Agnidev continued to be the carrier of offerings…

When the fire-God, thus, withdrew his glow from the universe, the main three kinds of fires – the ritualistic fire, the homely fire and the fire that burns during the activities pertaining to one’s fathers and fore-fathers – stopped burning and all the activities were stalled all of a sudden and it was chaos all over.

All the sages in the hermitages and all the common family men in their homes were astonished to witness the sudden change that took place. As fear gripped them, they all ran to Brahmadev.

Brahmadev understood all that happened consequent to the curse spoken against Agnidev by the sage Bhrigu and called Agni to his presence and said:

prakaTita bhūta saMtatiki bhartavu nīva, charāchara pravR
ttiki mari hētubhūtuDavu, dēvamukhuMDavu niica, lōkapā
vakuDavu nīva; yiTTi yanavadya guNuMDavu nīku viSvabhā
raka! bhuvanapravartana parānmukha bhāvamu boMda bāDiyē?
(from Andhra Mahābhāratami, Ādi prrvamu)

చ. ప్రకటిత భూత సంతతికి భర్తవు నీవ, చరాచర ప్రవృ
     త్తికి మఱి హేతుభూతుఁడవు, దేవముఖుండవు నీవ, లోకపా
     వకుఁడవు నీవ; యిట్టి యనవద్య గుణుండవు నీకు విశ్వభా
     రక! భువనప్రవర్తన పరాఙ్ముఖభావముఁ బొందఁ బాడియే?
(ఆంధ్రమహాభారతము, ఆదిపర్వం, ప్రథమాశ్వాసం, 142)

You act as the bearer of all beings present themselves on earth;
you are responsible for all manifestations of things static, non-static;
you act as the face of all Gods on earth; you purify all on earth;
Oh Bearer of the universe! does it suit you to turn indifferent?

Though cursing in nature, since the words uttered by the great sage Bhrigu were permanent and could not be summarily made non-effective, Brahmadev prayed to Agni….

“As per his curse you could be all devouring, but no impurity would result from that act and you would remain the purest among the pure, you would be the first among the Gods to be worshipped during all Vedic rituals. You would remain the carrier of all presentations and offerings to the Gods made by men during the rituals that are performed strictly following the principles laid down in Vedic texts. You would continue to assist the performers of all the Vedic rituals. Therefore please continue to bear the burden of managing the affairs of the universe as you were doing before!”

Brahma thus resolved the unfortunate occurence and saw to it that words and deeds of both Bhrigu and Agni were properly established.

Fire-God’s withdrawal from the world…

There was a great sage named Bhrigu. Puloma was his wife. She was in advanced stage of pregnancy and was expecting her child very soon. Both were living in a jungle in their hermitage built with thatch and straw.

One day the sage Bhrigu, while going to have bath in the nearby river, asked his wife Puloma to collect some firewood and make the fire ready for him to perform the daily ritual. While Puloma was engaged in preparing and lighting the fire in the ritual place in their abode, a queer demon named Pulomu came there and saw Puloma. He asked the fire-God present in the burning ritual-fire about Puloma. The fire-God, fearing that telling a lie would harm him, told Pulomu the fact that she was the sage Bhrigu’s wife.

On hearing that, Pulomu realised that Puloma was the woman he was once about to marry but latter was married by the sage Bhrigu. He immediately changed into a wild boar, grabbed Puloma and placed her on his back and started running away from the sage Bhrigu’s place. After going some distance, Puloma started to struggle very badly and started crying in pain. Not able to run any further with Puloma in that bad stage, Pulomu stopped. Puloma gave birth to a male child. His name was Chyavana. Pulomu looked at the boy in amazement. But the power inherited from his father Bhrigu was so great that Pulomu was burnt down to a heap of ashes on mere looking at Chyavana.

The trouble created by Pulomu had thus disappeared. Carrying the boy in her hands, Puloma returned to their hermitage. Bhrigu was already there looking for Puloma. On seeing him, she explained to him all that happened and shown the newly born child, Chyavana. Bhrigu asked her to tell him who revealed her identity to the demon Pulomu. She told him that it was the fire-God residing in the ritual fire that revealed her name to Pulomu.

On listening to this, Bhrigu immediately in anger cursed the fire-God “From now on, you become too cruel and an all-eating-one!”

The fire-God was pained to receive the curse almost for no reason from the sage Bhrigu and said to him in anguish…

tana yerigina yarthaM boru
Danaghā! yidi yeTlu seppumani yaDigina je
ppanivāDunu satyamu se
ppanivāDunu ghōra naraka paMkamuna baDun.
(from Andhra Mahabhāratam, Ādi parvam)

క. తన యెఱిఁగిన యర్థం బొరుఁ
డనఘా! యిది యెట్లు సెప్పుమని యడిగినఁ జె
ప్పనివాఁడును సత్యము సె
ప్పనివాఁడును ఘోరనరక పంకమునఁ బడున్.
(ఆంధ్రమహాభారతం, ఆదిపర్వం, ప్రథమాశ్వాసం, 136)

One who doesn’t tell when someone asks
To kindly reveal the fact one is readily aware,
And the one who does not tell at all times
the truth, will fall into the hell of horrible mire.

The fire-God took shelter under the above law of virtue – of always telling the truth – and told to Bhrigu that, himself being the witnesser of all things that happen in the entire universe, he had no other option than to reveal the truth to Pulomu. He also said to Bhrigu “without thinking even a moment about the good and bad consequences of what you are doing, you have handed over me a great curse which will do more damage to the world”. Saying that to the sage Bhrigu, the fire-God, fearing contamination that would result from the sage Bhrigu’s curse of devouring anything and everything, irrespective of pious and non-pious things, he withdrew his glow, that was spread all over the world and left.

Nannaya’s Poems of good words & spritual wisdom – 1

bahu bhāshala bahu vidhamula
bahu janamula valna vinucu bhārata baddha
spRhulagu vāriku neppuDu
bahuyāgaMbula phalaMbu paramārtha milan.
(Andhra Mahābhāratam-AdiparvaM) 

క. బహుభాషల బహువిధముల
    బహుజనములవలన వినుచు భారత బద్ధ
    స్పృహులగు వారికి నెప్పుడు
    బహుయాగంబుల ఫలంబు పరమార్థ మిలన్.
     (ఆంధ్ర మహాభారతము, ఆదిపర్వం, ప్రథమ, 17)

Persons who listen to Mahābhārata in different languages
In many different ways from different learned personalities
And get themselves dedicated to the ways of wisdom therein
Accrue spiritual results equal to performing Vedic rituals many.

అనేక భాషలలో, అనేక ప్రక్రియలలో పలువురు జనులవలన భారత కథను వింటూ అందులో అధికమైన ఆసక్తిని పెంచుకున్నవారికి అనేక యజ్ఞాలు చేయటం వలన కలిగే ఫలం గొప్ప ప్రయోజనంగా సమకూరుతుంది – అని భావం.

There is a general opinion among the people that there is no aspect of human life that has not been covered in the great epic Sri Mahābhārata. People consider it a repertory or a reference book for dealing with different critical situations arising out of greed, jealousy and unnecessary spite of different persons in a family. Nannaya Bhattāraka who started the translation of the great epic from Sanskrit to Telugu, in the introductory stanzas of the Telugu work, said the same thing in the above poem. The poem clearly said that persons who thoroughly understand the different aspects of human life discussed in the epic poem, the Mahābhāratam, and dedicate themselves to dealing with things according to the methods spelt out therein, would definitely get benefited in many ways and they would get spiritual benefits equal to performing many Vedic rituals.   

Nannaya’s wisdom words – 1

Occurrence of unexpected fears and misfortunes…

tagunidi tagadani yedaloe
vagavaka, saadhulaku peadavaarala keggul
mogi jeayu durviniitula
kagu nanimittagamaMbu layina bhayaMbul.
(Andhra Mahabharatam, Adi parvamu)

కం. తగు నిది తగ దని యెదలో
వగవక, సాధులకు పేదవారల కెగ్గుల్
మొగి జేయు దుర్వినీతుల
కగు ననిమిత్తాగమంబు లయిన భయంబుల్.
(*నన్నయ భారతం, ఆదిపర్వం, ప్రథమాశ్వాసం, 85)

To the immoral persons who harm
The poor and the pious, without remorse in heart
Whether it is fit to be done or not,
Would happen unexpected fears and misfortunes.

This above verse is taken from the 1st Canto (Adi parvamu) of Sri Andhra Mahabharatam (authored by Poetic trinity of Telugu Classical literature) which is formed entirely by poems of metrical compositions. Of the three poets, *Nannaya Bhattaraka (11 Century AD) is considered the poet who initiated it all, by making his own rules and following only his own decisions regarding the form and structure of the entire poem, while translating from the Sanskrit Mahabharata composed by the ascetic Veda Vyasa. Nannaya is, therefore, called the ‘aadi kavi‘- ie., the initiating poet so far as the ocean of Telugu Classical literature is concerned. Nannaya bhattu composed the first two cantos ie., ‘aadi parvam‘ and ‘sabhaa parvam‘ fully and half of the third canto, the ‘aranya parvam‘. The remaining two of the Poetic trinity, the poets Tikkana and Errana completed the composing of the Andhra Mahabharatam in 13th and 14th centuries respectively.