Heti Vaṃśa

The Heti Vaṃśa is the vaṃśa (family line) of Heti and Praheti, the first pair of rākshasas, who were among the earliest beings made in Brahmā’s sṛshṭi (creation). Rākshasas are powerful beings who often oppose the devas and dharma.

From Heti came the line of Laṃka, which in time produced Rāvaṇa through Sukeśa, Sumāli and Kaikasī. From Praheti came the line of Puloma, into which Madhu and his son Lavaṇāsura were born. The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa tells this family history in detail and links it to the larger story of the Rāmāyaṇa.

The Origin of Heti and Praheti

Heti and Praheti were two of the very first rākshasas. Their birth was part of Brahmā’s early creation. The two brothers founded the main family lines from which all rākshasas and paiśāca beings (piśācas, a kind of restless spirit) came. Heti and Praheti are the twin roots of the rākshasa world.

The piśācas (Aja and Shaṇḍa, the sons of Kapi), the brāhma-rākshasas (the sons of Brahmadhānā) and the yātudhānas (the sons of Yātudhānā) form separate lines from related beginnings. Heti’s son Laṃka founded the line that would one day build the great city of Laṃkā. Praheti’s son Puloma fathered the line of Puloma.

The Line of the Piśācas

Kapi, the son of Kapiśa, had two sons, Aja and Shaṇḍa, both piśācas. Aja’s daughter was Brahmadhānā, a piśācī. Shaṇḍa’s daughter was Yātudhānā.

One night Aja and Shaṇḍa met a fierce and very hungry rākshasa named Vadhita. He told them the story of his origin. The piśāca brothers, impressed by his strength, gave him their daughters in marriage.

From Brahmadhānā came the brāhma-rākshasas: Yajñahula, Nirdhanīkshepī, Brahma-pūta, Nighnavān, Śvāsakṛt, Kuntala and Sarpa. Their descendants, a hundred times as many, live in the śleshmātaka region.

From Yātudhānā came the ten sons of Heti’s line: Heti, Praheti, Ugra, Paurushāda, Vadhu, Vidyutspharjī, Vātu, Nasa, Vyāma, Suskṛt and Karāla. These are the ten yātudhānas who are sūryānucara, those who travel with the sun. Their children came to be called yātudhānas.

The Line of Heti: The Road to Laṃkā and Rāvaṇa

From Heti came Laṃka. From Laṃka’s line came the sālakaṃṭakus. Heti’s wife was Sandhyā-sutā, and their son was Sukeśa. Sukeśa had three sons: Māli, Sumāli and the great Mālyavān. All three were terrible to devas and asuras alike. Through tapas (austerity) they pleased Bhagavān Janārdana (Vishṇu) and gained extraordinary powers and unbeatable strength. They also received the great city of Laṃkā.

Of these three brothers, Māli was slain by Vishṇu. Mālyavān survived and lives on to this day as a form of Varsha, the rain. Before Rāvaṇa’s fall, Mālyavān gave him sound advice in keeping with dharma and urged him not to make an enemy of Śrī Rāma. But Rāvaṇa, blinded by his own great power, did not listen to his elder kinsman and met his death.

Sumāli’s daughter Kaikasī became the wife of the ṛshi Viśravas. From her was born Rāvaṇa, conqueror of the three worlds. So Rāvaṇa was Sumāli’s grandson through his mother. Through Rāvaṇa’s wars against the devas and his final fall at the hands of Śrī Rāma, the line of Heti reaches its climax in the Rāmāyaṇa.

The Line of Praheti: Madhu and Lavaṇāsura

Praheti’s son was Puloma, a famous dānava (a kind of asura). Puloma’s son was Madhu, a rākshasa. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased with the tapas done by Madhu and his son, and gave them a śūla (divine spear) drawn from his own śūla. This weapon was handed down in the family.

In the time of Rāvaṇa’s conquests, Madhu carried off Kumbhīnasī, a beautiful woman of Māli’s line and a relative of Rāvaṇa’s family. From this union Lavaṇāsura was born, and he wielded Śiva’s śūla.

Lavaṇāsura had no wife and no children. He was a savage hunter who seized ten thousand beings each day as prey. He slew the great king Māndhātṛ with his śūla. With Śrī Rāma’s approval, Śatrughna, himself an aṃśa (portion) of Vishṇu and a foremost hero, became Lavaṇāsura’s death. He slew him and freed the worlds from fear of him.

The Brāhma-Rākshasas

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa also describes a separate class of rākshasas called the brāhma-rākshasas. They were born from Brahmadhānā, who came from piśāca stock. Her sons, Yajñahula (“destroyer of yajñas”), Nirdhanīkshepī and others, founded a line that lives in the śleshmātaka region. They are different from the rākshasas of Heti’s line proper.

Sources

• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha (first half), Chapter 198
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha (first half), Chapter 200