Shakti, the eldest of sage Basistha's hundred son. Now, regarding the King, both Bishwamitra and Basistha had wanted to make him their disciple, but neither had succeeded till this point. Bishwamitra seized this opportunity to revenge himself on both the king and Basistha. Bishwamitra concealed himself by his yogic powers and made the curse of Shakti take effect immediately. By his yogic power, he caused a Rakshasa spirit named Kinkara to enter the body of the King.
The
King, under the influence of this Rakshasa, turned back to his palace. On the
way home, he met a Brahmana, who begged him for food. Seemingly disregarding
the beggar, the King returned to his palace. Once in his palace, he ordered his
chief cook to prepare a meal of human flesh mixed with rice and feed it to the
Brahmana whom he had met in the forest.
When
the food was offered to that Brahmana, by his spiritual sight, he saw at once
that the food was unholy. In his wrath, he cursed the king saying, "Since
Kalmashapada has caused unholy food, made from human flesh to be fed to me, he
shall develop a hunger for such unclean food. He shall be turned into a human
flesh-eating Rakshasa!"
Thus
reinforced, the curse became very strong. Impelled by the workings of fate,
Kalmashapada once again returned to the forest where he had been cursed first.
When he encountered Shakti again, he commenced his career as a human-eating
monster by devouring the Rishi. Bishwamitra, who was really the force behind the
Rakshasa, then caused the King to hunt the other sons of Basistha. One by one,
Kalmashapada devoured them all.
When
Basistha came to know that all his sons were dead, by the stratagem employed by
Bishwamitra, he became consumed by grief. If he had wished, he could have
destroyed Bishwamitra utterly, but he had made a vow of peace, never to hurt
any creature by his yogic powers. Feeling that his life had lost all meaning
with the utter destruction of his sons, he tried to commit suicide by various
means. He was unsuccessful in this endeavor, for the ocean would not allow him
to drown, nor did fire burn him. He tried to drown in a river named Haimavati,
but the river, recognizing him as a Brahmana of great merit, fled in a hundred
directions to avoid him. It is known to this day as Saptadaru (of a thousand
streams). Thwarted in his attempt to commit suicide, he began wandering all
over the world.
At last, he returned to his hermitage. As he approached his abode, he heard a young voice reciting the Vedas. When he entered his hut, he found that only his daughter-in-law Adrisyanti was there. The mystery of the anonymous voice was
