The Death of Yavakrita – Stories from Aranyaka Parva

After the story of Ashtavakra, Rishi Lomasa talked about a place named Kardamila where the Madhuvila Samanga occurred. Here, Indra bathed to cleanse himself of his sins after killing Vritra, the asura. River Ganga flowed in that region and traveled alongside the ashrams of Sthulasirasa and Raibhya. It was also the same place where Rishi Bharadwaja’s son, Yavakrita, had died. 

Yudhistira wanted to know who Yavakrita was and how he passed away. 

Rishi Lomasa narrated the story.

Rishi Bharadwaja and Rishi Raibhya were friends. They lived nearby deep inside a forest. Raibhya had two sons Arvavasu and Paravasu, while Bharadwaja’s son was Yavakrita. Like Raibhya, his sons were also learned. All three of them received a lot of acclaim and honor from others. However, Yavakrita realized that his father didn’t have the same popularity. Angered by this, Yavakrita performed severe austerities to gain knowledge. He put himself through such torture that Indra arrived to ask why he was doing it. Yavakrita said he was doing it to gain the knowledge of the Vedas. 

Indra explained that Vedas had to be learned from a guru and the process took many years. He said this penance wasn’t the right path for a rishi’s son to gain knowledge. Instead, he should find a guru to teach him everything. Yavakrita didn’t heed the advice. He continued to be engaged in the tapasya. Indra tried to explain again but Yavakrita was adamant. He said he would even slice off his arms and offer them in the fire to gain the knowledge of Vedas. 

Finally, Indra came up with another plan. He disguised himself as an old Brahmin. He began to construct a bridge of sand on the banks of the Bhagirathi River to attract Yavakrita’s attention. When Yavakrita saw this, he laughed and asked the old Brahmin why he was wasting time and energy on a useless task as the sand wouldn’t hold for people to cross the river. He advised the old man to do something that would give results. 

Indra appeared in his true form and replied that he was doing the same thing as Yavakrita. Then, Bharadwaja’s son asked Indra to grant him a boon to be superior to others. Indra said it would happen as he wished and the Vedas would manifest on him and his father and make them great ascetics. 

Happy to get what he wanted, Yavakrita went to his father and said they were blessed with all the knowledge. Bharadwaja warned his son that this would eventually lead to downfall and that he should let his pride get to his head. He also told Yavakrita to not cross Raibhya or his sons.

Yavakrita assured him that he would respect Raibhya as much as he respected his father. However, using his newly gained knowledge, Yavakrita went on to insult other Brahmins and rishis whenever possible. One day, he went to Raibhya’s ashram and saw the rishi’s beautiful daughter-in-law, Paravasu’s wife. He pulled her behind a tree to assault her. When Raibhya returned, he saw his daughter-in-law crying. She informed him what happened. Raibhya was furious. He pulled a lock of hair and threw it into the yagna fire. A beautiful woman rose from it. When he repeated the action, a fearsome rakshasa rose from the fire. They asked what the rishi wanted. He ordered them to kill Yavakrita. 

The rakshasa went to do so. Yavakrita tried to fight and run, but he couldn’t escape. The rakshasa killed him and went to report to Raibhya. The rishi gave him permission to roam in the forests. 

A while later, Bharadwaja returned to his ashram and noticed that none of the fires rose upon seeing him. He felt a sense of unease and asked a guard if his son had done anything (specifically if he went to Raibhya). The guard replied that the dim-witted Yavakrita indeed made a mistake and was hence lying dead killed by a rakshasa. 

Bharawaja lamented the death of his son and cried about his foolish actions. Still, he wanted Raibhya to suffer and cursed that his elder son would kill himself even though he was innocent and had nothing to do with any of this. Bharadwaja cremated his son and entered the same fire. 

At this time, King Brihaddyumna was performing a sacrifice. Raibhya was his sacrificial priest, and the king also appointed the rishi’s two sons as assistants. The sons went to help with the yagna while Raibhya stayed back at the ashram. One night, Paravasu was returning to the ashram, tired and sleepy. He saw his father dressed in black antelope skin and mistook him for an animal. Thinking it would attack him, he killed the ‘animal’ who was actually his father. 

Paravasu went to the yagna site and told his brother that he killed their father by mistake and they could not perform the sacrifice without atoning for killing a Brahmin. Arvavasu replied that he would complete the rites and did so. 

However, Paravasu told the king that his brother killed their father and shouldn’t be permitted at the yagna site. Arvavasu was thrown out even as he repeatedly said that he wasn’t the killer and he observed the rites for his brother’s sake. Luckily, the gods knew the truth. The king listened to Arvavasu and hired him as the priest. He dismissed Paravasu. Arvavasu thanked the gods for their help and with Agni at the front asked for a boon – that his father would be alive and his brother would be freed of the sin. He also asked for Bharadwaja and his son Yavakrita to come back alive. 

Yavakrita asked the gods why Raibhya and Arvavasu were more powerful than him though he was given the boon of having all the knowledge. The gods explained that Yavakrita’s knowledge was gained without following the required path of learning from a guru and being disciplined in his life. That was why his knowledge was inferior to theirs and would continue to be unless he made an effort to learn correctly. 

The gods then went back to heaven.