Mithu

Mithu

Jaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Jaya.

Mithu was the valiant king of the dānavas, evil-minded and of great prowess. He destroyed the aśvamedha of King Ārshṭisheṇa and carried the king, his queen Jayā and the purohita Upamanyu down to pātāla, the netherworlds. The text calls him a dānava, a daitya and the rākshasa Mithu. By the vara (boon) that Bhagavān Śiva gave to the boy Devāpi, Nandin went down to pātāla and killed him with the leading asuras.

The yajña destroyed

In the Gautamī Māhātmya, Brahmā tells Nārada the account of Devatīrtha on the northern bank of the Gautamī. King Ārshṭisheṇa placed his kingdom in the charge of his son Bhara and took dīkshā (initiation) for an aśvamedha on the banks of the Sarasvatī. As the ṛtvijas and leading ṛshis stood with him, in the presence of the brāhmaṇas and the sacred fires and while the devas watched, Mithu destroyed the yajña. He carried off the king, his wife and the purohita and went swiftly to pātāla.

The purohita’s young son Devāpi asked his mother where his father had gone, and she told him: “While the devas were watching, in the presence of the sacred fires and the brāhmaṇas, Mithu the daitya carried off the king, who had been initiated for the yajña, to the netherworlds, with his wife and the purohita.” Devāpi went in turn to the ṛtvijas, to Agni and to the devas, and each sent him on, until he invoked the Vedas themselves. The Vedas told him that they knew who had carried off the captives, his name, his city and his power, and that the captives had been eaten but were not destroyed. They sent him to the Gautamī to praise Maheśvara, and foretold: “Through the vara of Bhagavān Śiva you will kill the rākshasa Mithu and gain fame and puṇya.”

Slain by Nandin

Devāpi bathed in the Gautamī and praised Bhagavān Śiva, and Śiva appeared before him. Devāpi asked for the return of the king, the queen and his father, and for the death of his enemy. Bhagavān Śiva said, “So be it,” called Nandin, one of his gaṇas, and sent him with his own divine śūla. Nandin went down to pātāla and killed Mithu and the leading asuras, and brought back Devāpi’s father and the others. The aśvamedha was then completed on the Gautamī, and the place where Śiva appeared became Devatīrtha.

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 57