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The Story of Brahmadutt Chakravarti
From the Yogashastra, Second Illumination, Verse 27:
In ancient times, in the city of Saket, there was a king named Chandravamsak. He had a son named Munichandra, who had a charming, moon-like appearance. Detached from the burdens of worldly pleasures, he took initiation (diksha) from Sagarchandramuni. While following the venerable path of renunciation, he once went on a journey with his guru to another region. On the way, he went to a village for alms, but by the time he returned, the caravan had already left. Separated from the caravan, he began to wander alone in the forest, like a deer separated from the herd. Afflicted by hunger and thirst, he fell ill there. Four cowherds then took care of him like kinsmen. To repay their kindness, the monk gave them spiritual teachings. Indeed, noble people show compassion even to those who have harmed them, so why not to their benefactors? Hearing the teachings, the cowherds became detached from the world and took initiation from the monk. The four of them appeared as if the four types of dharma had taken embodied form. Two of them diligently practiced the dharma, while the other two despised it. "Ah, how strange the ways of dharma are!" Those two monks who criticized dharma also eventually went to the celestial realm after completing their lifespan. "Indeed, even a single day's penance can surely take the soul to heaven."
After their celestial sojourn, they were born as twin sons to a maidservant named Jayavanti, belonging to the Shandilya Brahmin family in the city of Dashpur. As they grew up, they started taking care of the fields as per their father's instructions, as is the duty of servant-born sons. One night, a black snake emerged from a hole in the field where they were sleeping and bit one of them, just like the brother of Yama (the god of death). When the other brother woke up and tried to find the snake, the wicked snake suddenly attacked and bit him as well. There was no one there to remove the poison, so the poor fellows succumbed to death right there. They departed from this world just as they had arrived. Cursed is the fruitless birth in this world.
After death, they were born as a pair of deer in the meadows of the Kalinjara mountain. One day, while the two deer were grazing together affectionately, a hunter suddenly shot them both with a single arrow. Dying there, they were then born as a pair of swans in the womb of a royal swan in the Ganga river. Once, as the two swans were playing in a lake, a water predator caught them and twisted their necks, killing them. Indeed, this is the fate of the unrighteous.
After that, they were born as the two sons, named Chitra and Sambhuti, of the wealthy Matanga chieftain Bhutadatta in Varanasi. Here too, they were deeply attached to each other, inseparable like nails and flesh.
At that time, King Shankha was ruling in Varanasi, and his prime minister was the renowned Namuchi. One day, the king handed over Namuchi to the Chandala (outcaste) Bhutadatta to be executed for some grave offense. The king said, "If you secretly educate my two sons in the underground chamber, I will protect you as my own kinsman." Namuchi accepted the Matanga's words, for a person seeking livelihood will do anything.
Namuchi then began teaching various disciplines to Chitra and Sambhuti. Meanwhile, he also developed an inappropriate relationship with the wife of Matanga chieftain Bhutadatta. When Bhutadatta learned of this, he was enraged and prepared to kill him. But the Matanga sons secretly helped Namuchi escape to save his life. Fleeing from there, Namuchi went to Hastinapura and became the minister of Sanatkumara Chakravarti.
Meanwhile, as Chitra and Sambhuti grew up, they began to roam the earth freely, like the Ashwini Kumara devas.