King Kalmashapada is cursed, possessed, and kills Vashishtha's sons

King Kalmashapada of the Ikshvaku lineage was unrivalled in prowess. After a hunt, hungry and thirsty, he followed a narrow forest path. Coming the other way was Shakti, the eldest of the great sage Vashishtha’s one hundred sons. The path was too narrow for both. The king said, “Move off from our path.” The rishi (sage) spoke kindly but did not yield; he was following dharma (righteousness). The king, prideful and angry, also refused to yield. Deluded like a rakshasa (demon), he struck the sage with his whip. Struck, Shakti was angered. He cursed the king. “Since you have struck an ascetic like a rakshasa, from today you will become a maneater. Go and wander the earth, eating human flesh.” This happened near where the sages Vashishtha and Vishvamitra had once quarreled. Vishvamitra arrived, recognized Shakti, and saw an opportunity. He concealed himself with invisibility. The cursed king sought Shakti’s mercy, trying to pacify him. Knowing the king’s nature, Vishvamitra ordered a rakshasa named Kimkara to enter the king’s body. The curse and the command worked together; the rakshasa entered, and Vishvamitra left. Possessed and tormented, the king was no longer himself. Later, a hungry Brahmana begged him for food with meat. The king, also called Mitrasaha, promised to bring it and asked the man to wait. Returning to his palace, the king forgot until midnight. He ordered his cook to take meat to the waiting Brahmana. The cook found no meat. Informed of this, the possessed king said without hesitation, “Feed him human flesh.” The cook obtained human flesh from executioners, cooked it with rice, and took it to the ascetic. Through his ascetic sight, the Brahmana knew it was forbidden food. Eyes red with anger, he pronounced a second curse: “That deluded one will himself become fond of such food.” The combined curses grew stronger. Possessed, the king lost all his senses. He saw Shakti. “Because you cursed me,” the king said, “I will begin by eating you.” He killed Shakti and ate him like a tiger devouring prey. Vishvamitra, watching, urged the rakshasa to kill Vashishtha’s other sons. The king, like an angry lion, ate up all of Vashishtha’s younger sons. When Vashishtha learned Vishvamitra had conspired in his sons’ deaths, he bore the grief like a mountain bears the earth. He resolved to end his own life rather than seek to extinguish Vishvamitra’s lineage. He threw himself from Mount Meru’s peak, but the fall did not kill him. He entered a blazing fire, but the flames cooled him. He tied a stone to his neck and jumped into the ocean, but the waves brought him back to shore. Defeated, the great sage returned to his hermitage with a sorrowful heart.