Vena and Pṛthu

Vena was the son of King Aṅga, a descendant of Dhruva. He grew into a tyrant, and the ṛshis (seers) killed him. From his arms they then brought forth Pṛthu and Arcī, a couple who were an aṃśa (part) of Śrī Hari and of Lakshmīdevī. Pṛthu chased and milked the earth, which had held back her food, and so brought abundance back. He performed ninety-nine Aśvamedha yajñas (horse yajñas), saw Śrī Hari, received ātmajñāna (knowledge of the self) from Sanatkumāra, and gave a great teaching to the world. At the end he entered the forest and gained moksha (liberation). His wife Arcī followed him into the fire.

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells the episode at length in the 4th Skanda, Chapters 13 to 23. The Brahmāṇḍa, Vishṇu and Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇas give their own accounts, which follow after it.

Background: the line of Dhruva

The account begins with questions from Vidura to the ṛshi Maitreya, asked after hearing about the Pracetasas. Maitreya tells the line that came down from Dhruva.

Dhruva’s son Utkala was a jñānī (knower of the self) from birth. He did not care for the throne and was always absorbed in the one Brahman. His ministers thought him mad and made his cousin Vatsara, the son of Bhrami from Dhruva’s other line, king. The line went on through several generations down to Ulmukaṇ, whose son Aṅga, born of Pushkariṇī, became a great rājarshi (royal seer). (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 13)

Chapter 13: Aṅga’s grief and leaving

Aṅga Mahārāja was pure in character, generous, devoted to those who know the Vedas, and large-hearted. He performed an Aśvamedha yajña on a great scale. But when the ṛtviks (priests) began the rite, the devas did not come to take their shares. The ṛtviks were puzzled and asked Aṅga: “In this yajña the devas are not accepting the offering. O Mahārāja, we find no fault in ourselves or in our use of the mantras. The fault must lie elsewhere.”

After thinking it over, the gathered ṛshis said: “O king, in this birth you have no fault. But a fault from a past birth has left you without children. If you perform a putra-kāmeshṭi (a yajña for the wish for a son) to Yajñeśvara Śrī Hari, a son will be born to you, and the devas will then gladly accept their offerings.”

The ṛtviks performed the yajña. A radiant purusha (person) rose from the sacred fire, carrying pāyasa (sweet rice milk) in a golden vessel. Aṅga received it and gave it to his wife Sunīthā, and she conceived. The child born was Vena.

But Vena was born with the nature of his mother’s father, Mṛtyu (Death), for Sunīthā was Mṛtyu’s daughter. From childhood he tormented animals and playmates alike. Aṅga tried every kind of correction, and none worked. The grief of having such a son became too great to bear. In the middle of the night, without telling Sunīthā, Aṅga rose from his place and walked out of his great palace for ever. His attendants, ministers and subjects searched everywhere and could not find him. Like the ātmā (self), which the ignorant seek in the world and find only within, Aṅga had vanished. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 13)

Chapter 14: Vena’s tyranny and death

With no king, the country fell prey to thieves. The ṛshis feared that society would fall apart. They spoke with Sunīthā and set Vena on the throne, though they disliked it, as the lesser of two evils. When the thieves heard that Vena was crowned, they hid at once, for Vena was known for merciless punishment.

But Vena became drunk with royal power and turned into a tyrant. He sent royal heralds to announce that no yajña, no dāna (giving) and no homa (fire offering) was to be done anywhere. Only he was to be worshipped. The ṛshis tried to reason with him gently. They pointed out that dharma, the welfare of all, and the worship of Śrī Hari, who fills all things, were the right path for a king. Vena listened and answered with contempt. He declared himself the supreme ruler and the only one worthy of worship. He called the ṛshis disloyal for honouring another (Vishṇu) when their king stood before them.

The ṛshis saw that his piety was destroyed and the dharma of the country was in danger, and they decided to act. They said: “This wicked one is already spiritually dead from his insult to Śrī Hari.” They uttered their huṃkāras (loud sounds of anger), and Vena fell dead. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 14)

Sunīthā guarded the body with mantras and other means. But soon the country again fell into disorder. Thieves grew many. Evil omens appeared. The ṛshis, seated on the banks of the Sarasvatī, saw dust rising from all sides as robbers ran wild. They decided that Aṅga’s line must not be destroyed.

They churned Vena’s left thigh. From it came a dark, short figure with a flat nose, red eyes and copper-coloured hair. He was born carrying all of Vena’s gathered pāpa. The ṛshis said to him, “Sit!” (nishīda). He became the forefather of the Nishādas, forest-dwelling hunters, who carried Vena’s pāpa away from his body. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 14)

Chapter 15: The birth of Pṛthu and Arcī

The ṛshis then churned both of Vena’s arms. From them rose a shining couple, a man and a woman together. The gathered brāhmaṇas knew that the man was the aṃśa of Śrī Hari himself, and the woman the aṃśa of Lakshmīdevī, who never leaves Śrī Hari’s side at any time.

The ṛshis proclaimed: “This is Śrī Hari, born to protect the worlds. The woman is an avatāra (descent) of Lakshmī. The man shall be called Pṛthu and become a great and glorious king. The woman, Arcī by name, will win his heart.” (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 15)

Brahmā himself came with the devas. He saw the cakra (wheel) mark on Pṛthu’s right hand and the padma (lotus) mark on his soles. These are marks of a partial avatāra of Parameśvara. The great consecration began. Gifts came from every side, from rivers, oceans, mountains, serpents, cows, birds and celestials. Kubera gave a golden throne, Varuṇa a white umbrella, Vāyu fly-whisks, Dharma a garland of undying fame, Indra a great crown, Yama a staff of rule, Brahmā a Vedic armour, Sarasvatī a supreme necklace, Śrī Hari a Sudarśana Cakra, Lakshmī undying wealth, Rudra a sword, Pārvatī a shield, Candra undying horses, Viśvakarmā a magnificent chariot, Agni a bow, Sūrya swift arrows, Bhūdevī sandals that carry the wearer anywhere, and Samudra the great Śaṅkha. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 15)

The sūta, māgadha and vandi (the three kinds of bards) then stood to praise him. But Pṛthu stopped them. He said: “My deeds have not yet made me worthy of praise. Do not let your speech become empty by singing glories I have not yet earned. Let me first show by my deeds what I am, and then you may sing truthfully.” The bards were moved by his humility. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 15)

Chapters 16 and 17: The bards’ stuti and Bhūdevī’s stuti

The bards then made a stuti (hymn of praise) of Pṛthu that looked ahead, telling what he would become.

He would be the protector who gathered the powers of all the lokapālas (guardians of the directions) in his own person. Like the sun, he would treat all beings alike. Like the earth, he would bear all burdens. Like Indra, he would give rain. Like the moon, his face would bring joy. Like Varuṇa, his works would be beyond understanding. Like Yama, he would punish without favour. He would march to Mount Mānasa. He would be called Rāja (the one who pleases). He would perform a hundred Aśvamedhas on the Sarasvatī, and at the hundredth Indra would steal the horse. He would receive Sanatkumāra’s ātmajñāna in his garden and reach Brahman. His fame would be praised even by the chiefs of the asuras. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 16)

As soon as Pṛthu was crowned, the people came to him crying of famine, for the earth was holding back her produce. She had hoarded the oshadhis (plants) and seeds that Brahmā made at the dawn of creation, because she had grown disgusted with the fallen humans who misused them. Pṛthu took up his bow in fury and chased Bhūdevī, who in terror had taken the form of a cow, across all the worlds and in every direction, until she found no refuge anywhere. She came back trembling and offered a magnificent stuti to Śrī Hari. In Pṛthu she recognised the avatāra of Parameśvara who had once lifted her up as Ādivarāha. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 17)

Chapter 18: The milking of the earth

Bhūdevī was now calm. She asked Pṛthu to prepare a proper calf and vessel so that the milking could be done. Pṛthu made Svāyambhuva Manu the calf, held out his own hand as the vessel, and milked all the oshadhis in the form of milk.

In the same way, one by one, every class of beings milked the earth for its own food.

• The ṛshis used Bṛhaspati as the calf and their mind, speech and ear as vessels, and got the Vedas as milk.
• The devas used Indra as the calf and milked amṛta (the drink of immortality) into a golden vessel.
• The asuras used Prahlāda as the calf and milked wine into iron vessels.
• The gandharvas and apsarases used Viśvāvasu as the calf and milked music and beauty into a lotus vessel.
• The pitṛdevatās used Aryaman as the calf and milked the offering called kshaya into a silver vessel.
• The Siddhas used Kapila as the calf and milked the eight siddhis (powers) into the sky.
• Animals milked grass, flesh-eaters milked raw flesh, birds milked insects and fruits, trees milked their many saps, and mountains milked minerals.

Each class made a different forefather its calf and milked the earth for what was naturally its food or substance. Bhūdevī gave everything freely once Pṛthu had brought her under control. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 18)

Pṛthu then used his bow to level the surface of the earth and break up the uneven ground. He set up villages, towns and settlements of many kinds, forts, cow-pens, farming villages, mining settlements and army camps. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 18)

Chapter 19: The hundred Aśvamedhas and Indra

Pṛthu began a hundred Aśvamedha yajñas in Brahmāvarta, the sacred land between the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, where Svāyambhuva Manu had also performed his yajñas and where the Sarasvatī flows east. Śrī Hari himself came to the yajña, with Brahmā, Śiva, Indra, all the devas, the ṛshis, the gandharvas and his own attendants. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 19)

But Indra could not bear that Pṛthu was rising even above the hundred yajñas that had won Indra’s own position. He made himself invisible and stole the yajña horse. He disguised himself as an ascetic with matted hair, carrying a skull and smeared with ash. This is the guise of a pāshaṇḍa (false path), and in it he carried the horse away through the sky.

The ṛshi Atri saw him and warned Pṛthu’s son. Twice Pṛthu’s son chased Indra. Twice Indra took a different pāshaṇḍa disguise, once as a skull-bearer and once as a naked wanderer, and got away, dropping the horse when challenged. The bards noted that these disguises, which Indra invented to escape being answerable to dharma, became the pattern for pāshaṇḍa sects that confuse the pious with false forms of dharma.

When Pṛthu learned what had happened, he raised his bow against Indra himself. The ṛtviks held him back. They proposed to burn Indra in the fire as an offering, using calling mantras. At that moment Brahmā came and stopped them. He said: “Indra is Yajña himself, and his body is the body of Śrī Hari. Do not destroy what you have built. The hundred-yajña mark of Indra’s rule is already won. Let ninety-nine be enough for Pṛthu, for he already has the way of moksha.” Pṛthu accepted Brahmā’s advice and made peace with Indra. The avabhṛtha (closing bath) was performed, and the devas gave Pṛthu varas (boons). (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 19)

Chapter 20: Śrī Hari’s darśana and Pṛthu’s stuti

Śrī Hari was pleased with Pṛthu’s yajña. He appeared with Indra at its close. He said to Pṛthu: “This Indra disturbed your hundredth yajña. He now asks your forgiveness. I am pleased with you. Ask for a vara.”

Pṛthu replied with a moving speech.

“You are the master even of the devas who give boons. The minds of those who cling to the senses are scattered among sound and the other pleasures. Why would a person of discernment ask you for such things? They are available even to beings in the narakas (hells).

“What I ask is this. Let my bhakti (devotion) to you be unshakeable. Give me ten thousand ears, so that I may hear your kathā (account) poured out without pause from the mouths of great souls. That is my great vara. Even half a moment of company with your devotees is worth more than svarga (heaven) or moksha.

“O Śrī Hari, your own speech makes the bonds of the world. You invited me to ask a vara. Yet it is your word, in the form of the Veda, that has bound the jīva (the living being) to karma. If it were not for this delusion, why would anyone return again and again to actions done for desire?

“You know what is good for us better than we do. As a father decides what is best for his child, you decide for us.”

Śrī Hari was deeply moved. He said to Pṛthu: “Your bhakti, free of desire, is the rarest thing. By such a mind one crosses even my māyā. Rule your kingdom as I have instructed. And my grace is yours.” (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 20)

Indra fell at Pṛthu’s feet in shame, and Pṛthu embraced him, letting go of all enmity. Then Śrī Hari departed for Vaikuṇṭha. His presence had so dazzled Pṛthu’s eyes that Pṛthu wept with joy and could not look at him. As Śrī Hari passed out of sight, Pṛthu stood with joined hands, his eyes still full of tears, unable to speak. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 20)

Chapter 21: Pṛthu’s teaching

Pṛthu returned to his capital, which had been decorated with banana stems, young areca trees, tender leaf garlands, lamps and fragrant resins. He spoke to a great assembly of devas, brāhmaṇas, pitṛdevatās, ṛtviks and citizens. He spoke with the authority of his own experience.

He taught that Śrī Hari is the one ruler of all dharma, artha (wealth), kāma (desire) and moksha. Svāyambhuva Manu, Uttānapāda, Dhruva, Priyavrata and his grandfather Aṅga all held this, as did Brahmā, Śiva, Prahlāda and Bali. Only people like Vena, blinded by the delusion of self-importance, had rejected it.

He declared that the community of brāhmaṇas is the highest place of service. Serving them is the same as serving all the devas, and Śrī Hari is far more pleased by offerings made into their mouths than into the cold fire. He promised always to wear the dust of their feet on his head.

He called on all the citizens to worship Śrī Hari through their own svadharma (own duty): the mind in meditation, speech in stuti, and the body in bowing. Śrī Hari’s lotus feet are the kāmadhenu (the cow that fulfils all wishes). (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 21)

Chapter 22: The visit of Sanatkumāra

Once, in the garden of his palace, Pṛthu met Bhagavān Sanatkumāra, the eldest of Brahmā’s kumāra sons, ever a child and the highest of knowers of the self. Pṛthu honoured him with great reverence. Sanatkumāra taught Pṛthu the highest adhyātma-yoga, the path in which the seeker turns inward and sees Īśvara directly as the ātmā. Through this yoga Pṛthu reached Brahman. (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 22)

Chapter 23: Pṛthu’s tapas and liberation

Pṛthu had done his work. He had restored dharma, settled the earth, performed yajñas, and shown the way of both action (pravṛtti) and withdrawal (nivṛtti). He gave the kingdom to his sons and went to the forest with Arcī. The citizens knew that their king was leaving, and they wept with great grief.

In the forest Pṛthu lived by the rule of vānaprastha (life in the forest). He ate roots, tubers, fruits and dried leaves, then only water, then only air. In summer he kept the five-fire austerity. In winter he stood neck-deep in water. In the monsoon he took the downpour without shelter. He kept celibacy and prāṇāyāma (breath control), and worshipped Śrī Kṛshṇa in deep meditation.

Through this tapas (austerity) the impressions left by his karma were burnt away. His antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument of mind) was fully purified. He then did layanakrama, the step-by-step dissolving of each tattva (element of creation) into its source, in the reverse order of creation. Earth went into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into space, the senses into the subtle elements, the subtle elements into ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”), ahaṃkāra into mahat, and mahat into the māyopādhi of the jīva, until only pure cit-ātmā (the self of awareness) remained. He then let go even of the liṅga-śarīra (subtle body) and merged into Śrī Hari.

Arcī was too delicate to touch the ground with her bare feet. Yet she had followed Pṛthu to the forest and served him through every austerity. She saw the life breath stop in his body. She wept for a short time. Then she built a funeral pyre on the mountain slope and laid his body on it. She made all the offerings of water and the walk around the pyre, thinking only of Pṛthu’s lotus feet, and entered the fire with him.

Thousands of devī-wives came down with their husbands and saw her rise. They rained flowers and sounded celestial drums. They sang: “Behold this satī who served Pṛthu as Lakshmī serves Śrī Hari. Even we in the higher worlds do not reach this.” (Bhāgavata, 4th Skanda, Chapter 23)

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa account (Chapter 36)

The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Poorva Bhāga, Chapter 36) tells the account in a shorter form, with differences in the line of descent, the setting and the milking of the earth. It places the episode in the Cākshusha Manvantara.

The line of Vena in the Brahmāṇḍa

The Brahmāṇḍa gives a longer line of kings leading to Vena:

Dhruva → Srishṭi → Prācīnagarbha → Udāradhi → Dīnjaya → Ripu → Cakshusha → Cākshusha Manu (the 6th Manu) → Ūru → Aṅga → Vena

Pṛthu’s birth

As in the Bhāgavata, the ṛshis churn Vena’s body after he has died at their hands. The Brahmāṇḍa says that Pṛthu was born from the churning of Vena’s right arm. With him, at the same time, came the Ājagava bow, the supreme bow of royal rule. A great abhisheka (consecration) followed.

The milking of the earth: Cākshusha Manu as the calf

The Bhāgavata names Svāyambhuva Manu as the calf (vatsa) for the human milking. The Brahmāṇḍa names Cākshusha Manu. It lists thirteen classes of beings, each with its calf (vatsa), its milker (dogdhā), its vessel (pātra) and its milk or product (kshīra).

(Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Poorva Bhāga, Chapter 36)

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account (Chapters 13 and 22)

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa tells the account in shorter form, within the lines of descent that Parāśara teaches to Maitreya.

Vena’s adharma and death

In the Vishṇu Purāṇa, Vena’s main wrong is that he denied the authority of the Vedas and forbade all yajña and worship. He declared himself supreme and forbade his subjects to perform any religious act directed at any other. The ṛshis sent messengers to advise him again and again, but Vena was not moved by any appeal to dharma and the scriptures. When all advice failed, the ṛshis killed him with kuśa grass charged with the power of mantras. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pradhamāmsa, Chapter 13)

Pṛthu’s birth from the right arm

The ṛshis churned Vena’s dead right arm, and Pṛthu came out of it. He was already fully formed as a warrior and king, blazing with divine splendour, and his bow and armour appeared with him. The assembly at once knew Pṛthu to be a partial manifestation of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pradhamāmsa, Chapter 13)

The milking of the earth

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa gives the milking of the earth in Chapter 22 as a full account of its own. As in the other Purāṇas, Pṛthu milks the earth in the form of a cow and receives the plants, crops and food that people need. Then the account goes on to show every order of beings milking the earth for its own food, with a different forefather as the calf for each group.

It tells that Pṛthu was the first king whose rule reached over all beings in all realms. It names his levelling of the earth, his founding of villages, towns and settlements, and the milking of the earth. The earth received the name Pṛthvī, daughter or possession of Pṛthu, from this event.

The chapter also contains teachings on Vishṇu’s vibhūtis (shining forms), his presence in all excellent things in creation, woven into the account of Pṛthu as Parāśara draws out the meaning of Pṛthu’s nature as an avatāra. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pradhamāmsa, Chapter 22)

The Hari Vaṃśa account (Chapters 4 to 6)

The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, in its Hari Vaṃśa Parva, tells the account briefly within the line of descent. It sets the account within the ordering of creation and the placing of the guardians of the directions.

Place in the ordering of creation. The account comes directly after Brahmā’s assignment of rulers to each class of beings and the placing of the four dikpālas of the Cākshusha Manvantara (Chapter 4). At the end of the Cākshusha Manvantara, Brahmā handed over the rule to Vaivasvata Manu. The text presents Pṛthu as the Ādirāja of the Vaivasvata age. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 4)

Vena’s line and adharma. Vena is the son of Aṅga, of the line of Atri, and Sunīdhā, daughter of Mṛtyu. He forbade all svādhyāya (study of the Veda), made the call vashaṭ impossible, and forbade yajña and homa. He declared himself the only one worthy of worship: “I am the yajña, I am the one to be worshipped, all yajñas must be for me alone.” The great ṛshis, led by Marīci, tried to advise him. Vena answered with contempt and pride, and claimed that he could burn the earth, drown it in water, or hold up the sky. The ṛshis grew angry, seized the blazing Vena and churned his left thigh. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 5)

The Nishāda and Pṛthu’s birth. From the left thigh came a very short, dark figure who stood in fear with joined hands. Atri Maharshi said to him “nishīda” (sit down), and this being became the forefather of the Nishāda line, the hunters of the forest. The Tushāra and Tumbura peoples also descended from him, and both are described as adhārmic. The ṛshis then churned Vena’s arms. From them came Pṛthu, blazing like fire, born already holding his bow and wearing armour, ready to protect the people. The people rejoiced at his birth. Vena’s spirit reached svarga because a virtuous son had been born. The text says that Pṛthu is the foremost of all the kings appointed by Vishṇu as rulers: “Pṛthu Mahārāja is the foremost among these kings; Vishṇu himself is the supreme one.” (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 5)

The coronation and Brahmā’s order. Brahmā came in person with the devas to perform Pṛthu’s coronation. After that the oceans, rivers, mountains and all creatures offered gifts. The ṛshis told the sūtas and māgadhas to praise Pṛthu. The bards asked how they could praise a king whose deeds they did not yet know. The ṛshis told them to describe him by what he had done in earlier kalpas and what he would do. From then on the bards were allowed to give āśīrvādas (blessings). Pṛthu himself gave the Sūta the country called Anūpa-deśa and the Māgadha the country called Magadha-deśa, in thanks. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 5)

The milking of the earth. The Hari Vaṃśa confirms that Pṛthu chased Bhūdevī in the form of a cow, brought her under control, and milked her for the food of all beings. It says that Pṛthu used Svāyambhuva Manu as the calf and his own hands as the vessel, and milked all the kinds of crops and food. After this milking Pṛthu levelled the surface of the earth. The text says: “In other manvantaras the earth had hills and hollows; Pṛthu used the tip of his bow to smash the mountains and make the earth level.” From then on towns, villages, cattle herding, farming and trade came into ordered being on the level earth. The Hari Vaṃśa also gives the full series of the other classes of beings milking the earth (ṛshis, devas, pitṛdevatās, rākshasas, yakshas, serpents, gandharvas, mountains, creepers and trees), each with its own calf, vessel and milk. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 6)

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapters 13 to 23
• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Poorva Bhāga, Chapter 36
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pradhamāmsa, Chapters 13 and 22
• Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 4 to 6