Raibhya Creates Kritya and Rakshasa to Kill Yavakrita
Raibhya hears of Yavakrita's misconduct and is consumed by such fury that his heart seems to burn. He plucks a lock of hair and offers it into the fire — a woman arises. He plucks another — a rakshasa with terrible eyes appears. He commands them to kill Yavakrita, and they go to execute his order.
Raibhya heard what Yavakrita had done.
The details of the misconduct are not recorded — only its effect: Raibhya was consumed by great anger, and it seemed as if his heart would burn. The ascetic's anger was not a passing emotion. It was a force, concentrated by years of austerity, and it demanded an instrument.
He plucked a lock from his matted hair. Observing the rites, he offered it into the fire.
A woman arose from the flames — exactly like the other one in beauty. The text does not say who "the other one" was, only that the kritya (a female spirit created by ritual) bore her likeness.
He plucked another lock. He offered it into the fire.
A rakshasa arose — with terrible eyes, fearful in form.
The two of them stood before Raibhya and asked: "What should we do?"
In anger, the rishi replied: "Kill Yavakrita."
They promised they would act as they had been asked. Then they went.
The kritya reached Yavakrita first. She deluded him — clouded his senses, confused his mind — and robbed him of his water-pot. Without his water-pot, Yavakrita became unclean. In the world of ascetics, the water-pot was not a convenience. It was the vessel of ritual purity, the container that held the water for daily oblations and cleansing. To lose it was to be cut off from the very practices that sustained a rishi's power.
The rakshasa then rushed at him, spear upraised.
Yavakrita saw him coming — intent to kill — and fled. He dashed toward a pond. It was dry. He ran to the rivers. They had dried up too. Every water source he reached was empty, as if the earth itself had withdrawn its moisture at the rakshasa's approach. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 434