Harishchandra was ruling over his Kingdom as usual after he was cured of his mahodara disease and he became famousas Satya Harishchandra in all the three worlds. Chandramathi and Rohita stuck to the King's path of truth.
Viswamitra had become world famous as a result of the Rajasuya Yaga he had performed earlier. This had made him veryproud. But as Vasishta was Harishchandra's royal priest people liked Vasishta more. This had made Viswamitra uneasy. In the gathering at Sudharma, Devendra said that there was none in the world who followed truth ardently. Vasishtadid not like the sweeping statement and he said, "Devendra, do not say that. Harishchnadra has been known in the seven worlds for being truthful. He never deviates from the path of truth. Viswamitra resented Vasishta's siding withHarishchandra. He stood up and said,"There is none in all the seven worlds who is truthful all the time. Harishchandrais no exception."
Vasishta would not keep quiet. In his reaction he said,"Harishchandra never swerves from the the path of truth, whateverbe the reason".
Viswamitra was red with anger. He vowed to force Harishchandra to deviate from truth. In a huff he left the divineassembly and made for the earth. As soon as he reached the earth he went to Harishchandra's palace along with hisdisciple Nakshatrika. His only object was making the king a liar.
As soon as the king heard about the arrival of the sage, he came out and accorded him a royal welcome and saw thatall his needs were met. Then the king said,'O great sage, if you tell me the reason why you came to this servant ofyours, I am ready to render any service you want me to. By serving you I would like to be blessed".
In reply Viswamitra said,"Rajan aham Yajarartham agathah,I would like to perform a great yajna for which I need immencewealth. Will you give me that much gold which would drown the height which a man can throw a stone with the help ofa machine, standing on an elephant which is made to stand on a high hill. You said,you would like to serve me. Canyou gift me that much gold?"
The king did not get upset or frghtened. He said,"Brahman, I will certainly give you what you ask for. The king gavethe sage all the wealth he had in his royal treasury, but it fell short of the target.
Viswamitra pretended anger and said."You told a lie by promising me that yu would give me the wealth I asked for"Thus he made fun of the king. The king to be true to his promise, sold all his belongings including the kingdom,his wife and only child. He sold himself to a keeper of a cremation ground. As bad luck would have it, his son diedas a result of a snake bite and his wife broght the dead body of his son for creation. He did not allow his wife todo the creamation as she did not have the money to pay for the purpose. This way he remained faithful to his masterVeerabahu and remained truthful also. Viswamitra felt very happy when he saw the consistency of the king being truthful.He blessed the king whole heartedly and restored to him all he had lost including his wife and son. Once again Viswamitra had to suffer defeat at the hands of Vasishta and king Harishchandra.
Though his respect for king Harishchandra doubled, his loss of face before Vasishta made him very pertubed. He lost concentration. His pride, his defeat and his achievements made him the most disturbed man. He desired loneliness and helived in his ashram pondering for a long time.
In fact, he wanted to forget the string of his defeats, but they kept on troubling him constantly without his becomingaware of them. He lost control of his body and mind. One evening it was almost dusk and he was sitting in the dimlight of the setting sun. It was drizzling. The little lamp he had was wavering just as his mind was doing. A coolbreeze was blowing and along with it came an exquisite fragrance from some where. Along with it came Menaka, one ofthe apsaras of heaven. Viswamithra wavered a bit when an extremely beautiful woman came near him. He was attractedby her great beauty. He desired to live with her. He forgot his tapas, prayer, workship and other activities andbegan to spend his her. In the pleasure of the flesh he forget his life's mission of becoming a Brahmarshi.