Indrapura (Ātreya)

Indrapura · indra-pura, “the city of Indra”

Indrapura, “the city of Indra“, was the copy of Indra’s own city that Tvashṭṛ, the divine builder, made for the ṛshi Ātreya, son of Atri, at his āśrama on the northern bank of the Gautamī. The Brahma Purāṇa tells, through Brahmā, how Ātreya, having seen the splendour of svarga, longed for the state of Indra; how the daityas, dānavas and rākshasas, taking him for Indra, surrounded the city and attacked him; and how he gave it up and had it withdrawn. It is not Amarāvatī, the city of Indra himself. The place became the Ātreya tīrtha, also called Anvindra and Daiteya.

How the city came to be built

Ātreya, a lordly ṛshi, performed satras, long yajña sessions, on the northern bank of the Gautamī, surrounded by ṛtvijas and ṛshis, with Agni himself as his hotṛ. By that Māheśvara yajña and by the power of his tapas he gained the power to go where he wished, to svarga and to the nether worlds. Once he went to the world of Indra. He saw Indra, the thousand-eyed, seated on a grand throne among the devas, praised by the Siddhas and Sādhyas, fanned by the apsarās, watching the dance and hearing the music, with his son Jayanta on his lap and Śacī beside him. Seeing that glory, the ṛshi longed for the kingdom of Indra.

When he came back to his āśrama, it seemed dull to him beside Indra’s city adorned with jewels. He told his wife that, remembering the amṛta, the seats, the assembly, the weapons, the clothes, the city and the parks of svarga, he could no longer eat the fruits and roots of the forest. Then, by the power of his tapas, he called Tvashṭṛ: “I wish to have the state of Indra. Quickly make the region of Indra here. If you refuse, I shall surely reduce you to ashes.”

What Tvashṭṛ built

At his command Viśvakarman, as the text names Tvashṭṛ here, hurriedly built:

  • Meru, the city of the devas;
  • the kalpa trees and the kalpa creeper;
  • the divine cow;
  • splendid, many-coloured houses adorned with diamonds;
  • a new Śacī, flawless in every limb;
  • within a moment, the divine assembly hall Sudharmā;
  • apsarās;
  • the horse Uccaiḥśravas and the elephant Airāvata;
  • the vajra and other weapons;
  • and all the devas.

Though his own wife tried to stop him, Ātreya took the new Śacī as his bride. With the other ṛshis he made weapons in the form of the vajra, and he had the dance and music of Indra‘s city performed as he had seen them there.

The siege of Indrapura

Hearing of this, the daityas, dānavas and rākshasas were furious. “Why has Indra come to the earth, leaving svarga?” they asked, and went to fight the slayer of Vṛtra. They surrounded the son of Atri, encircled the city built at his order, called Indrapura, and attacked him with a great storm of weapons. Ātreya, in fear, praised Indra with a stotra: “Even as he was born, the wise Devendra first adorned the devas by means of yajñas. By his prowess svarga and earth are held aloft.”

Then he said to the asuras: “I am not Indra. Nor is Śacī mine. This is not Indra’s city, nor does this park belong to Indra. He alone is Indra: the slayer of Vṛtra, the wielder of the vajra, the thousand-eyed, the subduer of mountains, the vajra-armed. I am only a brāhmaṇa who knows the Vedas, and I live on the banks of the Gautamī.” The asuras told him to withdraw all these copies of Indra’s world, and he promised it, touching fire as a pledge of truth.

The city withdrawn

Ātreya said to Tvashṭṛ: “Withdraw the state of Indra that you made out of love for me. Give me back my own āśrama, the old animals and birds, the trees and the water, whatever was here before. I have no use for these divine things. Nothing gained improperly can lead to happiness.” Saying “So be it”, Tvashṭṛ withdrew everything and went to his abode, laughing. The daityas left the land in peace and went to their own homes.

Ātreya returned to the banks of the Gautamī with his disciples and his wife and took up tapas. During a great yajña he felt ashamed of what he had done: “What power has delusion! Did I gain the place of Mahendra?” Then the devas came to him and said: “Give up your shame. You will have great fame. Beings who bathe in the Ātreya tīrtha shall at once become Indras, and merely by remembering it they shall enjoy happiness. The wise say there are five thousand tīrthas there, glorified by the names Anvindra, Ātreya and Daiteya. Snāna and dāna there give akshaya (unending) puṇya.”

The phala

Brahmā says that the Anvindra tīrtha, also called the Ātreya tīrtha, can give back a lost kingdom. Those who bathe there at once become Indras; remembering it gives happiness; there are five thousand tīrthas there; and bathing and giving dāna there give unending puṇya.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 70

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 70