Once upon a time, there was a Brahman in the city of Pratisthana. His name was Kaushik. In spite of being a brahman who had studied the Vedas, he ignored his duties out of desire. He was attracted to a courtesan named Madhavi, despite having a lovely, devout wife named Sandeeli. He left his wife in his ancestral home in a nearby village, and he himself started to stay with the courtesan. He used to spend all of his earnings on her and was ignorant of his own wife.
But soon his perverted lifestyle paid him back. He was affected by leprosy. The courtesan threw him out of her house. Kaushik had no other choice but to go to his wife. But Sandeeli was truly a devout wife who pardoned her husband and made a wholehearted effort to comfort him. But slowly, the condition of Kaushik deteriorated. One day, that wretched Brahman asked his wife that he wanted to see the courtesan Madhavi for once. Instead of being angry, Sandeeli decided to fulfill the wishes of her husband. She went to Madhavi and requested that she come to their village home for once. But the courtesan refused right away. Thus, she decided to take her husband to the courtesan's house.
As she had no money left to hire a cart, she decided to carry her husband on her back all the way from the village to the city. She walked all day under the scorching sun, and when she reached the city wall, it was near midnight. Outside the city wall, there were some thieves and criminals who were impaled for their heinous crimes. Most of them were dead, but some were alive, sometimes screaming in unbearable agony. Sandeeli was extremely tired and decided to take some rest there before entering the city. She put her husband down, sat on the grass, and exclaimed in satisfaction that now her husband's wish could be fulfilled.
Suddenly, she heard that someone was asking for water in a very faint voice. She looked around and saw that there was an impaled man who was looking straight at her and was asking for water. Out of sympathy, she went to the man and helped him to drink some water. She looked closely at the person. He appeared to be more like a recluse than a thief. So, she asked for his identity and for what crime he was bestowed upon such a harsh punishment. The person disclosed that he was the sage Mandavya.
Rishi Mandavya was a very humble and virtuous sage. He was well versed in all the Vedas and was a disciple of Maharshi Atri. He used to stay in a small hut beside a forest on the outskirts of Pratisthana, secluded from the rest of the world. Once, he decided to follow certain yogic rituals for spiritual upliftment. He so vowed to refrain from speaking for a month under all circumstances.
One day, three notorious thieves entered into his place after being chased by the royal guards. They somehow managed to rob the royal treasury and decided to hide there with all of their loot. But the guards were able to trace the culprits and managed to catch them red-handed. The royal guards thought that the sage Mandavya was among the thieves and arrested him too. The king ordered to impale all the thieves outside the city wall. As Mandavya was strictly maintaining his silence due to the vow, he could not defend himself. King was also unaware that he condemned an innocent sage. Soon, the royal guards executed the king's order and impaled all of them outside the city. Because of the yoga and enormous inner strength, Mandavya remained alive for days, though the thieves died soon. But he was suffering from unbearable pain. Still, he did not make any sound out of his mouth.
One night, he saw that a woman was passing by to enter the city with a laper on her back. At the same time, Mandavya fulfilled his vow, and seeing the lady, he asked for water in a faint voice. The lady was indeed kind. She brought water in a broken pot and helped him drink. As she asked about him, Mandavya slowly explained to her how he ended up there. In spite of his own agony, Mandavya asked the woman about her, and it was revealed that she was Sandeeli, the daughter of a virtuous Brahman who was a priest in the sun temple of Pratisthana. The woman, Sandeeli, explained the entire story to the sage.
The sage was astonished and disgusted at the same time. Seeing that the wretched man was chitting his such devout wife even in that situation, Mandavya could not stop to reprimand Kaushik. But instead of being ashamed, the laper became angry, saying that he was not interested in taking advice from a lowlife like an impaled thief, and pushed the sage with his feeble hand. Mandavya was already in great pain. But even the little push from Kaushik intensified his pain manyfold. That infuriated Mandavya much, and he cursed the brahman, telling him that he would perish the moment sun rose on the next morning. Sandeeli cried upon hearing that. She had no strength left to take her husband to the courtesan's house before taking some rest. And if her husband dies the next morning, then his wish will remain unfulfilled. Thus, she begged Mandavya to take back the curse. But Mandavya told her that once told, the words from the mouth cannot be taken back. So, she prayed to the sun god not to rise the next morning. The sun god was so impressed by her devotion that he took the vow not to rise again until Sandeeli gave him permission to do so.
Therefore, the sun did not rise in the sky the next morning. The entire world remained in darkness. Humans and all other animals were confused because of the never-ending night. The sun did not rise consecutively for ten days. The evils of darkness became happy and powerful. They started to cause havoc. The gods were also unable to understand what was happening. Thus, the gods asked for an explanation from the sun god himself, who told them about Sandeeli. The gods realized that Sandeeli could never be an ordinary woman. Her flawless character, determination, and selfless devotion have given her such unfathomable power. So, the gods asked Sage Anasuya, the virtuous wife of Sage Atri, to intervene.
Thus, Anasuya went to see Sandeeli, who was still sitting outside the house of courtesan Madhavi with her husband. Anasooya told Sandeeli that, as she had prevented the sun from rising, the balance of the entire universe had been lost. She managed to persuade Sandeeli to permit the sun to rise again. As soon as the sun rose, Kaushik died at the same moment. But Anasuya immediately sprinkled some holy water on him, which not only gave Kaushik life but also cured him of his disease. Kaushik not only got back his health but his mind as well. He understood the value of love and devotion. He vowed that he would never allow himself to displace from the path of justice and would remain loyal to his wife till the end of his life.
By this time, the king of Pratisthana had become aware of everything and rushed to the city wall, where impaled Mandavya was still suffering. The king stooped in front of the sage and asked for his forgiveness. He asked his guards to remove the spear from Sage's body. But after lots of effort, they all failed to free the sage. Hence, the king ordered to cut the spear. The sage was freed, but the tip of the spear (ani) remained inside his body, thus giving him the name Ani-mandavya. Devi Anasooya sprinkled her blessed water on the sage to heal him and ease his pain.
But Sage Mandavya was not happy, as he wanted to know for what sin he received such a fearful punishment. On his request, Sage Atri and Devi Anasooya invoked Lord Yama (god of the underworld, also known as Dharma). Dharma told Mandavya that this was the result of his past sin, when he tormented and killed a small bird with a sharp stick. But Mandavya protested, as he did commit the crime when he was merely a child of eight years old, and Veda clearly says that no sin is counted if done before the age of twelve. Yama had no answer to the argument. Mandavya cursed him to be born as a sudra for unjustly punishing a brahman. Thus, Yama was born as Vidur during the era of the Mahabharata.
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