Dhruva Upākhyāna - Vedic People

Dhruva was the son of King Uttānapāda and a child of five when he was humiliated by his stepmother Suruci. He left home, did fierce tapas (austerity) for Śrī Hari, and received a place of his own: Dhruvaloka, the fixed pole star around which the stars and planets turn. This is the Dhruva Upākhyāna, the narrative of Dhruva.

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells it in the 4th Skanda, Chapters 8 to 12. The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa and the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa also tell it, and their accounts are given after the Bhāgavata account.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa account

The household of Uttānapāda

Svāyambhuva Manu’s son Uttānapāda had two wives. Sunīti he loved less. Suruci he favoured greatly. Sunīti bore Dhruva. Suruci bore Uttama.

One day Uttānapāda sat fondling Uttama in his lap. Young Dhruva tried to climb up beside his brother, but the king turned away. Suruci was proud of her place, and she shamed Dhruva in public. She said: “Child, you were not born from my womb. If you want the king’s throne, do tapas, please Parameśvara, and pray to be born from my womb in your next life. Only then will you be worthy.”

Dhruva wept like a snake that has been trodden on, and ran to his mother Sunīti. She held him. She herself was withered like a forest creeper in a fire. She comforted him truthfully: “What Suruci said is true. I am unfortunate. But do not carry ill will. If you want greatness, worship the lotus feet of Śrī Hari, as your grandfather Svāyambhuva Manu did. Through that he gained the rank of Manu, svarga (heaven) and moksha. There is no other path.”

Dhruva made up his mind and left the city.

Nārada’s guidance

Nārada knew by trikālajñāna (knowledge of the three times) what had happened. He met Dhruva on the road and first tested his resolve: “You are only a child. Accept what Parameśvara gives. Wait until you are older to worship Śrī Hari. It is very hard even for great ṛshis who have practised for many lives.”

Dhruva answered without a pause: “My heart has been pierced by Suruci’s arrow-words. The peace you advise is for others, not for a kshatriya child. I want the highest position in all three worlds, one that none of my ancestors has held. Tell me how.”

Nārada was very pleased. He gave Dhruva full instruction (upadeśa):

Go to Madhuvana on the Yamunā, which is sacred to Śrī Hari.
Bathe three times a day.
Sit in a yoga posture (āsana).
Practise prāṇāyāma with Oṃkāra.
Meditate on the form of Śrī Hari: fair-complexioned, with joyful eyes, a lovely nose and a smiling face, the Śrīvatsa mark, a dark colour, garlands of wild flowers, four arms holding the śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and padma, a crown, the Kaustubha gem, a golden waistband and golden anklets.
Worship with water, flowers, forest fruits, dūrvā grass and tulasī.
Chant the mantra below.
Give body, voice and mind fully to his service.

oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

The mantra means: Oṃ, salutation to Bhagavān Vāsudeva.

The five months of tapas

Dhruva went to Madhuvana and began. His tapas grew harder month by month:

First month: he ate velaga and regu fruits once every three days.
Second month: he ate dry grass and leaves once every six days.
Third month: he drank only water, once every nine days.
Fourth month: he lived on air alone, once every twelve days.
Fifth month: he stood motionless on one toe, all his prāṇavāyus (life-breaths) held, his mind merged into Akshara Parabrahma.

While Dhruva stood on one toe with all breathing stopped, the whole cosmos felt it. The breath of the devas themselves stopped. They ran to Śrī Hari and cried: “No creature can breathe!” Śrī Hari comforted them: “Dhruva has merged his mind into me. His union with the whole (sāmashṭi) causes this. I will end his tapas now. Go back to your places.”

Darśana of Śrī Hari

Śrī Hari mounted Garuḍa and came down to Madhuvana. Dhruva was deep in samādhi, with the form of Śrī Hari in his heart. Suddenly that inner form vanished. He opened his eyes, and the same form stood in front of him. He fell on the ground in respect and gazed at Śrī Hari with unblinking devotion.

Śrī Hari knew that Dhruva was a child who had not yet learned to compose stutis (hymns of praise). He touched Dhruva’s cheek with his conch Pāñcajanya. At once Dhruva received the full power of speech (vāk), and an understanding of Parameśvara, and the power to compose the great hymn.

The Dhruva Stuti

Dhruva praised Śrī Hari in a moving hymn of fourteen ślokas, the Dhruva Stuti. He praised him as the one who entered his body and woke all his senses with the light of awareness (caitanya-jyoti). He praised him as the Antaryāmin, the inner ruler, of all tattvas, who stays untouched by māyā. He praised him as the Kalpavṛksha, the tree that grants all wishes, and said that even moksha from him is less, in a devotee’s view, than the joy of hearing his stories in the company of sādhus. He praised him as the Virāḍrūpa, the form that holds all beings and elements, and as nityaśuddha (ever pure), nityamukta (ever free) and Purusha beyond Prakṛti. He ended: “I seek refuge in you alone, as a newborn calf seeks its mother by instinct.”

Śrī Hari’s promise

Śrī Hari answered: “I know what is in your heart. I will grant it, though it is the hardest to win. Your loka will shine as no position has shone before. All the grahas, nakshatras and tārakās will circle it, as oxen circle a central post. It will last a full kalpa. Even the saptarshis, dhruvadhāma, Dharma, Agni, Kaśyapa and Śukra will all circle it. You will rule righteously for 36,000 years, after your father has gone to the forest. Your brother Uttama will be killed while hunting. Suruci will die in a forest fire as she searches for him. You will worship me with great yajñas. At the end you will remember me and reach my dhāma, above the circle of the saptarshis, from which there is no return.”

Śrī Hari left. Dhruva’s joy was great, but at once a pang of grief came: “I stood before the giver of moksha and begged for a throne. I am like a beggar who is given the philosopher’s stone and asks only for rice.”

Return to the kingdom

The news reached Uttānapāda through Nārada’s earlier prophecy. The king rode out with brāhmaṇas, ministers and his whole family. Both queens came in palanquins. The meeting was full of tears and joy. The king embraced Dhruva. Even Suruci wept and blessed him: “Ciraṃjīva!” (May you live long.) Śrī Hari’s grace made everyone honour Dhruva without being asked, even those who had wronged him.

The city was decorated with makaratoraṇas (arched gateways), banana trunks, mango leaves, lamps and flower garlands. Women scattered sesame, akshatas, curd, flowers and fruits as he entered. Dhruva lived in the palace like a deva in svarga. When he came of age, the ministers and the people accepted him as king, and Uttānapāda retired of his own will to vānaprastha, the forest life.

Marriage and war with the Yakshas

Dhruva married Bhrami, daughter of Śiśumāra Prajāpati. Their sons were Kalpu and Vatsara. He also married Ilā, daughter of Vāyu. Their son was Utkala.

Dhruva’s brother Uttama was killed by a yaksha on Hemavat mountain while hunting. Suruci died in a forest fire as she searched for him. Dhruva could not bear his brother’s death. He mounted his chariot and marched north to Alakāpuri. He blew his conch, and the yaksha women shook with fear. A hundred thousand yaksha warriors poured out. A terrible battle followed. Dhruva’s crescent-headed arrows (ardhacandra-bāṇas) cut off the heads and limbs of the yakshas.

Then the yakshas used māyāyuddha, war by illusion: blood-rain from clouds, mountains falling from the sky, serpents spitting fire. The ṛshis who were watching prayed: “O Dhruva! May Śrī Hari, whose name alone destroys death that cannot be crossed, destroy your enemies!”

Svāyambhuva Manu’s teaching

Hearing the ṛshis’ prayer, Dhruva sipped water in ācamana and set the Nārāyaṇāstra on his bow. The moment the divine arrow was fitted, all the yaksha illusion dissolved. The Nārāyaṇāstra destroyed the yakshas by the hundreds.

His grandfather Svāyambhuva Manu came and saw Dhruva killing blameless yakshas. He said: “Child, stop. You have killed innocent yakshas for the act of one. A devotee of Śrī Hari, who sees Bhagavān Vishṇu in all creatures, must be even-minded and kind, and must see everything as Brahman. It was not the yakshas who killed Uttama. It was Kāla, Time. The same Kāla is the Ātman within you. Paramātmā is only the nimitta kāraṇa, the instrumental cause, like a magnet that moves iron without touching it. Kubera is a friend of Śiva. You have offended him. Go and bow to Kubera with humility before his greatness strikes back.”

Dhruva bowed to Manu, who then left.

Kubera’s blessing

Kubera came, having heard that Dhruva had stopped the fighting. Dhruva bowed. Kubera said: “In truth, neither you nor the yakshas are the real makers of birth or death. Only Kāla is. The two-ness of ‘I’ and ‘you’, friend and enemy, is born of avidyā (ignorance). It is like the differences in a dream, which are all one’s own self. Ask me for one vara (boon).”

Dhruva asked for one thing only: steady remembrance (smāraṇa) of Śrī Hari in all births. Kubera was delighted, granted it, and vanished.

Righteous rule and renunciation

Dhruva performed great yajñas with rich dakshiṇā (gifts to the priests). He worshipped Śrī Hari and understood that the whole structure of karma, dravya and devatā (the act, the offering and the devas to whom it is made) is Śrī Hari himself. He saw Śrī Hari as the Antaryāmin of all creatures and of himself. His bhakti became his very nature. He cared for the knowers of the Veda with deep respect and for the afflicted with love. He ruled for 36,000 years and kept dharma, artha and kāma in balance.

Then the thought came to him: “Body, wife, children, army, treasury, palace, all will be swallowed by Kāla.” He gave the kingdom to his son Utkala and went to Badarīkāśrama. There he practised prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra and dhāraṇā on the Virāḍrūpa, and entered nirvikalpa samādhi.

The ascent to Dhruvaloka

A blazing vimāna came down. Two four-armed beings of blue-black colour, Sunanda and Nanda, said: “Bhagavān Vishṇu has sent this vimāna. You have won the dhāma that even the saptarshis can only see from far away. Come up.”

Dhruva bathed, finished his sandhyā, dressed in auspicious clothes, bowed to the ṛshis and got ready to mount. At that moment Kāla appeared before him. Dhruva put his foot on Kāla’s head and climbed in.

As he rose through the grahas, the nakshatras, the seven divine realms and the circle of the saptarshis, he thought of his mother Sunīti. The attendants at once showed him Sunīti’s vimāna, already moving ahead of him on the divine path. Comforted, Dhruva went on and reached the eternal dhāma of Śrī Hari, beyond them all.

Nārada watched from the satra (a long yajña) of the Pracetasas and sang in praise: “Even the great knowers of the Veda could not do the sādhana that Dhruva did at the age of five. No kshatriya has ever won what Dhruva won in only five months as a child.”

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa account (Chapter 36)

The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Pūrva Bhāga, Chapter 36) gives a different account of Dhruva.

Setting and family

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa places Dhruva’s tapas at the start of the first Tretāyuga, the age that follows the Kṛtayuga, when dharma had just begun to decline. It says Svāyambhuva Manu gave Dhruva’s father Uttānapāda in adoption to the Prajāpati Atri. Dhruva’s mother is named Sunṛtā. She is described as the daughter of Dharma, born of Lakshmī.

The tapas

Dhruva was a prince of great strength (mahāvīryavān). He did ten full years of nirāhāra tapas, complete fasting with no food at all, and practised prāṇāyāma, dhyāna and steady concentration. His aim was great fame (mahāyaśas). It was not the royal throne that he asked for in the Bhāgavata account.

It was Brahmā, not Vishṇu, who was moved by this tapas and came to Dhruva to grant the vara.

The grant of Dhruva-sthāna

Brahmā gave Dhruva the highest position among all the jyotisha-gaṇas, the hosts of stars. This Dhruva-sthāna has four marks:

Divya: it is wholly celestial in nature.
Udayāstamana-varjita: it has no sunrise or sunset. The pole never rises or sets as other stars do.
Śāśvata: it is eternal, even through the dissolution of the universe (pralaya).
Above the circle of the saptarshis: the seven great ṛshis turn at a lower level than Dhruva.

When Brahmā gave this great vara, even Uśanas (Śukrācārya), the teacher of the asuras, was moved to praise Dhruva without being asked:

Aho’sya tapasovīryam — ahotrutam ahovratam

It means: “How great is the power of this one’s tapas! How remarkable his learning! How spotless his vow!”

Descendants

In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Dhruva’s wife was Bhūmi, the devī of the earth. They had two sons, Pṛthu and Sṛshṭi. Sṛshṭi made a woman out of his own shadow (chāyā) by the power of his tejas. She became his wife and bore him five sons: Prācīnagarbha, Vṛshabha, Vṛka, Vṛkala and Dhṛti.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account (Chapters 10–12)

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa tells of Dhruva in three chapters, taught by Parāśara to Maitreya.

The household of Uttānapāda (Chapter 10)

Svāyambhuva Manu’s son Uttānapāda had two wives: Sunīti, the chief queen, who was less favoured, and Suruci, who was favoured. Dhruva was born of Sunīti and Uttama of Suruci. Suruci’s insult is told in nearly the same words as in the Bhāgavata. Dhruva was turned away when he tried to sit in his father’s lap, and Suruci told him that only those born from her womb deserved such honour. Sunīti could not right the wrong. She told Dhruva to worship Bhagavān Vishṇu, who alone could give him a position beyond anything his ancestors had held.

The mantra given by the ṛshis (Chapter 11)

In the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dhruva does not get his instruction from Nārada alone. As he goes to the forest he meets a group of seven ṛshis, who teach him. They give him both the method of tapas and a particular mantra. The mantra recorded in this Purāṇa is:

Hiraṇyagarbha-purusha-pradhāna-avyakta-rūpiṇe, Oṃ namo Vāsudevāya

The mantra names Bhagavān Vishṇu as Hiraṇyagarbha (the cosmic intelligence, Brahmā), as the Purusha (the supreme witness), and as Pradhāna-Avyakta (the unmanifest Prakṛti).

The tapas (Chapter 11)

Dhruva went to the bank of the Yamunā and did harder and harder austerities. They followed the same course as in the Bhāgavata account: first light fasting, then fruit, water and air, until he stood motionless on one foot, wholly absorbed. His tapas grew so strong that its energy shook the cosmos, and the devas felt the tremor in svarga.

Vishṇu’s appearance and the vara (Chapter 12)

Bhagavān Vishṇu was moved by the matchless tapas of the young Dhruva and appeared before him. As in the Bhāgavata, Dhruva at first could not compose a stotra. Vishṇu touched his cheek with his śaṅkha, and the power of sacred speech woke in him at once. His praise flowed out on its own.

Vishṇu gave Dhruva an eternal position as the pole star, Dhruva-pada, fixed at the north pole of the sky. All the lights of the cosmos, the nakshatras and the planets, turn around it. All the saptarshis, all the tārakās and all the grahas circle Dhruva’s position as long as the kalpa lasts. Dhruva would stay there, unmoving and eternal, the still centre of the turning cosmos, as long as the present cycle of creation goes on.

Sources

Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapters 8–12
Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrva Bhāga, Chapter 36
Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pradhamāmsa, Chapters 10–12