Dīrghatamas and Bali
Dīrghatamas was a ṛshi (seer) who was born blind because of a śāpa (a curse) from Bṛhaspati. His life was hard. His family set him adrift on a river, and King Bali found him. Through Dīrghatamas and Bali’s queen Sudeshṇā came the five sons who founded the five great kingdoms of eastern Bhāratavarsha: Aṅga, Vaṅga, Suhma, Kaliṅga and Puṇḍra.
This Bali is the king of the eastern Aṅga region. He is not Bali Cakravartī of the Vāmana account.
The birth of Dīrghatamas
Dīrghatamas was the son of the ṛshi Ushīja (Ucathya) and Mamatā. Mamatā was the wife of Bṛhaspati’s brother Dīrghatapas. In some versions she is Bṛhaspati’s sister-in-law.
Bṛhaspati tried to father a child on Mamatā against her will, while she was already carrying the child of Dīrghatapas. The child in the womb spoke against it. Bṛhaspati gave that child a śāpa: it would be born into darkness. So Dīrghatamas was born blind. His name means “submerged in long darkness”. He came out of the womb already under this śāpa.
The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 74.
The godharmā and the raft
Dīrghatamas grew to be a great ṛshi in spite of his blindness. He married Pradveshī and had sons. In his old age he followed what the text calls the godharmā, a way of living that was thought improper.
His wife and sons were tired of his behaviour. They put him on a raft and set it adrift on the river. He floated downstream.
Found by Bali
King Bali found the blind, old ṛshi on his raft. This Bali belonged to the Anu vaṃśa and was descended from Titikshu. He took the ṛshi out of the water and brought him to his palace with great respect, because he saw his spiritual greatness. Dīrghatamas became an honoured guest and in time the kula-guru (family teacher) of Bali’s house.
The queen sends a maid, and Kakshīvān is born
Bali wanted sons of great spiritual merit. By the custom of niyoga (the custom of begetting sons for another man) he asked Dīrghatamas to father sons on his queen Sudeshṇā.
Sudeshṇā did not want to go to a blind, old man. She sent a maid in her place and did not tell Dīrghatamas. From the maid, Dīrghatamas fathered several sons. One of them was Kakshīvān (called Cakshu in some branches), who became a great ṛshi himself.
Bali and Sudeshṇā then found out about the maid, and that the five royal sons had not yet been born. Sudeshṇā herself then went to Dīrghatamas.
The five eastern kingdoms
Five sons were born from Dīrghatamas and Queen Sudeshṇā. Each founded one great kingdom of eastern Bhāratavarsha.
- Aṅga founded the kingdom of Aṅga (today’s western Bengal and Bihar, around the city of Champā).
- Vaṅga founded Vaṅga (Bengal, the eastern delta).
- Suhma founded Suhmaka (southern Bengal).
- Kaliṅga founded Kaliṅga (the coast of Orissa today).
- Puṇḍra founded Puṇḍraka (northern Bengal).
These five kingdoms were among the most important of ancient Bhāratavarsha. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa gives them one family origin, through Dīrghatamas and Bali.
His sight is restored and he becomes Gautama
After fathering the five sons, Dīrghatamas received a further blessing. A divine cow named Suradhī (the cow of plenty) came and cured his blindness. The long darkness that had been his śāpa since birth was lifted. His sight returned, and the effect of the śāpa was finished.
He took the name Gautama. The name comes from a root meaning “one who is lit, freed from darkness”. The Gautama gotra (family line) carries this connection.
Kakshīvān, his son by the maid, went on to Girivrajā, the capital of Magadha, and settled there.
Sources
- Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 74