662 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 13

bika, mother of Maharaja Pandu. He is the incarnation of Yamaraja.
Being cursed by Manduka Muni, he was to become a sudra. The story is
narrated as follows. Once upon a time the state police caught some thieves
who concealed themselves in the hermitage of Manduka Muni. The police
constables, as usual, arrested all the thieves and Manduka Muni along with
them. The Magistrate specifically punished the muni to death by being
pierced with a lance. When he was just to be pierced, the news reached the
king, and he at once stopped the act on consideration of his being a great
muni. The king personally begged the muni’s pardon for the mistake of
his men, and the saint at once went to Yamaraja, who prescribes the
destiny of living beings. Yamaraja, being questioned by the muni, replied
that the muni in his childhood pierced an ant with a sharpened straw, and
for that reason he was put into difficulty. The muni thought it unwise on
the part of Yamaraja that he was punished for his childish innocence, and
thus the muni cursed Yamaraja to become a sudra, and this sudra incar-
nation of Yamaraja was known as Vidura, the sudra brother of Dhrtarastra
and Maharaja Pandu. But this sudra son of the Kuru dynasty was equally
treated by Bhismadeva, along with his other nephews, and in due course
Vidura was married with a girl who was also born in the womb of a sudrani
by a brahmana. Although Vidura did not inherit the property of his
father (the brother of Bhismadeva), still he was given sufficient state pro-
perty by Dhrtarastra, the elder brother of Vidura. Vidura was very much
attached to his elder brother, and all along he tried to guide him in the
right path. During the fratricidal war of Kuruksetra, Vidura repeatedly
implored his elder brother to do justice to the sons of Pandu, but
Duryodhana did not like such interference by his uncle, and thus he
practically insulted Vidura. This resulted in Vidura’s leaving home for
pilgrimage and taking instructions from Maitreya.

TEXT 2

TAA: HHA KAY TN HIATT: |
oN
TIT TNR
yavatah krtavan prasnan
ksatta kausaravagratah
jataika-bhaktir govinde
tebhyas copararama ha
yavatah—all that; krtavan—did he put; prasnan—questions; ksatta—a
name of Vidura; kausarava ~a name of Maitreya;agratah -in the presence
