Pūru

Pūru was the youngest of the five sons of King Yayāti and was the father of the great Paurava dynasty. From this line came the Bharata clan, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas. His greatest act was to take on Yayāti’s śāpa (curse) of early old age and bear his father’s jaratā (old age) for a thousand years, while Yayāti enjoyed youth.

When Yayāti gave back his youth, Pūru was crowned king of the heartland of Āryāvarta, although he was the youngest son. His selfless love for his father had shown him to be the most worthy.

Son of Yayāti and Śarmishṭhā

Yayāti was the fifth king in the line of the Candra vaṃśa (the lunar dynasty). His second wife was Śarmishṭhā, the asura princess who had first been given to him as a maid, to make up for her bad treatment of Devayānī. Three sons were born from Śarmishṭhā: Druhyu, Anu and Pūru. Pūru was the youngest of all five sons. The other two, Yadu and Turvasu, were sons of Devayānī. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 68)

Taking on Yayāti’s old age

Śukrācārya gave Yayāti the śāpa of jaratā (early old age). He also gave a remedy: if any son was willing to bear the śāpa in his father’s place, Yayāti could enjoy youth. Yayāti went to each son in turn. His four elder sons each refused. Pūru, who was asked last, did not hesitate. He said:

“Father, what son would refuse his father’s wish? What you give me, even sorrow, is a gift. I accept your old age.”

At once Pūru became old and weak, and Yayāti got back his youth. Pūru bore his father’s old age for the whole thousand years in which Yayāti went on enjoying the world. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 68)

The coronation

After a thousand years Yayāti gave Pūru’s youth back to him and declared him fit to be king. The elders and ministers of the court at first objected. Pūru was the youngest son, and Yadu and Turvasu had the earlier claim. Yayāti answered that birth order matters less than character and deeds. He explained why each of the other sons was set aside. Yadu, Turvasu, Druhyu and Anu had each refused their father’s request and had received a śāpa for it, and their lines would rule over distant regions or regions under the influence of the mlecchas. Pūru alone had shown perfect love for his father and gave himself up for him. So he was the most worthy heir to the heartland of Āryāvarta. The court accepted this and Pūru was crowned. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 68)

The Paurava line

The line of Pūru, the Pauravas, became the greatest of the five branches of Yayāti’s descendants. From Pūru came Janamejaya I, Prācīnvat, Pravīra, Namasyu, and in time the great Bharata (Bharata-Paurava), who gave the name Bhāratavarsha to the land. Further down came Hastin, who founded Hastināpura, and Kuru, who gave his name to Kurukshetra. Then came the line of Dhṛtarāshṭra and Pāṇḍu, the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas of the Mahābhārata. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 68)

The account in the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells the exchange of youth in a different way in its Bhūmi Khaṇḍa. In this account Pūru is the second son, not the youngest of five. The sons are Ruru, also called Turu (the eldest), Pūru (the second), Kuru (the third) and Yadu (the fourth). Here Pūru is named as the son of Śarmishṭhā, which agrees with the line given in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

The cause of old age is also different. It was not a śāpa of Śukrācārya. A Manmatha-nāṭaka (a play of Kāma) was staged by Indra. Yayāti left the play to answer a call of nature and came back without washing his hands, and this gave old age its way in.

Yayāti then asked his sons to exchange youth with him, so that he could go after Aśrubindumati, the daughter of Rati, whom he had found at the Kāma-saras. Turu refused and was severely cursed. Pūru agreed gladly, took his father’s old age and gave his own youth. Yayāti took the look of a sixteen-year-old. This let him make a Gāndharva marriage with Aśrubindumati, and they lived together for twenty thousand years. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 78)

The oath at Prabhāsa

Pūru 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 he was innocent, Pūru swore a śāpa on himself. He said that whoever had taken the lotus should spend his life curing diseases for a living, live on his wife’s earnings and live on his father-in-law’s wealth. Indra later admitted that he had taken the lotus, to test the dharma of the assembly. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 94)

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 68
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 78
• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 88–94
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 94