Nyūha and the Great Flood

Nyūha Jalapralaya · nyūha jala-pralaya, “Nyūha and the flood of waters”

Kuśa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kuśa.

Nyūha, son of Lomaka, was devoted to dhyāna of the ātmā and was a bhakta of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells, through Sūta to Śaunaka, that Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him darśana in a dream and foretold that the pralaya (the great dissolution) would come on the seventh day. Nyūha built a great boat, furnished it with all living beings and climbed aboard with his descendants. Indra (Devendra) poured unbroken rain for forty days, the four oceans joined and the earth went under. Only the Badarī-kshetra of the Himālaya stayed above the water, and there the eighty-eight thousand munis stayed safe, and Nyūha came there with his boat. All other living beings perished.

The munis offered a stuti to Vishṇu-māyā, and she stilled the rising water. In one year the waters withdrew, the land of Śishiṇā came into view at the border of the Himālaya, and Nyūha settled there. Bhagavān Vishṇu, pleased with his bhakti, increased his line, and countries became famous by the names of his descendants.

The line of Nyūha

In the account of the mleccha lines, Sūta tells that Lomaka, who at the end attained svarga, was the son of Matocchila. Lomaka’s son was Nyūha. Nyūha had three sons: Sīma, Śama and Bhāva.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5

The dream and the boat

Nyūha was devoted to dhyāna of the ātmā and was a bhakta of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Once in a dream he received darśana of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who said: “Vatsa, listen. On the seventh day from today the pralaya will come. O best of bhaktas, climb into a boat with all the people and save your life. After that you will become a very famous man.”

Accepting these words, Nyūha had a strong boat built, 300 hastas long, 50 hastas wide and 30 hastas high, and furnished it with all living beings. Intent on dhyāna of Bhagavān Vishṇu, he climbed aboard with his descendants.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5

The flood

Then Indra caused the clouds to pour unbroken rain for forty days. All of Bhārata was flooded by the waters of the oceans. The four oceans joined, and the earth went under.

But the Badarī-kshetra of the Himālaya stayed above the water and was not drowned. The eighty-eight thousand brahmavādin munis (knowers of Brahman) with their disciples stayed there, steady and safe. Nyūha too came there with his boat and was saved. All the other living beings of the world perished.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5

The stuti of the munis

Then the munis offered this stuti to Vishṇu-māyā:

“Namaskāra to Mahākālī. Namaskāra to Mātā Devakī. Namaskāra to Mahālakshmī, the patnī of Bhagavān Vishṇu; to Rādhādevī; to Revatī, Pushpavatī and Svarṇavatī. Namaskāra to Kāmākshī, Māyā and Mātā. From the power of the great wind, from the terrible sound of the clouds and from the fierce streams of water, dreadful fear has arisen. O Bhairavī, protect us your servants from this fear.”

Vishṇu-māyā was pleased and at once stilled the rising of the water.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5

Śishiṇā

Land at the border of the Himālaya named Śishiṇā came into view as dry ground when the water withdrew in one year. Nyūha came to that land with his descendants and settled there.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5

His sons and their lands

Śaunaka asked what stood after the pralaya. Sūta answered that Nyūha remained absorbed in bhakti of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and so Bhagavān Vishṇu, pleased, increased his line. The Pratisarga Parva tells that a mleccha-language, outside the Veda-vākya and Saṃskṛta, was spread in this line, and that to increase Kali the Brāhmī language was made a language of corrupt words.

The names of his three sons Sīma, Śama and Bhāva were changed to Sima, Hāma and Yākūta.

The sons of Yākūta. Yākūta had seven sons: Jumra, Mājūja, Mādī, Yūnāna, Tuvaloma, Saka and Tīrāsa. Separate countries became famous by their names.

• Jumra had ten sons, not named, and countries became famous by their names too.
• The offspring of Yūnāna were known by four names: Ilīśa, Taralīśa, Kittī and Hūdā. Separate countries settled under their names as well.

The sons of Hāma. Hāma, the second son of Nyūha, had four sons: Kuśa, Miśra, Kūja and Kanaān. Countries are famous by their names.

• Kuśa had six sons: Savā, Habīla, Sarvata, Uragama, Savatikā and the mighty Nimarūha.
• These had offspring as well: Kalana, Sinā, Roraka, Avada, Bāvuna, Rasanādeśaka and others.

Having told this much to the ṛshis, Sūta entered samādhi.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5

The line of Sima

After many years his samādhi opened, and Sūta described the line of King Sima, the eldest son of Nyūha:

Tāhara had three sons: Avirāma, a second Nahūra and Hārana.

Sūta closed: “Thus I have told the lines of the mleccha kings by name only. By the śāpa of Sarasvatī these kings became speakers of the mleccha-language and proved low in conduct. In the Kali Yuga their numbers grew greatly, but I have told these lines only in brief. The Saṃskṛta language survived somehow in Bhāratavarsha alone. In the other parts it was the mleccha-language that gave joy.”

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5

Nyūha in the later account

The Pratisarga Parva tells in a later chapter that when four thousand four hundred years of the Kali Yuga had passed, the land of Bhārata was overrun by mlecchas, and that the yavana named Nyūha had filled the whole world with mlecchas.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 3

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 3