Ashtavakra was a great sage. He was given this name because his body was bent in eight places, which is what his name literally means. When he was still a baby in his mother’s belly, his father would read aloud sacred verses to him, every night.
Even before his birth, Ashtavakra was so intelligent that he once corrected his father when he mispronounced a verse. His father was short-tempered and tired. He cursed the unborn baby to be born deformed. The curse took hold, and Ashtavakra was born with eight crooks in his body.
People laughed at his appearance in derision as a child wherever he went. Undeterred, he became a learned sage. At a very young age, he had learnt to look not at people’s appearance or status but at their inner qualities. He composed the Ashtavakra Gita.
This is in the form of a dialogue between Ashtavakra and King Janaka, the king of Mithila and the father of Devi Sita. Though a very knowledgeable sage, Ashtavakra was reluctant to take disciples, so he had very few. When King Janaka heard the sage, he was very impressed by his knowledge and wisdom. Janaka humbly requested
Ashtavakra to accept him as a disciple. Ashtavakra immediately agreed. This caused some heartburn among his other disciples.
They said, ‘Our guru too plays favourites. Otherwise, why did he accept the king as a disciple without any of the trials that he had us face?’
The talk reached Ashtavakra’s ears too. One day, King Janaka was late in attending Ashtavakra’s discourse. All the other disciples were already gathered and waiting. The moment the king dismounted his horse, Ashtavakra said, ‘Today, I had a terrible vision.
The capital of Mithila will be destroyed by earthquake and fire. All the people in the city will die. Those of you who have loved ones or valuables in the city must hurry there now to save whatever you can.’
There was unrest among the monks, and all of them quickly left for the capital. Only King Janaka and Ashtavakra were left sitting. Ashtavakra said, ‘O King! Would you not save anything?’
King Janaka said, ‘O Guru! You are my only treasure.’ Ashtavakra nodded and said, ‘If that is the case, mount your horse now, and go and gather my students back to me. Tell them that I have been mistaken, and the capital is in no danger.’
When the other disciples came back, they grumbled about being sent on foolish errands here and there. Slowly, however, they understood that Ashtavakra had not accepted Janaka as a disciple because he was a king but because he had recognised that Janaka was a true student.