(Sambhava Parva continued)
"Janamejaya said, 'What did the god of justice do for which he was cursed?
And who was the Brahmana ascetic from whose curse the god had to be born
in the Sudra caste?'
"Vaisampayana said, 'There was a Brahmana known by the name of Mandavya.
He was conversant with all duties and was devoted to religion, truth and
asceticism. The great ascetic used to sit at the entrance of his hermitage
at the foot of a tree, with his arms upraised in the observance of the vow
of silence. And as he sat there for years together, one day there came
into his asylum a number of robbers laden with spoil. And, O bull in
Bharata's race, those robbers were then being pursued by a superior body
as guardians of the peace. The thieves, on entering that asylum, hid their
booty there, and in fear concealed themselves thereabout before the guards
came. But scarcely had they thus concealed themselves when the constables
in pursuit came to the spot. The latter, observing the Rishi sitting under
the tree, questioned him, O king, saying, "O best of Brahmanas, which way
have the thieves taken? Point it out to us so that we may follow it
without loss of time." Thus questioned by the guardians of peace the
ascetic, O king, said not a word, good or otherwise, in reply. The
officers of the king, however, on searching that asylum soon discovered
the thieves concealed thereabout together with the plunder. Upon this,
their suspicion fell upon the Muni, and accordingly they seized him with
the thieves and brought him before the king. The king sentenced him to be
executed along with his supposed associates. And the officers, acting in
ignorance, carried out the sentence by impaling the celebrated Rishi. And
having impaled him, they went to the king with the booty they had
recovered. But the virtuous Rishi, though impaled and kept without food,
remained in that state for a long time without dying. And the Rishi by his
ascetic power not only preserved his life but summoned other Rishi to the
scene. And they came there in the night in the forms of birds, and
beholding him engaged in ascetic meditation though fixed on that stake,
became plunged into grief. And telling that best of Brahmanas who they
were, they asked him saying, "O Brahmana, we desire to know what hath been
thy sin for which thou hast thus been made to suffer the tortures of
impalement!"'"