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 XIX - Dynasty of Puru

Descendants of Puru. Birth of Bharata, the son of Duṣyanta: his sons killed: adopts Bharadvāja or Vitatha. Hastin, founder of Hastinapur. Sons of Ajāmīḍha, and the races derived from them, as Pāñcālas, &c. Kripa and Kripī found by Śāntanu. Descendants of Rikṣa, the son of Ajāmīḍha. Kurukṣetra named from Kuru. Jarāsandha and others, kings of Magadhā.

THE son of Puru was Janamejaya; his son was Prācinvat; his son was Pravīra; his son was Manasyu; his son was Bhayada[1]; his son was Sudyumna[2]; his son was Bahugava[3]; his son was Samyāti[4]; his son was Ahamyāti[5]; his son was Raudrāśva[6], who had ten sons, Riteyu[7], Kakṣeyu, Sthaṇḍileyu, Ghriteyu, Jaleyu, Sthaleyu, Santateyu, Dhaneyu, Vaneyu, and Vrateyu[8]. The son of Riteyu was Rantināra[9], whose sons were Tansu, Apratiratha, and Dhruva[10]. The son of the second of these was Kaṇwa, and his son was Medhātithi, from whom the Kāṇvāyāna Brahmanas[11] descended. Anila[12] was the son of Tansu, and he had four sons, of whom Duṣyanta was the elder[13]. The son of Duṣyanta was the emperor Bharata; a verse explanatory of his name is chaunted by the gods; “The mother is only the receptacle; it is the father by whom a son is begotten. Cerish thy son, Duṣyanta; treat not Śakuntalā with disrespect. Sons, who are born from the paternal loins, rescue their progenitors from the infernal regions. Thou art the parent of this boy; Śakuntalā has spoken truth.” From the expression ‘cherish,’ Bharaswa, the prince was called Bharata[14].

Bharata had by different wives nine sons, but they were put to death by their own mothers, because Bharata remarked that they bore no resemblance to him, and the women were afraid that he would therefore desert them. The birth of his sons being thus unavailing, Bharata sacrificed to the Maruts, and they gave him Bharadvāja, the son of Vrihaspati by Mamata the wife of Utathya, expelled by the kick of Dirghatamas, his half brother, before his time. This verse explains the purport of his appellation; “'Silly woman,' said Vrihaspati, ‘cherish this child of two fathers’ (bhara dvā-jam). ‘No, Vrihaspati,’ replied Mamatā, ‘do you take care of him.’ So saying, they both abandoned him; but from their expressions the boy was called Bharadvāja.” He was also termed Vitatha, in allusion to the unprofitable (vitatha) birth of the sons of Bharata[15]. The son of Vitatha was Bhavanmanyu[16]; his sons were many, and amongst them the chief were Vrihatkṣatra, Mahāvīryya, Nara, and Garga[17]. The son of Nara was Saṅkriti; his sons were Ruciradhī and Rantideva[18]. The son of Garga was Sini[19], and their descendants called Gārgyas and Śainyas, although Kṣatriyas by birth, became Brahmans[20]. The son of Mahāvīryya was Urukṣaya[21], who had three sons, Trayyāruṇa, Puṣkarin, and Kapi[22]; the last of whom became a Brahman. The son of Vrihatkṣatra was Suhotra[23], whose son was Hastin, who founded the city of Hastināpur[24]. The sons of Hastin were Ajamīḍha[25], Dvimīḍha, and Purumīḍha. One son of Ajamīḍha was Kaṇwa, whose son was Medhātithi[26]; his other son was Vrihadishu, whose son was Vrihadvasu[27]; his son was Vrihatkarman[28]; his son was Jayadratha[29]; his son was Viśvajit[30]; his son was Senajit, whose sons were Rucirāśva, Kāśya, Driḍhadhanuṣ, and Vasahanu[31]. The son of Rucirāśva was Prithusena; his son was Pāra; his son was Nīpa; he had a hundred sons, of whom Samara, the principal, was the ruler of Kāmpilya[32]. Samara had three sons, Pāra, Sampāra, Sadaśva. The son of Pāra was Prithu; his son was Sukriti; his son was Vibhrātra[33]; his son was Anuha, who married Kritvī, the daughter of Śuka (the son of Vyāsa), and had by her Brahmadatta[34]; his son was Viśvaksena; his son was Udaksena[35]; and his son was Bhallāṭa[36].

The son of Dvimīḍha[37] was Yavīnara; his son was Dhritimat[38]; his son was Satyadhriti; his son was Driḍhanemi; his son was Supārśva[39]; his son was Sumati; his son was Sannatimat; his son was Krita, to whom Hiraṇyanābha taught the philosophy of the Yoga, and he compiled twenty-four Saṃhitās (or compendia) for the use of the eastern Brahmans, who study the Sāma-veda[40]. The son of Krita was Ugrāyudha, by whose prowess the Nīpa race of Kṣatriyas was destroyed[41]; his son was Kṣemya; his son was Suvīra; his son was Nripañjaya[42]; his son was Bahuratha. These were all called Pauravas.

Ajamīḍha had a wife called Nīlinī, and by her he had a son named Nīla; his son was Śānti; his son was Śuśānti; his son was Purujānu[43]; his son was Cakṣu[44]; his son was Haryyaśva[45], who had five sons, Mudgala, Śriñjaya[46], Vrihadishu, Pravīra[47], and Kāmpilya[48]. Their father said, “These my five (pañca) sons are able (alam) to protect the countries;” and hence they were termed the Pāñcālas[49]. From Mudgala descended the Maudgalya Brahmans[50]: he had also a son named Bahvaśva[51], who had two children, twins, a son and daughter, Divodāsa and Ahalyā. The son of Śaradwat or Gautama by Ahalyā was Śatānanda[52]; his son was Satyadhriti, who was a proficient in military science. Being enamoured of the nymph Urvaśī, Satyadhriti was the parent of two children, a boy and a girl. Śāntanu, a Raja, whilst hunting, found these children exposed in a clump of long Śara grass; and, compassionating their condition, took them, and brought them up. As they were nurtured through pity (kripā), they were called Kripa and Kripī. The latter became the wife of Droṇa, and the mother of Aswatthāman.

The son of Divodāsa was Mitrāyu[53]; his son was Chyavana; his son was Sudāsa; his son was Saudāsa, also called Sahadeva; his son was Somaka; he had a hundred sons, of whom Jantu was the eldest, and Pṛṣata the youngest. The son of Pṛṣata was Drupada; his son was Dhṛṣṭadyumna; his son was Dṛṣṭaketu.

Another son of Ajamīḍha was named Rikṣa[54]; his son was Samvaraṇa; his son was Kuru, who gave his name to the holy district Kurukṣetra; his sons were Sudhanuṣ, Jahnu, Parīkṣit, and many others[55]. The son of Sudhanuṣ was Suhotra; his son was Chyavana; his son was Krītaka[56]; his son was Uparicara the Vasu[57], who had seven children, Vrihadratha, Pratyagra, Kuśāmba, Māvella, Matsya, and others. The son of Vrihadratha was Kuśāgra; his son was Riṣabha[58]; his son was Puṣpavat; his son was Satyadhrita[59]; his son was Sudhanwan; and his son was Jantu. Vrihadratha had another son, who being born in two parts, which were put together (sandhita) by a female fiend named Jarā, he was denominated Jarāsandha[60]; his son was Sahadeva; his son was Somāpi[61]; his son was Srutaśravas[62]. These were kings of Magadhā.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Abhayada: Vāyu. Vītamaya: Agni. Vātāyudha: Matsya. Cārupāda: Bhāgavata. The Mahābhārata, Ādi P., p. 136, 138, has two accounts of the descendants of Puru, differing materially in the beginning from each other, and from the lists of the Purāṇas. In the first, Pravīra is made the son of Puru; his son is Manasyu, who has three sons, Śakta, Sanhanana, and Vāgmin; and there the line stops. Another son of Puru is Raudrāśva, whose sons are Richeyu and the rest, as in our text; making them the second in descent, instead of the eleventh. In the second list, the son of Puru is Janamejaya, whose successors are Prācinvat, Samyāti, Ahamyāti, Śarvabhauma, Jayatsena, Avācīna, Ariha, Mahābhauma, Ayutanāyin, Akrodhana, Devātithi, Ariha, Rikṣa, Matināra, who is therefore the fifteenth from Puru, instead of the fourth as in the first account, or the twelfth as in the text.

[2]:

Dhundu: Vāyu. Śambhu: Agni. Sudhanwan: Brāhma.

[3]:

Bahuvidha: Agni and Matsya.

[4]:

Sampāti: Agni.

[5]:

Omitted: Vāyu. Bahuvādin: Matsya.

[6]:

Bhadrāśva: Matsya.

[7]:

Rājeyu: Vāyu. Richeyu: Agni. They were the sons of the Apsaras Ghritācī: or of Misrakeśī: Mahābhārata. The Brāhma P. and Hari V. have very unaccountably, and in opposition to all other authorities, transferred the whole of the descendants of Anu to this family; substituting for Anu the second name in our text, Kakṣeyu. (p. 444.)

[8]:

The Vāyu names also ten daughters, Rudrā, Śūdrā, Madrā, Subhāgā, Amalajā, Talā, Khalā, Gopajālā, Tāmrarasā, and Ratnakūtī; and adds that they were married to Prabhākara, a Ṛṣi of the race of Atri. The Brāhma P. and Hari V. have a legend of the birth of Soma, the moon, from him and one of these ten; who succeeded to the power and prerogatives of Atri. The sons of the other wives were less distinguished, but they formed families eminent amongst holy Brahmans, called Swastyātreyas.

[9]:

Atimāra or Atibhāra: Bhāgavata. p. 448 Antināra: Matsya. Matināra: Mahābhārata, Agni and Brāhma. According to the Matsya and Hari V. (not in the Brāhma P.), Gaurī, the daughter of this prince, was the mother of Māndhātri, of the family of Ikṣvāku.

[10]:

In place of these the Matsya has Amūrttirayas and Nricandra, and there are several varieties in the nomenclature. In place of the first we have Vasu or Trasu, Vāyu; Tansurogha, Agni; Tansurodha, Brāhma; and Sumati, Bhāgavata. Pratiratha is read for the second in the Agni and Brahmā; and for the third, Suratha, Agni; Subāhu, Hari V.

[11]:

Medhātithi is the author of many hymns in the Rig-veda, and we have therefore Brahmans and religious teachers descended from Kṣatriyas.

[12]:

Malina: Vāyu. Raibhya: Bhāgavata. Dharmanetra: Brāhma P. The Hari V. omits him, making sad blundering work of the whole passage. Thus the construction is such as to intimate that Tansu or Tansurodha had a wife named Ilā, the daughter of Medhātithi; that is, his brother's great-granddaughter: but this, as the commentator observes, is contrary to common sense, and he would read it therefore, ‘The daughter of him who was named Ilin;’ a Raja so called: but in the Vāyu and Matsya we have Ilinā, the daughter of Yama, married to Tansu, and mother of Malina or Anila; more correctly perhaps Ailina. The blunder of the Hari V. therefore arises from the compiler's reading Yasya, ‘of whom,’ instead of Yamasya, ‘Yama.’ It is not an error of transcription, for the metre requires Yasya, and the remark of the commentator proves the correctness of the reading. The name occurs Īlina, the son of Tansu, in the Mahābhārata, agreeably to the Anuvaṃśa śloka, which is there quoted. ‘Sarasvatī bore Tansu to Matināra, and Tansu begot a son, Īlina, by Kāliṅgī.’

[13]:

The Vāyu, Matsya, and Bhāgavata agree with our text in making these the grandsons of Tansu: even the Brāhma P. coñcurs, but the Hari V. makes them his sons, having apparently transformed Tansosuta, the son of Tansu, into a synonyme of Tansu, or Tansurodha; as in these parallel passages: ‘The son of Tansu was the illustrious sage Dharmanetra: Upadānavī had from him four excellent sons.’ Brāhma P. ‘Tansurodha was a royal sage, the illustrious institutor of laws. Upadānavī had four sons from Tansurodha.’ Hari V. The commentator explains Dharmanetra to be ‘institutor p. 449 of laws.’ We have Upadānavī before, as the daughter of Vṛṣaparvan the Daitya, married to Hiraṇyākṣa. Hamilton (Bucanan) calls her the wife of Sughora. The four sons are named in other authorities, with some variations: Duṣyanta, Suṣyanta or Ṛṣyanta or Sumanta, Pravīra and Anagha or Naya. The Mahābhārata enumerates five, Duṣyanta, Śūra, Bhīma, Vasu, and Pravasu, but makes them the sons of Īlina and grandsons of Tansu.

[14]:

These two Ślokas are taken from the Mahābhārata, Ādi Parvan, p. 112, and are part of the testimony borne by a heavenly messenger to the birth of Bharata. They are repeated in the same book, in the account of the family of Puru, p. 139. They occur, with a slight variation of the order, in other Purāṇas, as the Vāyu, &c., and shew the greater antiquity of the story of Śakuntalā, although they do not narrate it. The meaning of the name Bharata is differently explained in Śakuntalā; he is said to be so called from supporting' the world: he is also there named Śarvadamana, ‘the conqueror of all.’

[15]:

The Brāhma P. and Hari V., the latter especially, appear to have modified this legend, with the view perhaps of reconciling those circumstances which are related of Bharadvāja as a sage with his p. 450 history as a king. Whilst therefore they state that Bharadvāja was brought by the winds to Bharata, they state that he was so brought to perform a sacrifice, by which a son was born, whom Bharadvāja also inaugurated. In the Vāyu, Matsya, and Agni, however, the story is much more consistently narrated; and Bharadvāja, being abandoned by his natural parent, is brought by the winds, as a child, not as a sage; and being adopted by Bharata, is one and the same with Vitatha, as our text relates. Thus in the Vāyu, the Maruts bring to Bharata, already sacrificing for progeny, Bharadvāja, the son of Vrihaspati; and Bharata receiving him, says, “This Bharadvāja shall be Vitatha.” The Matsya also says, the Maruts in compassion took the child, and being pleased with Bharata's worship, gave it to him, and he was named Vitatha. And the Agni tells the whole story in one verse: ‘Then the son of Vrihaspati, being taken by the winds; Bharadvāja was transferred with sacrifice, and was Vitatha.’ The account given in the Bhāgavata is to the same purpose. The commentator on the text also makes the matter clear enough: ‘The name of Bharadvāja in the condition of son of Bharata was Vitatha.’ It is clear that a new-born infant could not be the officiating priest at a sacrifice for his own adoption, whatever the compiler of the Hari Vaṃśa may please to assert. From Bharadvāja, a Brahman by birth, and king by adoption, descended Brahmans and Kṣatriyas, the children of two fathers: The Mahābhārata, in the Ādi Parvan, tells the story very simply. In one place, p. 136. v. 3710, it says that Bharata, on the birth of his children proving vain, obtained from Bharadvāja, by great sacrifices, a son, Bhūmanyu; and in another passage it makes Bhūmanyu the son of Bharata by Sunandā, daughter of Śarvasena, king of Kāśī; p. 139. v. 3785. The two are not incompatible.

[16]:

Manyu: Bhāgavata. Suketu: Agni. But the Brāhma and Hari V. omit this and the next generation, and make Suhotra, Anuhotra, Gaya, Garga, and Kapila the sons of Vitatha: they then assign to Suhotra two sons, Kāśīka and Ghritsamati, and identify them and their descendants with the progeny of Āyu, who were kings of Kāśī (see p. 409. n. 15); a piece of confusion unwarranted by any other authority except the Agni.

[17]:

Vrihat, Ahārya, Nara, Garga: Matsya.

[18]:

Guruvīrya and Trideva: Vāyu. The first is called Gurudhī, Matsya; and Guru, p. 451 Bhāgavata: they agree in Rantideva. The Bhāgavata describes the great liberality of this prince, and his practice of Yoga. According to a legend preserved in the Megha Duta, his sacrifices of kine were so numerous, that their blood formed the river Carmanvatī, the modern Chambal.

[19]:

Śivi: Matsya.

[20]:

The other authorities coñcur in this statement; thus furnishing an additional instance of one caste proceeding from another. No reason is assigned: the commentator says it was from some cause.

[21]:

Durbhakṣaya: Vāyu. Urukṣat: Matsya. Duritakṣaya: Bhāgavata.

[22]:

Trayyāruṇi, Puṣkarāruṇi, Kavi; all became Brahmans: ### Matsya: and there were three chief branches of the Kāvyas, or descendants of Kavi; ### Gargas, Saṅkritis, and Kāvyas. Ibid.

[23]:

In the Mahābhārata, Suhotra is the son of Bhūmanyu; and in one place the father of Ajamīḍha, &c., and in another of Hastin. The Brāhma P. in some degree, and the Hari Vaṃśa in a still greater, have made most extraordinary confusion in the instance of this name. In our text and in all the best authorities we have three Suhotras, perfectly distinct: 1. Suhotra great-grandson of Amāvasu, father of Jahnu, and ancestor of Visvāmitra and the Kauśikas (see p. 308); 2. Suhotra son of Kṣatravriddha, and grandson of Ayus, and progenitor of the race of Kāśī kings (p. 406); and 3. Suhotra the son of Vrihatkṣatra, grandson of Vitatha, and parent of Hastin. In the two blundering compilations mentioned, we have, first (Hari V. c. 20), a Suhotra son of Vrihatkṣatra, of the race of Puru; his descent is not given, but, from the names which follow Suhotra, the dynasty is that of our present text: secondly (Hari V. c. 27), Suhotra son of Kāñcana, of the line of Amāvasu, and father of Jahnu, &c.: thirdly (Hari V. c. 29), Suhotra the son of Kṣatravriddha, and progenitor of the Kāśī kings: fourthly (Hari V. 32), we have the first and third of these personages confounded; Suhotra is made the son of Vitatha, and progenitor of the Kāśī kings, the dynasty of whom is repeated; thus connecting them with the line of Puru instead of Āyus, in opposition to all authority. Again, we have a notable piece of confusion, and Suhotra the son of Vitatha is made the father of Vrihat, the father of the three princes who in our text and in the Hari V. (c. 20) are the sons of Hastin; and amongst whom Ajamīḍha is made the father of Jahnu, and ancestor of the Kauśikas, instead of being, as in c. 27, and as every where else, of the family of Amāvasu. The source of all this confusion is obvious. The compilers extracted all the authentic traditions accurately enough, but, puzzled by the identity of name, they have also p. 452 mixed the different accounts together, and caused very absurd and needless perplexity. It is quite clear also that the Hari Vanua does not deserve the pains taken, and taken fruitlessly, by Mr. Hamilton and M. Langlois to reduce it to consistency. It is of no weight whatever as an authority for the dynasties of kings, although it furnishes some particular details, which it has picked up possibly from authentic sources not now available.

[24]:

It was finally ruined by the encroachments of the Ganges, but vestiges of it were, at least until lately, to be traced along the river, nearly in a line with Delhi, about sixty miles to the east.

[25]:

In one place, son of Suhotra; in another, grandson of Hastin: Mahābhārata.

[26]:

The copies agree in this reading, yet it can scarcely be correct. Kaṇwa has already been noticed as the son of Apratiratha. According to the Bhāgavata, the elder son of Ajamīḍha was Priyamedhas, from whom a tribe of Brahmans descended. The Matsya has Vrihaddhanuṣ, and names the wife of Ajamīḍha, Dhūminī. It also however, along with the Vāyu, makes Kaṇwa the son of Ajamīḍha by his wife Kesinī.

[27]:

Vrihaddhanuṣ: Bhāgavata. Also called Vrihaddharman: Hari V.

[28]:

Vrihatkaya: Bhāgavata.

[29]:

Satyajit: Hari V.

[30]:

Aśvajit: Matsya. Viśada: Bhāgavata.

[31]:

[32]:

Kāmpilya appears to be the Kampil of the Mohammedans, situated in the Doab. It was included in southern Pāñcāla. The Matsya makes Samara the son of Kāśya.

[33]:

Vibhrāja in MSS., also in the Vāyu.

[34]:

The Bhāgavata omits the descents subsequent to Nīpa, and makes Brahmadatta the son of Nīpa by Sukriti. In the Hari V. is a curious legend of the different transmigrations of Brahmadatta and his six companions, who were successively as many Brahmans, then foresters, then p. 453 deer, then water-fowl, then swans, and finally Brahmans again, when with the king they obtained liberation. According to the Bhāgavata, Brahmadatta composed a treatise on the Yoga, a Yoga tantra.

[35]:

Daṇḍasena: Hari V.

[36]:

Bhallāka: Vāyu. Bhallāda: Bhāgavata. The Vāyu makes him the last of the race. The Hari V. adds that he was killed by Karṇa. The Matsya names his successor Janamejaya, when the race of the Nīpas was exterminated by Ugrāyudha; as noticed below.

[37]:

So the Vāyu and Bhāgavata. The Matsya and Hari V., with less consistency, derive this family also from Ajamīḍha.

[38]:

Kritimat: Bhāgavata.

[39]:

Between these two the Vāyu inserts Mahat and Rukmaratha. The Matsya, Sudhanwan, Śarvabhauma, Mahāpaurava, and Rukmadhara. The Brāhma P., Sudharman, Śarvabhauma, Mahat, and Rukmaratha.

[40]:

The Bhāgavata says he was the author of six Sanhitās of the Sāma-veda. (See p. 282.)

[41]:

The Hari V. says he killed Nīpa, the grandfather of Pṛṣata, but it had previously stated that it was the son of Bhallāṭa, several descents after Nīpa, who was killed by Ugrāyudha: and again (c. 32), Pṛṣata, conformably to other authorities, appears as the father of Drupada, in the family of Śriñjaya. The Hari V. relates the destruction of Ugrāyudha by Bhīṣma, in consequence of his demanding in marriage the widow of Śāntanu: after which, Pṛṣata, it is said, recovered possession of Kāmpilya.

[42]:

Purañjaya: Bhāgavata.

[43]:

Purujāti: Vāyu. Puruja: Bhāgavata. The Brāhma P. and Hari V. omit Nīla and Śānti.

[44]:

Rikṣa: Vāyu. Prithu: Matsya. Arka: Bhāgavata. Omitted: Brāhma.

[45]:

Bāhyāswa: Agni. Bhadrāśva: Mats. Bharmyaswa: Bhāgavata.

[46]:

Jaya: Matsya. Sañjaya: Bhāgavata.

[47]:

Yavīnara: Agni and Bhāgavata. Javīnara: Matsya.

[48]:

Kapila: Mats. Krimilāśva: Brāhma.

[49]:

Pāñcāla was at first the country north and west of Delhi, between the foot of the Himālaya and the Chambal. It was afterwards divided into northern and southern Pāñcāla, separated by the Ganges. Mākandi on the Ganges and Kāmpilya were the chief cities of the latter; Ahikṣetra in the former. The Pāñcālas, according to the Mahābhārata, expelled Samvaraṇa from Hastināpur, but it was recovered by Kuru. The purport of the term Pāñcāla is similarly explained in other Purāṇas. In the Mahābhārata they are the grandsons of Ajamīḍha.

[50]:

The Matsya says that they, as well as the Kāṇwas, were all followers or partisans of Aṅgiras: ###. The Hari V. has nearly the same words.

[51]:

Badhryāśva: Vāyu. Pañcāśva: Agni. Bandhyāśva: Matsya. Bhārmya: Bhāgavata. But there is some indistinctness as to his descent. The Matsya and Hari V. give the son of Mudgala only his patronymic Maudgalya. According to the first, his son was Indrasena; and his son, Bandhyāśva. The second makes Badhryāśva the son of Maudgalya by Indrasena. The Bhāgavata makes Bhārmya, the patronymic of Mudgala, the son of Bharmyāśva, and who is the father of Divodāsa and Ahalyā: ###. The commentator has, ###.

[52]:

In the Rāmayaṇa, Śatānanda appears as the family priest of Janaka, the father of Śītā.

[53]:

From whom the Maitreya Brahmans were descended: Hari V. In the Matsya and Agni the son of Mitrāyu is called Maitreya (see p. 3). The Brāhma P. and Hari V. here close the lineage of p. 455 Divodāsa: the Agni adds but one name, Somāpi. They then proceed with the descendants of Śriñjaya, one of the Pāñcālas, or Pañcadhanuṣ, Somadatta, Sahadeva, and then as in our text. The Vāyu and Bhāgavata agree with the latter in making the line continuous from Divodāsa. According to the Matsya and Brāhma P. the race of Ajamīḍha became extinct in the person of Sahadeva, but Ajamīḍha himself was reborn as Somaka, in order to continue his lineage, which was thence called the Somaka family. It was in the reign of Drupada that the possessions of the Pāñcālas were divided; Droṇa, assisted by the Pāṇḍavas, conquering the country, and ceding the southern portion again to Drupada, as related in the Mahābhārata. The two princes last named in the list figure in the great war.

[54]:

The Hari V. gives him two brothers, Dhūmravarṇa and Sudarśana. In the Mahābhārata one list agrees with the text; the other calls Samvaraṇa the son of Ajamīḍha by his wife Rikṣā.

[55]:

One other is named in the Bhāgavata, Matsya, Brāhma, and Agni; Animejaya, Arimarddana, and Niṣadhāśva. The Hari V. has Sudhanwat in place of Jahnu; having also Sudhanuṣ.

[56]:

Krita: Vāyu. Kritayajña: Brāhma. Krimi: Matsya. Kriti: Bhāgavata.

[57]:

The story of Uparicara, or a Vasu who by command of Indra became king of Chedi, is told in the Mahābhārata, Ādi Parvan (vol. I. p. 85). He is there said to have at first five sons, Vrihadratha, king of Magadhā, Pratyagra, Kuśāmba, also called Manivāhana, Māvella, and Yadu, by his wife Girikā; afterwards he has, by Adrikā, an Apsaras condemned to the form of a fish, Matsya a son, and Satyavatī or Kālī a daughter: the latter was the mother of Vyāsa. The same legend is referred to in the accounts of Uparicara and his family in the Bhāgavata, Matsya, Hari V., &c.

[58]:

Vṛṣabha: Matsya.

[59]:

Satyahita: Vāyu. Satyahita: Bhāgavata. Satyadhrita or Puṣya: Matsya.

[60]:

This story is told in the 16th section of the Sabhā Parvan of the Mahābhārata, where also he is called the son of Vrihadratha. In the Vāyu he is the son of Satyahita. The Agni has Satyahita, Urjja, Sambhava, Jarāsandha; and the Matsya, Satyadhrita, Dhanuṣa, Śarva, Sambhava, Jarāsandha.

[61]:

Somādhi: Vāyu. Udāpi: Agni. Udāyus: Brāhma. Somavit: Matsya.

[62]:

Śrutakarman: Agni. Śrutaśarman Brāhma.

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