Chapter 94 — Shveta's Hunger

Agastya began with the forest Rama had asked about.

Long before, he said, he had come upon a vast stretch of woodland. It had once been full of trees that bore sweet fruit and roots, but when he saw it, no animal moved there and no bird crossed its silence. At its center lay a broad lake, bright with lotuses and blue water-lilies, its surface clear of scum and still beneath the sky. Beside it stood an ancient hermitage, holy and deserted.

Agastya spent the hot night there. At daybreak he went to the lake and saw an astonishing thing: the body of a man, whole, richly formed, and untouched by decay, standing at the water's edge.

While he considered it, a celestial vehicle appeared, swift as thought and drawn by swans. Within it sat a thousand apsaras, celestial women adorned for heaven; some sang and others played instruments. From the vehicle descended a shining man. In Agastya's sight, he went to the body and ate from it. When he had satisfied his hunger, he entered the lake, bathed according to rite, and turned to climb back toward his vehicle.

Agastya stopped him.

“Who are you,” he asked, “who shine like a being of heaven yet take such food? Tell me why this body is eaten by you.”

The man folded his hands. “Hear what has brought both joy and suffering to me,” he said.

He was Shveta, son of King Sudeva of Vidarbha. Sudeva had two sons by two wives: Shveta, the elder, and Suratha, the younger. When their father died, the people consecrated Shveta as king. For many thousands of years he ruled with care and protected his people according to dharma.

Then Shveta learned that his own life was nearing its end. He placed Suratha on the throne and entered that lonely forest beside the lake. There he undertook severe tapas for three thousand years and attained Brahma's world.

Yet even there hunger and thirst afflicted him. He went to Brahma and asked why a realm believed free of hunger had become a place of want for him.

“You practiced austerity while nourishing your own body,” Brahma told him, “but you gave no gift to anyone in that forest. Therefore, eat your own well-nourished body. It will not diminish, and it will satisfy you. When Agastya comes to this forest, you will be released.”

So Shveta had eaten from the body again and again through many years. It did not waste away. His hunger was met, but the condition remained until Agastya came.

“Take this ornament,” Shveta said. “Receive it, and free me from this suffering.”

Agastya accepted the radiant gift. At once Shveta's earthly body disappeared. Released from hunger and thirst, the king rose gladly to heaven again.

“That,” Agastya told Rama, “is how the ornament came to me.”