In days of yore, while the great Rishi Bharadvaja was saying his prayers by the side of the divine Ganga, one of the three feet of Vishnu, when he assumed his three-footed form, reached that place. Seeing that strange spectacle Bharadvaja attacked Vishnu with a handful of water, upon which Vishnu's bosom received a (mystic mark). Cursed by that foremost of Rishis, viz., Bhrigu, Agni was obliged to become a devourer of all things.