The sad story of Kacha and Devayani

Sukra and Kacha

A long time ago devas and asuras were fighting for the dominance over the three worlds. The fight was very tough and the gods were in trouble because the guru of demons, Sukra, knew samjivini vidya, the antidote against death, enabling him to bring back to life the demons who had died in battle.

The gods then decided to take possession of this secret and sent Kacha, the son of their guru Brihaspati, in the kingdom of enemies.

Kacha was a very nice young man (Kacha means pretty) and especially very wise. Immediately went to the guru Sukra and humbly asked him to become his pupil.

Sukra was very surprised that the son of the guru of the gods came to him to become his student, but that young was sincere and had great qualities, so - respecting the rules of that time - the old guru took him in his ashram.

Kacha learned very quickly and held all the tasks that were assigned with seriousness. When he finished studying and working, he spent his time with Devayani, the beautiful daughter of Sukra.

Over time their friendship became something more  Devayani fell in love with Kacha, but she did not say anything to anyone because the daughter of the guru could not love a father's student.

Many years passed and the asuras discovered who he really was the new darling of Sukra and, fearing that he could steal the secret of the samjivini vidya, killed the boy.

When Kacha did not return to his hut, Devayani became concerned and went to the father who, thanks to his yogic powers, he realized that the boy had been killed.

Devayani began to cry and beg her father for him back to life, but Sukra did not want to use his power.

"How can you do this to me - she shouted - you have brought to life many of those warriors, why do you not revive the boy  which I love? If you do not, I'll die too."

Moved with compassion, the guru  recited the sanjini mantra and Kacha came back to life.

The demon did not give to losers, this time after killing the boy again, ripped him in and gave her flesh as food for the wild animals.

This time, however, the sage Sukra knew that his favorite pupil was killed and brought him back to life, by bringing together the pieces of his flesh once released from the belly of the animals.

At this point, the asuras devised a diabolical plan. They killed Kacha again, burned his body and broke his ashes into wine which the sage Sukra drank every night.

And so, before performing the rites of the evening, the old Brahmin drank his wine and, with it, even the poor Kacha.

When he realized that his disciple had been killed and that his ashes were now in his body, Sukra cursed himself and the wine he had drunk, and decided that from that moment it would have been forbitten to every Brahmin drinking wine.

What to do now? Bring back to life the young man meant to die. There was only one way to revive Kacha and at the same time, stay alive: teach Kacha the secret antidote so, once brought back to life by Sukra, in turn, could revive the guru. Only he, the wisest of the disciples, could learn it.

Sukra then taught the mantra to Kacha while the young man was still in the body of the teacher. Kacha came out alive from the limbs of Sukra and immediately revived the old guru to the delight of the beautiful Devayani who had her father and her loved boy again.

The teaching period ended, Kacha had reached the full knowledge and decided to take leave of Sukra.

It was time to Devayani, Kacha now it was no longer a pupil of her father and she told him that she loved him and wanted him as her husband.

Kacha was confused, he had a duty to perform towards his people, he had to come back and deliver the antidote to Brihaspati knowledge. " I cannot marry - he finally said - not because I was a student of your father, but because I was born from his gut and then I'me like your brother."

Desperate, Devayani began to shout, "You, a student cheating, you just wanted to know the samjivini vidya, you deceived me and my father, I curse you: you'll never get to use the knowledge that you have taken away with the deception!"

"I have not deceived anyone - Kacha said - I said who I was from the beginning and sanjini mantra taught me your father voluntarily. Your curse will not help, in fact I will not be able to do what I was taught, but nobody will prevent me from teaching it to others! I also curse you Devayani - continued Kacha - no Brahmin will ever want to marry."

That said, Kacha went and, thanks to his new knowledge, allowed the gods to prevail over the demons .