A brahman, the son of Brihaspati, who learned the reviving science of Sanjivini from Shukra.
कच (kaca) [Printed book page 365-1] Kaca, a brahman, the son of Bṛhaspati. § 145 (Sambhavap.):
Janamejaya said: How did Yayāti get Devayānī? Vaiśampā-
yana related: In the many battles between the gods and the
Asuras, the gods had for their purohita Bṛhaspati Āṅgirasa,
and the Asuras Uśanas Kāvya (i.e. Śukra). As Uśanas, by
his science Sañjīvinī, restored the fallen Dānavas to life, and
Bṛhaspati was unable to revive the fallen gods, the gods
prevailed upon Bṛhaspati's son Kaca to repair to Uśanas
and conciliate him and his daughter Devayānī and learn the
Sañjīvinī. K. then repaired to the capital of Vṛṣaparvan,
the king of the Dānavas, and promising to practise brahma-
carya for 1,000 years he was accepted by Uśanas as his
Page365-b+ 63 pupil. Young as he was he, by singing and dancing and
playing on instruments, etc., soon gratified Devayānī. After
500 years the Dānavas, having discovered who he was, slew
him, and one time hacked his body to pieces and gave it to
wolves and jackals, another time they pounded it into paste
and mixed it with the waters of the ocean, but both times
Devayānī prevailed upon Uśanas to restore K. to life
by the Sañjīvinī, summoning him and saying, “Come.”
Then slaying him for the third time they burned the body
and mixed the ashes with the wine (surā) which Uśanas
drank. As Devayānī again asked her father to revive K.,
Uśanas said: “It is of no use, as he is always killed again;
thou art always worshipped by the Bráhman (i.e. the Veda,
Nīl.), the brahmans, the gods including Indra, the Vasus,
the Aśvins, the enemies of the gods and the whole world,
therefore do not grieve for a mortal.” As Devayānī said she
would starve, Śukra imparted the Sañjīvinī to K., who, though
reduced to powder, remembered everything. K. then came
out, ripping open the stomach of Śukra and then revived
Śukra by the Sañjīvinī. Uśanas declared that henceforth that
brahman who would drink wine should be reckoned to have
committed the sin of slaying a brahman. K. stayed with
Śukra for 1,000 years (I, 76). When K. was about to return
to the gods Devayānī asked him to become her husband, and
as he refused (saying that she was a sister to him) she cursed
him, saying that his science should bear no fruit. K. again
cursed Devayānī, saying that no ṛṣi's son should take her
hand, and that his science should bear fruit, if not to himself,
at least to him to whom he might impart it. Then he went to
the abode of Indra, and the gods declared that he should become
a sharer with them in sacrificial offerings (I, 77): I, 76,
3199 (jyeṣṭhaṃ putraṃ Bṛhaspateḥ), 3199 (Bṛhaspatisutaḥ),
3201 (ṛṣer Aṅgirasaḥ pautraṃ putraṃ sākṣād Bṛhaspateḥ),
3203, 3204, 3209, 3212, 3213, 3214, 3215, 3216, 3219
(Bṛhaspatisutaḥ), 3223, 3226, 3227, 3228 (Bṛhaspateḥ sutaḥ),
†3232, (†3237), †3239, †3240, †3241, †3244, †3245, †3248,
†3253, 3255; 77, (3261), 3265, (3267), 3271, (3272),
3276, 3277.—§ 146 (Devayānī): I, 78, 3279; 80, 3335
(Āṅgirasaṃ, all. to § 145).—§ 637 (Rājadh.): XII, 47η,
1596 (among the ṛṣis who surrounded Bhīṣma.)—§ 734
(Ānuśāsanik.): XIII, 26α, 1765 (do.). Cf. Aṅgirasaḥ
pautra(ḥ), Āṅgirasa, Bṛhaspatisuta.
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