The Bhagavata Purana
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 780,972 words | ISBN-10: 8120838203 | ISBN-13: 9788120838208
This page describes History of Karusha and other four sons of Manu which is chapter 2 of the English translation of the Bhagavata Purana, one of the eighteen major puranas containing roughly 18,000 metrical verses. Topics include ancient Indian history, religion, philosophy, geography, mythology, etc. The text has been interpreted by various schools of philosophy. This is the second chapter of the Ninth Skandha of the Bhagavatapurana.
Chapter 2 - History of Karūṣa and other four sons of Manu
[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]
Śrī Śuka said:
1. When his son Sudyumna thus left (for the forest), Manu, the son of Vivasvat, being desirous of begetting a son performed penance for a hundred years, on the bank of the Yamunā.
2. Thereafter he worshipped Lord Hari (by performing a sacrifice) for (male) progeny; and he had ten sons, Ikṣvāku being the eldest, all resembling himself.
3. Manu’s (eighth) son, Pṛṣadhra, was entrusted with the duty of protecting the cows, by his preceptor (as Vasiṣṭha found him competent to tend the bulls). Vigilantly he tended the cows at night, remaining alert in the posture called Vīrāsana (kneeling on one knee).
4. On one occasion, while it was raining at night, a tiger made its way into the cowpen. Cows which were lying there, got panicky and springing to their feet, ran about in that enclosure.
5-6. The powerful tiger seized one of the cows, and she, overwhelmed with fear, screamed loudly. It is reported that when Pṛṣadhra heard that screaming in agony, he rushed in haste in that direction, with a sword in hand. In the darkness of night, when even stars were invisible due to clouds, he unwittingly chopped off the head of a tawny coloured cow, believing it to be a tiger.
7. The tiger too got its ear severed with the end of the sword in that stroke, but escaped in extreme panic, dripping blood all the way.
8. Pṛṣadhra, the destroyer of inimical warriors, who believed that the tiger had been killed, found, at the close of night, to his sore grief, that a reddish-brown cow had been killed by him, in the (darkness of) night.
9. To Pṛṣadhra who has unknowingly committed the sin killing a cow, Vasiṣṭha, the family preceptor (instead of advising him the expiatory rite or procedure for such unwitting acts) pronounced the following imprecation: “In consequence of this (thoughtless) act, you shall be not even the vilest of Kṣattriyas but a veritable Śūdra.”
10. When cursed in this way by the family preceptor, the great warrior accepted it (respectfully) with folded palms. He observed the vow of life-long celibacy—a vow so esteemed by sages.
11. Being exclusively and absolutely devoted to the glorious Lord Vāsudeva, the absolutely pure (blemishless), transcendental, universal Spirit, he became a friend and a well-wisher of all beings, impartial to all.
12-13. Completely devoid of attachment, with a serene mind, and with all senses under full control, bereft of all possessions, maintaining himself on whatever came to him by chance (without asking for it), fixing his mind in the Supreme Soul, satiated in spiritual knowledge[1], and absorbed in meditation, he roamed about the earth, presenting an appearance of a blind and deaf dunce.
14. Leading this way of life, he happened to enter a forest where, seeing the outbreak of forest-conflagration, he silently allowed his body to be consumed by it and became one with the transcendental Brahman.
15. And the younger son Kavi[2] (even as a child) had no desire for worldly objects. Renouncing the kingdom along with the relatives, he enthroned the self-effulgent Supreme Person in his heart and repairing to the forest, even in his boyhood, ultimately attained to the Supreme Brahman.
16. From Karūṣa, the son of Manu, was descended the Kṣatriya clan called Kārūṣas who ruled over the northern regions, were friendly to Brāhmaṇas and devoted to righteousness.
17. The Kṣatriya clan called Dhārṣṭa was born from Dhṛṣṭa but attained Brāhmaṇahood (Brahmanical virtues and way of life) on the earth. In the race of Nṛga, Nṛga had a son Sumati whose son was Bhūtajyoti to whom was born a son, Vasu.
18. Vasu had a son Pratīka whose son Oghavān was the father of a son called Oghavat and a daughter named Oghavatī whom Sudarśana married.
19. Citrasena who was born from Nariṣyanta had a son called Dakṣa. Dakṣa’s son was Mīḍhvān of whom was born Kūrca who had a son called Indrasena.
20. Indrasena’s son was Vītihotra who got a son named Satyaśravas who, on his part, had Uruśravasas his son. Devadatta was born from Uruśravas.
21. The venerable fire-god Agni himself was born as a son of Uruśravas, and was called Agniveśya. He became famous as a great sage Kānīna or Jātukarṇya.
22. From Agniveśya descended a Brāhmaṇa clan known as Agniveśyāyana, Oh king. The race of Nariṣyanta has been thus described in details. Now listen to the line of Diṣṭa.
23. Nābhāga, another son of Diṣṭa (different from the one to be described later[3]) became a Vaiśya by following the profession (agriculture, cow-tending etc.) of that class. His son was Bhalandana whose son was Vatsaprīti.
24. Prāṃśu was the son of Vatsaprīti. Prāṃśu’s son is well-known as Pramati; whose son was Khanitra[4], Khanitra’s son was Cākṣuṣa, the father of Viviṃśati.
25. Rambha[5] was the son of Viviṃśati. Rambha’s son was the religious Khaninetra, and Karandhama was Khaninetra’s son, Oh great king.
26. His son was Avīkṣit. His son Marutta became a sovereign of the whole of the globe of the earth—the same sovereign for whom the great yogin, Saṃvartta, the son of sage Aṅgiras, performed sacrifices.
27. Nobody else has ever performed a sacrifice so gloriously as did Marutta. All the utensils therein were of pure gold, and whatever other materials were used in his sacrifice, were auspicious and beautiful.
28. Indra (drank so much Soma in that sacrifice that he) became inebriated and Brāhmaṇas were oversatisfied with the gifts (dakṣiṇā). Marut-gods served food (in that sacrifice), and the whole fraternity of gods (Viśvedevāḥ) were the members of the sacrificial assembly.[6]
29. Marutta had a son called Dama whose son was Rājyavardhana; his son was Sudhṛti and Nara was born as a son of Sudhṛti.
30. His son was Kevala whose son was Bandhumān of whom was born Vegavān. Bandhu was his (Vegavān’s) son. Of Bandhu was born the king of the earth Tṛṇabindu.
31. Being an abode of praiseworthy qualities, a prominent heavenly damsel Alambuṣā resorted to him (as his wife), and bore him a number of sons and a daughter known as Iḍaviḍā (v.l. Ilavilā).
32. The sage Viśravas begot on her a son known as Kubera (the donor of wealth). From his father who was a master of yogas, Kubera received the Supreme Lore (about the soul).
33. The sons of this king were Viśāla, Śūnyabandhu, and Dhūmraketu. Visāla was the founder of a dynasty and built the city of Vaiśālī.
34. His (Viśāla’s) son was Hemacandra, whose son was Dhūmrākṣa. From his son Saṃyama were born Kṛśāśva and Devaja[7].
35. From Kṛśāśva was born Somadatta who, by performing horse-sacrifices, worshipped the Supreme Person, the presiding deity of sacrifices[8] and attained to the foremost (highest goal through the support of the master of yoga.
36. Somadatta’s son was Sumati, whose son was Janmejaya. These rulers of the kingdom of Vaiśāli held up the glory (glorious tradition of Tṛṇabindu).
Footnotes and references:
[2]:
Padaratnāvalī takes Kavi ‘wise’ as the adj. qualifying Pṛṣadhra and treats this verse as a further elucidation of the above (12-13) verses. (uktameva vivṛṇoti).
[3]:
Vide infra ch. 4.
[6]:
This is nothing but an echo of:
marutaḥ pariveṣṭāro maruttasyāvasan gṛhe /
āvikṣitasya kāma-prer viśvedevāḥ sabhāsada iti //
—Ait. Br. 8.21.14, Śat. Br. 13.5.4.6. Mahābhārata 12.29.18.
The same is repeated in Mahābhārata Droṇa 55.43-44.