Ourva blinds the kings and is persuaded to restore their sight
The Kshatriya kings are suddenly struck blind. Their mother, a Brahmana woman, reveals the cause: her son Ourva, born from her thigh after a century of gestation, is enraged by their slaughter of his Bhrigu ancestors. The blinded kings must beg the child they cannot see for mercy.
The kings were blind. One moment they could see; the next, darkness. They turned to their mother, the Brahmana woman, and asked what had happened.
She told them the truth. She had not taken their sight, nor was she angry with them. The cause was the Bhargava — the descendant of Bhrigu — who had been born from her own thigh. His name was Ourva, named for the thigh (uru) that had split to give him life. He was angry. He remembered that they had killed his relatives, the Bhrigus.
She explained how he came to be. When the kings had destroyed even the Bhrigu sons still in their mothers' wombs, she had carried this one child in her thigh for a hundred years, preserving him so that he might one day bring good to the Bhrigu lineage. While still in the womb, all the Vedas and their six angas (auxiliary sciences) had come to him. Now, angry at the killing of his fathers, he wished to kill them. It was by his divine radiance that their eyesight had been destroyed.
Her advice was simple: "O sons! Pray to Ourva, this supreme son of mine. If he is placated through your homage, he may restore your eyesight."
The kings, helpless in their darkness, did as she said. They addressed the son who had been born from her thigh and begged him for mercy.
Ourva was merciful. He restored their eyesight. The kings, seeing once more, returned to their homes.
But the Bhargava sage's anger was not fully spent. Sparing the kings was one thing. For the slaughter of his entire lineage, he wanted a more complete revenge.