Lakshmana said to a grieving Rama - It has been seven days and you have been ignoring your kingdom. You will have to suffer hell for this. You will then go the way that king Mriga went.
Long ago the land of Pushkar was ruled by a king called Mrigeshwar.
The king went to the pilgrim site of Prabhas and there he distributed cows to the brahmans. Among the cows was a cow that belonged to a brahman called Agnivesh. The brahman was meditating and realized that his cow had been given away. He went to the king and saw his cow among the herd of cows. He called out to his cow and cow recognizing him, responded back and came to him.
The person who had been gifted the cow came running and said the brahman was stealing his cow.
An argument started among the two and the king got to know this. he realized he had unknowling given away a cow which was not his. Not knowing what to do, the king went in hiding.
The two people who were quarreling waited for the king to come. When the king never came, they brahmans cursed the king to turn into an animal.
Rama decided to return back and took over the reigns of the kingdom. The sages came to see Rama and meet him. At that instance, a dog also appeared. The dog was white in color and had been starving. It was limping having hurt a leg and had wounds on its body. Lakshmana asked the dog why it had come there. The dog said It wanted to meet Rama and tell him about his trouble.
Lakshmana went inside and told Rama about the dog. Rama agreed to see the dog.
The Dog said You are the Lord of the three worlds.
Rama said You are praising me. Why do you come here, to me?
The dog said it had been beaten by a sage, for no fault of his. Why had the sage struck him?
Rama said justice would be given and ordered the sage to be brought there.
Rama asked the sage why after having renounced everything, had he hit an animal.
The sage said The whole day I prayed and in the evening I begged for food. Whatever I got I used to get that to my hut. On the way was this dog who was not leaving my path, so I had to hit it to move it.
Rama asked the court if they could give justice. The people said the dog was to be punished as the road belonged to no one.
Rama said he would punish the sage but stopping him from going to the river for his bath. The dog said No, it would be better to give him the kingdom of Kalinja and make him the king.
Everyone laughed listening to this.
Rama said You wanted justice and needed the sage punished.
The dog said In my earlier birth I was the king of Kalinja. I was a devotee of Shiva and used to worship a blue Shiva Linga regularly. There was a curse there, and the king when he died would be born as a dog. You think the sage will prosper, but when he dies he will become a dog too. I am relieved as I have seen you.
Saying this the dog left and then fasted to death, having seen Rama.
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