Kuvalāśva Dhundhumāra
Kuvalāśva was a king of the Ikshvāku line, the son of Bṛhadaśva, who ruled from Ayodhyā. He killed the terrible Dhundhu and earned the lasting name Dhundhumāra, “the slayer of Dhundhu”. Bhagavān Vishṇu entered his body and gave him his tejas (radiance) for the task. The great ṛshi Uttaṅka sent him against Dhundhu.
The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa and the Mahābhārata each tell of this deed, and each gives its own details. Both are given below.
Lineage
Kuvalāśva belonged to the solar dynasty (Sūryavaṃśa) through the Ikshvāku line. This is the same royal line that later gave the world Rāma of the Rāmāyaṇa. His father was Bṛhadaśva, a king well known for righteous rule.
The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa names Bṛhadaśva as his father, and it is Bṛhadaśva who sends Kuvalāśva on the task against Dhundhu. It gives the Ikshvāku line before him as: Ikshvāku, Vikukshi, Kakutstha, Pṛthu, Viśvadāsa, Śrāpasta (who built the city Śāpasti), and Bṛhadaśva, the father of Kuvalāśva. (Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 15)
Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi tells the account of Kuvalāśva’s deed to Yudhishṭhira, in the Mārkaṇḍeya Samāsyā Parva. Yudhishṭhira had asked whether any king in history had suffered as much as he had. The story of Kuvalāśva Dhundhumāra is one answer. It is about a king who bore great loss of his own in the service of dharma and the protection of the innocent. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 201)
The slaying of Dhundhu in the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa
The jala-rākshasa (water rākshasa) Dhundhu was the son of Madhu and Kaiṭabha. He was born through the vara (a boon) that they received from Vishṇu. He lived at the bottom of the sand-sea Ujjānaka, in the ninth region of Bhāratavarsha. Each year his breath shook the mountains and forests and sent all the smaller creatures to the realm of Yama. When he woke, the whole region was terrified.
The ṛshi Uttaṅka was doing tapas (austerity) in that region and saw Madhusūdana. Vishṇu gave him varas and told him to go to Ayodhyā and send Kuvalāśva, the son of Bṛhadaśva, against Dhundhu. Vishṇu said: “I will enter Kuvalāśva’s body. Through my tejas that Kuvalāśva will kill Dhundhu in battle.”
When Uttaṅka reached Ayodhyā, the old king Bṛhadaśva had already put down his weapons. He gave the task to Kuvalāśva and said: “Guided by Uttaṅka, go and slay Dhundhu.” Kuvalāśva set out with his sons, and Uttaṅka went with them. Keśava lived within him. With Uttaṅka’s leave, Kuvalāśva called up the Brahmāstra and destroyed the rākshasa Dhundhu. (Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 16)
The three varas and the name Dhundhumāra
After the rākshasa was killed, the devas came to bless Kuvalāśva. They gave him three varas.
- Undivided bhakti (devotion) to Kṛshṇa.
- Steadiness in dharma.
- A dwelling in svarga (heaven) that never ends.
Dhundhu was the son of Madhu and Kaiṭabha, born through the vara they had from Vishṇu. So Kuvalāśva’s killing of him earned the famous name Dhundhumāra, “the killer of Dhundhu.” When the rākshasa was slain, all directions became clear, the devas were glad, the world was freed from its trouble, and the king gained lasting fame. (Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 16)
The slaying of Dhundhu in the Mahābhārata
The trouble of Dhundhu
The asura Dhundhu was the son of the great asuras Madhu and Kaiṭabha. He had buried himself under the wide Ujjalaka desert and was doing hard tapas. Once every year he breathed out. His breath sent out fire, smoke and ash that troubled the earth and sky for seven days and made the whole region unfit to live in. The āśrama (hermitage) of the ṛshi Uttaṅka, who had settled nearby, was threatened by this yearly ruin.
Dhundhu’s tapas aimed at winning Brahmaloka. Brahmā had given him a vara that made him unbeatable by any divine being. The vara did not cover a human warrior given special power by Vishṇu. Uttaṅka knew this and looked for a king strong enough in dharma to do the work. (Vana Parva, Chapter 201)
The task passes from Bṛhadaśva to Kuvalāśva
Uttaṅka first went to Bṛhadaśva, Kuvalāśva’s father. Bṛhadaśva felt for him, but explained that he had already given his kingdom and its duties to his son. He also said that Vishṇu himself had named Kuvalāśva as the one chosen to kill Dhundhu. He sent Uttaṅka to his son and gave his own blessing to the mission.
Kuvalāśva took up the task without delay. Vishṇu entered him with his own divine tejas. This did not take over Kuvalāśva’s own will. It strengthened it. Kuvalāśva became a human made strong by Vishṇu. (Vana Parva, Chapter 201)
The campaign and its cost
Kuvalāśva gathered a great army and marched to the Ujjalaka desert with his twenty-one thousand sons, all trained warriors. The army dug into the sandy sea. It was long and tiring labour through layer after layer of desert, toward the place where Dhundhu lay buried. At last they reached the asura’s resting place and disturbed him. Dhundhu woke in fury.
The fire and smoke of Dhundhu’s wrath swept through the dig and killed most of Kuvalāśva’s sons where they stood. The text records the loss plainly. Most of the twenty-one thousand died in the attack. Only three sons lived.
Kuvalāśva, filled with Vishṇu’s tejas, pushed on through the blaze. He called up the Āgneyāstra (the fire weapon) and aimed it at Dhundhu. The weapon won. Dhundhu was killed, and the desert was free. (Vana Parva, Chapter 202)
The name Dhundhumāra
After the battle, Uttaṅka Maharshi gave Kuvalāśva the name by which he would always be known, Dhundhumāra, the killer of Dhundhu. Indra came down with the host of devas and showered flowers on him. The ṛshis gave their blessings. Indra declared that his puṇya (merit) equalled that of a man who performs the Aśvamedha, and that his fame would last in the three worlds as long as earth and sky stood.
The three sons who lived carried on his line. The Mahābhārata records them as the forefathers of later kings of the Ikshvāku line. (Vana Parva, Chapter 204)
The oath at Prabhāsa
Under the name Dhundhumāra, this king was among the great gathering of ṛshis and rājarshis at Prabhāsa when the lotus that Agastya had planted with ceremony was found stolen. To prove his innocence, Dhundhumāra swore a self-śāpa (a curse). He said that whoever took the lotus should betray friends, be born a śūdra, and eat good food alone without sharing. Indra later confessed to the theft, which he had done to test the dharma of the assembly. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 94)
Later life
Elsewhere in the Mahābhārata, Bhīshma is teaching Yudhishṭhira about daiva (fate) and purushakāra (human effort). He speaks of the later years of “the rājarshi Dhundhumāra”. The king went on performing yajñas even when he was old. He did not rise to svarga. With a glad heart he gave up the boons the devatās had joyfully offered him. He stayed sleeping in Girivraja itself and never took the higher goals held out to him. Bhīshma gives this as one more example in his list on daiva and purushakāra. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 6)
Sources
- Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapters 15 and 16
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 201–204
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 94
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 6