Vidhura was the illegitimate brother of Dhirdhrashtra and Pandu as he was born to a servant but was full of intelligence and wisdom and cared for the families of his brothers all his life and remained as a minister to them rather than a prince.
The story tells how Dharma (Yama) the ruler of Yama log came and born as Vidhura.
One upon a time a King was ruling a country and one day his palace was burgled by some thieves. The thieves after burgling the palace were going back to their hiding place and on the way saw a Rishi (Sage) meditating with closed eyes. One of the thief threw an expensive Necklace over the sage and went away.
The next morning the robbery was found out and soldiers were sent everywhere to find the thieves. The soldiers went and searched and found the sage under a tree with eyes closed meditating. They went back to the king
and informed him about this sage with the chain on his neck. The King in a fit
of rage asked the soldiers to catch the sage and impale him on a sharp knife in
sitting position. This impalement was carried out on a long erect knife
fixed on a dais and on which the
accused would be asked to sit cross legged. The knife would slowly pierce him
from his bottom and come out through his head. In olden days it was a
punishment a serious crimes for adultery, stealing, murder etc.
So the soldiers took the sage to the street corner and impaled him in sitting position. The knife went from his bottom and came out through his head. But he did not feel anything and was still meditating without feeling the pain and did not die. When evening came, the other sages, his friends, came to enquire after him in the guise of birds as he did not return to their abode. They found him impaled in the knife and asked him why he was punished like this. The sage replied that he was not aware of what happened to him and it could have been the result of his previous birth where he could have done something against the justice. The soldiers guarding him found birds talking to him and he was still alive. They were frightened and sensed something was wrong and went and informed the king about this.
The king understood that some serious wrong had been committed against the sage. He came running and asked the soldiers to pull out the sage from the knife and fell on his feet and apologized for his mistake. The sage just ignored him and went to the god of Justice Yama and asked him why he had to undergo this punishment when he had not done any mistakes in his whole life. Yama who had the records of everybody's goods and sins told him that as a young boy the sage was catching and maiming butterflies by piercing them with a knife and for that reason he had to undergo this punishment.
The sage got wild. He said "Yama, you do not know the justice. A boy under twelve years does things because of his ignorance and these could not be construed as sins, so you have committed the injustice and I had to undergo the punishment. Anybody committing any sins below the age of twelve could not be considered as sin. Hence I curse you to be born as Vidhura and with all your knowledge and intelligence nobody would listen to your advices and they will ignore and insult you. You will suffer like this till your death."
So the soldiers took the sage to the street corner and impaled him in sitting position. The knife went from his bottom and came out through his head. But he did not feel anything and was still meditating without feeling the pain and did not die. When evening came, the other sages, his friends, came to enquire after him in the guise of birds as he did not return to their abode. They found him impaled in the knife and asked him why he was punished like this. The sage replied that he was not aware of what happened to him and it could have been the result of his previous birth where he could have done something against the justice. The soldiers guarding him found birds talking to him and he was still alive. They were frightened and sensed something was wrong and went and informed the king about this.
The king understood that some serious wrong had been committed against the sage. He came running and asked the soldiers to pull out the sage from the knife and fell on his feet and apologized for his mistake. The sage just ignored him and went to the god of Justice Yama and asked him why he had to undergo this punishment when he had not done any mistakes in his whole life. Yama who had the records of everybody's goods and sins told him that as a young boy the sage was catching and maiming butterflies by piercing them with a knife and for that reason he had to undergo this punishment.
The sage got wild. He said "Yama, you do not know the justice. A boy under twelve years does things because of his ignorance and these could not be construed as sins, so you have committed the injustice and I had to undergo the punishment. Anybody committing any sins below the age of twelve could not be considered as sin. Hence I curse you to be born as Vidhura and with all your knowledge and intelligence nobody would listen to your advices and they will ignore and insult you. You will suffer like this till your death."
Thus the God of justice was born as Vidhura.
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