, Sage Vashishtha came to him and said that he himself would take his proposal to Lord Surya .

Sage Shakti's curse

Sage Shakti's curse

One day Sage Shakti, Sage Vashishtha's son, was going through a forest. 

Suddenly, King Kalmashapada's chariot blocked his path. In those days, it was customary for everybody to give way to a sage, a blind man, a crippled person or an old woman. But King Kalmashapada was vain and did not give way to Sage Shakti. Instead King Kalmashapada rudely ordered him, "Move to a side and make way for the chariot. Don't you see that I am the king of this region?" Sage Shakti tried to explain, "I am a sage." But King Kalmashpada was very proud and refused to move. Instead, he lashed at the sage with a whip. At this, Sage Shakti got angry and cursed the king to become the king to become a demon.

Sage Viswamitra, who was passing by, saw this incident. He was a big enemy of Sage Shakti's father, Sage Vashishtha and heard Sage Shakti cursing the king. He asked another demon, Kinkara, to enter King Kalmashapada's body. When the demon entered his body, King Kalmashapada became evil and lost his sense of righteousness. He thought that his behavior had changed because of the curse of Sage Shakti, so he went to Sage Shakti and said , "Your curse has made me a demon. Since you are responsible for this. I will take revenge on you and will eat you up." Saying this, King Kalmashapada roared and killed Sage Shakti and ate him. Later, he even killed Sage Shakti's brothers.