Pūru Vaṃśa
Pūru Vaṃśa, “the line of Pūru”
Sarasvatī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sarasvatī. Citraratha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Citraratha. Garga has other meanings too: see all meanings of Garga. Janamejaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Janamejaya. Sahadeva has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sahadeva. Śatānīka has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śatānīka. Sūratha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sūratha. Susheṇa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Susheṇa. Vijaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vijaya. Jaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Jaya. Nimi has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nimi.
A vaṃśa is a family line or dynasty. The Pūru vaṃśa is the royal line that comes from Pūru, the youngest son of King Yayāti. Of the five lines that came from Yayāti’s sons, it is the most important. It produced the Bharata clan, the Kuru dynasty, Dhṛtarāshṭra and Pāṇḍu, and in the end the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas, whose story is told in the Mahābhārata.
Chapter 74 of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa records this line, together with the branches of the Anu vaṃśa, which include the eastern kingdoms.
The Agni Purāṇa gives the whole line in Chapter 278, which it calls both the Pūru vaṃśa and the Kuru vaṃśa. Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi how the line ran from Pūru through Bhadrāśva and his ten sons to Dushyanta and Bharata, son of Śakuntalā; how Bharadvāja, son of Bṛhaspati, was given to Bharata by the Marudgaṇas and became known as Vitatha; and how from Vitatha’s sons came the kings of Kāśī with Dhanvantari and Divodāsa, the Pāñcālas down to Drupada and Dhṛshṭadyumna, Kuru who established the Kurukshetra tīrtha, the Magadha kings with Jarāsandha, and the line of Śantanu, Bhīshma and the five Pāṇḍavas. He ends by teaching that all these kings have passed away, seized by Kāla, and that Kāla is the form of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who alone is to be worshipped.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa gives the line in Skandha 9, Chapters 18–23, where Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells it to Parīkshit Mahārāja, who was himself born in it. Pūru, the youngest son, gladly takes on his father Yayāti’s old age, and Yayāti crowns him samrāṭ over the whole earth. From Pūru the line runs through Raudrāśva and his ten sons by the apsarā Ghṛtācī to Dushyanta, and to Bharata, the son of Śakuntalā, born of a portion of Śrī Hari, who performed a hundred and thirty-three aśvamedha yāgas. When Bharata’s line was left without a shoot, the Maruts gave him Bharadvāja as his son. From Bharadvāja’s son Manyu came Rantideva, who gave away his last food and water to his guests; lines of brāhmaṇas born of kshatriyas; and Hasti, who built Hastināpura. From Hasti’s son Ajamīḍha came the Pāñcālas, down to Drupada, Draupadī and Dhṛshṭadyumna, and, through Ṛksha and Saṃvaraṇa, Kuru, lord of Kurukshetra. From Kuru came the kings of Cedi and Magadha, with Jarāsandha, and, through Jahnu, Pratīpa and his sons Devāpi, Śantanu and Bāhlika. To Śantanu was born Bhīshma; in Satyavatī Śrī Hari himself descended as Vyāsa, and from Vyāsa came Dhṛtarāshṭra, Pāṇḍu and Vidura, and after them the Kauravas, the Pāṇḍavas, Abhimanyu and Parīkshit. Śuka then tells of the kings still to come: Janamejaya and his sarpa-yāga, and the Paurava kings down to Kshemaka, with whom the Soma vaṃśa will end in the Kali yuga. Devāpi waits in the village of Kalāpa to establish the line again at the start of the Kṛta yuga.
Pūru and His Coronation
Pūru was the youngest son of Yayāti and Śarmishṭhā. He was the only son who agreed to take on his father’s old age (jarā) and carry it for a thousand years. For this great act of love and duty to his father, Yayāti crowned him king of the heartland of Āryāvarta, the fertile plain of the Gaṅgā, even though he was the youngest. The other four sons received kingdoms on the edges.
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Yayāti had five sons: Yadu and Turvasu by Devayānī, and Druhyu, Anu and Pūru by Śarmishṭhā, daughter of the asura Vṛshaparvā. When Śukrācārya‘s śāpa brought old age upon Yayāti, with the condition that he might exchange it with anyone who consented, Yadu, Turvasu, Druhyu and Anu refused to give him their youth, for they did not know dharma and held youth, which passes, to be lasting. Pūru, small in age but great in virtues, answered his father: no one can repay the debt of the father who gave him birth, and by the father’s grace the son gains the highest good. The son who does what is in his father’s mind without being told is the best; the one who does what he is told is middling; the one who does it without śraddhā (faith) is the lowest; and the one who does not do it at all is like his father’s dirt. Saying this, Pūru joyfully took on his father’s old age. When Yayāti at last grew free of desire, he gave Pūru back his youth and took back his own old age. He made Druhyu lord in the south-east, Yadu in the south, Turvasu in the west and Anu in the north. Pūru was the most fit of all for the riches of the whole earth, so Yayāti consecrated him samrāṭ (emperor), placed the elder brothers under him, and went to the forest.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapters 18–19
From Pūru to Bharata
From Pūru came a line of kings whose most famous member was Bharata (Bharata Paurava). He was so great a cakravartī (universal ruler) that the whole Indian subcontinent came to be called Bhāratavarsha in his honour. Before Bharata, the line runs: Pūru → Janamejaya (the first) → Prācīnvat → Pravīra → Namasyu → … → Duḥshanta (who met Śakuntalā) → Bharata.
From Bharata to Kuru
From Bharata the line passes through many kings to Hastin, who founded Hastināpura, and then to Kuru. Kuru gave the dynasty its name, Kaurava, and his tapas (austerity) at Kurukshetra made that great plain holy.
From Kuru to the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas
The Kuru line later reaches Śāntanu → Bhīshma (Devavrata, son of Śāntanu and Gaṅgā) → the marriages that led to Dhṛtarāshṭra and Pāṇḍu → the Kauravas (the 100 sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra) and the Pāṇḍavas (the 5 sons of Pāṇḍu). The great Mahābhārata war at Kurukshetra is the high point of the history of the Pūru vaṃśa.
Devāpi and Maru: The Two Who Remain
The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (Chapter 74) records that when the Kali Yuga comes and both the Ikshvāku and Aila dynasties come to an end, two survivors are kept safe: Devāpi of the Paurava (Pūru) line and Maru of the Ikshvāku line. These two live at Kalāpa village in the Himālaya, held in a state of yogic rest. At the end of the Kali Yuga, when the 29th caturyuga (cycle of four ages) begins, they will come out and start both dynasties again, bringing back the sacred royal lines for the new Kṛta Yuga.
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Devāpi, the elder brother of Śantanu, gave up the kingdom and went to the forest, and now dwells in Kalāpa grāma, practising yoga. When the Candra vaṃśa perishes in the Kali yuga, he will establish it again at the start of the Kṛta yuga. Maru of the Ikshvāku line, who conquered death by yoga, lives in the same village, and at the end of the Kali yuga he will set the Sūrya vaṃśa going again. Both have great yoga-śakti. Bhagavān Kalki will give them his upadeśa (teaching), and at the end of the Kali yuga they will come and spread the dharma of the varṇas and āśramas as it was in the past Kṛta yuga.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapters 12, 22; Skandha 12, Chapter 2
The Anu Vaṃśa and the Eastern Kingdoms
Chapter 74 of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa also traces the Anu vaṃśa, the line of Anu, another son of Yayāti. It runs: Śabānara → Kālanala → Sṛñjaya → Purañjaya → Mahāśāla → Mahāmanu (saptadvīpeśvara, ruler of the seven continents) → Uśīnara (with five sons: Nṛga, Nava, Kṛmi, Śibi and Narya) and Titikshu.
Uśīnara‘s son Śibi had four sons, Vṛshadarbha, Suvīra, Kekaya and Madra, who founded the Śibi, Kekaya and Madra kingdoms. The other branch runs: Titikshu → Uśadratha → Hemu → Sutapas → Bali (the eastern Bali, an Ānava king, not the daitya Bali whom Vāmana bound) → five eastern sons born through Dīrghatamas.
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Anu had three sons, Sabhānara, Cakshu and Paroksha. From Sabhānara the line runs: Kālanara, Sṛñjaya, Janamejaya, Mahāśīla and Mahāmanas, whose two sons were Uśīnara and Titikshu. Uśīnara had four sons, Śibi, Vana, Śami and Daksha, and Śibi too had four, Vṛshādarbha, Suvīra, Madra and Kaikeya. From Titikshu came Ruśadratha, Hema, Sutapas and Bali. In the wife of Bali Mahārāja, from the maharshi Dīrghatamas, son of Utathya, were born Aṅga, Vaṅga, Kaliṅga, Suhma, Puṇḍra and Andhra, who established six kingdoms in the east, each by his own name.
From Aṅga came Khanapāna, Diviratha, Dharmaratha and Citraratha. Citraratha, also famous as Romapāda, had no offspring; he was the friend of Daśaratha, who gave him his daughter to raise as his own. When no rain fell in Romapāda’s kingdom, beautiful young women went to Ṛshyaśṛṅga, son of Hariṇī and Vibhāṇḍaka, and with dance, music and the sound of instruments brought him to the capital, and the rains fell. Ṛshyaśṛṅga married Śāntā. By an ishṭi whose devatā is Indra he caused offspring to be born to Romapāda, and by that same yāga Daśaratha, who had no sons, also had sons. Romapāda’s son was Caturaṅga, and Caturaṅga’s son Pṛthulāksha, who had three sons, Bṛhadratha, Bṛhatkarmā and Bṛhadbhānu. From Bṛhadratha came Bṛhanmanas, and from him Jayadratha, as the knowers of the Purāṇas say. In Sambhūti, Jayadratha had a son Vijaya, and from Vijaya came Dhṛti, Dhṛtavrata, Satkarmā and Adhiratha. Adhiratha had no offspring. Kuntī Devī, while still a maiden, bore a child, Karṇa, placed him in a box and let it go; Adhiratha, roaming on the bank of the Gaṅgā, took up the child and made him his son. Karṇa’s son was Vṛshasena.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23
From Śāntanu to the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas in the Ādi Parva
The Ādi Parva of the Mahābhārata (in its Sambhava Parva) gives the family line from Śāntanu onward in detail.
In his previous life, Śāntanu had been Mahābhisha, the great Ikshvāku king cursed by Brahmā. Śāntanu married Gaṅgā and had eight sons. The first seven were the seven Vasus, passing quickly through their human births. The eighth was Devavrata (Bhīshma). After Gaṅgā left with Devavrata, Śāntanu later married Satyavatī and had two sons, Citrāṅgada and Vicitravīrya.
Citrāṅgada died in battle with a gandharva chief of the same name. Vicitravīrya, who was married to Ambikā and Ambālikā, died of kshaya (a wasting disease) after seven years, without children. The line was then carried on through niyoga, an accepted custom by which a chosen man fathered children for a childless widow. Vyāsa Ṛshi, born of Satyavatī by Parāśara before her marriage to Śāntanu, fathered three sons: Dhṛtarāshṭra (born blind, by Ambikā), Pāṇḍu (born pale, by Ambālikā) and Vidura (born the wisest of all, by a dāsī, a maidservant).
From Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī were born the hundred Kauravas and their sister Duḥśalā. From Pāṇḍu, through his wives Kuntī and Mādrī calling on the devas, were born the five Pāṇḍavas: Yudhishṭhira, Bhīmasena, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. The conflict between these two branches of the Pūru vaṃśa is the Mahābhārata.
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa
Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells the line of Pūru to Parīkshit Mahārāja in Skandha 9 of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: “Now I shall describe the line of Pūru. It is in this line that you were born. In this line were born rājarshis and brahmarshis who increased the line.” How Pūru took on his father’s old age and was crowned samrāṭ is told above.
From Pūru to Dushyanta
From Pūru the line runs, each the son of the one before: Janamejaya, Pracinvanta, Pravīra, Namasyu, Cārupada, Sudyu, Bahugava, Saṃyāti, Ahaṃyāti and Raudrāśva. To Raudrāśva, by the apsarā Ghṛtācī, ten sons were born, like the ten indriyas (senses) of the chief prāṇa, which is the ātmā of all beings: Ṛteyu, Kuksheyu, Sthaṇḍileyu, Kṛteyu, Jaleyu, Santateyu, Dharmeyu, Satyeyu, Prateyu and Vaneyu, the last of them.
Ṛteyu’s son was Rantibhāra, who had three sons, Sumati, Dhruva and Apratiratha. Apratiratha’s son was Kaṇva, and Kaṇva’s son was Medhātithi, from whom arose Praskaṇva and other brāhmaṇas. Sumati’s son was Raibhya, and Raibhya’s son was Dushyanta.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 20
Dushyanta, Śakuntalā and the birth of Bharata
Dushyanta went hunting with a few soldiers and came to the āśrama of Kaṇva Maharshi. There he saw a young woman seated, radiant like Lakshmī Devī, the very ornament of the āśrama, and he was at once drawn to her. He asked her who she was, and said she must be a kshatriya maiden, for the mind of those of the Pūru line never delights in adharma. She answered that she was Śakuntalā, daughter of the kshatriya Viśvāmitra, left in the forest by Menakā, as Kaṇva Maharshi knew, and she offered him a seat, pūjā and the nīvāra rice of the forest. Dushyanta answered that such hospitality was fitting in one born in the line of Kuśika, and that the daughters of kings choose a fitting husband for themselves. Knowing place, time and the rules of the śāstras, he married her with her consent, without departing from dharma, by the gāndharva vivāha, in which the two make vows to each other. At dawn he went to his city.
When her time came, Śakuntalā bore a son, and Kaṇva Maharshi performed the jātakarma and the other saṃskāras for him in the forest. The boy, born of a portion of a portion of Śrī Hari, had unmatched valour: he would bind lions by force and play with them. Śakuntalā brought him to Dushyanta, but the king did not accept his faultless wife and son. Then, with all beings listening, an aśarīravāṇī (a bodiless voice) spoke from the sky: “The mother is the field; the son truly belongs to the father, and is not different from him. O Dushyanta, accept your son and bear him; do not dishonour Śakuntalā. It is the son who carries on the line who saves his father from the city of Yama. You are the father of this child; Śakuntalā speaks only the truth.” Because the voice said “bear him”, the boy was named Bharata.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 20
Bharata Cakravarti and the gift of Bharadvāja
After Dushyanta died, Bharata became samrāṭ and won great fame, and people on earth sing the greatness of Bharata, born of a portion of Śrī Hari. In his right hand was the mark of a cakra, and on his two feet were lotus buds, the marks of a samrāṭ, and he was consecrated with a great abhisheka. On the bank of the Gaṅgā he performed fifty-five holy aśvamedha yāgas, and on the bank of the Yamunā, with Dīrghatamas, son of Mamatā, as his purohita, seventy-eight more, and gave away wealth in dāna. At one yajña a thousand brāhmaṇas each received from him a badva of cows, a herd of 13,084. In all he performed a hundred and thirty-three aśvamedha yāgas and amazed the kings; his splendour surpassed even that of the devas, and going beyond avidyā he became one with Śrī Hari. In the rite called Mashṇāra he gave fourteen lakh great black elephants with white tusks, adorned with gold. As men have never caught hold of svarga by raising their two hands, so no king before him did the deeds Bharata did, and none after him will.
In his digvijaya he slew the Kirātas, Hūṇas, Yavanas, Andhras, Kaṅkas, Khaśas, Śakas and Mlecchas, and the kings hostile to the Veda. Mighty rākshasas had once conquered the devas and carried off the women of the devas to Rasātala; Bharata brought them back. While he ruled, the earth and svarga gave the people all they desired, and for twenty-seven thousand years his command ran in every direction. Then, seeing that lordship among the lokapālas, the wealth of kings of kings, unopposed command and even life itself are false, he became free of attachment.
Bharata had three dear wives, daughters of the king of Vidarbha. When he said of their children, “These are not fit for me,” the queens, fearing that he would abandon them, killed the children. As his line was left without a shoot, Bharata performed the yajña called Marut-stoma and worshipped the Maruts, and the Maruts, pleased with him, gave him Bharadvāja as his son.
Bharadvāja was born of Bṛhaspati and Mamatā, the wife of Bṛhaspati’s brother Utathya. When the child in Mamatā’s womb forbade Bṛhaspati, Bṛhaspati in anger pronounced a śāpa on that child, that he be blind, and from Bṛhaspati’s seed a son was born. Mamatā, fearing that her husband would abandon her, resolved to abandon the boy, and the devas sang a śloka to her in which Bṛhaspati and Mamatā speak. Bṛhaspati: “This boy is born of us two; nourish him.” Mamatā: “He is born of us two; you nourish him.” Saying this, the two left the boy, and from their words, “nourish” and “born of two”, he became Bharadvāja. Though the devas urged her, Mamatā, thinking the boy fruitless, abandoned him. The Maruts nourished him, and since Bharata’s line was becoming fruitless, they gave this boy to Bharata.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 20
The line of Manyu and Rantideva
Bharadvāja, who is called Vitatha, had a son Manyu, and Manyu had five sons: Bṛhatkshatra, Jaya, Mahāvīrya, Nara and Garga. Nara’s son was Saṅkṛti, whose two sons were Guru and Rantideva. Rantideva’s fame is sung not only on earth but in svarga and the other lokas.
Rantideva lived only on what came to him by chance, as the wind blows it, and gave away whatever came the moment it came. So he and his whole family went hungry, yet he did not lose his steadiness. For forty-eight days he could not get even water to drink. Then one morning he received ghee, pāyasa, halvā and water. His family was in great distress, and his own body trembled with hunger and thirst; just as he was about to eat, a brāhmaṇa came as a guest. Rantideva, who sees Śrī Hari in all beings, welcomed him and served him the food with śraddhā, and the brāhmaṇa ate and left. Rantideva shared out the rest among his family, and as he was about to eat, a śūdra came as a guest; remembering Śrī Hari, Rantideva gave him the food. Then came another guest with dogs all around him: “O king, I and my dogs are hungry; give us food.” Rantideva honoured him too, gave the food that was left to him and his dogs with respect, and bowed to him.
Only enough water for one man remained. As he was about to drink it, a butcher came and asked for water. Hearing the weariness in that piteous voice, Rantideva, pained by compassion, spoke words like amṛta: “I do not ask of Īśvara the highest state with the eight aiśvaryas, nor moksha from which there is no rebirth. What I ask is that I may dwell in the hearts of all beings and bear their sorrow, so that their sorrow is removed. By giving water to this wretched one, who longs to live, and keeping him alive, the weariness of hunger and thirst, the fatigue of the body, wretchedness, exhaustion, pain of mind, slackness of the limbs and bewilderment have all left me.” Ready as he was to die of thirst, he gave the water to the butcher.
Brahmā and the others, the lords of the three worlds, who give their fruits to beings who desire fruits, had come to Rantideva in those forms, made by the māyā of Vishṇu. Now they granted him darśana in their own true forms. Rantideva, who had no attachment to saṃsāra and no thirst for enjoyments, bowed to them and kept his mind fixed with bhakti on Bhagavān Vāsudeva alone. Because he made Īśvara alone the support of his citta, avidyā, made of the three guṇas, melted into his own nature like a dream. By the greatness of his company, his followers too became yogīs whose highest refuge is Nārāyaṇa.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 21
Brāhmaṇas born of the line, and Hasti
Garga, son of Manyu, had a son Śini, and Śini’s son was Gārgya; though Gārgya was a kshatriya, the line that came from him became brāhmaṇas. Mahāvīrya, son of Manyu, had a son Duritakshaya, whose three sons, Trayyāruṇi, Kavi and Pushkarāruṇi, though born in a kshatriya line, attained the state of brāhmaṇas. Bṛhatkshatra, son of Manyu, had a son Hasti, and it was Hasti who built Hastināpura. Hasti had three sons: Ajamīḍha, Dvimīḍha and Purumīḍha. Ajamīḍha’s sons beginning with Priyamedha became brāhmaṇas.
The lines of Bṛhadishu and Dvimīḍha
Another son of Ajamīḍha, Bṛhadishu, had a son Bṛhaddhanu, and from him the line runs: Bṛhatkāya, Jayadratha, Viśada and Senajit. Senajit had four sons, Rucirāśva, Dṛḍhahanu, Kāśya and Vatsa. Rucirāśva’s son was Pāra, and Pāra’s sons were Pṛthusena and Nīpa, who had a hundred sons. In Kṛtvī, daughter of Śuka, Nīpa begot Brahmadatta. Brahmadatta was a yogī, and by the upadeśa of Jaigīshavya Maharshi he composed a yoga śāstra. In his wife Sarasvatī he had a son Vishvaksena; Vishvaksena’s son was Udaksvana, and Udaksvana’s son Bhallāda. All these belong to the line of Bṛhadishu.
From Dvimīḍha the line runs: Yavīnara, Kṛtimān, Satyadhṛti, Dṛḍhanemi, Supārśva, Sumati, Sannatimān and Kṛti. Kṛti received yogavidyā from Hiraṇyanābha and sang the six mantra saṃhitās called the Prācya-sāmas. Kṛti’s son was Nīpa, and from him came Ugrāyudha, Kshemya, Suvīra and Ripuñjaya, whose son became famous as Bahuratha. Purumīḍha, the third son of Hasti, had no offspring.
Nīla and the Pañcālas; Mudgala, Ahalyā, Kṛpa and Kṛpī
In his second wife Nalinī, Ajamīḍha had a son Nīla. From Nīla the line runs: Śānti, Suśānti, Puruja, Arka and Bharmyāśva. Bharmyāśva had five sons, Mudgala the eldest, Yavīnara, Bṛhadishu, Kāmpilya and Sañjaya. He said, “My sons are surely able (alam) to protect five (pañca) lands,” and so they came to be called the Pañcālas.
From Mudgala came the brāhmaṇa gotra called Maudgalya. Mudgala had two children, a son Divodāsa and a daughter Ahalyā. In Ahalyā, from Gautama Maharshi, Śatānanda was born. Śatānanda’s son Satyadhṛti was skilled in dhanurveda, and Satyadhṛti’s son was Śaradvān. When Śaradvān saw Urvaśī, his seed fell on a clump of muñja grass and became an auspicious pair of children, a boy and a girl. Śantanu Mahārāja, out hunting, saw them, was moved by compassion, and took them and raised them. The boy is Kṛpācārya, and the girl is Kṛpī, who became the wife of Droṇācārya.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 21
The Pāñcāla line
Divodāsa, son of Mudgala, had a son Mitreyu, who had four sons: Cyavana, Sudāsa, Sahadeva and Somaka. Somaka had a hundred sons, of whom Jantu was the eldest and Pṛshata the youngest. Pṛshata’s son was Drupada, who had a daughter, Draupadī, and sons beginning with Dhṛshṭadyumna and Śikhaṇḍī. Dhṛshṭadyumna’s son was Dhṛshṭaketu. These kings of the line of Bharmyāśva are called the Pāñcālas, the kings of the Pañcāla land.
Kuru
Ajamīḍha had another son, Ṛksha, whose son was Saṃvaraṇa. To Saṃvaraṇa, in Tapatī, the daughter of Sūrya, Kuru was born, and he became lord of Kurukshetra. Kuru had four sons: Parīkshit, Sudhanu, Jahnu and Nishadhāśva. This Parīkshit, son of Kuru, had no offspring.
The kings of Cedi and Magadha, and the birth of Jarāsandha
Sudhanu’s son was Suhotra, and from him came Cyavana, Kṛti and Uparicara Vasu. Uparicara Vasu had sons beginning with Bṛhadratha, Kuśāmba, Matsya, Pratyagra and Cedipa, who became lords of the Cedi land; Bṛhadratha was the eldest. From Bṛhadratha the line runs: Kuśāgra, Ṛshabha, Satyahita, Pushpavān and Jahu.
Bṛhadratha had two wives. The second gave birth to two pieces of one body, and the mother threw them outside. A rākshasī named Jarā, playing, took up both pieces, saying “Live, live!”, and joined them together, and the child lived. He became Bṛhadratha’s son Jarāsandha, “the one joined by Jarā”. Jarāsandha’s son was Sahadeva, Sahadeva’s son was Somāpi, and Somāpi’s son was Śrutaśravas.
From Jahnu to Pratīpa; Devāpi and Śantanu
Jahnu, son of Kuru, had a son famous as Suratha. From Suratha the line runs: Vidūratha, Sārvabhauma, Jayasena, Rādhika, Ayuta, Krodhana, Devātithi, Ṛshya, Dilīpa and Pratīpa. Pratīpa had three sons: Devāpi, Śantanu and Bāhlika. Devāpi gave up the royal authority that came to him from his father and went to the forest.
So Śantanu became king; in his previous birth his name was Mahābhisha. Whatever old person he touched with his two hands regained youth and received the highest peace, and because he gave śānti in this way, his name Śantanu, “the one who spreads śānti”, was fitting. In his kingdom the deva of rain did not rain on a single day for twelve years. Then the knowers of Brahman said to him: “While your elder brother lives, you are enjoying his kingdom, and so you are like a parivettā, one who marries before his elder brother. To remove that fault and bring growth to the city and the kingdom, hand over the kingdom to your elder brother at once.” Śantanu went and prayed to his elder brother Devāpi in the forest. But before that, Śantanu’s minister Aśmarāva, without Śantanu’s knowledge, had sent some men learned in the Veda to Devāpi; they taught him the pākhaṇḍa doctrine and made him fall away from the Veda dharma. Fallen in this way, Devāpi spoke to Śantanu words reviling the Veda dharma, and so lost his fitness to rule, and Śantanu’s fault was removed. Only then did Parjanya Deva rain in that kingdom. Devāpi, practising yoga, dwells in Kalāpa grāma, and when the Candra vaṃśa perishes in the Kali yuga, he will establish it again at the start of the Kṛta yuga.
Bhīshma, Vyāsa and the sons of Vicitravīrya
Bāhlika had a son Somadatta, whose three sons were Bhūri, Bhūriśravas and Śala. To Śantanu, in Gaṅgā, Bhīshma was born. He had conquered his mind; he was the best among all knowers of dharma, a great bhagavad-bhakta and a jñānī, the foremost of heroes, who in battle won the approval even of Paraśurāma. To Śantanu, in Satyavatī, the daughter of Dāśarāja, Citrāṅgada was born, and after him his younger brother Vicitravīrya. Citrāṅgada was killed by a gandharva of the same name.
In Satyavatī, through Parāśara Maharshi, Śrī Hari himself descended with his aṃśa as Vyāsa. Kṛshṇa Dvaipāyana Maharshi upheld the Vedas in the world. Here Śuka speaks of himself: “I studied this Bhāgavata from him alone. The revered Bādarāyaṇa Maharshi passed over his disciples Paila, Vaiśampāyana and others, and taught this Bhāgavata, the essence of the Vedas and the highest of all, to me, who am free of faults such as kāma.”
Bhīshma carried off by force from their svayaṃvara Ambikā and Ambālikā, the daughters of the king of Kāśī. Vicitravīrya married them both, his heart attached to them, and in time the kshaya disease seized him and he died. As Vicitravīrya had no offspring, at the command of his mother Satyavatī, Vyāsa Maharshi begot Dhṛtarāshṭra, Pāṇḍu and Vidura in the wives of his brother. To Dhṛtarāshṭra, in Gāndhārī, a hundred sons were born, Duryodhana the eldest, and a daughter, Duśśalā.
The Pāṇḍavas and their sons
Because of a śāpa, union with a woman was forbidden to Pāṇḍu Mahārāja. In his wife Kuntī, from Yama Dharmarāja, Vāyu Deva and Indra, were born Dharmarāja, Bhīma and Arjuna, all mahārathas, and in Mādrī, from the Aśvinī Kumāras, Nakula and Sahadeva. In Draupadī the five Pāṇḍavas had five sons, of whom Śuka tells Parīkshit, “They are your fathers”: Yudhishṭhira‘s son Prativindhya, Bhīma’s son Śrutasena, Arjuna’s son Śrutakīrti, Nakula’s son Śatānīka, and Sahadeva’s son Śrutakarmā.
They had other sons as well:
- Dharmarāja, in Pauravī: Devaka.
- Bhīma, in Hiḍimbā: Ghaṭotkaca; and in Kālī: Sarvagata.
- Sahadeva, in Vijayā, daughter of Parvata: Suhotra.
- Nakula, in Kareṇuvatī: Nimitra.
- Arjuna, in Ulūpī: Irāvān; and in the daughter of the lord of Maṇipūra: Babhruvāhana, who by the putrikā-dharma became the son of his mother’s father.
To Arjuna, in Subhadrā, Abhimanyu was born, a hero who conquered all the atirathas, and to Abhimanyu, in Uttarā, Parīkshit. “The Kurus, Duryodhana and the others, perished,” Śuka tells him. “Then you too fell into the jaws of death by the tejas of the brahmāstra released by Aśvatthāmā, son of Droṇa. But Śrī Kṛshṇa, by his own glory, freed you from death, and you are alive.”
The kings to come: Janamejaya to Kshemaka
Śuka then speaks of the kings still to come. “O kumāra, these valiant ones are your sons: Janamejaya, Śrutasena, Bhīmasena and Ugrasena. Of them Janamejaya is the eldest.” Knowing that his father died through Takshaka, Janamejaya, in anger, will perform the sarpa-yāga and offer the serpents as oblation into its fire. He will conquer the whole earth on every side, make Tura, son of Kavasha, his purohita, perform yajñas in ārādhanā of Īśvara, and perform aśvamedha yāgas.
Janamejaya’s son Śatānīka will receive the Veda from Yājñavalkya, the knowledge of astras from Kṛpācārya, and the knowledge of Vedic karma and of the Paramātmā from Śaunaka Maharshi. From Śatānīka the line will run: Sahasrānīka, Aśvamedhaja, Asīmakṛshṇa and Nemicakra. The Gaṅgā will submerge Hastināpura, and Nemicakra will then dwell in comfort at Kauśāmbī. After him, each the son of the one before, will come Citraratha, Kaviratha, Vṛshṭimān, Susheṇa Mahārāja, Sunītha, Nṛcakshu, Sukhīnala, Pariplava, Sunaya, Medhāvī, Nṛpañjaya, Dūrva, Timi, Bṛhadratha, Sudāsa, Śatānīka, Durdamana, Bahīnara, Daṇḍapāṇi, Nimi and Kshemaka Mahārāja.
“Thus the Soma vaṃśa, the root of the lines of the brāhmaṇas and the kshatriyas, has been told,” Śuka says. “This Soma vaṃśa is honoured by the devas and the maharshis. In the Kali yuga the Soma vaṃśa will surely come to its end with Kshemaka Mahārāja.”
The kings of Magadha to come
Next Śuka names the kings who will rule the land of Magadha, each the son of the one before: Sahadeva, son of Jarāsandha; Mārjāri; Śrutaśravas; Ayutāyu; Niramitra; Sunakshatra; Bṛhatsena; Karmajit; Sṛtañjaya; Vipra; Śuci; Kshema; Suvrata; Dharmasūtra; Śama; Dyumatsena; Sumati; Subala; Sunītha; Satyajit; Viśvajit; and Ripuñjaya. The kings of the line of Bṛhadratha will rule without break for a thousand years.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 22
Dushyanta and the line of Turvasu
The line of Turvasu, another son of Yayāti, runs through Vahni, Bharga, Bhānumān and Tribhānu to Karandhama, who had a great mind for dāna, and his son Maruta. Because Maruta had no sons, he took Dushyanta, born in the Pūru vaṃśa, as his son. But Dushyanta desired the kingdom, and royal authority belonged only to those of the Pūru line; so, though adopted by Maruta, he took again his own Paurava vaṃśa.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 23
The line in the rest of the Bhāgavata
When Aśvatthāmā‘s brahmāstra came at Uttarā, Śrī Kṛshṇa, the ātmā of all beings and the master of all yogīs, entered the womb of Uttarā, daughter of Virāṭa, and covered it with his māyā-śakti, to keep alive the one remaining offspring of the Kuru line. The Kuru line had burned itself to ash, like a clump of bamboo burned by the fire born within it; Śrī Hari made it put out a new shoot, Parīkshit. At the child’s birth the brāhmaṇas told Dharmarāja: “O crest-jewel of the line of Puru! When this pure succession of the Kurus was being destroyed by unavoidable daiva, the all-capable Vishṇu showed you grace and gave this boy.” They named him Vishṇurāta, the one given by Vishṇu. Parīkshit married Irāvatī, daughter of Uttara, and had four sons by her, Janamejaya the first; and before he spread darbha grass on the southern bank of the Gaṅgā and sat upon it, he handed the burden of the kingdom to Janamejaya.
Uddhava, telling Vidura of Śrī Kṛshṇa’s līlās, speaks of the child of Uttarā, son of Abhimanyu, as the one who would sustain the Pūru vaṃśa, into whom Śrī Kṛshṇa poured life again. Maitreya Maharshi, praising Vidura, born of an aṃśa of Yama, says that by his birth the Pūru vaṃśa has become worthy of the service of the good. And when Akrūra came to Hastināpura, everything there held up a mirror to the fame of the great kings of the Puru line.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 8, 10, 12, 16, 19; Skandha 3, Chapters 3, 10; Skandha 10, Chapter 49
Per Agni Purāṇa
Agni Deva tells the Pūru vaṃśa to Vasishṭha Maharshi in Chapter 278 of the Agni Purāṇa. The chapter’s closing words call it the Kuru vaṃśa.
From Pūru to Dushyanta
From Pūru the line runs, each the son of the one before: Janamejaya, Prācīvān, Manasyu, Vītabhaya, Śundhu, Bahuvidha, Saṃyāti, Rahovādī and Bhadrāśva. Bhadrāśva had ten sons: Ṛceyu, Kṛsheyu, Sannateyu, Ghṛteyu, Citeyu, Sthaṇḍileyu, Dharmeyu, Sannateyu, Kṛteyu and Matināra. Matināra had three sons, Taṃsurodha, Pratiratha and Purasta. Pratiratha had four sons: Dushyanta, Pravīraka, Sumanta and Vīravara.
Bharata and Vitatha
To Dushyanta was born Bharata, the son of Śakuntalā, a king of great strength. Those born in his line came to be called the Bhāratas. Bharata’s sons perished through their mothers’ wrath, and the king then performed a yajña. The Marudgaṇas brought Bharadvāja, the son of Bṛhaspati, and gave him to the king as his son, and he became famous by the name Vitatha.
To Vitatha five sons were born: Suhotra, Suhotṛ, Gaya, Garbha and Kapila. Two more sons were born, Mahātmā and Suketu, and after them Kauśika and Gṛtsapati.
The line of Gṛtsapati: Kāśa, Dhanvantari and Divodāsa
Among the many sons of Gṛtsapati were brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas and vaiśyas. Kāśa and Dīrghatama were sons of Gṛtsapati. From Dīrghatama the line runs: Dhanvantari; his son Ketumān; his son Himaratha, famous as Divodāsa; his son Pratardana; and his sons Bharga and Vatsa. From Vatsa came Anarka, from Anarka Kshemaka, from Kshemaka Varshaketu, from Varshaketu Vibhu, and from Vibhu Ānarta and Sukumāra. To Sukumāra was born Satyaketu. To Vatsarāja was born a son, Vatsabhūmi.
Bṛhat and the three Mīḍhas
To Suhotra, son of Vitatha, was born Bṛhat, and to Bṛhat three sons: Ajamīḍha, Dvimīḍha and Purumīḍha. Ajamīḍha’s three wives became the mothers of three great branches of the line.
Through Keśinī. To Ajamīḍha in his wife Keśinī was born Jahnu. From Jahnu came Ajakāśva, from him Balākāśva, from him Kuśika, and from Kuśika Gādhi, who attained the state of Indra. To Gādhi were born a daughter, Satyavatī, and a son, Viśvāmitra. Devarāta, Katimukha and others were the sons of Viśvāmitra. Ajamīḍha also had other sons named Śunaśśepa and Ashṭaka. To Jahnu, son of Ajamīḍha, four sons were born: Suratha, Śrutasena, Ugrasena and Bhīmasena.
Through Nīlinī: the Pāñcālas. In his wife Nīlinī another son, Śānti, was born to Ajamīḍha. Śānti’s son was Purujāti, and Purujāti’s son was Bāhyāśva. To Bāhyāśva five sons were born, Mukula, Sṛñjaya, Bṛhadishu, Yavīnara and Kṛmila, and they are famous as the Pāñcālas. Those of Mukula’s line are called the Kulyas; they are brāhmaṇas who follow kshātra dharma. To Mukula was born Cañcāśva, and to him twins, a son Divodāsa and a daughter Ahalyā. To Ahalyā, from Śaradvān, that is Gautama, was born Śatānanda; to Śatānanda, Satyadhṛk; and to Satyadhṛk twins, a son Kṛpa and a daughter Kṛpī. To Divodāsa was born Maitreya, and to Maitreya, Somaka. From Sṛñjaya the line runs: Pañcahanushka, Somadatta, Sahadeva, Somaka, Jantu, Pṛshat, Drupada, Dhṛshṭadyumna and Dhṛshṭaketu.
Through Dhūminī: Kuru. To Ajamīḍha in his wife Dhūminī was born Ṛksha. Ṛksha’s son was Saṃvaraṇa, and Saṃvaraṇa’s son was Kuru. Kuru established the Kurukshetra tīrtha. To Kuru four sons were born: Sudhanvā, Sudhanu, Parīkshit and Ripuñjaya.
The Magadha kings
Sudhanvā’s son was Suhotra, and Suhotra’s son was Cyavana. In Girikā, the wife of Cyavana, by the aṃśa (portion) of Uparicara Vasu, seven sons were born: Bṛhadratha, Kuśa, Vīra, Yadu, Pratigraha, Bala and Matsyakāli. From Bṛhadratha the line runs: Kuśāgra, Vṛshabha, Sudhanvā, Ūrṇa, Sambhava, Jarāsandha, Sahadeva, Udāpi and Śatakarmā.
From Parīkshit to Śantanu
To Parīkshit, the joy of the Kurus, was born a son, Janamejaya, who was supremely devoted to dharma, and to him a son, Trasaddasyu. To Janamejaya, son of Parīkshit, were born the sons Suratha and Mahimān. From Suratha the line runs: Vidūratha; Ṛsha, the second king of that name in this line; Bhīmasena; Pratīpa; and Śantanu. To Śantanu three sons were born: Devāpi, Bāhlika and Somadatta. To Bāhlika was born Somadatta, and to Somadatta, Bhūri, Bhūriśravas and Śala.
Bhīshma and the Pāṇḍavas
To Śantanu in Gaṅgā was born Bhīshma. In his wife Kālī, that is Satyavatī, was born Vicitravīrya. In the wives of Vicitravīrya, from Śrī Kṛshṇa Dvaipāyana, were born Dhṛtarāshṭra, Pāṇḍu and Vidura. To Kuntī, the wife of Pāṇḍu, were born Yudhishṭhira, Bhīma and Arjuna, and to Mādrī, Nakula and Sahadeva. These five Pāṇḍavas were born from the aṃśas of the devas.
Arjuna’s son was Abhimanyu, born of Subhadrā, and to Abhimanyu a son, Parīkshit, was born. Draupadī was the wife of the five Pāṇḍavas. In her, to Yudhishṭhira was born Prativindhya; to Bhīmasena, Śrutasoma; to Arjuna, Śrutakīrti; to Sahadeva, Śatakarmā; and to Nakula, Śatānīka. Bhīmasena had another son, Ghaṭotkaca, born of Hiḍimbā.
The closing teaching
Agni Deva ends: “All these are kings of the past. No one can tell the number of the kings who are to come. All of these have passed away, seized by Kāla. O Vasishṭha! Kāla is the form of Vishṇu. Therefore Vishṇu alone should be worshipped. Offer homa in Agni with Vishṇu alone as its object. He alone is the giver of everything.”
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 278
Sources
- Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 68
- Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 74
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 94–108
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 278
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 8, 10, 12, 16, 19; Skandha 3, Chapters 3, 10; Skandha 9, Chapters 12, 18–23; Skandha 10, Chapter 49; Skandha 12, Chapter 2