Vidura - An incarnation of Lord Dharma!

Vidura – the third grandson of Shantanu & Satyavati (his elder brothers were Dhritharashtra & Pandu), was a wise man renowned for his knowledge, intelligence and virtues all over the world.

Sage Mandavya

Sage Mandavya was a hermit who practiced penance and meditation for a good number of years and possessed strong yogic powers. One day, when he was immersed in his daily prayers, a band of robbers were being chased by the king’s soldiers. The robbers found the hermit’s cottage nearby and thought it would be an ideal place to hide their booty and themselves. They went in and hid their booty in a corner and hid themselves elsewhere.

The soldiers, tracking the robbers by their footprints, hit upon Sage Mandavya’s Ashram. They enquired about the robbers to him, but he did not respond as he was deeply immersed in meditation. The soldiers barged into the cottage and found the booty. Assuming that the Sage was a part of the robbery (since he kept mum for every question & they could find the booty in his place), the soldiers promptly reported that they had found the robber who was in the garb of a sage. Enraged with the impudence of the robber to disguise himself as a hermit, the king ordered his soldiers to kill the "robber" at once. The soldiers promptly carried out the king’s orders and stabbed the hermit.

But Sage Mandavya, all powerful through his years of penance & yoga, did not lose his life. Instead he called upon Dharma, the Lord of Justice and put forth his query to him. He questioned Lord Dharma as to why this kind of a tragedy had befallen him. To this, Lord Dharma quietly replied that it was a result of his past actions. He explained that Sage Mandavya had tortured bees & insects when he was a child and had to bear the consequences now.

The Curse

On hearing this, Sage Mandavya grew furious; he was being punished for a crime which was committed out of ignorance at a very early age. He cursed Lord Dharma that he would be born as a human on earth for inflicting such an undeserving punishment.

Birth as Vidura

Thus Lord Dharma came to earth as a mortal and was born as Vidura. His birth was conceived under unusual circumstances - born into a royal family but not of royal blood. Neither of his parents (Sage Vyasa & Sivai - the maid of Ambalika) were of royal blood and hence he was not considered to ascend the throne of Hastinapura in spite of his wisdom & other virtues.

** An interesting fact to note is that, while Vidura was an incarnation of Lord Dharma, Yudhishtira – the eldest of the Pandavas and the son of Pandu & Kunti, was the son of Lord Dharma (as Yudhishtira was born by Kunti invoking Lord Dharma using her Mantra).