Vṛshaparvan

Vṛshaparvan · vṛsha-parvan

Vṛshaparvan is a mighty king of the daityas in the Vāmana Purāṇa. Śukrācārya, the guru of the daityas, went to him and stayed a long time at his court, receiving his service and attending his yajña. He marched with the host of the daitya Andhaka to Mount Mandara to fight Bhagavān Śiva. In the great war that made Bali master of svarga, he was among the daitya heroes who cut down the army of the devas, and Bali named him among the champions skilled in war whom he counted on his side, when Prahlāda warned him that Bhagavān Vishṇu was growing in Aditi‘s womb.

Śukrācārya at his yajña

Prahlāda, counselling Andhaka, told him of King Daṇḍa of the Ikshvāku line, who perished with his kingdom through desire for another’s daughter. Daṇḍa had made Śukrācārya his purohita and performed many yāgas under him. Arajā was Śukra’s daughter, and she tended the agnihotras in his āśrama.

Once Śukra went to Vṛshaparvan, king of the rākshasas, as the Purāṇa calls him here, and stayed there a long time, receiving his service. When Daṇḍa came to the āśrama and asked where Śukra was, the attendants told him that he had gone to Vṛshaparvan’s yajña. Learning that only the guru’s daughter Arajā was keeping the āśrama, Daṇḍa went in alone, and so began the account of his fall.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 37

In Andhaka’s host

When Andhaka sent Śambara to Mandara to ask for Devī Pārvatī, Bhagavān Śiva answered that Mandara was Indra‘s gift and that Pārvatī’s going was for her to decide; and the Devī answered that she was the banner of victory in battle, and whoever won would have her. Andhaka had the daitya Duryodhana beat the war-drum, and the great daityas gathered.

With Andhaka, mounted on elephants, camels, horses and chariots, the daityas set out with many kinds of weapons: Jambha, Kujambha, Huṇḍa and Tuhuṇḍa, Śambara, Bāṇa and Kārtasvara, Hasti, Sūryaśatru, Mahodara, Ayaśśaṅku, Śibi, the Śālvas, Vṛshaparvan and Virocana, Hayagrīva, Kālanemi, Saṃhlāda and Kālanāśana, Śarabha, Śalabha, Vipracitti, Duryodhana, Pāka, Vipāka, Kāla and many more mighty ones. So, driven by Kāla, Andhaka went to Mandaragiri to fight Hara.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 40

In Bali’s war against the devas

When Bāṇa returned to the battlefield, Bhagavān Vishṇu, knowing Bāṇa to be invincible, withdrew from the field. Śukrācārya urged Bali to rise and conquer the devas. Bāṇa slew thousands of devas with his thousand arms, and Maya Dānava threw their army into disorder with his māyā. Then Vidyujjihva, Pāribhadra, Vṛshaparvan, Śatāksha, Virūpāksha, Vikshara and other daitya heroes cut down the army of the devas. Indra and the devas abandoned svarga and went to Brahmaloka, and Bali became master of svarga.

Later, when the daityas lost their tejas, Prahlāda told Bali that Bhagavān Vishṇu, who had given abhaya (the assurance of safety) to the devas, was now growing in Aditi‘s womb. Bali answered harshly. He named the heroes on his side, skilled in the practice of war: Ayaḥśaṅku, the daityas Śiva and Śambhu, Asiloma, Vilomakṛt, Triśiras, Makarāksha, Vṛshaparvan, Natekshaṇa and many others, and declared that Vishṇu was not equal to a sixteenth part of the valour of any one of them. Prahlāda, devoted to Janārdana above his own life, rebuked his grandson for reviling the guru of the three worlds.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 48, 51

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 37, 40, 48, 51