Ruci Prajāpati (Garuḍa Purāṇa)

Ruci, “the radiant one”

Ruci Prajāpati is a brahmarshi born of Brahmā. He gave up the world for long years of tapas (austerity). His own Pitṛ-devatās (the devas of the ancestors) then persuaded him to enter the gṛhastha-āśrama, the householder’s life. He married Mālinī, the daughter of the apsarā Pramloca and the ṛshi Pushkara. He became the father of Raucya Manu, the thirteenth of the fourteen Manus.

He is also remembered as the composer of the Pitṛ-Stotra. This stotra (hymn of praise) praises the thirty-one Pitṛ-gaṇas, the groups of ancestors. The Pitṛ-devatās promise that when it is recited at a śrāddha (the rite for the ancestors), they come in person and are satisfied for twelve years.

Who he is and how he was born

The Garuḍa Purāṇa calls Ruci brahmasaṃbhava (born of Brahmā) and a brahmarshi. The text says that at the time of this account he was only a viprottama (best of brāhmaṇas), a brahmarshi, and had not yet become a Prajāpati. He became a Prajāpati later, by the direct order of Brahmā and through the birth of Raucya Manu from him.

He is a different Ruci from the Ruci Prajāpati of the Svāyambhuva Manvantara. That Ruci was the father of Yajñadeva, the seventh avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu, born of Ākūti. The Ruci of the Ruci–Pitṛ Saṃvāda (the dialogue of Ruci and the ancestors) is the brahmarshi who became the father of the thirteenth Manu.

A life of renunciation

Ruci had given himself fully to tapas, japa (silent repetition of mantras) and karma (action) without ahaṃkāra (pride of the self). He had given up the agnihotra (the daily fire rite) and the life of a householder. He ate only once a day, wandered alone and slept little. He looked on all parigraha (taking possessions), above all taking a wife, as the root of bondage and suffering. He had heard from the learned that the householder’s life drags a person into the paṅkila (quagmire) of attachment. He had heard that only one free from all desire can truly purify the ātman (the self).

The meeting with the Pitṛ-devatās

His own Pitṛ-devatās appeared to him. They told him that without a son to give piṇḍa-dāna (the offering of rice-balls) and perform śrāddha, the whole line of his ancestors (pitṛ-vaṃśa) would fall. They warned him that if he died without a son he would go to naraka (hell), and that his next birth would also be full of kleśas (afflictions).

Ruci answered them in a long debate on the nature of the self and refused at first. The Pitṛs slowly won him over with deeper arguments.

He then went to a forest and did a hundred divine years of hard tapas for Brahmā. Brahmā appeared. He told Ruci that he was meant to be a Prajāpati. He also said that the Pitṛs themselves, if they were rightly honoured with a stotra, would give him a wife and a son.

The Pitṛ-Stotra

Ruci composed the Pitṛ-Stotra on a riverbank, after first offering tarpaṇa (offerings of water). The stotra praises all thirty-one gaṇas of the Pitṛ-devatās in their many forms. They are honoured by devas, siddhas, maharshis, guhyakas, mortals, brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras, and even asuras and nāgas. The full stotra is kept in the Pitṛ-Stotra of Ruci.

Marriage and son

The Pitṛ-devatās appeared to him in blazing light. Pleased with his stotra, they gave him a divine wife. At that moment the apsarā Pramloca came out of the river. With her was a very beautiful young woman named Mālinī, the daughter of Pramloca and the ṛshi Pushkara, a son of Varuṇa. The devas had chosen Mālinī for Ruci. He accepted her. All the mahāmunis stood as witnesses, and the two were married.

Their son was Raucya Manu, the thirteenth Manu. He ruled all three worlds in his Manvantara. He was a man of great courage and wisdom, and he had many children.

What came after

As Prajāpati, Ruci created the four varṇas of the people. He then gained dharma-tattva-jñāna (knowledge of the truth of dharma) and siddhi (perfection, liberation), as the Pitṛs had foretold.

The Pitṛ-Stotra he composed is one of the most trusted stotras for śrāddha. The Pitṛs themselves promise that they will come in person to any śrāddha where it is recited.

Sources

• Garuḍa Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 88–90 (Adhyāyas 88–90)
• Garuḍa Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 87 (Adhyāya 87), where Ruci is named as the father of Yajñadeva