The Guilt Nobody Wanted

The gods had a house priest, and his name was Vishvarupa. He was the son of Tvashtri the craftsman. He was also, through his mother, a nephew of the Asuras, the enemies of the gods.

Vishvarupa had three heads. With one he drank Soma. With one he drank sura, the strong drink. With the third he ate ordinary food.

When he stood at the sacrifice he promised the gods their share out loud, where everyone could hear. Then, under his breath, he promised a share to the Asuras. And the priests who tell this story add a rule of their own: a share promised in secret is a share truly promised.

Indra watched him and was afraid.

"This one is turning the kingdom away from me," he thought.

He took up his thunderbolt and struck off the three heads. The one that drank Soma became a hazel-cock and flew. The one that drank sura became a sparrow. The one that ate food became a partridge.

Then Indra looked down. The guilt of the killing was there, and he had caught it in his own hand. He closed his fingers on it and carried it for a year.

Wherever he went that year, living things called after him.

"Brahmin-killer!" they cried. "You are a Brahmin-killer!"

At the end of the year he went to the Earth.

"Take a third of my guilt," he said.

"Let me choose a gift first," said the Earth. "Men dig into me. I think that one day the digging will be the end of me. Let it not be so."

"Before a year is out," Indra answered, "whatever is dug from you will grow over again."

So she took a third of the guilt. It shows on her still, the priests say, in the cracks that open in the ground by themselves. And a pit that men have dug fills up again within the year, because that was the gift she chose.

Then he went to the trees.

"Take a third of my guilt."

"Let us choose a gift," said the trees. "Men cut us. We think the cutting will be the end of us. Let it not be so."

"Where you are cut," said Indra, "more shoots shall spring than were there before."

So the trees took a third. In them it became sap, the red sap that runs from a wound in the bark. And a branch that is lopped puts out many shoots, because that was the gift they chose.

Last he went to a gathering of women.

"Take the last third of my guilt."

"Let us choose a gift," they said. "Let children come to us."

"They shall," said Indra.

So the women took the last third, and the priests say it shows in their monthly days. Children come to them, because that was the gift they chose.

Then Indra opened his hand, and it was empty.

The Bhagavata Purana tells this many centuries later, and it begins with a quarrel. Indra had slighted his own teacher, Brihaspati, and Brihaspati had walked away. The gods were left without a priest, and they asked Vishvarupa to take his place.

Here too he has three heads, one for Soma, one for wine and one for food. Here too he pours the offering to the gods aloud. But his mother's people were the demons, and so, when no one was looking, he poured a share for them as well.

Indra found out. He was frightened, and then he was angry, and in his anger he cut off the three heads. One became a francolin, one a sparrow and one a partridge.

Indra did not try to push the guilt away. He took it on himself and bore it for one year.

Then he divided it, not in three, but in four.

"Take a quarter," he said to the Earth, and she asked that the pits dug in her should fill of themselves. Her quarter is seen in the deserts.

"Take a quarter," he said to the trees, and they asked that their cut branches should grow again. Their quarter is seen in the sap that flows from them.

"Take a quarter," he said to the women, and they too chose a gift. Their quarter is seen in their monthly days.

"Take a quarter," he said to the waters. This is the share the old telling does not have. The waters asked that whatever they were mixed with should grow greater. Their quarter is seen in bubbles and foam.

So Indra was free of that guilt. But Tvashtri had lost a son, and he was already building a fire.