An ancient sage. The King of that land cut off his hands on a charge of theft. But they grew into their original form by the power of the penance of his brother, [mh-12-23-1 ] Mahābhārata • Śānti parva .

It was a time when the celebrated King सुद्युम्न was ruling over the country. On the banks of the river बाहुदा in that country there lived two sages, शङ्ख and लिखित , in two separate hermitages of their own. Once लिखित went to the आश्रम of his elder brother शङ्ख and finding none but feeling hungry took some vegetables from there and started eating them. While he was eating his brother walked in and he deemed the action of his brother taking the vegetables without his permission as an act of theft. Cutting the hands of the culprit was the punishment accorded by the King at that time to the offender. शङ्ख sent लिखित to the King. The King received the sage respecifully and gave him a seat. The sage then told him all that had happened and then सुद्युम्न ordered the hands of लिखित to be cut off. Blood was oozing from his hands when लिखित went and bowed before his brother. The brother congratulated him on his accepting the punishment for his crime and asked लिखित to go and take a dip in the बाहुदा river. लिखित bathed in that holy river and then he found both the hands growing like lotus-buds from his body. He rushed to his brother and showed him the hands and then शङ्ख said that it was due to the power of his penance that लिखित got his hands. Then लिखित asked his brother why he did not purify him by his power before. शङ्ख replied that the power of punishing was vested in the King and the King सुद्युम्न had become great by executing the law correctly.

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An evil-natured priest of हंसध्वज , the King of चम्पकपुरी . शङ्ख his brother also was the King's priest. हंसध्वज blocked the sacrificial horse of the अश्वमेध यज्ञ of धर्मपुत्र and अर्जुन attacked the King to get the horse released. To mobilise an army the King announced that each and every soldier should assemble at the place by day-break the next morning and added that those who disobeyed would be put in burning oil.

By early morning the next day all the soldiers excepting the son of the King arrived at the palace. सुधन्वा , the King's son, was a general of the army and his absence annoyed the King. हंसध्वज was hesitating whether his son should be punished when लिखित advised the King to execute the punishment.

The King put सुधन्वा into a big cauldron of boiling oil but सुधन्वा escaped from it unscathed to the surprise of all. लिखित and शङ्ख said that सुधन्वा escaped because the boiling of the oil was incomplete and uneven. So they boiled the oil again and threw सुधन्वा into it. At this moment a huge palm tree split into two and fell on them and they were killed. (Jaimini Aśvamedhaparva) .