Kalmashapada

For twelve years, King Kalmashapada has been possessed by a rakshasa, a demonic spirit that swallowed his royal self. When the monstrous king advances through the forest, the sage Vashishtha stops him with a roar and a handful of sanctified water.

Freed from possession but without an heir, King Kalmashapada asks the sage Vashishtha for a son to secure his royal line. Vashishtha agrees, travels to the king’s capital, and unites with the queen in a divine rite to conceive a child.

The gandharva explains the second, fatal curse upon King Kalmashapada. After the king, in his rakshasa form, devours a Brahmana, the man's grieving wife curses him to die if he ever unites with his own wife — and prophesies that the sage Vashishtha will father his heir instead.