Book Iv. Chapter Xx
*
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],
p. 457
Chap. Xx.
Descendants of Kuru. Devpi abdicates the throne: assumed by ntanu: he is confirmed by the Brahmans: Bhshma his son by Gang: his other sons. Birth of Dhritarshtra, Pndu, and Vidura. The hundred sons of Dhritarshtra. The five sons of Pndu: married to Draupad: their posterity. Parkshit, the grandson of Arjuna, the reigning king.
Parkshit, the son of Kuru, had four sons, Janamejaya, rutasena, Ugrasena, and Bhmasena 1. The son of Jahnu was Suratha; his son was Vidratha; his son was Srvabhauma; his son was Jayasena rvin; his son was Ayutyus; his son was Akrodhana; one of his sons was Devatithi, and another was called Riksha; his son was Dilpa; his son was Pratpa, who had three sons, Devpi, ntanu, and Bhlka. The first adopted in childhood a forest life, and ntanu became king. Of him this verse is spread through the earth; "ntanu is his name, because if he lays his hands upon an old man, he restores him to youth, and by him men obtain tranquillity (nti)."
p. 458
In the kingdom over which ntanu ruled there was no rain for twelve years. Apprehensive that the country would become a desert, the king assembled the Brahmans, and asked them why no rain fell, and what fault he had committed. They told him that he was as it were a younger brother married before an elder, for he was in the enjoyment of the earth, which was the right of his elder brother Devpi. "What then am I to do?" said the Rj: to which they replied, "Until the gods shall be displeased with Devpi, by his declining from the path of righteousness, the kingdom is his, and to him therefore you should resign it." When the minister of the king, Asmarisrin, heard this, he collected a number of ascetics who taught doctrines opposed to those of the Vedas, and sent them into the forest; where meeting with Devpi, they perverted the understanding of the simple-minded prince, and led him to adopt heretical notions. In the meantime, ntanu being much distressed to think that he had been guilty of the offence intimated by the Brahmans, sent them before him into the woods, and then proceeded thither himself, to restore the kingdom to his elder brother. When the Brahmans arrived at the hermitage of Devpi, they informed him, that, according to the doctrines of the Vedas, succession to a kingdom was the right of the elder brother: but he entered into discussion with them, and in various ways advanced arguments which had the defect of being contrary to the precepts of the Vedas. When the Brahmans heard this, they turned to ntanu, and said, "Come hither, Rj; you need give yourself no further trouble in this matter; the dearth is at an end: this man is fallen from his state, for he has uttered words of disrespect to the authority of the eternal, untreated Veda; and when the elder brother is degraded, there is no sin in the prior espousals of his junior." ntanu thereupon returned to his capital, and administered the government as before; and his elder brother Devpi being degraded from his caste by repeating doctrines contrary to the Vedas, Indra poured down abundant rain, which was followed by plentiful harvests 2.
p. 459
The son of Bhlka was Somadatta, who had three sons, Bhri, Bhriravas, and ala 3.
The son of ntanu was the illustrious and learned Bhshma, who was born to him by the holy river-goddess, Gang; and he had by his wife Satyavat two sons, Chitrngada and Vichitravryya. Chitrngada, whilst yet a youth, was killed in a conflict with a Gandharba, also called Chitrngada. Vichitravryya married Amb and Ambalik, the daughters of the king of K; and indulging too freely in connubial rites, fell into a consumption, of which he died. By command of Satyavat, my son Krishna-dwaipyana, ever obedient to his mother's wishes 4, begot upon the widows of his brother the princes Dhritarshtra and Pndu, and upon a female servant, Vidura. Dhritarshtra had Duryodhana, Duhsana, and other sons, to the cumber of a hundred. Pndu having incurred the curse of a deer, whose mate he had killed in the chase, was deterred from procreating children; and his wife Kunt, bare to him in consequence three sons, who were begotten by the deities Dharma, Vyu, and Indra; namely, Yudhishthira, Bhma, and Arjuna: and his wife Mdr had two sons, Nakula and Sahadeva, by the celestial sons of Awin. These had each a son by Draupad. The son of Yudhishthira was Prativindhya; of Bhma, rutasoma; of Arjuna, rutakrtti; of Nakula, atnka; and of Sahadeva, rutakarman. The Pndavas had also other sons 5. By his wife Yaudhey, Yudhishthira had Devaka.
p. 460
[paragraph continues] The son of Bhma by Hidimb was Ghatotkacha, and he had also Sarvatraga by his wife K. The son of Sahadeva by Vijay was Suhotra; and Niramitra was the son of Nakula by Karenumat. Arjuna had Irvat by the serpent-nymph Ulup; Babhruvhana, who was adopted as the son of his maternal grandfather, by the daughter of the king of Manipura; and, by his wife Subhadr Abhimanyu, who even in extreme youth was renowned for his valour and his strength, and crushed the chariots of his foes in fight. The son of Abhimanyu by his wife Uttar was Parkshit, who, after the Kurus were all destroyed, was killed in his mother's womb by the magic Brhma weapon, hurled by Aswatthman: he was however restored to life by the clemency of that being whose feet receive the homage of all the demons and the gods, and who for his own pleasure had assumed a human shape (Krishna). This prince, Parkshit, now reigns over the whole world with undivided sway 6.
Footnotes
457:1 This, although it occurs in other authorities, appears to be an error, for these are the sons of a subsequent Parkshit (see the next chapter, p. 461). The Matsya omits Parkshit here, and the Bhgavata states that he had no children. In most of the Purnas, however, the line of Parkshit is continued, but there is very great confusion in the lineage. According to the Vyu, Janamejaya was the son of Parkshit, whose son was rutasena, whose son was Bhmasena. Janamejaya had also a son named Suratha; but Suratha was also the name of the son of Jahnu, from whom the line continues as in the text. The Brhma P. and Hari V. also make Suratha the son both of Janamejaya and of Jahnu; and they observe that there are two Rikshas, two Parkshits, three Bhmasenas, and two Janamejayas, in the lunar race. Some of the confusion probably originates with the Mahbhrata, which, as before noticed, gives two lists from Puru to ntanu, differing from one another and from all the lists of the Purnas. In the first of these lists such collateral names have been retained as appear to have furnished our text and that of other Purnas with distinct persons: thus making the members of one fraternity so many descents. Of the two lists, however, the second is probably to be regarded as the more recent, if not more correct; for Vaimpyana repeats it at Janamejaya's request, because the latter is not satisfied with the summary account which the former had first communicated to him. Mahbh. vol. I, p. 136 and p. 138.
458:2 The Mahbhrata merely states that Devpi retired to a religious life. The story of his heresy is narrated, much as in the text, in the Bhgavata, Vyu, on which account his subjects contemned him. p. 459 He was probably set aside in favour of his younger brother, either on that account or on that of his heresy; such a disposition being conformable to Hindu law. According to the Bhgavata and Matsya he is still alive at a place called Kalpa grma, where, in the Krita age of the next Mahyuga, he will be the restorer of the Kshatriya race.
459:3 The Matsya says that Bhlka had a hundred sons or lords of the Bahlkas.
459:4 Before her marriage to ntanu, Satyavat had a son, Krishna-dwaipyana or Vysa, by Parara: he was therefore the half brother of Vichitravryya, and legally qualified to raise up offspring to him by his widow. This law is abrogated in the present age. The whole story of the sons of ntanu is told at length in the Mahbhrata.
459:5 The Mahbhrata names some of them rather differently, and adds some particulars. Thus Yaudheya was the son of Yudhishthira by his wife Devik, daughter of Govsana of the aivya tribe. The son of Bhmasena was Sarvaga, by Balandhar, princess of K; he had also Ghatokkacha by Hidimb. Abhimanyu was the p. 460 son of Arjuna by Subhadr. The wives and sons of the other two are the same, but Karenumat is termed a princess of Ched, and Vijay of Madra.
460:6 In the details immediately preceding, the Purnas generally concur, deriving them probably from the same source, the di Parvan of the Mahbhrata, and employing very frequently the same words. The period at which the chapter closes is supposed to be that at which the Vysa, who arranged or compiled the Purnas, is believed to have flourished. Parkshit died of the bite of a snake, according to the Mahbhrata, di P. The Bhgavata is supposed to have been narrated to him in the interval between the bite and its fatal effect.
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],
p. 457
Chap. Xx.
Descendants of Kuru. Devpi abdicates the throne: assumed by ntanu: he is confirmed by the Brahmans: Bhshma his son by Gang: his other sons. Birth of Dhritarshtra, Pndu, and Vidura. The hundred sons of Dhritarshtra. The five sons of Pndu: married to Draupad: their posterity. Parkshit, the grandson of Arjuna, the reigning king.
Parkshit, the son of Kuru, had four sons, Janamejaya, rutasena, Ugrasena, and Bhmasena 1. The son of Jahnu was Suratha; his son was Vidratha; his son was Srvabhauma; his son was Jayasena rvin; his son was Ayutyus; his son was Akrodhana; one of his sons was Devatithi, and another was called Riksha; his son was Dilpa; his son was Pratpa, who had three sons, Devpi, ntanu, and Bhlka. The first adopted in childhood a forest life, and ntanu became king. Of him this verse is spread through the earth; "ntanu is his name, because if he lays his hands upon an old man, he restores him to youth, and by him men obtain tranquillity (nti)."
p. 458
In the kingdom over which ntanu ruled there was no rain for twelve years. Apprehensive that the country would become a desert, the king assembled the Brahmans, and asked them why no rain fell, and what fault he had committed. They told him that he was as it were a younger brother married before an elder, for he was in the enjoyment of the earth, which was the right of his elder brother Devpi. "What then am I to do?" said the Rj: to which they replied, "Until the gods shall be displeased with Devpi, by his declining from the path of righteousness, the kingdom is his, and to him therefore you should resign it." When the minister of the king, Asmarisrin, heard this, he collected a number of ascetics who taught doctrines opposed to those of the Vedas, and sent them into the forest; where meeting with Devpi, they perverted the understanding of the simple-minded prince, and led him to adopt heretical notions. In the meantime, ntanu being much distressed to think that he had been guilty of the offence intimated by the Brahmans, sent them before him into the woods, and then proceeded thither himself, to restore the kingdom to his elder brother. When the Brahmans arrived at the hermitage of Devpi, they informed him, that, according to the doctrines of the Vedas, succession to a kingdom was the right of the elder brother: but he entered into discussion with them, and in various ways advanced arguments which had the defect of being contrary to the precepts of the Vedas. When the Brahmans heard this, they turned to ntanu, and said, "Come hither, Rj; you need give yourself no further trouble in this matter; the dearth is at an end: this man is fallen from his state, for he has uttered words of disrespect to the authority of the eternal, untreated Veda; and when the elder brother is degraded, there is no sin in the prior espousals of his junior." ntanu thereupon returned to his capital, and administered the government as before; and his elder brother Devpi being degraded from his caste by repeating doctrines contrary to the Vedas, Indra poured down abundant rain, which was followed by plentiful harvests 2.
p. 459
The son of Bhlka was Somadatta, who had three sons, Bhri, Bhriravas, and ala 3.
The son of ntanu was the illustrious and learned Bhshma, who was born to him by the holy river-goddess, Gang; and he had by his wife Satyavat two sons, Chitrngada and Vichitravryya. Chitrngada, whilst yet a youth, was killed in a conflict with a Gandharba, also called Chitrngada. Vichitravryya married Amb and Ambalik, the daughters of the king of K; and indulging too freely in connubial rites, fell into a consumption, of which he died. By command of Satyavat, my son Krishna-dwaipyana, ever obedient to his mother's wishes 4, begot upon the widows of his brother the princes Dhritarshtra and Pndu, and upon a female servant, Vidura. Dhritarshtra had Duryodhana, Duhsana, and other sons, to the cumber of a hundred. Pndu having incurred the curse of a deer, whose mate he had killed in the chase, was deterred from procreating children; and his wife Kunt, bare to him in consequence three sons, who were begotten by the deities Dharma, Vyu, and Indra; namely, Yudhishthira, Bhma, and Arjuna: and his wife Mdr had two sons, Nakula and Sahadeva, by the celestial sons of Awin. These had each a son by Draupad. The son of Yudhishthira was Prativindhya; of Bhma, rutasoma; of Arjuna, rutakrtti; of Nakula, atnka; and of Sahadeva, rutakarman. The Pndavas had also other sons 5. By his wife Yaudhey, Yudhishthira had Devaka.
p. 460
[paragraph continues] The son of Bhma by Hidimb was Ghatotkacha, and he had also Sarvatraga by his wife K. The son of Sahadeva by Vijay was Suhotra; and Niramitra was the son of Nakula by Karenumat. Arjuna had Irvat by the serpent-nymph Ulup; Babhruvhana, who was adopted as the son of his maternal grandfather, by the daughter of the king of Manipura; and, by his wife Subhadr Abhimanyu, who even in extreme youth was renowned for his valour and his strength, and crushed the chariots of his foes in fight. The son of Abhimanyu by his wife Uttar was Parkshit, who, after the Kurus were all destroyed, was killed in his mother's womb by the magic Brhma weapon, hurled by Aswatthman: he was however restored to life by the clemency of that being whose feet receive the homage of all the demons and the gods, and who for his own pleasure had assumed a human shape (Krishna). This prince, Parkshit, now reigns over the whole world with undivided sway 6.
Footnotes
457:1 This, although it occurs in other authorities, appears to be an error, for these are the sons of a subsequent Parkshit (see the next chapter, p. 461). The Matsya omits Parkshit here, and the Bhgavata states that he had no children. In most of the Purnas, however, the line of Parkshit is continued, but there is very great confusion in the lineage. According to the Vyu, Janamejaya was the son of Parkshit, whose son was rutasena, whose son was Bhmasena. Janamejaya had also a son named Suratha; but Suratha was also the name of the son of Jahnu, from whom the line continues as in the text. The Brhma P. and Hari V. also make Suratha the son both of Janamejaya and of Jahnu; and they observe that there are two Rikshas, two Parkshits, three Bhmasenas, and two Janamejayas, in the lunar race. Some of the confusion probably originates with the Mahbhrata, which, as before noticed, gives two lists from Puru to ntanu, differing from one another and from all the lists of the Purnas. In the first of these lists such collateral names have been retained as appear to have furnished our text and that of other Purnas with distinct persons: thus making the members of one fraternity so many descents. Of the two lists, however, the second is probably to be regarded as the more recent, if not more correct; for Vaimpyana repeats it at Janamejaya's request, because the latter is not satisfied with the summary account which the former had first communicated to him. Mahbh. vol. I, p. 136 and p. 138.
458:2 The Mahbhrata merely states that Devpi retired to a religious life. The story of his heresy is narrated, much as in the text, in the Bhgavata, Vyu, on which account his subjects contemned him. p. 459 He was probably set aside in favour of his younger brother, either on that account or on that of his heresy; such a disposition being conformable to Hindu law. According to the Bhgavata and Matsya he is still alive at a place called Kalpa grma, where, in the Krita age of the next Mahyuga, he will be the restorer of the Kshatriya race.
459:3 The Matsya says that Bhlka had a hundred sons or lords of the Bahlkas.
459:4 Before her marriage to ntanu, Satyavat had a son, Krishna-dwaipyana or Vysa, by Parara: he was therefore the half brother of Vichitravryya, and legally qualified to raise up offspring to him by his widow. This law is abrogated in the present age. The whole story of the sons of ntanu is told at length in the Mahbhrata.
459:5 The Mahbhrata names some of them rather differently, and adds some particulars. Thus Yaudheya was the son of Yudhishthira by his wife Devik, daughter of Govsana of the aivya tribe. The son of Bhmasena was Sarvaga, by Balandhar, princess of K; he had also Ghatokkacha by Hidimb. Abhimanyu was the p. 460 son of Arjuna by Subhadr. The wives and sons of the other two are the same, but Karenumat is termed a princess of Ched, and Vijay of Madra.
460:6 In the details immediately preceding, the Purnas generally concur, deriving them probably from the same source, the di Parvan of the Mahbhrata, and employing very frequently the same words. The period at which the chapter closes is supposed to be that at which the Vysa, who arranged or compiled the Purnas, is believed to have flourished. Parkshit died of the bite of a snake, according to the Mahbhrata, di P. The Bhgavata is supposed to have been narrated to him in the interval between the bite and its fatal effect.
