The Hidden Hindu 2

by Akshat Gupta

In Satya yuga, Aghasur, a demon, came across a seer named Ashtavakra, whose body was malformed in eight places, because of which he appeared extremely ugly and walked in a zigzag pattern. Aghasur made the mistake of laughing at the handicapped seer and ridiculed him for his looks and gait. Insulted, Ashtavakra cursed Aghasur to turn into one of the ugliest serpents, as they can only crawl in a zigzag pattern. Frightened by the curse, Aghasur fell at the seer’s feet and begged for forgiveness. Ashtavakra’s wrath subsided but he couldn’t revoke his curse, so he told Aghasur that at the end of Dwapara yuga, Lord Vishnu’s incarnation would liberate him of this bane by killing his serpent body and ridding him of all his sins. ‘Aghasur waited for thousands of years as a serpent for the reincarnation of Vishnu and in the meantime, became one of King Kansa’s trusted generals. Kansa, who wanted to kill Krishna, was the brother of Krishna’s mother, Devki. He made many attempts on Krishna’s life, beginning at Krishna’s birth, but failed. In those attempts, two of Aghasur’s siblings, Putana and Bakasur, lost their lives at the hands of the child. Kansa then ordered Aghasur to kill his nephew, who was also the reason for Putana and Bakasur’s deaths. Unaware of the fact that the boy he was sent to kill was the very incarnation of Vishnu, he took the form of an 8 mile-long serpent, camouflaging his open mouth with a mountain to swallow Krishna when he would step in. Instead of Krishna, a...