Long ago, in India, there lived a sage called Vasishtha. Vasishtha was a wise and learned Brahmin, one of the seven Rishis and a son of the god Brahma himself. The king, Kalmashpad, held Vasishtha in great respect, and appointed him priest to the royal family.

Now Vasishtha had a rival, the sage Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra was jealous of Vasishtha’s great learning and wisdom, and the honour given him by the king. Vishwamitra wanted the position of royal priest for himself, for he thought he was wiser and more able than Vasishtha. But King Kalmashpad had chosen Vasishtha. This made Vishwamitra even more jealous, and he decided to get even with Vasishtha.

The sage Vasishtha had a hundred sons whom he loved above all else in the world. One day, Saktri, the eldest son was walking down the road when he saw King Kalmashpad and his entourage riding towards him on the same road.

The King called out to Saktri to move out of his way. But Saktri, refusing, replied politely, ‘Oh King, I am a Brahman, and you know that by law even the King must give way to a Brahman. The path is mine.’

The king was furious, and he lashed out at Saktri with his whip.

Now it was Saktri’s turn to be angry. ‘May you become an eater of human flesh!’ he cried, cursing the king.

As luck would have it, Vishwamitra, in invisible form, was present at the scene. So he saw and heard the entire exchange between Saktri and the king, though no one saw him. This gave him the chance that he had been waiting for.

Even as Saktri uttered his curse, Vishwamitra commanded a man-eating rakshasa to enter the king’s body. The rakshasa did as Vishwamitra commanded, and immediately King Kalmashpad became a man-eater. His first victim was of course, Saktri.

Vishwamitra then caused the rakshasa in the king’s body to eat and kill all of Vasishtha’s remaining ninety-nine sons. When Vasishtha heard of the death of his sons, he was devastated. He decided to kill himself.

He threw himself from the top of Mount Meru, but the rocks he fell upon became as soft as cotton. He plunged into a burning forest, but the fire did not even singe him. He jumped into the sea with a rock tied around his neck, but the waves lifted him and cast him upon dry land.

Vasishtha then bound himself hand and foot with strong rope and jumped into a mountain river swollen with rain. The river refused to kill him, and, loosening his bonds, cast him ‘vipash’, unbound, upon its banks. From this the river was given the name ‘Vipasha’. We call this river the Beas today.

Vasishtha then threw himself into another river, flowing swift and fast and full of crocodiles. This river too, refused to kill him and rushed away in a hundred directions. The river was thenceforth called Shatadru, ‘the one that flows in a hundred streams’. We call this river the Sutlej today.

Finding that he could not kill himself Vasishtha returned at last to his ashram in the forest. There he ran into the unfortunate King Kalmashpad, who was still possessed by the man-eating rakshasa. The king tried to eat Vasishtha, but Vasishtha, through the strength of his powers, chased away the rakshasa from his body, and delivered the king from the curse. Vasishtha then ordered him to return to his kingdom, to rule wisely and to treat all people with equal consideration and respect.