contest.'

"Yudhishthira said, Tell me, O Lomasa, all about the power of this man,
who had in that way defeated Vandin. Why was he born as Ashtavakra
(crooked in eight parts in his body)?"

"Lomasa said, The sage Uddalaka had a disciple named Kahoda of subdued
passions, and entirely devoted to the service of his preceptor and who
had continued his studies long. The Brahmana had served his tutor long,
and his preceptor, recognising his service, gave him his own daughter,
Sujata, in marriage, as well as a mastery over the Shastras. And she
became with child, radiant as fire. And the embryo addressed his father
while employed in reading, 'O father, thou hast been reading the whole
night, but (of all that) thy reading doth not seem to me correct. Even in
my fetal state I have, by thy favour, become versed in the Shastras and
the Vedas with their several branches. I say, O father, that what
proceeds from thy mouth, is not correct.' Thus insulted in the presence
of his disciples, the great sage in anger cursed his child in the womb,
saying, 'Because thou speakest thus even while in the womb, therefore
thou shalt be crooked in eight parts of the body.' The child was
accordingly born crooked, and the great sage was ever after known by the
name of Ashtavakra. Now, he had an uncle named Swetaketu who was the same
age with himself. Afflicted by the growth of the child in the womb,
Sujata, desirous of riches, conciliating her husband who had no wealth
told him in private: 'How shall I manage, O great sage, the tenth month
of my pregnancy having come? Thou hast no substance whereby I may
extricate myself from the exigencies, after I have been delivered." Thus
addressed by his wife, Kahoda went unto king Janaka for riches. He was
there defeated in a controversy by Vandin, well versed in the science of
arguments, and (in consequence) was immersed into water. And hearing that
his son-in-law had been defeated in a controversy by Vandin and caused to
be drowned by him, Uddalaka spake unto his daughter Sujata, saying, 'Thou
shall keep it a secret from Ashtavakra.' She accordingly kept her
counsel--so that Ashtavakra, when born, had heard nothing about the
matter. And he regarded Uddalaka as his father and Swetaketu as his
brother. And when Ashtavakra was in his twelfth year, Swetaketu one day
saw the former seated on his father's lap. And thereat he pulled him by
the hand, and on Ashtavakra's beginning to cry, he told him, 'It is not
the