The Vishnu Purana

by Horace Hayman Wilson | 1840 | 287,946 words | ISBN-10: 8171102127

The English translation of the Vishnu Purana. This is a primary sacred text of the Vaishnava branch of Hinduism. It is one of the eighteen greater Puranas, a branch of sacred Vedic literature which was first committed to writing during the first millennium of the common era. Like most of the other Puranas, this is a complete narrative from the cr...

Chapter XXI - Families of the Daityas

THE sons of Sanhrāda, the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, were Āyushmān, Śivi, and Vāṣkala[1]. Prahlāda had a son named Virocana; whose son was Bali, who had a hundred sons, of whom Bāṇa was the eldest[2].

Hiraṇyākṣa also had many sons, all of whom were Daityas of great prowess; Jharjhara, Śakuni, Bhūtasantāpana, Mahānābha, the mighty-armed and the valiant Tāraka. These were the sons of Diti[3].

The children of Kaśyapa by Danu were Dvimūrddhā, Śaṅkara, Ayomukha, Śaṅkuśiras, Kapila, Samvara, Ekacakra, and another mighty Tāraka, Swarbhānu, Vṛṣaparvan, Puloman, and the powerful Viprachitti; these were the renowned Dānavas, or sons of Danu[4].

Swarbhānu had a daughter named Prabhā[5]; and Śarmiṣṭhā[6] was the daughter of Vṛṣaparvan, as were Upadānavī and Hayaśirā[7].

Vaisvānara[8] had two daughters, Pulomā and Kālikā, who were both married to Kaśyapa, and bore him sixty thousand distinguished Dānavas, called Paulomas and Kālakañjas[9], who were powerful, ferocious, and cruel.

The sons of Viprachitti by Sinhikā (the sister of Hiraṇyakaśipu) were Vyaṃśa, Śalya the strong, Nabha the powerful, Vātāpi, Namuchi, Ilwala, Khasrima, Añjaka, Naraka, and Kālanābha, the valiant Swarbhānu, and the mighty Vaktrayodhī[10]. These were the most eminent Dānavas[11], through whom the race of Danu was multiplied by hundreds and thousands through succeeding generations.

In the family of the Daitya Prahlāda, the Nivāta Kavacas were born, whose spirits were purified by rigid austerity[12].

Tāmrā (the wife of Kaśyapa) had six illustrious daughters, named Śukī, Śyenī, Bhāsī, Sugrīvī, Śuci, and Gridhrikā. Śukī gave birth to parrots, owls, and crows[13]; Śyenī to hawks; Bhāsī to kites; Gridhrikā

to vultures; Śuci to water-fowl; Sugrīvī to horses, camels, and asses. Such were the progeny of Tāmrā.

Vinatā bore to Kaśyapa two celebrated sons, Garuḍa and Aruṇa: the former, also called Suparṇa, was the king of the feathered tribes, and the remorseless enemy of the serpent race[14].

The children of Surasā were a thousand mighty many-headed serpents, traversing the sky[15].

The progeny of Kadru were a thousand powerful many-headed serpents, of immeasurable might, subject to Garuḍa; the chief amongst whom were Śeṣa, Vāsuki, Takṣaka, Śaṅkha, Śveta, Mahāpadma, Kambala, Āswatara, Elāpatra, Nāga, Karkkota, Dhanañjaya, and many other fierce and venomous serpents[16].

The family of Krodhavasā were all sharp-toothed monsters[17], whether on the earth, amongst the birds, or in the waters, that were devourers of flesh.

[18]Surabhi was the mother of cows and buffaloes[19]: Irā, of trees and creeping plants and shrubs, and every kind of grass: Khasā, of the Rākṣasas and Yakṣas[20]: Muni, of the Apsarasas[21]: and Aṛṣṭā, of the illustrious Gandharvas.

These were the children of Kaśyapa, whether movable or stationary, whose descendants multiplied infinitely through successive generations[22]. This creation, oh Brahman, took place in the second or Svārociṣa Manvantara. In the present or Vaivaswata Manvantara, Brahmā being engaged at the great sacrifice instituted by Varuṇa, the creation of progeny, as it is called, occurred; for he begot, as his sons, the seven Ṛṣis, who were formerly mind-engendered; and was himself the grand-sire of the Gandharvas, serpents, Dānavas, and gods[23].

Diti, having lost her children, propitiated Kaśyapa; and the best of ascetics, being pleased with her, promised her a boon; on which she prayed for a son of irresistible prowess and valour, who should destroy Indra. The excellent Muni granted his wife the great gift she had solicited, but with one condition: “You shall bear a son,” he said, “who shall slay Indra, if with thoughts wholly pious, and person entirely pure, you carefully carry the babe in your womb for a hundred years.” Having thus said, Kaśyapa departed; and the dame conceived, and during gestation assiduously observed the rules of mental and personal purity. When the king of the immortals, learnt that Diti bore a son destined for his destruction, he came to her, and attended upon her with the utmost humility, watching for an opportunity to disappoint her intention. At last, in the last year of the century, the opportunity occurred. Diti retired one night to rest without performing the prescribed ablution of her feet, and fell asleep; on which the thunderer divided with his thunderbolt the embryo in her womb into seven portions. The child, thus mutilated, cried bitterly; and Indra repeatedly attempted to console and silence it, but in vain: on which the god, being incensed, again divided each of the seven portions into seven, and thus formed the swift-moving deities called Mārutas (winds). They derived this appellation from the words with which Indra had addressed them (Mā rodīh, ‘Weep not’); and they became forty-nine subordinate divinities, the associates of the wielder of the thunderbolt[24].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Padma P. makes these the sons of Prahlāda. The Bhāgavata says there were five sons, but does not give the names. It also inserts the sons of Hlāda, making them the celebrated demons Ilwala and Vātāpi. The Vāyu refers to Hlāda, other Daityas, famous in Paurāṇic legend, making his son, Nisunda; and his sons, Sunda and Upasunda; the former the father of Marīca and Tārakā; the latter, of Mūka.

[2]:

The Padma P. and Vāyu name several of these, but they are not of any note: the latter gives the names of two daughters, who are more celebrated, Pūtanā and Śakuni.

[3]:

The descendants of Hiraṇyākṣa are said, in the Padma P., to have extended to seventy-seven crores, or seven hundred and seventy millions. Some copies, for Tāraka, read Kālanābha.

[4]:

The Padma and Vāyu P. furnish a much longer list of names, but those of most note are the same as in the text, with which also the Bhāgavata for the most part agrees.

[5]:

The Bhāgavata makes Prabhā the wife of Namuchi: according to the Vāyu, she is the mother of Nahuṣa.

[6]:

Married to Yayāti, as will be related.

[7]:

The text might be understood to imply that the latter two were the daughters of Vaisvānara; and the Bhāgavata has, “The four lovely daughters of Vaisvānara were Upadānavī, Hayaśiras, Pulomā, and Kālakā.” The Padma substitutes Vajrā and Sundarī for the two former names. The Vāyu specifies only Pulomā and Kālikā as the daughters of Vaisvānara, as does our text. Upadānavī, according to the Bhāgavata, is the wife of Hiraṇyākṣa; and Hayaśiras, of Kratu.

[8]:

Though not specified by the text as one of the Dānavas, he is included in the catalogue of the Vāyu, and the commentator on the Bhāgavata calls him a son of Danu.

[9]:

The word is also read Kūlakas and Kālakeyas: the Mahābhārata, I. 643, has Kālakañjas.

[10]:

The text omits the two most celebrated of the Sainhikeyas, or sons of Sinhikā, Rāhu (see p. 78. note 8) and Ketu, who are specified both in the Bhāgavata and the Vāyu; the former as the eldest son. Of the other sons it is said by the Vāyu that they were all killed by Paraśurāma.

[11]:

Two names of note, found in the Vāyu, are omitted by the Viṣṇu; that of Puloman, the father of Śacī, the wife of Indra, and mother of Jayanta; and Maya, the father of Vajrakāmā and Mahodarī.

[12]:

The Bhāgavata says the Paulomas were killed by Arjuna, who therefore, the commentator observes, were the same as the Nivāta Kavacas: but the Mahābhārata describes the destruction of the Nivāta Kavacas and of the Paulomas and Kālakeyas as the successive exploits of Arjuna. Vana P. 8. I. 633. The story is narrated in detail only in the Mahābhārata, which is consequently prior to all the Purāṇas in which the allusion occurs. According to that work, the Nivāta Kavacas were Dānavas, to the number of thirty millions, residing in the depths of the sea; and the Paulomas and Kālakañjas were the children of two Daitya dames, Pulomā and Kālakā, inhabiting Hiranyapura, the golden city, floating in the air.

[13]:

All the copies read ### which should be, ‘Śūkī bore parrots; and Ulūkī, the several sorts of owls? but Ulūkī is nowhere named as one of the daughters of Tāmrā; and the reading may be, ’Owls p. 149 and birds opposed to owls, i. e. crows. The authorities generally coñcur with our text; but the Vāyu has a somewhat different account; or, Śukī, married to Garuḍa, the mother of parrots: Śyenī, married to Aruṇa, mother of Sampāti and Jaṭāyu: Bhāsī, the mother of jays, owls, crows, peacocks, pigeons, and fowls: Kraunchi, the parent of curlews, herons, cranes: and Dhritarāṣtrī, the mother of geese, ducks, teal, and other water-fowl. The three last are also called the wives of Garuḍa.

[14]:

Most of the Purāṇas agree in this account; but the Bhāgavata makes Vinatā the wife of Tārkṣa, and in this place substitutes Saramā, the mother of wild animals. The Vāyu adds the metres of the Vedas as the daughters of Vinatā; and the Padma gives her one daughter Saudāminī.

[15]:

The dragons of modern fable. Anāyush or Danāyush is substituted for Surasā in the Vāyu, and in one of the accounts of the Padma. The Bhāgavata says Rākṣasas were her offspring. The Matsya has both Surasā and Anāyush, making the former the parent of all quadrupeds, except cows; the latter, the mother of diseases.

[16]:

The Vāyu names forty: the most noted amongst whom, in addition to those of the text, are Airāvata, Dhritarāṣṭra, Mahānila, Balāhaka, Añjana, Puṣpadanṣṭra, Durmukha, Kālīya, Puṇḍarīka, Kapila, Nāhuṣa, and Maṇi.

[17]:

By Danṣṭriṇa some understand, serpents, some Rākṣasas; but by the context carnivorous animals, birds, and fishes seem intended. The Vāyu makes Krodhavaśā the mother of twelve daughters, Mrigī and others, from whom all wild animals, deer, elephants, monkeys, tigers, lions, dogs, also fishes, reptiles, and Bhūtas and Piśācas, or goblins, sprang.

[18]:

One copy only inserts a half stanza here; “Krodhā was the mother of the Piśācas;” which is an interpolation apparently from the Matsya or Hari Vaṃśa. The Padma P., second legend, makes Krodhā the mother of the Bhūtas; and Piśācā, of the Piśācās.

[19]:

The Bhāgavata says, of animals with cloven hoofs. The Vāyu has, of the eleven Rudras, of the bull of Śiva, and of two daughters, Rohiṇī and Gandharbī; from the former of whom descended horned cattle; and from the latter, horses.

[20]:

According to the Vāyu, Khasā had two sons, Yakṣa and Rākṣas, severally the progenitors of those beings.

[21]:

The Padma, second series, makes Vāch the mother of both Apsarasas and Gandharvas: the Vāyu has long lists of the names of both classes, as well as of Vidyādharas and Kinnaras. The Apsarasas are distinguished as of two kinds, Laukika, ‘worldly,’ of whom thirty-four are specified; and Daivika, or ‘divine,’ ten in number: the latter furnish the individuals most frequently engaged in the interruption of the penances of holy sages, such as Menakā, Sahajanyā, Ghritācī, Pramlocā, Visvāci, and Pūrvacitti. Urvaśī is of a different order to both, being the daughter of Nārāyaṇa. Rambhā, Tilotamā Misrakeśī, are included amongst the Laukika nymphs. There are also fourteen Gaṇas, or troops, of Apsarasas, bearing peculiar designations, as Āhūtas, Sobhayantīs, Vegavatīs, &c.

[22]:

The Kūrma, Matsya, Brāhma, Liṅga, Agni, Padma, and Vāyu Purāṇas agree generally with our text in the description of Kaśyapa's wives and progeny. The Vāyu enters most into details, and contains very long catalogues of the names of the different characters descended from the sage. The Padma and Matsya and the Hari Vaṃśa repeat the story, but admit several variations, some of which have been adverted to in the preceding notes.

[23]:

We have a considerable variation here in the commentary, and it may be doubted if the allusion in the text is accurately explained by either of the versions. In one it is said that ‘Brahmā, the grandsire of p. 151 the Gandharvas, &c., appointed the seven Ṛṣis, who were born in a former Manvantara, to be his sons, or to be the intermediate agents in creation: he created no other beings himself, being engrossed by the sacrificial ceremony.’ Instead of “putratwe,” ‘in the state of sons,’ the reading is sometimes “pitratwe,” ‘in the character of fathers;’ that is, to all other beings. Thus the gods and the rest, who in a former Manvantara originated from Kaśyapa, were created in the present period as the offspring of the seven Ṛṣis. The other explanation agrees with the preceding in ascribing the birth of all creatures to the intermediate agency of the seven Ṛṣis, but calls them the actual sons of Brahmā, begotten at the sacrifice of Vanilla, in the sacrificial fire. The authority for the story is not given, beyond its being in other Purāṇas, it has the air of a modern mystification. The latter member of the passage is separated altogether from the foregoing, and carried on to what follows: thus; “In the war of the Gandharvas, serpents, gods, and demons, Diti having lost her children,” &c.; the word ‘virodha’ being understood, it is said, This is defended by the authority of the Hari Vaṃśa, where the passage occurs word for word, except in the last half stanza, which, instead of ### occurs ###. The parallel passages are thus rendered by M. Langlois: ‘Le Mouni Swarotchicha avoit cessé de régner quand cette création eut lieu: c’était sous l’empire du Menou Vevaswata le sacrifice de Varouna avait commencé. La première création fut celle de Brahmā, quand il jugea qu’il était temps de procéder à son sacrifice, et que, souverain aïeul du monde, il forma lui-même dans sa pensée et enfanta les sept Brahmarchis.’

[24]:

This legend occurs in all those Purāṇas in which the account of Kaśyapa's family is related.

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