Essence Of Maha Bhagavatha Purana

Visvarupa reborn as Vrittrasura

In course of time, Indra got suspicious of the intentions of Visvarupa, the newly appointed Guru of Devatas; although Visvarupa was the son of Prajapati Tvastha, his mother Rachana was the daughter of Diti whose credentials were of Demons. While performing ‘Homams’/ ‘Yagnas’, he was in the habit of reciting the offerings to Fire God meant for Indra, Varuna and other Devatas loudly, but offered ‘Ghee’(classified butter) secretly to demons as well.Also, Visvarupa who had three heads, used to consume ‘Soma Ras’(Nectar) with one mouth, another with Wine and the third one with food. In a fit of rage, Indra killed Visvarupa, despite the knowledge that killing a Brahmin Priest would attract heavy penalty which was cleared by suitable means eventually.On learning what Indra did, Tvastha performed high-quality spiritual ceremonies with a view to avenge the death of his son.

As a result, a huge, frightful figure emerged from the Fire-pit, who looked like capable of destroying the entire Universe. Tvasta named the giant demon as Vritra, as he was the product of enormous asceticism covering all the planetery systems. The entire army of Devas, headed by Indra, pulled out their collective strength pitted against the one man militia of Vritra to no avail. They had to, in fact, run in different directions in sheer self defence. Finally they made a group prayer to Lord Vishnu for a quick solution as Vritra was growing in power minute by minute. The divine response came that Sage Dadhichi could only help retrieve the ugly situation. The Sage assimilated spiritual knowledge and passed on the same to Asvini Devatas who attained the position of Jeevan Muktha ( Liberation in life itself).The Mantras, including Narayana Kavacha was passed on to  Prajapati Tvasta who in turn passed it on to his son Visvarupa too.The Narayana Kavacha fortified the body of Sage Dhadhichi and only the backbone of the Sage could help to put an end to Vritra. The Devas thus made a collective prayer to Dadhichi to spare his body for the noble cause of ending Vritrasura. Dadhichi consented and his back- bone was converted into a mighty Thunderbolt  by the Divine Architect, Viswakarma. A ferocious battle followed then, when Satya Yuga was ending and Threta Yuga was being ushered in, as the entire force of powerful Demons headed by Vritrasura on one side and the mighty Demi Gods headed by Indra seated on ‘Airavatha’- the Heavenly Elephant- fortified in his arms with the thunderbolt made out of Dhadhichi’s back bone prepared by Viswakarma.  Before using the Thunderbolt, Vritrasura became furious and fought Indra on one to one basis. He tormented and put Indra to shame.He taunted Indra to say that he made the heinous crime of killing a Holy Brahmin,Viswarupa and got away from the sin in a surreptitious manner. He cursed Indra and told that he was a coward and culpable.Without the Thunderbolt he would have been  reprehensible. Vritrasura further said ‘Almighty in His enormous Wisdom showed the way to kill me to stabilise order in the Universe and that the  kind of death which has been awarded to me by Super Force Himself is my reward and not a punishment, as He is the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer and His decision is ultimate.’ By so saying Vritrasura invited the Thunderbolt to attain Salvation.  Thus ended the memorable story of  Vritrasura into the pages of the Great Puranas. When Vritrasura attained ‘Moksha’, all the Celestial Planets,  Demi-Gods, Gandharvas and so on praised his valour, but Indra was the single being who was remorseful as he had the Guilt Complex to have killed two Brahmins,Visvarupa and  Vritrasura. Indra’s sinful reaction was chased by a feeling that a Chandala woman of old age suffering from untouchable diseases, till Indra ran away to Manas Sarovar, the abode of Goddess Lakshmi. When Demi-Gods, and Sages advised Indra to attain freedom from the sin to perform the Yagna of Asvamedha  or Sacrifice of Horse in Vedic Method then only Indra got absolved of the sin.