Purushamriga

(Based on Mahabharat and a local folk tale)


The scent of sandal and incense were overwhelming. Every inch of the walls, all the doors, windows and ceiling were covered with the jasmine and mango leaves festoons. Rishis and Maharishis had been reciting chants for days now. The whole palace felt so pious. Each time they poured the ghee in the yagna fire, the warmth of the flames filled the heart of all the people present there. The whole kingdom was feeling rejuvenated because of this Rajsuya yagna. 

Yudhishthir was looking for all the final arrangements and catering to the needs of rishis. While in the midst of yagna, he paused and looked lost. Bheem was quick to notice this, he ran towards his elder brother.
Bheem- What is it brother? Any mistake made by us?
Yudhi - No. I was just thinking, if we could...
Bheem- What we could? Please say. You are making me nervous.
Yudhi - Well, I was thinking if we could invite the great devotee of Shiva and manage to get him here, this mahayagna will become more auspicious.
Bheem - And who may be that great devotee be? Tell me brother.
Yudhi- Purushamriga!
Bheem- Purushamriga? He..
Yudhi- Yes, Purushamriga, the half man and half Lion. He is one of the greatest devotee of Shiva. He has keen sense of justice and extreme physical vigor. He is the one we, pandavas should bow our heads and ask for blessings. Ah! how I dearly wish he was here.
Bheem - Allow me brother, for I shall go and bring him here.
Yudhi - Hmmm. Fine. I assign the task of bringing Purushamrig here in the mahayagna to you, Bheem. Please try not to fail me.
Bheem - Till my last breath I shall.

Bheem bows to Yudhishthir and takes blessing from Rishis present there and leave the palace to bring the half man. After walking for days and nights, he takes a shelter under a tree on the way. He was very tired  now and wanted to catch a small nap for he had't slept for days. As soon as he lied down the tree, an old monkey out of nowhere came and sat in front of his face. Bheem was amused by this as for a moment he thought the monkey was smiling at him. But at the next moment he thought, 'how can a monkey smile? and why will it smile at me?' Bheem continued to stare at the old monkey for quite sometime before he realised that he was about to sleep. Murmuring to himself, Bheem flattened his cloth piece in the ground.
Bheema (murmuring voice) - What do you want? Go and have some rest, look your age, monkey.
Monkey -I was only wondering where are you heading to and what is your mission?
Shocked by the voice he heard, Bheem suddenly seemed to have lost all his sleep. Sitting there, he glanced at monkey for longer time now.
Bheem (shocked voice) - You just said something to me or it was my imagination?
Monkey (composed voice) - Of course, I said, rather I asked, brother.
Bheem-What? Who are you?
Monkey (smiling) - You may consider me as your elder brother. And I asked what the purpose of your travel at this time when such an important mahayagna is being performed in your kingdom?
Bheem (confused)- Brother?
The monkey beamed at him.
Bheem (unsure voice) - Okay, well, eh, I am going to invite Purushamriga. He is a great devotee and I am sure he will bless us.
Monkey - And you know he has the body of a Lion?
Bheem - Yes.
Monkey - Inspite having a great intelligence, his body may want some game to play?
Bheem - Er, what? Fine, I will play with him if he wishes.
The old monkey again smiled at this innocent answer.
Monkey - He is not an ordinary creature. You know apart from being a half animal, he is a manovegya too?
Bheem made some sound at this question and shook his head, he looked confused totally.
Monkey continued  - This means he has a speed of mind. But then, he is one of the greatest devotee of shiva, isn't he?
Bheem (smiled) - You yourself are not ordinary, oh, Hanuman, you are in this disguise. Please accept my greetings and my apologies that I could not recognize you earlier.
Bheem bowed to him and saw him lovingly. Hanuman smiled and raised his right hand to give blessings.
He then, moved his hand towards his tail and plucked three strands of hair from it.
Hanuman - Here, take this and use it when you fall in need. This will help in your quest.
Bheem took those and carefully tied them in a cloth piece and tucked inside his waist cloth. He then looked up to get surprised again, the old monkey, i.e. Hanuman was gone without a sign. He heard a rustle faraway among the dense trees. He bowed to that direction and said in his heart 'Thank you' . He was now feeling energetic back again so he decided to continue the journey without further delay.

Bheem reached a land which was full of fruit laden trees, big flowers and even bigger grasses. A river was flowing from the north, meandering and finally leading to the western horizon. Its water was pure, cool and sweet. Bheem was amazed by the wild beauty of the place. This must be his place, brother Yudhishthir was right, Purushamriga must be revered person. He was very hungry, he thought he may even pull out some trees and eat them if there are not sufficient fruits. He plucked a ripe fruit from the tree and took a bite, it was sweet and deeply flavored. A small fruit was enough to fill his stomach and he felt hungry no longer.

He heard a voice coming from behind, 'Who is the person ill-mannered enough so that he didn't care to ask for permission before touching the plants here?' He heard a loud voice then, which closely resembled a lion's roar. Just as he turned back, he found a strange creature standing there, looking at him with firey and threatening red eyes. The creature was large, with torso and back resembling a lion with golden skin. His hind legs were muscular, deep golden yellow with very sharp claws. His fore legs were, however different, although golden in color, but digits were more elongated and separated, the claws were wider but looked very sharp. His head, however, did not look like a lion's head, but were of a human, eyes, nose, lips were as perfectly as a human's feature could be. His face was rigid, pointed cheeks and steady gaze were impressive. The only this he bore of his lionish feature in his face was his mane, which was again golden color with some silver streaks randomly. Just as he opened his mouth to speak again, Bheem notices his sharp pointed teeth.
'Who are you? Speak quickly or endure the punishment.' He roared in authoritative tone. Bheem understood that the creature standing in his front was none other than Purushamriga, the person he was seeking. Person or animal, whosoever, he looks radiant, graceful and ... Just then Purushamriga again made the roaring sound and broke Bheem's train of thoughts.
Bheem (bowing and in flattering tone) - I am Bheem, son of Kunti, younger brother of Yudhishthir, one of the pandavas from Indraprastha. I offer my greetings to you. I am here to give you the invitation from my king as he hopes you would be kind enough to accept this request and come to the rajasuya yagna. We all want the occasion to become more auspicious in your presence and you, being a great devotee of shiva oblige us by showering your blessings on us.

Bheem rose again to look at Purushamriga's face, his eyes were soft now but his face was still very rigid.
Bheem (dropped his head and said in very tiny voice)- I am sorry I didn't ask for the permission. I was overwhelmed by the wild beauty here and being very hungry, I couldn't resist picking a fruit.

Purushamriga's face lost its rigidity at this, he smiled a little.
Purushamriga - Ah, well, you were hungry then, it is alright then. Do you want more?
Bheem (shaking his head) - No, thanks,  I am full already.
Purushamriga - So you are here to invite me.
Bheem - Yes
Purushamriga - Hmm. Let's see. I will come there, but we must have some sports before that. Mustn't we?
Bheem ( suppressing his surprised tone) - Certainly if you wish.
Purushamriga (excited tone) - Excellent, then I would come to yagna, but it would happen only in one condition, you will run towards Indraprastha with all your might and I will try to catch you. If you are caught outside the boundary of Indraprastha, I will eat you. If you manage to get inside, I will stay there till the mahayagna is successfully completed. Accepted?
Bheem (unsure tone) - Well, yes, I accept your terms.

And the race began.
I run very fast, I will win. 
Soon he discovered that he was so wrong. Just as he thought he will win by great margin, Bheem saw Purushamriga very close to him and gaining on him. What must I do? At this rate, he will get me in next few seconds. He suddenly remembered the three strands of hair given by Hanuman. Aah, yes. Let me use these. He picked one strand, but could not understand what to do with it? He dropped it on the ground.
To his surprise, it transformed into a million of shivlingam. Next he saw, Purushamriga was worshipping each shivlingam. His face was glowing with happiness. Bheem felt that perhaps Purushamriga had forgotten all about race, but then he thought it will better that he continues his in original pace. Bheem ran as fast as possible.

In another couple of  hours, just as he thought that he was leading miles away, he looked back only to find that Purushamriga was again chasing him. And in next few seconds, Bheem felt that he will loose again. Just as Purushamriga was about to pounce him, Bheem dropped the second strand. A million of shivlingam arose again and Purushamriga halted again, delighted look in his face he quickly collected flowers from plants around and started worshiping again. Bheem took a deep a breathe and started again.  He ran with all his might. Bheem was running in the wind speed now. He continued for next few hours. Again, Purushamriga caught him. Bheem threw his last strand and he knew it was last chance. He picked all his strength and ran with twice speed this time. Indraprastha was not far now.

The gate of his kingdom was visible now. Bheem felt an upsurge in his strength, almost there, there, ah I crossed the gate, wait, what? He felt  his left leg being stuck in something, his whole body has crossed the gate of Indraprastha, except his left leg, which was caught in Purushamriga's mouth.
There was a thundering roar in the very next moment and then Purushamriga announced that he will eat Bheem.

Purushamriga - Caught you before you can cross the entrance gate of your kingdom, now I shall eat you.
Bheem - But I am already inside, can't you see? I won, you must keep your words and attend the mahayagna.
Purushamriga (roaring very loudly)- I caught you outside of the gate, it is you who is trying to betray. I will eat you.
He roared again.  Just then Yudhishthira and Krishna arrived there, both armed well and looking alarmed. They were shocked seeing Bheem in the clutches of a beast. After several seconds, Yudhishthir broke the silence.
Yudhi - What is the matter? Why are you holding Bheem like that, Sir?
Purushamriga - He asked me to come to his kingdom and accepted my condition that we both will have a race to Indraprastha's gate, if he crosses the gate before I could catch him, he wins and I will attend the mahayagna till the end . Failed to do so and I catch him before he enters the gate, I will eat him. Now, I have caught him before gate, he is retracting his promise.
There was awkward silence, Bheem was in pain. Krishna was smiling but didn't utter a word. Yudhishthir was looking thoughtful and worried. Purushamriga was wearing an angry look.
Purushamriga - You are the Yudhishthir famous for the sense of justice.
Yudhishthir bowed his head.
Purushamriga - And you are Krishna, who knows all past, present and the future.
Krishna smiled and bowed his head.
Krishna - You are a great devotee of Shiva, please accept my greetings.
Purushamriga - Bless you both.
He then looked towards Yudhishthir.

Purushamriga - You are the king here.
Yudhi - Yes.
Purushamriga - Do the justice then.
Yudhi - You caught him after he had entered the gate, so you cannot lay a claim on his whole body. But he misses to get inside completely before being caught, so he has no longer any right to claim for his body part which was caught by you. You can have his left leg to eat.
Purushamriga (in softer tone) - Are you sure?
Yudhi - Absolutely.

Bheem had closed his eyes tightly, his face was emotionless, he seemed to have accepted Yudhishthir's verdict and was ready to sacrifice  his leg. Krishna, however was having a wider smile now. Yudhishthir stood there bowing his head and looking at Bheem with the corner of his eyes. Purushamriga, however, was now smiling with a saintly look on his face.

Purushamriga - Excellent Yudhisthir! I am very much pleased by your impartial and thoughtful justice. May shiva bless you and your purpose always. Bheem, I am equally pleased by your love and dedication. May shiva give you eternal strength. Go ahead for I will not tear you apart. O king! I bless your Rajasuya yagna and your kingdom. Show me the path where I can be a part of it.

All three men bowed their heads to him and gladly, respectfully, lead him to the mahayagna kund .