Yayati Asks His Sons to Exchange Youth for His Old Age

Old age came for King Yayati not as a slow tide, but as a sudden flood. The curse of Kavya Ushanas had struck: wrinkles, grey hair, and weakness overcame his body in an instant. But inside that aged shell, his desire for pleasure remained young and utterly unsatiated. He returned to his capital and summoned his eldest son, Yadu. "Old age has overcome me because of the curse," Yayati said. "But I am not yet done with youth. O Yadu, take upon yourself this guilt and the consequent old age. Let me enjoy pleasures with your youth. When a thousand years have passed, I will return your youth to you and take back the old age." Yadu looked at his father and refused. He listed the horrors of age: white hair and beard, cheerlessness, flabbiness, wrinkles, ugliness, weakness, thinness, incapacity to work, defeat by the young, abandonment by dependents. "I do not wish for this old age." Yayati's disappointment was immediate and absolute. "You were born from my heart, but you will not give your youth to me. Therefore, your offspring will have no share in the kingdom." He turned to his second son, Turvasu, and made the same offer. Turvasu also refused. "Old age destroys all desire, pleasure, strength, beauty, intelligence, and even life. I do not desire it." "Then your lineage will become extinct," Yayati said, his voice hardening into a curse. "O foolish one, you will be a king over subjects whose conduct and practices will be impure. Women of superior birth will marry men of inferior birth. They will live on meat and lust after and cohabit with their preceptors' wives and animals. The evil ones will follow the conduct of animals and behave like mlecchas (those outside the social order)." Next was Druhyu, son of Sharmishtha. Yayati offered the same bargain: take my old age for a thousand years, give me your youth. Druhyu pictured the life of an old man. "One who is old cannot enjoy elephants, chariots, horses, or women. Speech fails him. I do not desire this old age." "Then the most cherished of your desires will not come true," Yayati declared. "You and your lineage will not be kings, but will have the title of 'Bhoja' in a land where the only means of transportation will be rafts, boats, and swimming." He asked his third son, Anu. Anu imagined the indignities. "Those who are old eat like children, drooling and unclean at all times of the day. They cannot pour offerings into the sacrificial fire at the right time. I do not wish for such an old age." "Since you have described so many faults associated with old age," Yayati said, "old age will overcome you. Your offspring will be destroyed as soon as they attain youth. You yourself will not be able to perform any sacrifices before the fire." Finally, Yayati faced his youngest son, Puru. "You are my youngest and most beloved. You will be the best among them. The curse has taken my youth, but not my thirst for it. O Puru, accept my guilt and the consequent old age. I will enjoy pleasures for some time with your youth. After a thousand years, I will return it." Puru did not list the faults of age. He did not bargain or hesitate. "O great king, I will do what you command me to do. I will take upon myself the guilt and the consequent old age. Accept my youth and enjoy pleasures as you wish. I will live as you say, attacked by old age and deprived of youth and beauty. I will give you my youth." Yayati, who had faced only refusal, now heard pure acceptance. "O Puru, I am extremely pleased with you. Since I am pleased, I grant you this: your offspring will rule the kingdom, be prosperous, and accomplish all their desires." The exchange was made. Yayati took Puru's youth and lived a thousand years of pleasure. Puru, in his father's aged body, waited. And the curses spoken in that moment of paternal need and filial refusal settled upon the lineages of his brothers, shaping the destiny of kingdoms to come.