Dhruvasandhi and Sudarśana

Dhruvasandhi and Sudarśana is one of the main ākhyānas (narratives) in the third Skanda of the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa. King Dhruvasandhi of Ayodhyā is killed by a lion, and his infant son Sudarśana is taken into exile in a forest āśrama. There the boy chants the one-syllable Kāmarāja Bīja, Klīṃ, without being taught. By the grace of the Parādevī he wins back his kingdom and marries Śaśikalā, the princess of Kāśī. When the kings gathered at her svayaṃvara (the ceremony where a princess chooses her husband) rise against him, the Parādevī herself appears on a lion and destroys his enemies.

Dhruvasandhi’s death and the quarrel over the throne

Skanda 3, Chapter 14 of the Devī Bhāgavata begins the account. King Dhruvasandhi of Kośala (Ayodhyā) belonged to the solar Ikshvāku line. He had two queens. One was Manoramā, daughter of Vīrasena. The other was Līlāvatī, daughter of Yudhājit, king of Ujjayinī. Each queen had a son. Manoramā’s son was Sudarśana, the rightful heir. Līlāvatī’s son was Śatrujit.

One day Dhruvasandhi went hunting. A lion attacked him and killed him. The kingdom was left uncertain. Yudhājit, the strong maternal grandfather of Śatrujit, saw his chance. He attacked Vīrasena, who was Sudarśana’s maternal grandfather, and killed him in battle. Sudarśana had lost his grandfather’s protection. Yudhājit’s army was too strong to face. So Manoramā left Ayodhyā with her infant son, a maidservant and the family servant Vidallū, and went into the forest.

Refuge in Bharadvāja’s āśrama

Skanda 3, Chapters 14 and 15 tell what came next. Manoramā and her small party crossed the holy Gaṅgā by boat and reached the āśrama of Bharadvāja Maharshi in the Trikūṭa region. Bharadvāja received them with kindness. He saw that Sudarśana was a royal child who would one day regain his throne, and he gave the grieving queen shelter. She lived there for years and raised Sudarśana in the quiet āśrama, among the ṛshis and their students.

Meanwhile Yudhājit placed Śatrujit on the throne of Ayodhyā. Then he learned that Manoramā had taken Sudarśana to Bharadvāja’s āśrama. He marched there with his army to put an end to the rightful heir.

In Skanda 3, Chapters 15 to 17, Bharadvāja Maharshi meets Yudhājit with the calm authority of a ṛshi. He reminds the royal ṛshi (rājarshi) of Viśvāmitra, who once tried to seize Vasishṭha’s cow Nandinī. Viśvāmitra’s strength of arm (bhuja-bala) was useless against the power of a brāhmaṇa (brahma-teja). In the end Viśvāmitra gave up kshatriya dharma altogether and became a brahmarshi. The minister repeated this warning to Yudhājit. Yudhājit felt chastened and went back, and Manoramā stayed in the āśrama.

Sudarśana finds the Kāmarāja Bīja

Skanda 3, Chapter 17 tells how Sudarśana found the mantra. When he was about five years old, the boys of the āśrama teased him by calling him klība (a castrated one). In their taunt Sudarśana heard the sound “klī”. Without any teacher he said it with the anusvāra and the long vowel: “Klīṃ”. This is the Kāmarāja Bīja, the highest bīja mantra of the Parādevī. Sudarśana did not know what it was or what it meant. Yet he held on to this one syllable and chanted it (japa) all day and night, at play, in sleep and in every action, as if it were the one supreme reality.

The other ṛshis saw in this a divine sign of his future greatness. When he was eleven, Bharadvāja performed his upanayana (sacred thread ceremony). By the power of the Kāmarāja Bīja, Sudarśana mastered all the Vedas, all the Vedāṅgas, dhanurveda (the science of archery and war) and nītiśāstra (the science of right conduct and statecraft) with great ease.

One day, absorbed in mantra japa, he saw the Parādevī in red garments, seated on Garuḍa. She appeared as Śrī Mahāvaishṇavī, the Kāmakālaśakti. She gave him a divine bow, arrows, a kavaca (armour) and a quiver.

Śaśikalā’s love and the svayaṃvara

Skanda 3, Chapters 18 and 19 turn to Kāśī. King Subāhu of Kāśī had a daughter, Śaśikalā. She had heard of Sudarśana. In a dream she received a direct command from the Parādevī: “Sudarśana is my devotee. Choose him as your husband.” She woke full of joy and decided to marry no one else. Later a brāhmaṇa from Bharadvāja’s āśrama came to Kāśī and spoke of Sudarśana’s shining look and fine character. Her love grew into a firm vow.

Subāhu announced a svayaṃvara, and kings from many lands came with great armies. Śaśikalā sent a secret message through a trusted brāhmaṇa messenger to Sudarśana at Bharadvāja’s āśrama. She told him she would choose no one but him and asked him to come. Sudarśana trusted fully in the will of the Parādevī and set out for Kāśī. A friendly Nishāda king had given him a fine chariot with four horses. He reached the svayaṃvara with only his mother Manoramā and one charioteer.

The crisis at the svayaṃvara

Skanda 3, Chapters 19 to 22 tell of the crisis. Among the kings gathered were Yudhājit and Śatrujit, who were Sudarśana’s enemies. There were also rulers from Karūsha, Madra, Māhishmatī, Sindhu, Pāñcāla, Karṇāṭa, Cōḷa, Vaidarbha and many other lands. Sixty-three akshauhiṇīs (great army divisions) filled the city. The kings saw Sudarśana arrive alone, with no wealth and no army. They were amazed and scornful. Yudhājit said openly that he meant to kill Sudarśana.

Śaśikalā refused to enter the svayaṃvara hall. She told her parents that she had already chosen Sudarśana in her heart. Subāhu was torn between his powerful guests and his daughter’s firm vow. The kings argued hotly. Some urged force. The wise urged respect for an icchā-svayaṃvara (a svayaṃvara where the bride follows her own wish). Then Sudarśana spoke to the kings with perfect calm. He said that he had come at the command of the Parādevī and that he left every result in her hands. He said that karma alone decides life and death, and that he held no enmity toward Yudhājit or anyone else.

Śaśikalā stayed firm. She told her parents that as Sukanyā had chosen the aged Cyavana, so she would accept Sudarśana, who lived in the forest, and no one else. Her father at last arranged a secret wedding at night. The priests (paurohityas) lit the sacred fire. Sudarśana and Śaśikalā walked around it, offered the lājahoma (the offering of parched grain), and were rightly wed.

Subāhu gave Sudarśana a rich dowry. It included two hundred chariots with horses, one hundred and twenty-five great elephants, a thousand servants armed and decked with ornaments, camels, grain-carts and two thousand Sindhu horses, and much more.

The Parādevī appears and the battle

Skanda 3, Chapter 23 tells of the battle. In the morning the kings learned that the wedding was already done. They burst into fury and blocked all the roads. They said they would kill Sudarśana and take Śaśikalā by force. Battle began. Yudhājit and Śatrujit came against Sudarśana with their armies, and Subāhu’s army came to help Sudarśana. In the middle of the fighting, Sudarśana chanted the Kāmarāja Bīja and placed himself wholly at the feet of the Parādevī. Then something wonderful happened.

The Parādevī herself appeared on a lion. She wore divine garlands and carried weapons, and her light overwhelmed the senses. All the kings fell silent in shock. As Devī Caṇḍikā she entered the battle herself. She shot fierce arrows at Yudhājit and sent mighty āstras (divine weapons) at Śatrujit. Both fell from their chariots and died. The other kings saw the Parādevī appear before them, and they bowed to the ground in awe.

The Parādevī stays in Kāśī and Ayodhyā

Skanda 3, Chapters 24 and 25 close the account. After the battle King Subāhu offered a deep stotra (hymn of praise) to the Parādevī and asked for one vara (a boon). He asked that she live in Kāśī for ever as Durgā, the protector of the city. She gave the vara. She said: “As long as this earth endures, I will dwell in this avimukta-kshetra and protect it.”

She told Sudarśana to go to Ayodhyā and rule rightly. He was to worship her on the ashṭamī, navamī and caturdaśī tithis (the eighth, ninth and fourteenth lunar days). He was to keep the Devī Mahotsava in the months of Caitra, Āshāḍha, Āśvayuja and Māgha. And he was to keep Śarannavarātri with full devotion.

All the remaining kings gave themselves up to Sudarśana, for they knew he was the instrument of the supreme Parādevī. He went back to Ayodhyā. There he comforted Śatrujit’s grieving mother with wise words on karma and impermanence. In the capital he built a temple of the Parādevī with a golden throne. The mūrti of the Parādevī was set up with Vedic rites. From that day Durgā came to be widely worshipped in the whole kingdom of Kośala.

What the Purāṇa teaches

The Purāṇa says that the Kāmarāja Bīja, Klīṃ, the one-syllable essence of the Parādevī, is itself the highest means (upāya). Sudarśana never learned the mantra in a formal way. He chanted it as a child, again and again, without knowing its meaning or its power. The Purāṇa then states plainly that anyone who chants this mantra of the Parādevī with a pure mind and steady practice will have every wish fulfilled. The Parāśakti herself becomes the guardian and guide of that devotee.

Sources

• Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 3, Chapters 14–25