November 2, 2026
tadbhāryāṣṭakameteṣu yāteṣu tapase ciraṁ
babhūva duḥkhitaṁ strīṇāṁ yadviyogo hi duḥsahaḥ (29)
THE SAGE continued:
After spending a period of ten years there, Gauri returned to her place on the left side of lord Śiva. On account of her touch this tree never grew old. After some time the forest became an ordinary forest which the people of the area made use of. At that time I was the king of Mālava. I renounced the kingdom and came here to practise penance. I entered into deep meditation here. After some time, all of you eight brothers also came here. After spending some time here, you went away to Śrī mountain, another went to Krauñca mountain, another to Kāśī and yet another to the Himālaya. The remaining four continued their penance here. All of them wanted to be rulers of the whole earth. They all obtained appropriate boons from the gods. After enjoying the fruits of their penance all of them returned home except you. I did not leave this place. The people held me and this tree in great esteem. I have been here for a long time. All this I have seen by my yogic vision. Now, you too, return home and rejoin your family.
(In reply to Kundadanta’s question: “The earth is one and how can eight people rule it at the same time?” the sage said:) This is not the only puzzling feature, there are others. In fact, all these eight brothers will rule the earth within their own house, after they give up their physical bodies. They will also have their (eight) wives remain constantly with them as stars…. For, these wives of theirs were sunk in inconsolable grief when their husbands left their home for doing penance; women cannot bear separation from their husbands. These women also performed intense penance. Goddess Pārvatī was pleased with them and asked them to choose a boon. They said, “Just as you love your lord, we love our husbands: pray grant that they shall be immortal.” But the goddess pointed out that that was contrary to natural order and asked them to choose another boon. They asked, “Even when our husbands die and cast off their bodies, may they not leave the home even for a moment.” The goddess granted the boon and also granted that their husbands would rule the earth. Soon after this, the seven brothers returned home. Today the eighth will return too.
There is yet another wonder in this story. When all the eight boys had gone away to the forest to perform penance, the grieving parents, accompanied by the wives of the eight brothers, set out on a pilgrimage. On the way they came across a short-statured, reddish coloured and ash-besmeared ascetic, who was on the road to the holy place known as Kalāpagrāma. They did not respect him but treated him with suspicion. The ascetic who was Durvāsa was annoyed and cursed them: “You will pay the price for your haughtiness. Though your sons and your daughters-in-law will earn boons from the gods, those boons will produce contrary results.” They realised their error and rushed forward to beg the ascetic’s pardon. But before they could reach him, he vanished from sight.