Puruyaśas

Puruyaśas was a king of Pāñcāla and the son of King Bhūriyaśas. Misfortune shadowed his life as king. He lost his kingdom, his treasury and his horses to enemies and famine, and then lived for fifty-three years in forest exile with his devoted wife Śikhinī. The ṛshis Yāja and Upayājaka told him why this had happened, and on their advice he kept the whole Vaiśākha Dharma. On Akshaya Tṛtīyā, Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before him.

Identity and lineage

Puruyaśas was a king of Pāñcāla. This ancient kingdom lay in the Gaṅgā-Yamunā doāb (the land between the two rivers). It is well known in the Mahābhārata as the kingdom of Drupada and later of Draupadī. Puruyaśas was the son of King Bhūriyaśas and rightful heir to the Pāñcāla throne.

Previous births

Yāja and Upayājaka told Puruyaśas that in ten births in a row he had been a hunter, cruel and violent. In one of those ten births he did one good act in Vaiśākha. He fanned the muni Karshaṇa, who had collapsed, with a Palāśa leaf in the burning midday heat. That one act gave him his birth as a king. The ten lives of violence came back as his present misfortunes.

Forest exile and the ṛshis’ counsel

After he lost his kingdom, Puruyaśas fled to the mountains with Śikhinī. They lived there for fifty-three years. Then Yāja and Upayājaka came, told him about his past, and told him to keep the Vaiśākha Dharma. Puruyaśas answered with faith. He did not blame fate and he had no doubt about what they told him to do.

The darśana on Akshaya Tṛtīyā

Puruyaśas completed the full Vaiśākha rites for the month. On Akshaya Tṛtīyā, Bhagavān Vishṇu came down from the sky on Garuḍa with Lakshmī. Puruyaśas sang a deep stotra (hymn of praise) that joined the nirguṇa (formless, without attributes) and saguṇa (with form and qualities) sides of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He said that the same supreme Reality that is beyond all description stood before him with conch and discus, within reach of devotion.

Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him:

  • five sons: Dhrushṭakīrti, Dhrushṭaketu, Dhrushṭadyumna, Vijaya and Citraketu
  • his kingdom and treasury back
  • ten thousand years of rule
  • sāyujya (union with Bhagavān Vishṇu) at the end

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Vaiśākha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapters 15–16