The story of King Bharat (जड़ भरत)

King Bharat was the son of Rishavdev. He had married the daughter of Biswarup. Her name was Panchajani. They had five sons in name of Sumati, Rastravrut, Sudarshan, Avaran, and Dhumraketu. Bharat was a very popular king. He had earned the unchangeable faith of his subjects. He was devoted to Lord Narayan. Besides ruling the country, he used to engage himself in various pious deeds. Before Bharat, the name of India was Ajanav Varsh. After the name of the king, Bharat India was called Bharat Varsh. Bharat had great knowledge in various fields. 

He ruled for a glorious one crore years and after that, he renounced his worldly life. After handing over the administration of his country, he left the palace and went to Pulahashram. There he lived the life of a Rishi and got full control over his physical senses (इन्द्रिय). His main focus was one-pointed devotion towards God almighty. He had become free from all types of worldly attachments. 

One day while he was sitting on the bank of river Gandaki, he saw a  pregnant deer come to drink water. She was very fearful. While the deer was drinking water, a lion roared nearby which made her so afraid that she jumped into the river. The force of her jump released the baby deer from her womb. Bharat tried to save her, but she died of fright. The deer left behind her child before dying. Bharat saved the fawn and took the fawn to his cottage. He decided to take care of the fawn till it becomes healthy enough to release it in the jungle. 

But in course of time, he got excessively attached to the fawn. He loved it so much that, all the time he was thinking about it. He was always worried about the well-being of the deer. He was so engrossed with the love of the deer that he forgot all his austerity and worship of God. At last, he died while thinking about the deer. The thought of the deer at the time of his death made him take rebirth as a deer. 

Although he took rebirth as a fawn, he still had the memory of his previous births. After taking the rebirth he remembered how he got attached to a fawn and forgot all his austerity to achieve liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The memory filled him with despair and repentance. So he left the company of his mother deer and went to the Pulahashram (the hermitage of rishi Pulaha and Pulastya). There he waited for his natural death. At the time of death, he kept his half body inside the water of Gandaki river. At last, he died his natural death. After he left his deer body, he again took rebirth as a son of a religious brahmin. 

His memory of his previous births was there. He had already realized that due to attachment he couldn't have been able to liberate himself. Because of which he was afraid to interact with his relatives. He had no weakness for food or any other objects. From the previous birth, he had already acquired the knowledge of brahman(ब्रह्मज्ञान). He was soul-conscious. His father tried to give him all the religious education required for a brahmin. But he would behave like a fool. Still, his father never gave up teaching him. Although he had all the knowledge he wouldn't let anyone else know the truth. 

After his father died, his brothers ignored him. But he remained unaffected by the behaviour of his brothers and other people. He wanted to avoid any form of attachment in this lifetime. He would do anything he is asked to. He behaved like a deaf and fool. So people called him 'Jad Bharat' (बहरा). He had a robust figure. Nothing physical or emotional that affected his state of supreme bliss (परमानंद). He had stopped taking care of his body. He used to sleep on the ground bare body. He did all the odd jobs for his brothers and in return, they would give him the leftover food. Bharat never objected to such type of treatment by his brothers. 

Once Rahugan, the king of Sindhusoubir, was going somewhere sitting inside the royal handbarrow(पालकी). When he reached the bank of river Ikshyumati, a stretcher-bearer fell ill. So the leader of the stretcher-bearers along with his men searched for a suitable man to carry the handbarrow of the king. They found Bharat guarding the crop field. Bharat was instructed by his brothers to guard the fields. 

On seeing Bharat, the leader ordered his men to bring him to bear the handbarrow. Bharat silently did as instructed by the leader. He was avoiding stepping on the small insects & ants because of which the handbarrow was getting imbalanced. At first, Rahugan advised his men to take the handbarrow properly but in vain. The imbalance made the king annoyed. He again scolded the bearers. The bearers told him that "Hujur, the imbalance is not created by us. The new bearer is not matching his steps with us despite your warning." The king then passed some sarcastic remarks on Bharat. But Bharat was unaffected.

Once he was engaged by his brothers to guard their agricultural land at night when the servants of a robber were searching for a brahmin to sacrifice(बली) before goddess Kali. The leader of the robbers wanted to please the goddess to get a son. The man who was to be sacrificed had escaped from his custody. So he had sent his servants to search for him. But the servants failed to locate the man, instead, they found Jad Bharat guarding the field. So they bound him with a rope and took him to their leader. 

They cleaned his body and completed all the religious rituals before sacrificing him. They worshipped the sword for cutting the head of Bharat. When they brought him before the idol of goddess Kali, the intensity of his devotion and the austere power of his soul (ब्राह्मतेज) could not be hidden from Goddess Kali. She got infuriated with the robbers for bringing Bharat to sacrifice before her. She came out of the idol, took the sword of the robbers in her hand, and beheaded all of them. Then she drank the warm blood of the robbers and started dancing and playing with the heads like football. 

Source: Shrimad Bhagwad Purana