Chapter 6 - History of Ikṣvāku’s Posterity

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Introductory:

This chapter gives the first twenty generations of the Solar race:

Manu (Ikvcāku);
  Nimi—>Janaka;
  Vikukṣa (Śaśāda);
  Daṇḍaka;
Śaśāda—>Purañjaya (Kakutstha)—>Anenas—>Pṛthu—>Viśvarandhi—>Candra—>Yuvanāśva—>Śabasta [=Śavasta?]—>Śābasti [=Śāvasti?]—>Bṛhadaśva—>Kuvalayāśva (Dhundhumāra)—> Dṛḍhāśva—>Haryaśva—>Nikumbha—>Barhaṇāśva—>Kṛśāśva Senajit—>Yuvanāśva—>Māndhātṛ (Trasaddasyu).

Śrī Śuka said:

1. Virūpa, Ketumān and Śambhu were the three sons of Ambarīṣa. From Virūpa was born Pṛṣadaśva whose son was Rathītara.

2. When requested for the continuation of the family of Rathītara, Aṅgiras begot by the wife of Rathītara who was childless, a number of sons, possessing the lustre of the Vedic lore.

3. Though these were born from the wife of Rathītara, they were known as belonging to the family of Aṅgiras (instead of that of Rathītara); they became the leaders of other sons of Rathītara as they were Brāhmaṇas endowed with the characteristic qualities of Kṣattriyas.

4. While Manu was sneezing his son Ikṣvāku was born from his nostrils. Of the hundred sons of Ikṣvāku, Vikukṣi, Nimi and Daṇḍaka were the eldest.

5. Of these one hundred sons, twenty-five became monarchs in (the principalities lying in) the east of Āryāvarta^[1], twenty-five became rulers in the West (of Āryāvarta), three in the middle (of that tract), and the rest in other directions (north, south and other directions).

6. Once, on the occasion of aṣṭaka-śrāddha^[2] Ikṣvāku ordered his son, “Oh Vikukṣi! Hurry up and bring meat suitable for the purpose of Śrāddha. Don’t delay, please.”

7. Saying ‘Be it so’ (in compliance of his father’s order), the hero went to the forest, and killed beasts suitable for religious rites. Being fatigued and hungry, he unwittingly ate a hare.

8. He brought the remaining flesh to his father. When Ikṣvāku requested the family preceptor (Vasiṣṭha) to sprinkle it with water, he refused saying that it was contaminated, and hence unsuitable for religious rites.

9. Having ascertained from his son the perpetration of the (sacrilegious) act as reported by his family preceptor the king, out of anger, exiled from his land, his son who violated the restrictions of the rite.

10. The king discussed with his preceptor Vasiṣṭha about the nature of the Truth. As a consequence of it, Ikṣvāku became established in Jñāna-yoga (path of knowledge). And casting off this physical body, he attained to what was the highest (Brahman).

11. Vikukṣi who came to be known as Śaśāda (the eater of a hare) returned after the demise of his father, and while ruling over the earth, he worshipped Lord Hari with (the performance) of sacrifices.

12. His son Purañjaya (conqueror of a city) was called Indravāha (one borne by Indra), and was also named as Kakutstha (one seated on the hump of a bull). Now listen to (what) deeds earned for him these designations.

13. At the end of the Kṛta Age (or at the beginning of the Tretā age)^[3], there was a battle between gods and Dānavas—a battle that was fierce like the Pralaya, at the end of world. This hero (Purañjaya) was sought as an ally by gods who were defeated by Daityas.

14. (‘I shall kill the demons if Indra agrees to be my mount’ on this condition) Indra was sought to be a mount. According to the advice of Lord Viṣṇu, the god of gods and the soul of the universe, Indra assumed the farm of a big bull (to carry Purañjaya).

15. Accoutered in a coat of mail and armed with a celestial bow and sharp arrows, he, being eager to fight, mounted the bull and occupied his seat on its hump, while he was being extolled by gods.

16. Strengthened with the spiritual energy of Lord Viṣṇu, the Inner Controller, the Supreme Soul, he besieged the town of the Daityas in the west, with the army of gods.

17. He engaged them in a fierce battle which made hair stand on end. Whosoever of the Daityas dared to face in the battle, he despatched them to the god of death with his bhalla arrows.

18. While the Daityas were being killed, they avoided the range of the flight of his arrows which were unbearable like the fire that consumes the universe at the end of yugas and fled to their region (the subterranean world).

19. Having conquered the splendid city and all its wealth, the royal sage gave it all to Indra, the wielder of the thunderbolt. Hence he was designated with the epithets (mentioned above).

20. Purañjaya had a son called Anenas (the sinless). His son was Pṛthu whose son was Viśvarandhi (v.l. Viśvagandha) His son was Candra whose son was Yuvanāśva.

21. His son was Śābasta who built the city called Śābasti. Bṛhadaśva was the son of Śābasta; thence(the next generation) was Kuvalayāśva.

22. For achieving the well-being of sage Utaṅka, the powerful king, surrrounded by his twenty-one thousand sons, killed the demon called Dhundhu.

23. He, thereby, became celebrated as Dhundhumāra. All of his sons except the three who survived, were burnt by the fire that emanated from the mouth of Dhundhu.

24. The surviving sons were Dṛḍhāśva, Kapilāśva and Bhadrāśva, Oh descendant of Bharata. Dṛḍhāśva’s son was Haryaśva whose son is remembered at Nikumbha.

25-26. Barhaṇāśva was the son of Nikumbha. His (Barhaṇāśva’s) son was Kṛśāśva whose son was Senajit. To him was born Yuvanāśva who, being childless, repaired to the forest, along with his hundred wives, in despair. The merciful sages took pity on him, and with great concentration of mind, they conducted for him a sacrifice, specially dedicated to Indra.

27. (Once) being thirsty at night, the king entered the sacrificial hall. Finding all the Brāhmaṇas in the hall asleep, he himself drank the water consecrated with mantras (and meant for the queen).

28. On getting up (at dawn), the Brāhmaṇas found the pitcher of (consecrated) water empty. Then, Oh king, they enquired whose work it was that the water meant for begetting a male issue, was drunk.

29. Then, having come to know that it was drunk by the king who was (as if) impelled by God, they bowed down to the Almighty Lord (with the words) “The power of the Providence is really Supreme and irresistible”.

30. It is reported that after the expiry of the due period (of nine months), the son of Yuvanāśva who (later) became the sovereign monarch of the globe of the earth, was born splitting open the right side of his belly.

31. ‘The child is incessantly crying^[4]. Whom will it suck?’ (asked the Brāhmaṇas anxiously ‘He will suckle me. Oh child, do not cry; saying this, Indra (who was propitiated with a sacrifice for its birth) put (in his mouth) his index finger (which was dripping with nectar.)

32. Through the grace of gods and that of Brāhmaṇas, his (Māndhātṛ’s) father did not die. Yuvanāśva attained to the Final Beatitude, there (in that very hermitage) through his penance.

33. Indra gave him Trasad-dasyu (The terror of evildoers) as another epithet. For enemies of gods and men like Rāvaṇa and others trembled at the mention of his name and were perturbed.

34. In due course, Māndhātā, the son of Yuvanāśva became the universal monarch, and being infused with the Spiritual power and glory of the Imperishable Lord (Viṣṇu), solely ruled over the world consisting of seven island-continents.

35. A knower of the Self as he was, he performed a number of sacrifices with liberal gifts and dakṣiṇās, and thereby worshipped the Supreme Deity of the sacrifices, the Lord who represents all gods (in his person) and who, through his being the inner Controller of all antaryāmins is beyond the ken of senses.

36. Materials of sacrifices, mantras (recited in the course of the sacrifice), the sacrificial procedure, the sacrifice proper, the performer of sacrifice and priests participating in the sacrifice, the merit accruing from the sacrifice, time and place of sacrifice—all these are his constituents. (In fact, the whole of the universe is constituted of him. Him he worshipped through sacrifices.

37. The point at which the sun rises, to the point where it sets—the whole of the region lighted by the sun is regarded as the land (kingdom) of Māndhātṛ, the son of Yuvanāśva.

38. The king begot on Bindumatī, the daughter of Śaśabindu, (three sons, viz.) Purukutsa, Ambarīṣa and Mucakunda, the yogin. Their fifty sisters sought the sage Saubhari^[5] as their husband.

39-40. Submerged in the waters of the Yamunā, and practising austere penance, Saubhari happened to observe the happy state of the king of fishes engaged in coition (with a female partner), and he was affected with that passionate desire, and (approaching the king) requested him for a girl. (The king) replied. “Oh Brahman, you can freely have any daughter, provided she selects you of her own accord voluntarily.

41. The sage realized the ruse and said to himself, ‘Considering that I, being far advanced in age, grey-haired, covered with wrinkles, with a head unstable and shaking (all the while), will be repulsive and disagreeable to women, I have been (politely) refused by the king.

42. I shall make myself so (attractively) beautiful that I shall be covetable even to celestial nymphs; not to speak of daughters of lords of human beings. The spiritual master (Saubhari) became thus determined (and by his power of asceticism, he became so actually).

43. He was ushered in by the chamberlain, in the richly magnificent and luxurious harem reserved for the princesses. And Lo! That one suitor was sought after and courted as a husband by all the fifty princesses.

44. Throwing to winds (forgetting) their mutual sisterly affection, there arose a great controversy among them about securing him (as a husband). Their hearts being fixed upon him, each one of them argued, “He is suitable in beauty and form only to me, and not to anyone of you (at all)”.

45-46. Saubhari, well-versed in the Ṛgveda (and master of powerful mantras) enjoyed for a long period his life with them (the princesses of Māndhātṛ) in mansions furnished by the power of his inexhaustible penance, with invaluable paraphernalia and furnishings such as highly costly beds, seats, rich clothes, ornaments, baths, articles of beautifications (pigments etc.), sweet dishes, wreaths and flowers, waited upon by men and women adorned with precious ornaments, and resonant with warbling birds, humming bees and singing panegyrists. He revelled with them delightfully in various gardens studded with pools of translucent waters, and in parks full of scented flowers (like Kalhāra).

47. Observing his affluent state of house-holder’s life, Māndhātā, the master of the entire earth consisting of seven island-continents, was so astonished that he ceased to feel the obstinate pride of universal sovereignty.

48. Although he was enjoying various objects of pleasure with deep attachment to his houses which were full of various kinds of pleasure^[6], Saubhari did not feel sated like a fire fed with drops of ghee.

49. On one occasion, while he was sitting (all alone), Saubhari, the great preceptor of Ṛgveda, became conscious of his ascetic degeneration (spiritual oblivion) caused by his observation of the sexual pleasure of the fish.

50. ‘Alas! Look at the ruinous fall of mine—an ascetic of pious conduct, conforming strictly to vows, due to my noticing (the sexual intercourse of) the acquatic animals, under waters, my asceticism^[7] which I observed for a long time, was lost.’

51. A person desirous of liberation from Saṃsāra, should, with all his heart and soul, avoid association with all who follow married life. He should endeavour not to permit his senses to external objects. Leading a life in solitude, he should fix his mind on the Infinite Ruler (of the universe). If occasion arises, he should associate himself with saintly persons who observe vows (of celibacy etc.) and are devoted to the Lord.

52. I was an ascetic without any companion. But due to my association with the fish under water, I became fifty (by marrying fifty wives^[8]). (By procreating hundred sons per wife) I became five thousand. I cannot reach the end of desires about them, or I do not see any limit to my wishes relating to man and wife, or this world and the next. I have lost my judgment due to the guṇas of Māyā. I have come to believe that achievement of worldly objects are the real goal in life.

53. Continuing in the householder’s stage of life for some (more) time, he felt disinclination (to that life), and adopted the life of a Vānaprastha (nyāsa). He repaired to the forest and was followed by his fifty wives who looked upon their husband as God.

54. The self-controlled sage performed there a severely austere penance which reduced his body (to a skeleton), and got absorbed along with the fires (like gārhapatya) into the Supreme Soul (and was liberated from saṃsāra).

55. Noticing the absorption of their husband in the Supreme Brahman, his wives too followed him through his spiritual power (and attained Liberation from Saṃsāra) just as flames become extinguished with a subsided fire.^[9]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The sacred land between the Vindhya and the Himālayas—Bhāvāratha Dīpikā

[2]:

(A Śrāddha to be performed on the seventh, eighth, ninth and the thirteenth day of dark and bright halfs of the lunar months).

Anvitārthaprakāśikā quotes:

saptamyādi-trayaṃ caiva tathā caiva trayodaśī!
catasras tvaṣṭakāḥ proktāḥ sarvapakṣād viśeṣataḥ!!

[3]:

Kṛtānta—Both the meanings of the pun on Kṛtānta are accepted.

[4]:

The child which wishes to suck the breast of his mother is incessantly crying—Padaratnāvalī

[5]:

Saubhari—The story, how the old sage Śaubhari married all the fifty daughters of the emperor Māndhātṛ seems to be popular in the epic period, and is found in Viṣṇu Purāṇa. 4.2.3, Garuḍa Purāṇa. 1.138. In fact the whole of that chapter seems to be based on this chapter of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

[6]:

Bhāgavata Candrikā reads nānā-mukhaiḥ: ‘Through many sets of senseorgans’. Saubhari assumed various bodies simultaneously to enjoy through multiple sets of sense-organs, all the objects of pleasure fully.

[7]:

brahma—Brahman, the Supreme Spirit I used to meditate upon for a long time past, was completely forgotten—Bhāgavata Candrikā

[8]:

Anvitārthaprakāśikā: I assumed fifty forms for simultaneous association with fifty wives.

[9]:

Padaratnāvalī’s Text does not end this chapter here.