{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp099.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp099.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp099.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\nSons of Pur\u00faravas. Descendants of Am\u00e1vasu. Indra born as G\u00e1dh\u00ed. Legend of Rich\u00edka and Satyavat\u00ed. Birth of Jamadagni and Vi\u015bw\u00e1mitra. Para\u015bur\u00e1ma the son of the former. (Legend of Para\u015bur\u00e1ma.) Sunah\u015bephas and others the sons of Vi\u015bw\u00e1mitra, forming the Kau\u015bika race.\nPUR\u00daRAVAS had six sons, \u00c1yus, Dh\u00edmat, Am\u00e1vasu, Vi\u015bwavasu, \u015aat\u00e1yus, and \u015arut\u00e1yus 1. The son of Am\u00e1vasu was Bh\u00edma 2; his son was K\u00e1nchana 3; his son was Suhotra 4, whose son was Jahnu. This prince, whilst performing a sacrifice, saw the whole of the place overflowed by the waters of the Ganges. Highly offended at this intrusion, his eyes red with anger, he united the spirit of sacrifice with himself, by the power of his devotion, and drank up the river. The gods and sages upon this came to him, and appeased his indignation, and reobtained Gang\u00e1 from him, in the capacity of his daughter (whence she is called J\u00e1hnav\u00ed) 5.\nThe son of Jahnu was Sumantu 6; his son was Ajaka; his son was Val\u00e1k\u00e1\u015bwa 7; his son was Ku\u015b\u00e1 8, who had four sons, Ku\u015b\u00e1mba, Ku\u015ban\u00e1bha, Am\u00farttaya, and Am\u00e1vasu 9. Ku\u015b\u00e1mba, being desirous of a son, engaged in devout penance to obtain one who should be equal to Indra. Observing the intensity of his devotions, Indra was alarmed lest a prince of power like his own should be engendered, and determined therefore to take upon himself the character of Ku\u015b\u00e1mba's son 10. He was accordingly born as G\u00e1dhi, of the race of Ku\u015ba (Kau\u015bika). G\u00e1dhi had a daughter named Satyavat\u00ed. Rich\u00edka, of the descendants of Bhrigu, demanded her in marriage. The king was very unwilling to give his daughter to a peevish old Brahman, and demanded of him, as the nuptial present, a thousand fleet horses, whose colour should be white, with one black ear. Rich\u00edka having propitiated Varu\u0144a, the god of ocean, obtained from him, at the holy place called A\u015bwat\u00edrtha, a thousand such steeds; and giving them to the king, espoused his daughter 11.\nIn order to effect the birth of a son, Rich\u00edka 12 prepared a dish of rice, barley, and pulse, with butter and milk, for his wife to eat; and at her\nrequest he consecrated a similar mixture for her mother, by partaking of which she should give birth to a prince of martial prowess. Leaving both dishes with his wife, after describing particularly which was intended for her, and which for her mother, the sage went forth to the forests. When the time arrived for the food to be eaten, the queen said to Satyavat\u00ed, \"Daughter, all persons wish their children to be possessed of excellent qualities, and would be mortified to see them surpassed by the merits of their mother's brother. It will be desirable for you, therefore, to give me the mess your husband has set apart for you, and to eat of that intended for me; for the son which it is to procure me is destined to be the monarch of the whole world, whilst that which your dish would give you must be a Brahman, alike devoid of affluence, valour, and power.\" Satyavat\u00ed agreed to her mother's proposal, and they exchanged messes.\nWhen Rich\u00edka returned home, and beheld Satyavat\u00ed, he said to her, \"Sinful woman, what hast thou done! I view thy body of a fearful appearance. Of a surety thou hast eaten the consecrated food which was prepared for thy mother: thou hast done wrong. In that food I had infused the properties of power and strength and heroism; in thine, the qualities suited to a Brahman, gentleness, knowledge, and resignation. In consequence of having reversed my plans, thy son shall follow a warrior's propensities, and use weapons, and fight, and slay. Thy mother's son shall be born with the inclinations of a Brahman, and be addicted to peace and piety.\" Satyavat\u00ed, hearing this, fell at her husband's feet, and said, \"My lord, I have done this thing through ignorance; have compassion on me; let me not have a son such as thou hast foretold: if such there must be, let it be my grandson, not my son.\" The Muni, relenting at her distress, replied, \"So let it be.\" Accordingly in due season she gave birth to Jamadagni; and her mother brought forth Viswamitra. Satyavat\u00ed afterwards became the Kau\u015bik\u00ed river 13. Jamadagni married Re\u0144uk\u00e1, the daughter of Re\u0144\u00fa, of the\nfamily of Ikshw\u00e1ku, and had by her the destroyer of the Kshatriya race, Para\u015bur\u00e1ma, who was a portion of N\u00e1r\u00e1ya\u0144a, the spiritual guide of the universe 14.\n398:1 Considerable variety prevails in these names, and the Matsya, Padma, Br\u00e1hma, and Agni enumerate eight. The lists are as follows:\n| Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata. | Matsya. | Agni. | K\u00farma. | Bh\u00e1gavata. | \n| \u00c1yus | \u00c1yus | \u00c1yus | \u00c1yus | \u00c1yus | \n| Dh\u00edmat | Dhritimat | Dh\u00edmat | M\u00e1yus | \u015arut\u00e1yus | \n| Am\u00e1vasu | Vasu | Vasu | Am\u00e1yus | Saty\u00e1yus | \n| Drid\u0301h\u00e1yus | Drid\u0301h\u00e1yus | U\u015br\u00e1yus | Vi\u015bw\u00e1yus | R\u00e1ya | \n| Van\u00e1yus | Dhan\u00e1yus | Ant\u00e1yus | \u015aat\u00e1yus | Vijaya | \n| \u015aat\u00e1yus | \u015aat\u00e1yus | \u015aat\u00e1yus | \u015arut\u00e1yus | Jaya | \n| | A\u015bw\u00e1yus | Rit\u00e1yus | | | \n| | Divij\u00e1ta | Divij\u00e1ta. | | | \n[paragraph continues] The list of the Br\u00e1hma is that of the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, with the addition of \u015aat\u00e1yus and Vi\u015bw\u00e1yus; and the Padma agrees with the Matsya.\n398:2 Son of Vijaya: Bh\u00e1gavata. This line of princes is followed only in our text, the V\u00e1yu, Br\u00e1hma, and Hari V., and the Bh\u00e1gavata.\n398:3 K\u00e1nchanaprabha: Br\u00e1hma.\n398:4 Hotraka: Bh\u00e1gavata.\n398:5 The Br\u00e1hma P. and Hari V. add of this prince, that he was the husband of K\u00e1ver\u00ed, the daughter of Yuvan\u00e1\u015bwa, who by the imprecation of her husband became the K\u00e1ver\u00ed river: another indication of the Dakshina origin of these works. The p. 399 Hari V. has another Jahnu, to whom it gives the same spouse, as we shall hereafter see.\n399:6 Sunuta: Br\u00e1hma. Puru: Bh\u00e1gavata.\n399:7 Valaka: Br\u00e1hma. Ajaka: Bh\u00e1gavata.\n399:8 The Br\u00e1hma P. and Hari V. add that K\u00fa\u015ba was in alliance with the Pahlavas and foresters.\n399:9 Our authorities differ as to these names:\n| V\u00e1yu. | Br\u00e1hma and Hari V. | Bh\u00e1gavata. | \n| Ku\u015b\u00e1\u015bwa or, Ku\u015basthamba | Ku\u015b\u00e1\u015bwa | Ku\u015b\u00e1mba | \n| Ku\u015ban\u00e1bha | Ku\u015ban\u00e1bha | Ku\u015ban\u00e1bha | \n| Amurttarayasa | Amurttimat | Amurttaraya | \n| Vasu | Ku\u015bika | Vasu. | \n[paragraph continues] The R\u00e1m\u00e1ya\u0144a has Ku\u015b\u00e1mba, Ku\u015ban\u00e1bha, Amurttarayasa, and Vasu; and makes them severally the founders of Kau\u015b\u00e1mbi, of Mahodaya (which afterwards appears the same as Kanoj), Dharm\u00e1ra\u0144ya, and Girivraja; the latter being in the mountainous part of Magadh\u00e1. I. s. 29.\n399:10 The Br\u00e1hma and Hari V. make G\u00e1dhi the son of Ku\u015bika; the V\u00e1yu and Bh\u00e1gavata, of Ku\u015b\u00e1naba; the R\u00e1m\u00e1ya\u0144a, of Ku\u015ban\u00e1bha.\n399:11 The R\u00e1m\u00e1ya\u0144a notices the marriage, but has no legend. The Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, Vans P., has a rather more detailed narration, but much the same as in the text. According to the commentator, A\u015bwat\u00edrtha is in the district of Kanoj; perhaps at the confluence of the K\u00e1lanad\u00ed with the Ganges. The agency of the god of Ocean in procuring horses, is a rather curious additional coincidence between Varu\u0144a and Neptune.\n399:12 In the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, Bhrigu, the father of Rich\u00edka, prepares the Charu.\n400:13 So the R\u00e1m\u00e1ya\u0144a, after stating that Satyavat\u00ed followed her husband in death, adds, that she became the Kau\u015bik\u00ed river; the Cosi, which, rising in Nepal, flows through Puraniya into the Ganges, opposite nearly to R\u00e1jamahal.\n401:14 The text omits the story of Para\u015bur\u00e1ma, but as the legend makes a great figure in the Vaish\u0144ava works in general, I have inserted it from the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, where it is twice related, once in the Vana Parva, and once in the R\u00e1jadharma section of the \u015a\u00e1nti Parva. It is told also at length in the ninth book of the Bh\u00e1gavata, in the Padma and Agni Pur\u00e1\u0144as, &c.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Book IV: Chapter VII","type":"page"}