Durjaya and the Cintāmaṇi

Durjaya was a king of Vārāṇasī in the Kṛtayuga. The Varāha Purāṇa tells of him in Chapters 10 and 11. He conquered the world and then wanted a cintāmaṇi (a wish-fulfilling gem) that Bhagavān Vishṇu had given to the ṛshi Gauramukha. The gem’s warriors fought his army. In the end Bhagavān Vishṇu burned the army to ash with the Sudarśana Cakra, and the forest was named Naimisha.

King Supratīka and his sons

In the Kṛtayuga, the powerful King Supratīka ruled Vārāṇasī. He had two sons:

1. Durjaya, son of Vidyutprabhā. The ṛshi Ātreya blessed him with every virtue. He became learned in the Vedas and śāstras, good and pure. But Ātreya had also said that he would become krūrakarmā (cruel in his deeds).
2. Sudyumna, son of Kīrtimati. He was learned in the Vedas and vedāṅgas.

When Durjaya had grown up and was fit to rule, Supratīka gave the kingdom to him and went to live on the mountain Citrakūṭa.

Durjaya’s conquests

Durjaya gathered a huge army of four parts (caturaṅga bala) and set out to conquer the north.

He won, one after another:

• Bharatavarsha (India)
• Kimpurusha-varsha
• Harivarsha
• Hiraṇmaya-varsha
• Kuru-Bhadrāśva-varsha
• Ilāvṛta-varsha, at the centre of Meru
• All of Jambūdvīpa

Then he went on to challenge the devas. He defeated Indra and the Lokapālas, who fled to the world of mortals in the east.

Durjaya camped his army on the mountain Gandhamādana. Two ascetics (tapasvīs) came to him there. They were the asura brothers Heta and Praheta, sons of Svāyambhuva Manu, and they asked to be made Lokapālas. Durjaya made them Lokapālas, and they vanished at once.

The two daughters of Heta and Praheta

Under a golden tree Durjaya found two splendid young women. They were Sukeśī, the daughter of Heta, and Miśrakeśī, the daughter of Praheta. Their asura fathers offered them as wives and said to Durjaya, “You are the son of our friend. Take them.”

Durjaya took both. Their sons were Suprabhā, born of Sukeśī, and Sudarśana, born of Miśrakeśī.

Gauramukha’s gift of the gem

Durjaya made camp in the forest of Gandhamādana. There he found the āśrama of the ṛshi Gauramukha, whose name means “white-faced”. Gauramukha came of a line of great ṛshis who protected other ṛshis from the stain of pāpa.

Gauramukha owned nothing of this world. Even so, he promised to feed Durjaya’s army of five akshauhiṇīs. He was worried about how to feed so many. He meditated on Nārāyaṇa and composed a stotra, and Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared. Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him a cintāmaṇi and all the divine powers needed to welcome guests.

The wonder

Gauramukha set the gem in his fire-hall. At once it produced:

• Thousands of divine women servants
• A palace a hundred storeys high
• Heaps of food of all four kinds: bhakshya, bhojya, lehya and choshya
• Golden serving trays in every direction

Durjaya’s whole army, men, horses and elephants, was fed, bathed, dressed in fine clothes and given ornaments. They slept that night in divine comfort.

Durjaya’s greed

The next morning the palace, the women and all the comforts were gone. Durjaya was filled with desire for the gem. He sent his minister Virocana to Gauramukha to demand it.

The ṛshi refused in anger:

“A learned brāhmaṇa receives gifts. A king gives them. You are a king. How dare you beg like a poor man? Go and tell that ill-behaved Durjaya that he still has some life left.”

Durjaya then sent his vassal king Nīla with a large army to take the gem by force.

The battle of the gem-warriors

When Nīla reached for the gem, it brought forth fifteen great warrior-chiefs. The names given are:

Each warrior had chariots, flags, horses, bows and quivers, and none could be beaten. A great battle began. The gem-warriors matched the fifteen asura chiefs on the other side, and in the end killed them. The asura chiefs were Praghasa, Vighaśa, Saṅghaśa, Aśaniprabhu, Vidyutprabhu, Sughosha, Unmattatāksha, Bhayaṃkara, Agnidanta, Agniteja, Bāhuśakra, Pratardana, Virādha, Bhīmakarma and Vipracitti.

Heta and Praheta join the battle

Heta and Praheta heard that their son-in-law was in battle. They came into the fight with asura armies.

Gauramukha saw the terrible fighting at the gate of his āśrama. He meditated on Hari (Vishṇu). Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared in the sky on Garuḍa. Gauramukha prayed that Durjaya’s forces be destroyed.

Bhagavān Vishṇu sent the Sudarśana Cakra, blazing like kālacakra, against Durjaya’s forces. In one blink of the eye (nimisha) the whole asura army was burned to ash.

How Naimisha got its name

Bhagavān Vishṇu said:

“This whole asura army was destroyed in one nimisha in this forest. So this place will be known as Naimisha. It will be especially holy to brāhmaṇas. I, the Yajña-purusha, will live here always.”

The gem-warriors as kings

The fifteen warriors born from the gem were to become kings in the Kṛtayuga. The Purāṇa describes this further in Chapter 17, in its account of the kings of the Tretā-yuga.

Supratīka’s grief and the Rāma stotra

King Supratīka was on the mountain Citrakūṭa when he learned that Bhagavān Vishṇu’s cakra had killed his son Durjaya. He decided to worship Bhagavān Vishṇu by the name Rāma, the name by which Bhagavān Vishṇu was praised on that mountain.

He composed a stotra that said:

“Because you remain (ramati) in all things, in all light and in the whole cosmos, your name is Rāma.”

Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared. Supratīka asked to be taken into the divine body of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and Bhagavān Vishṇu granted it.

Sources

• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 10–11
• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 17 (the kings of the Tretā-yuga, referred to in the account)