Webbanner.jpg

The wicked sadhus of Jagnathpuri

Nilkantvarni resided in Kapil Ashram for approximately one month and then recommenced His journey until He arrived at the holy city of Jagnathpuri in the state of Orrisa. (Jagnathpuri is also called Purshotampattan). Here Nilkantvarni performed prayers and did Darshan of Lord Jagnath. Jagnathpuri was the home of many sadhus. Some were wise and good but there were also a lot of wicked sadhus who would demand food and money for self-satisfaction. During his stay, Nilkantvarni preached true dharma to the people of Jagnathpuri by the banks of Lake Indradhaman in the city. The people of Jagnathpuri enjoyed listening to Him and offered gifts to Nilkantvarni. Nilkantvarni however did not preach to obtain worldly gifts; He preached in order to spread true dharma.

On seeing these events the wicked sadhus became angry and jealous as the people of the city began to think of Nilkantvarni as a God. The wicked sadhus therefore conspired to kill Nilkantvarni. They summoned all the sadhus and discussed the manner in which they would kill Nilkantvarni but each sadhu had his on thoughts and was as stubborn as the next, each wanting to kill Him in their own way, due to the lack of knowledge and selfishness the sadhus began to argue amongst themselves which led to bloodshed. They fought for some two months during which many of the wicked sadhus were killed and many ran away. The battle came to an end with the sadhus too weak to continue fighting. Nilkantvarni stayed in Jagnathpuri for a further ten months, redeeming its people and sadhus, many of those who had conspired to kill Him. He then continued walking, through a dense, dark forest and eventually came to a town called Manasputtan.

This town was reigned by King Satradharma, who was a very religious minded king. Satradharma welcomed Nilkantvarni with open arms and offered Him a place to stay so that he and his people could hear Nilkantvarni's preaching. Nilkantvarni accepted the king's offer and many of the towns people came to listen to Him. Meanwhile, many of the wicked sadhus who had run away in defeat from Jagnathpuri were settled in Manasputtan and seeing Nilkantvarni again, they once again plotted to kill Him. They gathered during the night and threw large stones at Nilkantvarni as He was sitting in a trance. In the morning, the king saw the stones scattered around Nilkantvarni who was not bruised by any of the stones, as if he was protected by some invisible shield placed around Him. The king realised that this child must be some special person and that God was protecting Him, and in his rage, he sent his loyal army to kill the wicked sadhus. Nilkantvarni asked the king why he had ordered his army to kill these sadhus. The king replied, "It is the Dharma of all Shatriyas, i.e. Kings, to protect and defend his Kingdom and its Subjects."