Ruru belonged to Bhrigu Vamsa( Bhrigu Dynasty). Bhrigu Maharshi was an extremely talented person. Puloma was his pregnant wife. One day Bhrigu asked her to take care of Agnihotras while he went to the river to take a dip. In the meantime a Demon named Pulomudu came there and saw her. He was mesmerized by her divine beauty and he was filled with lust and craved to possess her. He then was thinking " Is this is divine beauty Puloma whom I wanted to marry?. Who should I ask now? Oh, Let me ask Agnihotra".
Agnihotra was in a very difficult situation to answer the question of Pulomudu. He thought "If he tells the truth them Pulomudu will abduct her and take away and Bhrigu will curse for telling the truth and causing harm to his wife. If I tell a lie then I will have AsatyaDosha( A sin caused because of telling lies). What should I do now? I better take the consequences of a curse rather than lying". And he told Pulomudu that she was the wife of Bhrigu, Puloma.
Pulomudu said " I always knew she was Puloma. She was supposed to be my wife, Bhrigu never even thought about this and he married her." He took the form of a Pig and abducted her. Puloma started screaming for help, and she cried bitterly. Her tears formed a river on the way, thus forming the river Vadhusaradhi. The evil deeds of Pulomudu caused anger to the fetus inside Puloma. The fetus came out with extreme anger, he was called as Chyavana, a very powerful child. He came out with thousand times the brightness of the Sun. He was raging like a wild fierce fire. Chyavana fell on Pulomudu and he turned in to ashes. Puloma took her baby boy and returned home.
Bhrigu completed his bath and returned to the Ashram, he saw the river Vadhusara and was astonished. When he entered the house he saw his wife with a baby. She told him what happened. Bhrigu Maharshi became extremely furious asked her how Pulomudu could recognize her. Puloma said “As soon as he saw me he became lunatic, he went and asked Agni and got the information. He then broke in to the house like a Pig." Bhrigu became extremely furious and cursed Agni " You are such an evil doer. You shall be Sarva Bhakshakudu (eat anything and everything)."
Agni said “How can you do this to me, All I was doing was telling the truth. Is it a wrongful deed to tell the truth? A person who does not tell the truth or tries to hide Truth shall go to Naraka. I was afraid of AsatyaDosha and told the truth. I am the KarmaSakshi(witness of all action) for the whole world, How can I lie? You cursed me for uttering the truth. You are relieved as you are a Rishi, but I am a servant of the world and by cursing me you have harmed the world. All the offerings given to Gods and Forefathers are given to me, they receive them solely because of me.If I become Sarva Bhakshakudu, then I will become impure. And because of my impurity the day to day activities in the world will be stopped. If you wish to do this, then carry on". He then took his real form and the world became devoid of fire.
All the lamps went off at once, there was no fire anywhere. All the Yagnas were stopped, everything that needed fire was stopped abruptly including cooking. The Gods have not received offerings and they were hungry too. Everyone rushed to LordBrahma. He then realized that Bhrigu Maharshi's curse is responsible for all this commotion. He then called Agni and said “All the world has halted, please come back. You are very important for survival of all the beings. You are the source of food for Gods, and saviour of the World. If you are angry then it is very difficult for everyone. Bhrigu Maharshi cursed you to become Sarva Bhakshaka, his words wont go waste. You will remain pure, nothing can scathe your purity. You are the purest form of anything. Please come back and get the world going." He also prayed and requested Agni to come back. Agni calmed down and took his normal form, the world got back to life. LordBrahma could convince Agni but he could not make any changes to Bhrigu Maharshi's curse, that is the power of his curse. Ruru is the grandson of Bhrigu Maharshi.
Chyavana was the son of Bhrigu Maharshi, he married Sukanya, the daughter of King Sharyati and had a son Pramati. Ruru is the son of Pramati and Apsara Ghrutachi. Ruru fell in love with Pramadhvara, daughter of Menaka and Gandharva King Vishvavasa. Menaka left Pramadhvara in a forest after giving birth to her. A Muni called SthulaKesa brought her to his Ashram and raised her. She was most beautiful among others in the Ashram. Hence she was called Pramadhvara. After knowing the love of Ruru for Pramadhvara, Pramati decided to get them married. They also decided on the date and time for the ceremony.
One day Pramadhvara was playing with her friends, she accidentally steps on a snake. The snake bites her and Pramadhvara dies. Pramadhvara's friends flee the site with fear. The news spread like a wild fire, people were devastated. Great Sages like Gautama, Kanva, Kutsa, Kaushika, Shankapala, Bharadwaja, Valakhilya, Uddalaka, SwethaKethu and Maitreya were there to offer their condolenses. Pramati and Ruru were also present. Pramadhara appeared to be sleeping like a flower in spite of being dead.
Ruru was not able to stand her death, he was devastated. He went in to the forest and shouted out Pramadhvara's name and cried bitterly. The rocks were moved by his tears and they started crying too. Ruru said " Is there anyone who can make my Pramadhvara alive? Any Great doctors, saints, please come her and make her alive. I will give you all the essense of my penance. I will give you all the good Karma I did". He then started shouting " If my penance has any effect then my Pramadhvara will come back alive. If I had served my teachers well then my Pramadhvara will come back to me." He started praying to all gods, he then saw a messenger of god in the sky. The messenger said “Pramadhvara has completed her years in earth, and she went back to heaven. But I do see one remedy. And it is in your hands. If you can give half of your life span to her then she will survive" and he then vanished in to thin air.
Ruru was extremely happy and he agreed to this. He gave half of his life span to Pramadhvara and made her alive. She was happier than before. They both then got married, but he could not forgive the serpents. He made a vow to himself of ending the serpent population on earth. He took a stick and started killing the snakes; he searched every snake hole and killed every snake that he came across. One day he found a snake with two heads, Ruru immediately held his stick to kill the snake. The snake shouted " Hari Hari" like a man, Ruru stopped. The snake said “You look like a great sage to me, why are you killing all snakes? What did we do to you?” Ruru said “Now you ask me what you did? You guys bit my Pramadhvara and caused a lot of agony to me. You guys should not be allowed to live on earth. I swore to kill all snakes. You will shut your mouth with this beat" and tried to hit the snake. Before Ruru beat him the snake transformed in to a Muni. Ruru was shocked and said “Who are you? Why are you in a snake disguise?".
He said " I am Sahasrapada, I got this because I made fun of someone. KhagaMukha was an acquaintance of mine, he was performing Agnihotra one day, I threw a snake made of grass at him just to make fun. He was frightened, I laughed at him. He got furious and cursed me that I would become a non poisonous snake. I begged him to forgive me and take back the curse. But he said that I will have to stay like this until you come my way and relieve me of this curse." I have lived this life all these days and now you have come and rescued me, I am very thankful to you. Sahasrapada said " Mahamuni ( Oh great Sage), killing living beings is a beastly act, this act is only appropriate for Kshatriya, but not us Brahmin. What ever you have done is past now, please refrain from this now". Ruru stopped killing snakes from then onwards.
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