{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp101.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp101.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp101.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\nSons of \u00c1yus. Line of Kshatravriddha, or kings of K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed. Former birth of Dhanwantar\u00ed. Various names of Pratarddana. Greatness of Alarka.\n\u00c1YUS, the eldest son of Pur\u00faravas, married the daughter of R\u00e1hu (or \u00c1r\u00e1hu), by whom he had five sons, Nahusha, Kshatravriddha 1, Rambha 2, Raji, and Anenas 3.\nThe son of Kshatravriddha was Suhotra 4, who had three sons, K\u00e1\u015ba 5, Le\u015ba 6, and Ghritsamada. The son of the last was \u015aaunaka 7, who first established the distinctions of the four castes 8. The son of K\u00e1\u015ba was Ka\u015bir\u00e1j\u00e1 9; his son was D\u00edrghatamas 10; his son was Dhanwantari, whose nature was exempt from human infirmities, and who in every existence had been master of universal knowledge. In his past life (or when he was produced by the agitation of the milky sea), N\u00e1r\u00e1ya\u0144a had conferred upon him the boon, that he should subsequently be born in the\nfamily of K\u00e1sir\u00e1j\u00e1, should compose the eightfold system of medical science 11, and should be thereafter entitled to a share of offerings made to the gods. The son of Dhanwantari was Ketumat; his son was Bh\u00edmaratha; his son was Divod\u00e1sa 12; his son was Pratarddana, so\nnamed from destroying the race of Bhadra\u015bre\u0144ya. He had various other appellations, as \u015aatrujit, 'the victor over his foes,' from having vanquished all his enemies; Vatsa, or 'child,' from his father's frequently calling him by that name; Ritadhwaja, 'he whose emblem was truth,' being a great observer of veracity; and Kuvalay\u00e1\u015bwa, because he had a horse (a\u015bwa) called Kuvalaya 13. The son of this prince was Alarka, of whom this verse is sung in the present day; \"For sixty thousand and sixty hundred years no other youthful monarch except Alarka, reigned over the earth 14.\" The son of Alarka was\n[paragraph continues] Santati 15; his son was Sun\u00edtha; his son was Suketu; his son was Dharmaketu; his son was Satyaketu; his son was Vibhu; his son was Suvibhu; his son was Sukum\u00e1ra; his son was Dhrisht\u0301aketu; his son was Vai\u0144ahotra; his son was Bharga; his son was Bhargabh\u00fami; from whom also rules for the four castes were promulgated 16. These are the K\u00e1\u015bya\nprinces, or descendants of K\u00e1\u015ba 17. We will now enumerate the descendants of Raji.\n406:1 Dharmavriddha: V\u00e1yu. Vriddha\u015barman: Matsya. Yajna\u015barman: Padma.\n406:2 Darbha: Agni. Dambha: Padma.\n406:3 Vip\u00e1pman: Agni and Matsya. Vid\u00e1man: Padma. The two last authorities proceed no farther with this line.\n406:4 Sunahotra: V\u00e1yu, Br\u00e1hma.\n406:5 K\u00e1\u015bya: Bh\u00e1gavata.\n406:6 S\u00e1la: V\u00e1yu, Br\u00e1hma, Hari V.: whose son was \u00c1rsht\u0301isena, father of Charanta; V\u00e1yu: of Ka\u015byapa; Br\u00e1hma and Hari V.\n406:7 Here is probably an error, for the V\u00e1yu, Bh\u00e1gavata, and Br\u00e1hma agree in making \u015aunaka the son of Ghritsamada, and father of \u015aaunaka.\n406:8 The expression is 'The originator or causer of the distinctions (or duties) of the four castes.' The commentator, however, understands the expression to signify, that his descendants were of the four castes. So also the V\u00e1yu: 'The son of Ghritsamada was \u015aunaka, whose son was \u015aaunaka. Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vai\u015byas, and \u015a\u00fadras were born in his race; Brahmans by distinguished deeds.' The existence of but one caste in the age of purity, however incompatible with the legend which ascribes the origin of the four tribes to Brahm\u00e1, is every where admitted. Their separation is assigned to different individuals, whether accurately to any one may be doubted; but the notion indicates that the distinction was of a social or political character.\n406:9 K\u00e1\u015biya: Br\u00e1hma.\n406:10 D\u00edrghatapas: V\u00e1yu. Ghritsatamas: Agni. The Bh\u00e1gavata inserts a R\u00e1sht\u0301ra before this prince, and the V\u00e1yu a Dharma after him.\n407:11 The eight branches of medical science are, 1. \u015aalya, extraction of extraneous bodies; 2. \u015aal\u00e1k\u00e1, treatment of external organic affections: these two constitute surgery: 3. Chikits\u00e1, administration of medicines, or medical treatment in general; 4. Bh\u00fatavidy\u00e1, treatment of maladies referred to demoniac possession; 5. Kaum\u00e1rabhritya, midwifery and management of children; 6. Agada, alexipharmacy; 7. Ras\u00e1yana, alchemical therapeutics; 8. Bajikara\u0144a, use of aphrodisiacs. Dhanwantari, according to the Brahma Vaivartta P., was preceded in medical science by \u00c1treya, Bharadw\u00e1ja, and Charaka: his pupil \u015au\u015bruta is the reputed author of a celebrated work still extant. It seems probable that K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed or Benares was at an early period a celebrated school of medicine.\n407:12 Some rather curious legends are connected with this prince in the V\u00e1yu and Br\u00e1hma Pur\u00e1\u0144as, and Hari Van\u015ba, and especially in the K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed Kha\u0144d\u0301a of the Sk\u00e1nda Pur\u00e1\u0144a. According to these authorities, \u015aiva and P\u00e1rvat\u00ed, desirous of occupying K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed, which Divod\u00e1sa possessed, sent Nikumbha, one of the Ga\u0144as of the former, to lead the prince to the adoption of Buddhist doctrines; in consequence of which he was expelled from the sacred city, and, according to the V\u00e1yu, founded another on the banks of the Gomat\u00ed. We have, however, also some singular, though obscure intimations of some of the political events of this and the succeeding reign. The passage of the V\u00e1yu is, 'The king Divod\u00e1sa, having slain the hundred sons of Bhadra\u015bre\u0144ya, took possession of his kingdom, which was conquered by that hero. The son of Bhadra\u015bre\u0144ya, celebrated by the name of Durdama, was spared by Divod\u00e1sa, as being an infant. Pratarddana was the son of Divod\u00e1sa by Drishadvat\u00ed; and by that great prince, desirous of destroying all enmity, (was recovered) that (territory) which had been seized by that young boy (Durdama).' This is not very explicit, and something is wanted to complete the sense. The Br\u00e1hma P. and Hari V. tell the story twice over, chiefly in the words of the V\u00e1yu, but with some additions. In ch. 29. we have, first, the first three lines of the above extract; then comes the story of Benares being deserted; we then have the two next lines; then follow, 'That prince (Durdama) invading his patrimonial possessions, the territory which Divod\u00e1sa had seized by force was recovered by the gallant son of Bhadhra\u015bre\u0144ya, Durddama, a warrior desirous, mighty king, p. 408 to effect the destruction of his foes.' Here the victory is ascribed to Durddama, in opposition to what appears to be the sense of the V\u00e1yu, and what is undoubtedly that of our text, which says that he was called Pratarddana from destroying the race of Bhadra\u015bre\u0144ya, and \u015aatrujit from vanquishing all his foes. By Vairasya anta, 'the end of hostility or enmity,' is obviously not to be understood here, as M. Langlois has intimated, a friendly pacification, but the end or destruction of all enemies. In the 32d chapter of the Hari Van\u015ba we have precisely the same lines, slightly varied as to their order; but they are preceded by this verse; 'The city (that on the Gomati), before the existence of Benares, of Bhadra\u015bre\u0144ya, a pious prince of the Yadu race: This verse is not in the Br\u00e1hma P. After giving the rest of the above quotation, except the last line, the passage proceeds, 'The king called Asht\u0301aratha was the son of Bh\u00edmaratha; and by him, great king, a warrior desirous of destroying his foes was (the country) recovered, the children (of Durdama) being infants.' According to the same authority, we are here to understand Bh\u00edmaratha and Asht\u0301aratha as epithets of Divod\u00e1sa and Pratarddana. From these scanty and ill-digested notices it appears, that Divod\u00e1sa, on being expelled from Benares, took some city and district on the Gomati from the family of Bhadra\u015bre\u0144ya; that Durdama recovered the country, and that Pratarddana again conquered it from his descendants. The alternation concerned apparently only bordering districts, for the princes of M\u00e1h\u00edshmati and of K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed continue, in both an earlier and a later series, in undisturbed possession of their capitals and their power.\n408:13 The V\u00e1yu, Agni, Br\u00e1hma P., and Hari V. interpose two sons of Pratarddana, Garga or Bharga and Vatsa; and they make Vatsa the father of Alarka, except the Br\u00e1hma, which has \u015aatrujit and Ritadhwaja as two princes following Vatsa.\n408:14 The V\u00e1yu, Br\u00e1hma, and Hari V. repeat this stanza, and add that Alarka enjoyed such protracted existence through the favour of Lopamudr\u00e1, and that having p. 409 lived till the period at which the curs upon terminated, he killed the R\u00e1kshas Kshemaka, by whom it had been occupied after it was abandoned by Divod\u00e1sa, and caused the city to be reinhabited. The Hari V. agrees as usual with the Br\u00e1hma, except in the reading of one or two names. It is to be observed, however, that the Agni makes the K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed princes the descendants of Vitatha, the successor of Bharata. The Br\u00e1hma P. and Hari V., determined apparently to be right, give the list twice over, deriving it in one place from Kshatravriddha, as in our text, the V\u00e1yu, and the Bh\u00e1gavata; and in another, with the Agni, from Vitatha. The series of the Br\u00e1hma, however, stops with Lauhi, the son of Alarka, and does not warrant the repetition which the carelessness of the compiler of the Hari Van\u015ba has superfluously inserted.\n409:15 Several varieties occur, in the series that follows, as the comparative lists will best shew:\n| Bh\u00e1gavata. | Br\u00e1hma. | V\u00e1yu. | Agni. | \n| Alarka | Alarka | Alarka | Alarka | \n| Santati | Sannati | Sannati | Dharmaketu | \n| Sun\u00edtha | Sun\u00edtha | Sun\u00edtha | Vibhu | \n| Suketana | Kshema | Suketu | Sukum\u00e1ra | \n| Dharmaketu | Ketumat | Dhrisht\u0301aketu | Satyaketu | \n| Satyaketu | Suketu | Ve\u0144uhotra | | \n| Dhrisht\u0301aketu | Dharmaketu | G\u00e1rgya | | \n| Sukum\u00e1ra | Satyaketu | Gargabh\u00fami | | \n| V\u00edtihotra | Vibhu | Vatsabh\u00fami | | \n| Bh\u00e1rga | Anartta | | | \n| Bhargabh\u00fami | Sukum\u00e1ra | | | \n| | Dhrisht\u0301aketu | | | \n| | Ve\u0144uhotri | | | \n| | Bharga | | | \n| | Vatsabh\u00fami. | | | \n409:16 Our text is clear enough, and so is the Bh\u00e1gavata, but the V\u00e1yu, Br\u00e1hma, and Hari V. contain additions of rather doubtful import. The former has, 'The son of Ve\u0144uhotra was the celebrated G\u00e1rgya; Gargabh\u00fami was the son of G\u00e1rgya; and Vatsa, of the wise Vatsa: virtuous Brahmans and Kshatriyasp. 410 were the sons of these two.' By the second Vatsa is perhaps meant Vatsabh\u00fami; and the purport of the passage is, that G\u00e1rgya (or possibly rather Bharga, one of the sons of Pratarddana) and Vatsa were the founders of two races (Bh\u00fami, 'earth,' implying 'source' or founder', who were Kshatriyas by birth, and Brahmans by profession. The Br\u00e1hma and Hari V., apparently misunderstanding this text, have increased the perplexity. According to them, the son of Ve\u0144uhotra was Bharga; Vatsabh\u00fami was the son of Vatsa; and Bhargabh\u00fami (Bhrigubh\u00fami, Br\u00e1hma) was from Bh\u00e1rgava. 'These sons of Angiras were born in the family of Bhrigu, thousands of great might, Brahmans, Kshatriyas and Vai\u015byas.' The commentator has, 'Another son of Vatsa, the father of Alarka, is described, Vatsabh\u00fami, &c. From Bh\u00e1rgava, the brother of Vatsa. (They were) Angirasas from G\u00e1lava belonging to that family, (and were born) in the family of Bhrigu from the descent of Vi\u015bw\u00e1mitra.' The interpretation is not very clear, but it authorizes the notion above expressed, that Vatsa and Bharga, the sons of Pratarddana, are the founders of two races of Kshatriya-Brahmans.\n410:17 On the subject of note 12. some farther illustration is derivable from the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, \u015a\u00e1nti P. D\u00e1na-dharma. Harya\u015bwa the king of the K\u00e1\u015bis, reigning between the Ganges and the Yamun\u00e1, or in the Do-ab, was invaded and slain by the Haihayas, a race descended, according to this authority, from \u015aary\u00e1ti, the son of Manu (see p. 358). Sudeva, the son of Harya\u015bwa, was also attacked and defeated by the same enemies. Divod\u00e1sa, his son, built and fortified Benares as a defence against the Haihayas, but in vain, for they took it, and compelled him to fly. He sought refuge with Bharadw\u00e1ja, by whose favour he had a son born to him, Pratardana, who destroyed the Haihayas under their king V\u00edtihavya, and reestablished the kingdom of K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed. V\u00edtihavya, through the protection of Bhrigu, became a Brahman. The Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata gives a list of his descendants, which contains several of the names of the Ka\u015bya dynasty of the text; thus, Ghritsamada is said to be his son, and the two last of the line are \u015aunaka and \u015aaunaka. See n. 7.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Book IV: Chapter VIII","type":"page"}