Satyatapa

The boar now told prithivi the story of the sage Satyatapa.

Satyatapa meditated in the mountains that were to the north of the Himalayas. One day, the sage lost one of his fingers while he was chopping wood. Wonder of wonders, instead of blood issuing from the wound, only ashes came out. Also, the sage simply replaced the severed finger and it got attached to his hand again.

A kinnara couple lived in a tree near Satyatapa’s hermitage. (The kinnaras were a semi-divine species.) The couple marvelled at the sage’s power and went and reported the incident to Indra. Indra and Vishnu decided that they would test the extent of Satyatapa’s powers.

Vishnu transformed himself into a huge boar that had been pierced by an arrow, and began to wander around the hermitage. Indra transformed himself into a hunter and came to the hermitage.

“Have you seen an injured boar around this place?” asked Indra. “I shot it with an arrow, but it ran away. I have to kill the boar, otherwise my family will starve to death.