PLATE THREE
Gajendra, the King of the elephants, had formerly been a Vaiṣṇava king of the country known as Pāṇḍya, which is in the province of Draviḍa (South India). In his previous life he was known as Indradyumna Mahārāja. Indradyumna had retired from family life and gone to the Malaya Hills, where he had a small cottage for his  āśrama . He wore matted locks on his head and always engaged in austerities. Once, while observing a vow of silence, he was fully engaged in the worship of the Lord and absorbed in the ecstasy of love of Godhead when the great sage Agastya Muni arrived, surrounded by his disciples. When the  muni  saw that King Indradyumna remained silent and did not follow the etiquette of offering him a reception, he became very angry and spoke this curse against the King: “This King Indradyumna is not at all gentle. Being low and uneducated, he has insulted a  brāhmaṇa . May he therefore enter the region of darkness and receive the dull, dumb body of an elephant.” (pp. 127–130)