Daṇḍa Rāja

Daṇḍa was a king of the solar dynasty who ruled the country of Vindhya-Nīla. He forced himself on Arājā, the daughter of his own guru Śukrācārya. Śukrācārya cursed him with a śāpa (a curse). Within seven days a rain of dust and ash fell on the whole kingdom and destroyed it. The ruined land became the great forest of Daṇḍakāraṇya.

Lineage and kingdom

Daṇḍa was born in the solar dynasty, in the line of Ikshvāku. He was one of the younger sons of that line. When the family lands were divided, Daṇḍa received the region of Vindhya-Nīla, the country between the Vindhya and Nīla mountains. He set up his kingdom there, built a capital and ruled the region with the means he had (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 37).

Śukrācārya as guru

Like other kings of the solar line, Daṇḍa had the great Śukrācārya as his royal guru. Śukrācārya was the supreme ācārya (teacher), master of all vidyā-s (branches of knowledge). He was known for the Mṛtasañjīvanī vidyā and for being the ācārya of the asuras. It was the highest honour to have such a guru. The guru’s person and household were to be treated as wholly sacred (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 37).

The wrong done to Arājā

Daṇḍa met Arājā, the daughter of Śukrācārya. She was a young woman of rare beauty who lived in her father’s āśrama (hermitage). Daṇḍa was overcome by desire and gave up all rules of honour, dharma and the respect due to his guru’s family. He forced himself on Arājā. This one act was several wrongs together. It was violence against an innocent woman. It was a betrayal of the sacred bond between guru and śishya (student). It was also the basic adharma of using power to harm those who should be under one’s protection (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 37).

Śukrācārya’s śāpa and the destruction

Śukrācārya learned what had been done, and his śāpa fell on Daṇḍa without mercy. Within seven days a rain of dust and ash would fall on Daṇḍa’s whole kingdom and destroy all in it. The śāpa named the king, the army, the ministers, the people, the horses, the elephants and every living creature. It came true within seven days. Daṇḍa, his whole army, his capital and all who lived in his realm died under the rain of dust and ash. Indra sent the rain at Śukra’s command (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 37).

Daṇḍakāraṇya

The ruined land of Daṇḍa’s kingdom lost all life and became the great forest called Daṇḍakāraṇya. It carries his name as a lasting reminder of what his adharma brought. This forest was the setting for much of Rāma’s forest exile in the Rāmāyaṇa. Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa lived there and met ṛshis, rākshasas and holy places. In this way the name Daṇḍakāraṇya keeps the memory of Daṇḍa’s crime and fall in the sacred land of the Rāmāyaṇa (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 37).

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa

The account of Daṇḍa and the origin of Daṇḍakāraṇya is also told in Chapter 17 of the Rājya Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, in a somewhat different form. There the woman is Candravadanā, the daughter of Bhṛgu Maharshi, not of Śukrācārya. The śāpa is Bhṛgu’s own. The kingdom covered by the rain of dust for seven days became the great Daṇḍakāraṇya (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rājya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17).

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 37
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rājya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17