Kalmāṣapāda
Sign in to saveAlso known as Kalmashapada
Kalmashapada (), also known as Saudasa (), Mitrasaha (), and Amitrasaha () is a king of the Ikshvaku dynasty (the Solar dynasty) In Hindu scriptures, who was cursed to be a rakshasa (demon) by the sage Shakti. He is described as an ancestor of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu and the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana.
Key facts
- Character.info hdr
- Information
- Character.family
- Sudasa (father)
- Character.race
- Ikshvaku dynasty
- Character.spouse
- Madayanti
- Character.children
- Asmaka (acknowledged son, born by Vashistha)
via Wikipedia infobox
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
10 sectionsContents
- Description
- Legend
- Shakti's curse
- Vashishtha's curse
- Life as a rakshasa
- Liberation from the curse and children
- Buddhist Version
- See also
- References
- Sources
Kalmashapada (), also known as Saudasa (), Mitrasaha (), and Amitrasaha () is a king of the Ikshvaku dynasty (the Solar dynasty) In Hindu scriptures, who was cursed to be a rakshasa (demon) by the sage Shakti. He is described as an ancestor of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu and the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana.
Many texts narrate how Kalmashapada was cursed to die if he had intercourse with his queen, so he obtained a son from Vashishtha by niyoga, an ancient tradition whereby a husband can nominate another man to impregnate his wife. Kalmashapada's story is narrated in various works, including the classic epic poems Mahabharata and Ramayana, and the Puranas.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Kalmāṣapāda” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.