KAILASA Library/Who is THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM - The many dimensions of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM/King KalmashapadaSign in
Who is THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM - The many dimensions of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

King Kalmashapada

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King Kalmashapada encountering Sage Saktri
Sage confronting King Kalmashapada
  • King Kalmashapada was the 52nd king in the Suryavamsa lineage. While walking in the forest, he saw Sage Saktri, the eldest of the hundred sons of Sage Vasishta, coming from the opposite side. He did not move aside for the Brahmin as was customary.
  • Instead, the king struck the sage with a whip. The sage cursed him to become a demon, a rakshasa.
  • Seeing this, sage Viswamitra commanded a Rakshasa to enter the body of Kalmashapada.
  • Then, a hungry Brahmin met him in the forest and begged him to give him some food. The king gave him some food including human flesh. He was cursed again by the Brahmana. Sometime after this, the king met Saktri and told him, "Because you cursed me to become a cannibal, I will practice my cannibalism on you by devouring you."
  • He then killed Saktri and ate him up, like a tiger eating an animal it had killed. However, after much agony, Vashishta decided to free Kalmashapada from the clutches of the rakshasa and restored him to his kingdom.