Parihāra
Parihāra · pari-hāra, “the one who keeps away”
Lakshmaṇa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Lakshmaṇa. Mādhava has other meanings too: see all meanings of Mādhava. Nārāyaṇa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nārāyaṇa. Nṛsiṃha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nṛsiṃha.
Parihāra, also called Parihāraka, is the king of the Agnivaṃśa who, as the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells, rose from the yajña-kuṇḍa on Mount Ābū as a knower of the Atharvaveda. He conquered all the Bauddhas and worshipped with śraddhā the Sarvaśaktimayī Devī, the Devī who is all śakti. Pleased with him, she built on Citrakūṭa the city of Kaliñjara, where Kali is held prisoner and never enters. He ruled there twelve years, and from his sons Gauravarmā and Ghoravarmā came the kings of Gauḍadeśa, Kalikātā, Vaṅga and Mahāvatī, and the Śārdūlīya kings.
From the yajña-kuṇḍa on Ābū
Sūta tells Śaunaka that in the days of Aśoka a brāhmaṇa of the land of Kānyakubja went to Mount Ābū and performed a Brahmahotra according to vidhi. By the power of the Veda-mantras four kshatriyas arose from the yajña-kuṇḍa: Pramara-Paramāra, who was Sāmavedī; Capahāni-Cauhāna, Kṛshṇa Yajurvedī; Trivedī-Gaharavāra, Śukla Yajurvedī; and Parihāraka, Atharvavedī. All of them rode elephants born in the line of Airāvata. They brought the descendants of Aśoka under their power and destroyed all the Bauddhas of Bhāratavarsha.
The Pratisarga Parva tells that King Parihāra was in the region around Mount Citrakūṭa. Living in the beautiful city of Kaliñjara, he defeated the Bauddhas by his valour and gained full standing.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 6–7
Kaliñjara, the city of the Devī
Sūta tells Śaunaka that Parihāra, knower of the Atharvaveda, conquered all the Bauddhas and worshipped with śraddhā the Sarvaśaktimayī Devī. The Devī, pleased, built on the Citrakūṭa mountain a city one and a half yojanas wide. In this city, dear to the devatās, Kali was made a prisoner, and Kali never enters it. So the city became famous on earth as Kaliñjara. Parihāra ruled twelve years in that city.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 4
The line of Parihāra
The Pratisarga Parva gives the kings of his line in this order, each the son of the one before.
His son Gauravarmā ruled as his father did. He gladly handed the kingdom of Kaliñjara to his younger brother Ghoravarmā, went to Gauḍadeśa and began to rule there.
- Gauravarmā
- Purusharṇa, who became king after his father
- Rūpaṇa
- Kāmavarmā, who ruled fifty years. His son was Bhogavarmā and his daughter was Bhogavatī. He gave Bhogavatī to Vikrama and his kingdom to Bhogavarmā.
- Bhogavarmā
- Kālivarmā, who worshipped Mahākālī with bhakti. Bhagavatī Kālī came herself to grant a vara, and from the buds of many flowers a lovely city arose, famous on earth as Kalikātā Purī.
- Kauśika
- Kātyāyana
- Hemavata
- Śivavarmā
- Bhavavarmā
- Rudravarmā. These last six ruled as their fathers did.
- Bhojavarmā, who gave up his father’s kingdom and made Bhojarāshṭra in a forest region
- Gavavarmā
- Vindhyavarmā, who handed the kingdom to his younger brother and went to Vaṅga
- Sukhasena
- Balāka, who ruled ten years
- Lakshmaṇa
- Mādhava
- Keśava
- Surasena
- Nārāyaṇa
- Śāntivarmā, who settled the city of Śāntipura on the bank of the Gaṅgā and lived there
- Nadīvarmā
- Gaṅgādatta, the very mighty, who settled the delightful city of Nadīhā in the direction leading to Gauḍa rāshṭra. An expert Vidyādhara protected that city, which was devoted to the Vedas. He ruled twenty years, and from then the Gaṅgāvaṃśīs of his family became famous on earth.
- Śārṅgadeva, a mighty bhakta of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who went to Gauḍadeśa, became absorbed in dhyāna of Śrī Hari, and ruled ten years
- Gaṅgādeva, who ruled twenty years
- Anaṅga, who became lord of Gauḍadeśa and ruled as his father had
- Rājeśvara
- Nṛsiṃha
- Kalivarmā, who went to Rāshṭradeśa, conquered its king and ruled happily in the delightful city of Mahāvatī
- Dhṛtivarmā
- Mahīpati, who by the command of Jayacandra built the famous city of Urvīyā and lived there. He became king of Mahāvatī and ruled twenty years.
After that, the Pratisarga Parva tells, the kings born from the kalā-aṃśa of Suyodhana were all killed at Kurukshetra by Sahoddīna.
In the course of this line it also tells that a king named Śaka worshipped Mahālakshmī, the sanātanī Devī, and at the end of three years she took the form of Kāmākshī and dwelt there to protect her bhakta.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 4
The Śārdūlīya kings
Parihāra’s son Ghoravarmā ruled in Kaliñjara. His son was Śārdūla, and the kings of his line became famous as Śārdūlīya. By the prasāda of Mahāmāyā, the kings born in the Śārdūla line spread over the whole earth.
Sūta closes the account of the Agnivaṃśa to Śaunaka with these words: just as pāpa is destroyed by remembering the Candra and Sūrya lines, so too this Agnivaṃśa purifies.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 4
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 6–7; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 4