Book Iv. Chapter Xi
*
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],
p. 416
Chap. Xi.
The Ydava race, or descendants of Yadu. Krttavrya obtains a boon from Datttreya: takes Rvana prisoner: is killed by Paraurma: his descendants.
I Will first relate to you the family of Yadu, the eldest son of Yayti, in which the eternal immutable Vishnu descended upon earth in a portion of his essence 1; of which the glory cannot be described, though for ever hymned in order to confer the fruit of all their wishes--whether they desired virtue, wealth, pleasure, or liberation--upon all created beings, upon men, saints, heavenly quiristers, spirits of evil, nymphs, centaurs, serpents, birds, demons, gods, sages, Brahmans, and ascetics. Whoever hears the account of the race of Yadu shall be released from all sin; for the supreme spirit, that is without form, and which is called Vishnu, was manifested in this family.
Yadu had four sons, Sahasrajit, Kroshti, Nala, and Raghu 2. atajit was the son of the elder of these, and he had three sons, Haihaya, Venu 3, and Haya. The son of Haihaya was Dharmanetra 4; his son was Kunt 5; his son was Shanji 6; his son was Mahishmat 7; his son
p. 417
was Bhadrasena 8; his son was Durdama; his son was Dhanaka 9, who had four sons, Kritavryya, Kritgni, Kritavarman, and Kritaujas. Kritavryya's son was Arjuna, the sovereign of the seven Dwpas, the lord of a thousand arms. This prince propitiated the sage Datttreya, the descendant of Atri, who was a portion of Vishnu, and solicited and obtained from him these boons--a thousand arms; never acting unjustly; subjugation of the world by justice, and protecting it equitably; victory over his enemies; and death by the hands of a person renowned in the three regions of the universe. With these means he ruled over the whole earth with might and justice, and offered ten thousand sacrifices. Of him this verse is still recited; "The kings of the earth will assuredly never pursue his steps in sacrifice, in munificence, in devotion, in courtesy, and in self-control." In his reign nothing was lost or injured; and so he governed the whole earth with undiminished health, prosperity, power, and might, for eighty five thousand years. Whilst sporting in the waters of the Narmad, and elevated with wine, Rvana came on his tour of triumph to the city Mhishmat, and there he who boasted of overthrowing the gods, the Daityas, the Gandharbas and their king, was taken prisoner by Krttavrya, and confined like a tame beast in a corner of his capital 10. At the expiration of his long reign Krttavrya was killed by Paraurma, who was an embodied portion of the mighty Nryana 11. Of the hundred sons of this king, the five principal were ra 12, rasena, Vrishana 13, Madhu 14, and
p. 418
[paragraph continues] Jayadhwaja 15. The son of the last was Tlajangha, who had a hundred sons, called after him Tlajanghas: the eldest of these was Vtihotra; another was Bharata 16, who had two sons, Vrisha and Sujt 17. The son of Vrisha was Madhu 18; he had a hundred sons, the chief of whom was Vrishni, and from him the family obtained the name of Vrishni 19. From the name of their father, Madhu, they were also called Mdhavas; whilst from the denomination of their common ancestor Yadu, the whole were termed Ydavas 20.
p. 419
This page consists solely of footnotes.
Footnotes
416:1 Or, 'in which Krishna was born.' It might have been expected, from the importance of this genealogy, that it would have been so carefully preserved, that the authorities would have closely concurred in its details. Although, however, the leading specifications coincide, yet, as we shall have occasion to notice, great and irreconcilable variations occur.
416:2 The two first generally agree. There are differences in the rest; as,
Vyu.
Brhma.
Bhgavata.
Krma.
Nla
Nala
Nala
Nla
Ajita
Anjika
Aripu
Jina
Raghu
Payoda
Aripu
Raghu
[paragraph continues] The Brhma and Hari V. read Sahasrda for the first name; and the Linga has Balasani in place of Nala. The Agni makes atajit also a son of Yadu.
416:3 Venuhaya: Bhgavata, &c. Uttnahaya: Padma. Vettahaya: Matsya. They were the sons of Sahasrda: Brhma and Hari V.
416:4 Dharmatantra: Vyu. Dharma: Krma.
416:5 Krtti: Vyu.
416:6 Sanjneya: Vyu. Sankana: Agni. Sahanja of Sahanjani pura: Brhma. Sanjnita: Linga. Sanhana: Matsya. Sohanji: Bhgavata.
416:7 By whom the city of Mhshmat on the Narbadda was founded: Brhma P., Hari V.
417:8 So the Bhgavata; but the Vyu, more correctly, has Bhadrasrenya. See p. 407. n. 12.
417:9 Kanaka: Vyu, &c. Varaka: Linga. Andhaka: Krma.
417:10 According to the Vyu, Krttavrya was the aggressor, invading Lank, and there taking Rvana prisoner. The circumstances are more usually narrated as in our text.
417:11 See page 402. Krttavrya's fate was the consequence of an imprecation denounced by pava or Vaishtha, the son of Varuna, whose hermitage had been burnt, according to the Mahbhrata, Rja-dharma, by Chitrabhnu, or Fire, to whom the king had in his bounty presented the world. The Vyu makes the king himself the incendiary, with arrows given him by Srya to dry up the ocean.
417:12 Urjjita: Bhgavata.
417:13 Vrishabha: Bhgavata. Dhrishta: Matsya. Dhrishna: Krma. Prishokta: Padma. Vrishni: Linga. Krishnksha: Brhma.
417:14 Krishna, in all except the Bhgavata.
418:15 King of Avanti: Brhma and Hari Vana.
418:16 Ananta: Vyu and Agni; elsewhere omitted.
418:17 Durjaya only: Vyu, Matsya.
418:18 This Madhu, according to the Bhgavata, was the son of Krttavrya. The Brhma and Hari V. make him the son of Vrisha, but do not say whose son Vrisha was. The commentator on the latter asserts that the name is a synonyme of Payoda, the son of Yadu, according to his authority, and to that alone.
418:19 The Bhgavata agrees with our text, but the Brhma, Hari V., Linga, and Krma make Vrishana the son of Madhu, and derive the family name of Vrishnis or Vrshneyas from him.
418:20 The text takes no notice of some collateral tribes, which appear to merit remark. Most of the other authorities, in mentioning the sons of Jayadhwaja, observe that from them came the five great divisions of the Haihaya tribe. These, according to the Vyu, were the Tlajanghas, Vtihotras, vantyas, Tundikeras, and Jtas. The Matsya and Agni omit the first, and substitute Bhojas; and the latter are included in the list in the Brhma, Padma, Linga, and Hari V. For Jtas the reading is Sanjtas or Sujtas. The Brhma P. has also Bhratas, who, as well as the Sujtas, are not commonly specified, it is said, 'from their great number.' They are in all probability invented by the compiler out of the names of the text, Bharata and Sujti. The situation of these tribes is central India, for the capital of the Tlajanghas was Mhishmat or Chul-Maheswar, still called, according to Col. Tod, Sahasra-bhuki-basti, 'the village of the thousand-armed;' that is, of Krttavryya. Annals of Rajasthan, I. 39. n. The Tundikeras and Vtihotras are placed in the geographical lists behind the Vindhyan mountains, and the termination -kaira is common in the valley of the Narmad, as Bairkaira, &c., or we may have Tundikera abbreviated, as Tundari on the Tapti. The vantyas were in Ujayin, and the Bhojas were in the neighbourhood probably of Dhr in Malwa. These tribes must have preceded, then, the Rajput tribes, by whom these countries are now occupied, or Rahtores, Chauhans, Pawars, Gehlotes, and the rest. There are still some vestiges of them, and a tribe of Haihayas still exists, at the top of the valley of Sohagpur in Bhagel-khand, aware of their ancient lineage, and though p. 419 few in number, celebrated for their valour. Tod's Rajasthan, I. 39. The scope of the traditions regarding them, especially of their overrunning the country, along with akas and other foreign tribes, in the reign preceding that of Sagara (see p. 373), indicates their foreign origin also; and if we might trust to verbal resemblances, we might suspect that the Hayas and Haihayas of the Hindus had some connexion with the Hia, Hoiei-ke, Hoiei-hu, and similarly denominated Hun or Turk tribes, who make a figure in Chinese history. Des Guignes, Histoire des Huns, I. 7, 55, 231. Ii. 253, although we cannot with him imagine the word 'horse' itself is derived from haya. Rajasthan, I. 76.
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],
p. 416
Chap. Xi.
The Ydava race, or descendants of Yadu. Krttavrya obtains a boon from Datttreya: takes Rvana prisoner: is killed by Paraurma: his descendants.
I Will first relate to you the family of Yadu, the eldest son of Yayti, in which the eternal immutable Vishnu descended upon earth in a portion of his essence 1; of which the glory cannot be described, though for ever hymned in order to confer the fruit of all their wishes--whether they desired virtue, wealth, pleasure, or liberation--upon all created beings, upon men, saints, heavenly quiristers, spirits of evil, nymphs, centaurs, serpents, birds, demons, gods, sages, Brahmans, and ascetics. Whoever hears the account of the race of Yadu shall be released from all sin; for the supreme spirit, that is without form, and which is called Vishnu, was manifested in this family.
Yadu had four sons, Sahasrajit, Kroshti, Nala, and Raghu 2. atajit was the son of the elder of these, and he had three sons, Haihaya, Venu 3, and Haya. The son of Haihaya was Dharmanetra 4; his son was Kunt 5; his son was Shanji 6; his son was Mahishmat 7; his son
p. 417
was Bhadrasena 8; his son was Durdama; his son was Dhanaka 9, who had four sons, Kritavryya, Kritgni, Kritavarman, and Kritaujas. Kritavryya's son was Arjuna, the sovereign of the seven Dwpas, the lord of a thousand arms. This prince propitiated the sage Datttreya, the descendant of Atri, who was a portion of Vishnu, and solicited and obtained from him these boons--a thousand arms; never acting unjustly; subjugation of the world by justice, and protecting it equitably; victory over his enemies; and death by the hands of a person renowned in the three regions of the universe. With these means he ruled over the whole earth with might and justice, and offered ten thousand sacrifices. Of him this verse is still recited; "The kings of the earth will assuredly never pursue his steps in sacrifice, in munificence, in devotion, in courtesy, and in self-control." In his reign nothing was lost or injured; and so he governed the whole earth with undiminished health, prosperity, power, and might, for eighty five thousand years. Whilst sporting in the waters of the Narmad, and elevated with wine, Rvana came on his tour of triumph to the city Mhishmat, and there he who boasted of overthrowing the gods, the Daityas, the Gandharbas and their king, was taken prisoner by Krttavrya, and confined like a tame beast in a corner of his capital 10. At the expiration of his long reign Krttavrya was killed by Paraurma, who was an embodied portion of the mighty Nryana 11. Of the hundred sons of this king, the five principal were ra 12, rasena, Vrishana 13, Madhu 14, and
p. 418
[paragraph continues] Jayadhwaja 15. The son of the last was Tlajangha, who had a hundred sons, called after him Tlajanghas: the eldest of these was Vtihotra; another was Bharata 16, who had two sons, Vrisha and Sujt 17. The son of Vrisha was Madhu 18; he had a hundred sons, the chief of whom was Vrishni, and from him the family obtained the name of Vrishni 19. From the name of their father, Madhu, they were also called Mdhavas; whilst from the denomination of their common ancestor Yadu, the whole were termed Ydavas 20.
p. 419
This page consists solely of footnotes.
Footnotes
416:1 Or, 'in which Krishna was born.' It might have been expected, from the importance of this genealogy, that it would have been so carefully preserved, that the authorities would have closely concurred in its details. Although, however, the leading specifications coincide, yet, as we shall have occasion to notice, great and irreconcilable variations occur.
416:2 The two first generally agree. There are differences in the rest; as,
Vyu.
Brhma.
Bhgavata.
Krma.
Nla
Nala
Nala
Nla
Ajita
Anjika
Aripu
Jina
Raghu
Payoda
Aripu
Raghu
[paragraph continues] The Brhma and Hari V. read Sahasrda for the first name; and the Linga has Balasani in place of Nala. The Agni makes atajit also a son of Yadu.
416:3 Venuhaya: Bhgavata, &c. Uttnahaya: Padma. Vettahaya: Matsya. They were the sons of Sahasrda: Brhma and Hari V.
416:4 Dharmatantra: Vyu. Dharma: Krma.
416:5 Krtti: Vyu.
416:6 Sanjneya: Vyu. Sankana: Agni. Sahanja of Sahanjani pura: Brhma. Sanjnita: Linga. Sanhana: Matsya. Sohanji: Bhgavata.
416:7 By whom the city of Mhshmat on the Narbadda was founded: Brhma P., Hari V.
417:8 So the Bhgavata; but the Vyu, more correctly, has Bhadrasrenya. See p. 407. n. 12.
417:9 Kanaka: Vyu, &c. Varaka: Linga. Andhaka: Krma.
417:10 According to the Vyu, Krttavrya was the aggressor, invading Lank, and there taking Rvana prisoner. The circumstances are more usually narrated as in our text.
417:11 See page 402. Krttavrya's fate was the consequence of an imprecation denounced by pava or Vaishtha, the son of Varuna, whose hermitage had been burnt, according to the Mahbhrata, Rja-dharma, by Chitrabhnu, or Fire, to whom the king had in his bounty presented the world. The Vyu makes the king himself the incendiary, with arrows given him by Srya to dry up the ocean.
417:12 Urjjita: Bhgavata.
417:13 Vrishabha: Bhgavata. Dhrishta: Matsya. Dhrishna: Krma. Prishokta: Padma. Vrishni: Linga. Krishnksha: Brhma.
417:14 Krishna, in all except the Bhgavata.
418:15 King of Avanti: Brhma and Hari Vana.
418:16 Ananta: Vyu and Agni; elsewhere omitted.
418:17 Durjaya only: Vyu, Matsya.
418:18 This Madhu, according to the Bhgavata, was the son of Krttavrya. The Brhma and Hari V. make him the son of Vrisha, but do not say whose son Vrisha was. The commentator on the latter asserts that the name is a synonyme of Payoda, the son of Yadu, according to his authority, and to that alone.
418:19 The Bhgavata agrees with our text, but the Brhma, Hari V., Linga, and Krma make Vrishana the son of Madhu, and derive the family name of Vrishnis or Vrshneyas from him.
418:20 The text takes no notice of some collateral tribes, which appear to merit remark. Most of the other authorities, in mentioning the sons of Jayadhwaja, observe that from them came the five great divisions of the Haihaya tribe. These, according to the Vyu, were the Tlajanghas, Vtihotras, vantyas, Tundikeras, and Jtas. The Matsya and Agni omit the first, and substitute Bhojas; and the latter are included in the list in the Brhma, Padma, Linga, and Hari V. For Jtas the reading is Sanjtas or Sujtas. The Brhma P. has also Bhratas, who, as well as the Sujtas, are not commonly specified, it is said, 'from their great number.' They are in all probability invented by the compiler out of the names of the text, Bharata and Sujti. The situation of these tribes is central India, for the capital of the Tlajanghas was Mhishmat or Chul-Maheswar, still called, according to Col. Tod, Sahasra-bhuki-basti, 'the village of the thousand-armed;' that is, of Krttavryya. Annals of Rajasthan, I. 39. n. The Tundikeras and Vtihotras are placed in the geographical lists behind the Vindhyan mountains, and the termination -kaira is common in the valley of the Narmad, as Bairkaira, &c., or we may have Tundikera abbreviated, as Tundari on the Tapti. The vantyas were in Ujayin, and the Bhojas were in the neighbourhood probably of Dhr in Malwa. These tribes must have preceded, then, the Rajput tribes, by whom these countries are now occupied, or Rahtores, Chauhans, Pawars, Gehlotes, and the rest. There are still some vestiges of them, and a tribe of Haihayas still exists, at the top of the valley of Sohagpur in Bhagel-khand, aware of their ancient lineage, and though p. 419 few in number, celebrated for their valour. Tod's Rajasthan, I. 39. The scope of the traditions regarding them, especially of their overrunning the country, along with akas and other foreign tribes, in the reign preceding that of Sagara (see p. 373), indicates their foreign origin also; and if we might trust to verbal resemblances, we might suspect that the Hayas and Haihayas of the Hindus had some connexion with the Hia, Hoiei-ke, Hoiei-hu, and similarly denominated Hun or Turk tribes, who make a figure in Chinese history. Des Guignes, Histoire des Huns, I. 7, 55, 231. Ii. 253, although we cannot with him imagine the word 'horse' itself is derived from haya. Rajasthan, I. 76.
