Māndhātā

Māndhātā was a great cakravartī (universal emperor) of the Solar dynasty, the son of Yuvanāśva. He was born in an unusual way, from his father’s right side, after Yuvanāśva drank by mistake the consecrated water that the ṛshis had prepared for his wives. He ruled all the land between the place where the sun rises and the place where it sets. The Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata remember him as a ruler who joined tapas (austerity), yāga (fire ritual) and devotion to Śrī Hari.

Birth

Yuvanāśva came from the line of Ikshvāku, through Kakutstha and Purukutsa. He ruled with virtue but had no sons. In sorrow he went into the forest with his hundred wives. There the kind maharshis performed a long Indradevatā yāga for him, to gain a son. A vessel of water, made sacred by the mantras of that rite, was left in the yajñaśālā (the hall of the ritual) overnight.

That night Yuvanāśva felt a great thirst. He went into the yajñaśālā, found the priests (ṛtvijas) asleep, and drank from the vessel without knowing its purpose. When the maharshis woke, they found the vessel empty. By their insight they understood that the king himself had drunk the consecrated water. They said in wonder, “Daiva-bala eva balam”, which means that the force of providence alone is true force. They accepted the will of Parameśvara.

In time Yuvanāśva’s right side split open, and a son came out. He was radiant, and he was meant to rule the whole earth. The newborn cried for milk. Indra Devarāja himself came forward, put his right forefinger into the infant’s mouth and said, “māṃ dhāsyati”, which means “He shall suckle me.” From these words the child received the name Māndhātā. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skandha, Chapter 6)

The universal emperor

Yuvanāśva did not die from this birth. By the grace of the devas and maharshis he lived on, did tapas and reached moksha (liberation). Indra also gave the child the name Trasaddasyū. It means one who makes enemies and those who rob the people tremble, because under his rule Rāvaṇa and similar oppressors would shake with fear.

Māndhātā grew up to rule the seven continents. The Bhāgavata says that all the land from the place of sunrise to the place of sunset was his empire, the whole habitable earth. He was himself an ātmajñānī (one who knows the ātmā), yet he worshipped Śrī Hari, the form of yajña, with great yāgas and many gifts (dakshiṇā) to the priests. He understood that every part of the sacrifice was the form (svarūpa) of Śrī Hari. This includes the puroḍāśa (the sacrificial cake), the mantra, the rule (vidhi), the yāga, the yajamāna (the one who performs the rite), the priests, the dharma, and the place and time. Śrī Hari shines by himself and is beyond the reach of the senses. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skandha, Chapter 6)

Family

Māndhātā’s wife was Bindumatī, the daughter of Śaśabindu. She bore him three sons, Purukutsa, Ambarīsha and the yogī Mucukunda, and fifty daughters. All fifty daughters chose as their husband Saubhari, a teacher of the Ṛgveda.

Even the emperor’s mind was shaken when he saw the great abundance of Saubhari’s household. It was supplied entirely by the power of tapas, and it was richer than the imperial splendour of a cakravartī. The sight ended his pride of power. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skandha, Chapter 6)

The account in the Vishṇu Purāṇa

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, in the Caturdhāṃśa, Chapter 2, also tells of Māndhātā’s birth from Yuvanāśva. In this account Yuvanāśva does tapas for a son, and the maharshis perform the yajña for him. Yuvanāśva drinks the consecrated water in the yajñaśālā by mistake. In time the child comes out of his right side (dakshiṇa-pārśva). The Vishṇu Purāṇa records this together with Indra’s words “māṃ dhāsyati” and the feeding of the infant with Indra’s right finger.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa then tells the Saubhari account at length as taking place during Māndhātā’s reign. It tells of his fifty daughters, of Saubhari’s change, of the great household Saubhari builds, and at last of his renunciation and liberation. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Caturdhāṃśa, Chapter 2)

The Padmā Ekādaśī and the drought

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells a separate account of Māndhātā, connected with the Padmā Ekādaśī. His kingdom had been as rich as the kāmadhenu (the cow that gives every wish). It had no famine and no disease, and all the varṇas did their duties. Then, because the result of earlier karma had ripened, a drought of three years suddenly struck. The devas received no svāhā offerings, and the ancestors received no svadhā offerings. The people asked Māndhātā to find a remedy.

Māndhātā went into the forest to look for a ṛshi. He found Aṅgiras, a direct son of Brahmā, who blazed with the glow of his tapas. Aṅgiras named the cause. A śūdra was doing tapas in the kingdom, and this broke the order of dharma of the Kṛta age. Aṅgiras advised the king to kill him.

Māndhātā refused to kill an innocent being who was doing tapas. He asked for a righteous way instead. Aṅgiras then taught him the Padmā Ekādaśī of the bright fortnight of Bhādrapada. Māndhātā went back and kept the vow together with all his people and the four varṇas. Clouds gathered, rain fell in plenty, and the kingdom recovered. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 57)

The account in the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa gives another origin for Māndhātā’s greatness. A śūdra once swept and cleaned the temple of Varāha (Bhagavān Vishṇu in the Boar avatāra) on the banks of the Sindhu. The puṇya (merit) of that one act of devoted service passed through many rebirths and led to the birth of Māndhātā. The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa says that his great rule over the three worlds came from the Vaishṇava Tejas, the shining power of Bhagavān Vishṇu, that lived in him.

The Bhāgavata names Bindumatī, the daughter of Śaśabindu, as Māndhātā’s wife. The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa names Prabhāvatī, a princess of Kāśī, as his wife.

The Bhāgavata and other Purāṇas record that Māndhātā fell at the hands of Lavaṇāsura. The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa says that Lavaṇāsura had the divine śūla (spear) of Bhagavān Śiva. When Māndhātā fought him, the Vaishṇava Tejas left Māndhātā at the decisive moment. He was then open to attack and was killed by the śūla. The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa presents this withdrawal of the Vaishṇava Tejas as a sign that Māndhātā’s life-mission was complete.

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa (Chapter 173) also links Māndhātā’s line to the Ananta Vrata. Kṛtavīrya’s wife Śīladharā kept the Ananta Vrata, and from this vow their son Kārtavīrya was born. He is the famous thousand-armed king Kārtavīryārjuna. (Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 170, 172–173)

Māndhātā and Lavaṇāsura in the Anuśāsana Parva

In Upamanyu’s account to Kṛshṇa about the triśūla (trident) of Bhagavān Śiva, the Mahābhārata says that Māndhātā destroyed Lavaṇāsura and his army in connection with the triśūla of Bhagavān Śiva. Here Māndhātā is the cakravartī, son of Yuvanāśva, who won the three worlds. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 14)

The Rāmāyaṇa tells that Śatrughna slays Lavaṇāsura.

Māndhātā in the Śānti Parva

The Śānti Parva names Māndhātā in two places where teachings are given.

The Utathya Gītā (Chapters 90–91). The brahmarshi Utathya, of the Āṅgirasa gotra, gave his basic teaching on rājadharma (the duty of a king) directly to Māndhātā. The great cakravartī wished to understand the root of kingship. Utathya said, “The king exists for dharma, not to do as he pleases. He is the world’s guardian (loka-rakshaka).” Utathya taught a chain of dependence: all beings depend on dharma, and dharma depends on the king. He also gave the meanings of the words rājan (one who upholds dharma) and vṛshala (one who destroys dharma). He warned Māndhātā against envy (asūyā) toward brāhmaṇas. As his example he gave Bali, whose envy made Lakshmī leave him and go to Indra.

The Daṇḍotpatti Kathā (Chapter 122). Māndhātā tells the account of how daṇḍa (the rod of punishment) came into being. He tells it to Vasuhoma, the king of Aṅga. He explains how Kshupa, who was born from Brahmā’s sneeze, became the first holder of daṇḍa. He tells how disorder spread through the world when daṇḍa disappeared, and how Mahādeva made daṇḍa again and Sarasvatī made daṇḍanīti (the science of government). The line through which daṇḍa was handed on runs from the Lokapālas through Kshupa to Manu Vaivasvata and then to the human kings. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapters 90–91, 122)

Māndhātā among those who gave up meat

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s teaching on ahiṃsā (non-harm) and meat-eating, Bhīshma names Māndhātā among the great rājarshis (royal seers) who gave up māṃsa (meat). Through this they reached svarga (heaven) and Brahmaloka. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 115)

Purukutsa in the Āśramavāsika Parva

In the Āśramavāsika Parva, Nārada speaks to Śatayūpa at the forest āśrama of Dhṛtarāshṭra near Kurukshetra. He says that Māndhātā’s son Purukutsa gained great siddhi (perfection) through tapas in that same forest. He says that the Narmadā, the most famous of rivers, became his wife. He says that Purukutsa reached svarga through the tapas he did there. (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20)

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skandha, Chapter 6
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 57
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Caturdhāṃśa, Chapter 2
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 170, 172–173
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 126
• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapters 90–91, 122
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 14, 115
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20
• Rāmāyaṇa (Śatrughna and Lavaṇāsura; no chapter given)