Puranic encyclopaedia
by Vettam Mani | 1975 | 609,556 words | ISBN-10: 0842608222
This page describes the Story of Divodasa included the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani that was translated into English in 1975. The Puranas have for centuries profoundly influenced Indian life and Culture and are defined by their characteristic features (panca-lakshana, literally, ‘the five characteristics of a Purana�).
Story of پǻ
(atithigva) A king of śī.
Genealogy.
From վṣṇ descended in the following order:�-Atri-Candra-Budha-ʳܰū-Āܲ-Anenas-ʰپṣaٰ-ṛñjⲹ-Jaya-Vijaya-ṛt-Ჹⲹś-Sahadeva-Nadina-Jayatsena-ṃkṛt-ṣaٰ-Śܳdzٰ-Ś-Āṣṭṣeṇa-ś-īٲ貹-Dhanvantari-ٳܳ-īٳ-پǻ.
پǻ’s great grandfather’s father, ś had many sons. They were called the ś. It was from ś’s reign that ṇaī came to be called śī. (Hari Vaṃśa, Chapter 29).
پǻ’s Reign.
When پǻ began his rule in ṇaī, there was a ṣa named ṣe첹. پǻ killed him and extended his kingdom. At that stage, śṇy, King of Hehayas invaded پǻ. پǻ killed the hundred sons of śṇy. At that time the sage Kuṃbhaka (Nikumbha) came to śī. His practice was to live fora thousand years at any place where he reached at the time of dusk. Since he had reached ṇaī at dusk, he set up an ś and lived there for a thousand years. At that time there was a famine in ṇaī. The whole land was in the grip of a severe drought. Kumbhaka’s ś and its surroundings alone remained green and cool. Herdsmen used to take cattle to graze in the neighbourhood of the ś. Once when they returned in the evening, they took with their cows, the sacrificial cow of Kumbhaka. It was dark and the sage searched for the cow everywhere but could not trace its whereabouts At last he came to know by intuition that his cow was taken away by the herdsmen. In his rage he cursed that ṇaī should be ruined and left the place with his disciples. (See under Kumbhaka).
The story of the ruin of ṇaī in Harivaṃsa is different. It was the time when Ś had married ī, the daughter of ᾱ. After marriage Ś shifted his residence to his wife’s house. Ś whose task was to look after the affairs of the world, was never available for the purpose at , his own seat. The gods were in a helpless condition. They approached ī’s mother, ѱ and requested her to persuade Ś to return to his own place by any means. ѱ called her daughter and ridiculed her husband as a vagabond who had no place to lay his head on. ī could not bear this insult. Her mother’s stinging remarks got circulation in Devaloka. So she urged Ś to settle down somewhere on earth with her. Ś agreed and promised to take up residence at śī.
The ruler of śī in those days was پǻ. It was a prosperous period in the country. As a rule, man turns to God only when faced with misfortunes. So Ś decided to bring about a famine among the people of the country by ruining it. For that he sent sage Kumbhaka to ṇaī. Kumbhaka arrived in śī and appeared to the barber ṇa첹 to whom he communicated Ś’s intentions. The barber cheerfully fell in with the proposal and built a temple on the next day for the residence of Kumbhaka. Living in the temple, Kumbhaka began to participate in the spiritual matters of the people. His blessings were much sought after and people came to have deep faith in him.
پǻ had no children. He had made many pious offerings to gods and performed many holy rites for removing his wife’s sterility, but it was all in vain. At last, at the King’s suggestion, she began to offer ū to Kumbhaka praying for issue. But even after a long period of devoted worship, she received no blessing or boon from the sage. Moved by the pathetic condition of his queen, ܲⲹś, پǻ reproached Kumbhaka very severely. He reprimanded him for denying his blessings to the queen while he was showering them on all and sundry in the country. Provoked at the King’s rebuke, Kumbhaka pronounced a curse that the country should be ruined. As a result of it the country began to decline. (Ჹṃśa, Chapter 29).
Ś and ī came and settled down in ṇaī. After some years, ī began to press her husband to leave the place and to go somewhere else. Ś was not inclined to do so. He said the place was "Avimukta" and therefore insisted that he would not leave it. From that time the place came to be called "Avimukta."
3) Other details.
(1) Towards the end of his life پǻ became a Ჹṣi (Royal Saint). There are numerous references to this Ჹṣi in the ṻ岹. Since پǻ was of a very hospitable nature he was known by another name, "Atithigva". In ṻ岹, 1st Ѳṇḍ, 16th Anuvāka, 127th ūٲ, we read that once he hid himself under water to escape from an Asura called Śaṃbara.
(2) پǻ had a son named "Parucchepa", who was a Ṛṣi. ṻ岹 1st Ѳṇḍ 19th Anuvāka, 127th ūٲ relates to Parucchepa.
(3) īٳ, the father of پǻ, had two other names, īԲ, and Sudeva. پǻ purchased ī, the daughter of ۲پ after paying two hundred Śyāmakarṇāśvas (beautiful horses with darkcoloured ears) to , so that he might have children. After the birth of his children, he returned ī to her father. (Ѳٲ Udyoga Parva, Chapter 117).
(4) He sits in Yama’s assembly and offers Pūjā to Yama. (Ѳٲ Parva, Chapter 8, Verse 12).
(5) پǻ once plundered the accessories of his enemies. Agnihotra vanished after it. (Ѳٲ ŚԳپ Parva, Chapter 96, Verse 21).
(6) It was at the behest of Indra that پǻ built the city of ṇaī (Ѳٲ ԳśԲ Parva, Chapter 30, Verse 16).
(7) Once پǻ fought with the King of Hehaya for one thousand days. After having lost his army he went to the sage 屹Ჹ and performed Putrakāmeṣṭi sacrifice. As a result of it a son Pratardana was born to him. (Ѳٲ ԳśԲ Parva, Chapter 30).
(8) Other names for پǻ used in the Ѳٲ are—Bhaimaseni, śīśa, Saudeva, Sudevatanaya etc.
DIVYĀDEVĪ. Daughter of پǻ, King of ʱṣa屹ī貹. There is a story about this princess in Padma Purāṇa, Bhūmikhaṇḍa, Chapters 85, 88.
پǻ decided to give his daughter پ in marriage to Citrasena, King of Rūpadeśa. But just before the day fixed for the marriage Citrasena died prematurely. So, as advised by the ṇa who had come there she was married to Rūpasena. He also died soon after. She was subsequently married to 21 persons in turn, and all of them died one by one.
Everyone took pity on her for her ill-fate. At last, at the suggestion of the ministers, preparations were made for her ⲹṃv. Here also ill-luck pursued her. All the princes who arrived to take part in the ⲹṃv killed each other in mutual fight. Depressed and embittered by all this, پ decided torenounce all worldly pleasures and proceeded to the forest.
Once Śܰ첹 named Ujjvala came to ʱṣa屹ī貹. Moved to pity at the grief-stricken پ he taught her "Aśūnyaśayana" vrata. When she practised this vrata with devotion for about four years, Ѳ屹ṣṇ appeared before her and took her with him to վṣṇloka.