Māndhatā Carita

The Māndhatā Carita is told in the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa. It shows how a śūdra who swept a temple of Varāha was reborn, after other births, as the great emperor (chakravartin) Māndhatā. It also tells of Māndhatā’s rule over the three worlds, his marriage to Prabhāvatī, and his death at the hands of the asura Lavaṇāsura, who carried Bhagavān Śiva’s śūla (trident). The account belongs to a longer teaching in the Purāṇa on Vaishṇava Tejas and on the avatāras of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

The śūdra sweeps the temple

The account begins with a śūdra whose name is not given. He swept and cleaned the temple of Varāha (Bhagavān Vishṇu in his Boar avatāra) on the banks of the river Sindhu. This one act of loving service to the sanctuary of Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him great puṇya (merit). The puṇya went with him through one birth after another until it showed itself in the birth of Māndhatā.

The birth of Māndhatā

Māndhatā’s birth was extraordinary. His father, King Yuvanāśva, performed a ritual to get a son. The consecrated water meant for his wives was swallowed by Yuvanāśva himself during the night, by mistake. The child grew in the king’s belly. In time he was born through an opening in the king’s left side. The baby was a boy of great brightness.

Indra himself came and fed the newborn from his finger, giving him the milk of Svarga. The child was named Māndhatā, “one I shall nourish”, from the words Indra spoke when he fed him.

Rule over the three worlds

Māndhatā became the greatest chakravartin of his age. He ruled not only the earth but all three worlds. The Purāṇa says this power came from the Vaishṇava Tejas, a divine shining energy of Bhagavān Vishṇu that lived in him. This tejas was the direct cause of his great power. It let him keep his rule over the lokas of the devas as well as the earth.

Māndhatā married Prabhāvatī, a princess of the Kāśī line. His reign was a time of righteousness and plenty.

Death at the hands of Lavaṇāsura

Māndhatā died at the hands of Lavaṇāsura, an asura who held Bhagavān Śiva’s śūla as a vara (a boon). This weapon had unmatched power to destroy. When Māndhatā fought Lavaṇāsura, the asura used the śūla against him. The Purāṇa says that at the moment of battle the Vaishṇava Tejas that had upheld Māndhatā left him, because the purpose for which it was given was finished. Without that divine light, Māndhatā fell before Lavaṇāsura’s śūla.

The Purāṇa uses this account to teach the difference between a king who carries Vaishṇava Tejas and a direct avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Māndhatā was a mortal king filled with power from Bhagavān Vishṇu.

The Ananta Vrata and Kārtavīrya

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa also links Māndhatā’s account to the Ananta Vrata. It says that Māndhatā’s father Yuvanāśva was connected with the tradition of the Ananta Vrata. Kṛtavīrya, another great king of this line, kept the vrata through his wife Śīladharā. Their son was born as a result. He was Kārtavīrya, the famous thousand-armed king Kārtavīryārjuna. In this way Māndhatā belongs to a line of kings who received their great gifts through devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu and through vrata (vows).

Sources

• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 170 (the śūdra, the birth of Māndhatā, his rule)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 172 (Prabhāvatī, the death of Māndhatā)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 173 (the Ananta Vrata and Kārtavīrya)