Lakshmna requested Sri Rama to narrate a few amazing stories
at which he came out with the interesting story of NIMI. Nimi was the twelfth
son of the great ancestor Ikshvaku. He was a great warrior and followed the
path of Dharma. He built a heavenly mansion near the ashram of sage Gauthama
and named it “ Vaijayanta” and resided there. He wanted to perform a sacrifice
called ‘ Satrayaga’ and got his father Manu’s permission. He approached the
Brahmarshi Vasishta to get the yagna performed. He also invited the great sages
Atri, and Bhrugu to conduct the yagna.
Meanwhile sage
Vasishta had already agreed to conduct a sacrifice being performed by Indra,
king of heaven! He asked Nimi to wait until he returned from Indra’s sacrifice.
But sage Gautama took charge and conducted the sacrifice of the king Nimi! Many
were invited for the sacrifice and Nimi performed it with great devotion for
five thousand years! After finishing Indra’s yagna, sage Vasishta came to Nimi
and saw that the yagna was completed! He desired to have an audience with the
king and waited for a few hours.Unfortunately , Nimi was fast asleep at that
time. Infuriated at this needless delay and completing the yagna before he
returned, sage Vasishta cursed the king to be paralyzed! Soon king Nimi woke up
and was petrified at the terrible curse served by the sage Vasishta! Saying
that the delay was unintentional as he was fast asleep, Nimi cursed sage Vasishta also to be
paralyzed like him.
As a result
of their mutual curses, Nimi and Vasishta lost their physical bodies and took
the form of air! Vasishta shorn of his body went to Lord Brahma to seek for a
body! Without a body all karnas will be
lost and many sorrows shall accrue. Lord Brahma directed sage Vasishta to enter
into the ‘tejas’ of Mitra Varuna and be born differently, not from the mother’s
womb! By performing great tapas he can come back to him. As directed by Lord
Brahma, Vasishta came to the seat of Varuna where Mitra was being worshipped by
Devas.
URVAS,I the
most beautiful heavenly damsel, happened to come there with her train of
beauties. Drawn to her bewitching and
tantalizing divine beauty, Varuna made amorous advances to her! But she rejected
them saying that she had already given word to Mitra! Thereupon Varuna released
his ‘ Veerya’ ( semen) in the divine Pot! When Urvasi went to Mitra, he called
her a seductress and rejected her as her heart was on Varuna! He cursed her to
take birth on earth and live there for some time. Pururava, the son of Budha
shall be her husband So saying, Mitra too left his ‘Veerya ‘ in the same divine
pot where Varuna had deposited earlier!
From the
‘Tejas’ of Mitra and Varuna in the
divine pot two renowned sages were born! At first sage AGSTHYA was born! That
is why he is called “ kumbha sambhava”. He declared that he is not Mitra’s son and
went elsewhere. After some time, from the ‘ Tejas’ of Varuna sage VASISHTA
was born! As he was born of the tejas of Mitra and Varuna, he was called
‘MYTHRAVARUNA.” King Ikshvaku, recognizing the greatness of the sage accepted
him as the mentor of his clan!
The sages ,
looking at the spirit of Nimi wanted him to perform the yagna. After the
completion of the yagna, sage Bhrugu was extremely happy and said he would bring back Nimi to life! The Devas questioned
Nimi where he wanted to live. Nimi
replied that he wanted to reside in the eyes of all creatures in the world! The
Devas granted his wish. They told Nimi that because of his presence all
creatures shall bat their eye lids for rest! Later the sages brought the body
of Nimi and placed an ‘ arani’ on it. With holy mantras and incantations they
subjected the body to severe friction. Soon a great person came out of the body
of Nimi As he was born out of severe friction he was called “MITHI”. JANAKA,
and VAIDEHA! The city ruled by Mithi was called MITHILA!
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