Jalodbhava

Jalodbhava was a daitya, one of the sons of Diti who fought the devas. His name means “born of water”. He lived in the waters of what later became the valley of Kaśmīra, and from there he terrified the land around.

Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu together put an end to him. Bhagavān Vishṇu’s Sudarśana Cakra cut through the earth and drained the valley, and Bhagavān Śiva killed the daitya when he was left exposed. From this came the sacred river Vitastā, now called the Jhelum. The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Chapter 55.

His power over water

Jalodbhava’s strength came from water. He lived in the lake that filled the valley of Kaśmīra, and he went back into the water whenever he was attacked. Any force that came by land could not reach him in the depths. Any force that entered the water had to fight him on his own ground, where he was supreme.

His name joins jala (water) and udbhava (arisen, born). It shows that he was not only a daitya who used water as a refuge. His origin and his nature were of water.

The plan of Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu

Bhagavān Vishṇu and Bhagavān Śiva worked out a plan in which each had a part. Bhagavān Vishṇu used the Sudarśana Cakra to cut through the earth itself. This made a passage through which the waters of the valley could drain away. As the lake emptied, Jalodbhava’s home was slowly destroyed.

At last the daitya was left exposed on the surface, with no water to shelter him. Then Bhagavān Śiva cut off his head.

The birth of the Vitastā

The valley drained through the passage made by Bhagavān Vishṇu’s Cakra. The divine energy gathered at that place by the joint presence of Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu brought forth the river Vitastā, later known as the Jhelum.

The Vitastā is therefore a river born of a divine act. It came from the destruction of Jalodbhava and from the winning of the valley of Kaśmīra as a place where people could live.

Sources

• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 55