Indra, the King of Gods, once captured the horse sent out by King Sagara prior to holding the As wamedhayaga. The horse was expected to traverse from one kingdom to another without let or hindrance, and the rulers who allowed the horse to pass through their kingdoms would be considered as accepting the suzereinty of Sagara.
Years later, Abhinanda, who was born in the samedynasty as that of Sagara, began a yaga without inviting Indra. He was angry and wanted to disturb the yaga and approached the god of Death, Yama. After pleasing him, Indra requested Yama to take the life of Abhinanda. Yama, who held the control of Kala or Time, and decided how long one should enjoy life, was known as Kalayama.
Now, Kalayama entered the body of Abhinanda while he was presiding over the yagna, and turned into a huge giant. As he rose from the fire and assumed mountainous sproportions, the priests who were conducting the yagaran away from the place. On seeing them fleeing, thousands of people who had gathered to witness theyaga also left the place. The yaga was thus abandoned.
The king’s guru, Visishtha, told him that he had, inapprehension of such an eventuality, installed a clay image of Lord Vighneswara in front of the yaga fireplace. Head vised Abhinanda to worship the Lord with turmeric powder. The king meditated on the Lord for a long time. He then heard the primordial sound of ‘Om’ rising from the image. Soon, the sound produced thousands of rats who surrounded the hideous figure and began biting it allover. The ghostly figure could not tolerate the unexpected attack on it, and soon disappeared.
Now Kalayama threw away the rope in his hand with which he was hoping to take the life of King Abhinanda. The rope fell down with a loud noise. Abhinanda tried to cut it into pieces to take away its power. However, even the pieces acquired the power of the original rope and they began to take away lives indiscriminately. They all ran to the Creator, Lord Brahma, who consoled them by saying, "You cannot escape the rope wielded by Kalayama because Time is in his hands. Lord Vighneswara alone can save you, and so you shouldworship Vighneswara.
