Dhundhu and Trivikrama
Chapter 52 of the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa tells an episode that comes before the famous account of Bali and Vāmana. The daitya Dhundhu performed one hundred Aśvamedha yajñas and tried to take rule over the three worlds. Bhagavān Vishṇu came to him as a drowning brāhmaṇa and asked for three paces of land. When the gift was given, Bhagavān Vishṇu took the three steps of Trivikrama and sent Dhundhu underground. The river Kāliṇḍī is said to come from this event.
Dhundhu’s hundred Aśvamedhas
The daitya Dhundhu had gathered great puṇya (merit) and power by performing one hundred Aśvamedha yajñas, the greatest of the royal yajñas. Through them he became a mahādātā (a supreme giver) and began to challenge the rule of the devas. Because of the hundred Aśvamedhas he had a claim to rule over everything, and the devas found it hard to meet that claim by ordinary means.
Vishṇu as a drowning brāhmaṇa
Bhagavān Vishṇu saw that Dhundhu’s growing power was a danger to the order of the worlds. He used the same plan that he would later use with Bali. He came before Dhundhu as a drowning brāhmaṇa, helpless, humble and in plain distress. He asked the daitya for a gift of three paces of land (trivikrama-māna), measured by the size of his own body.
Dhundhu was proud to be a great giver at the yajña (yajña-kartā), and so he could not turn away even a brāhmaṇa who begged. He gave the gift.
Three paces: the Trivikrama form
The moment the gift was given, Bhagavān Vishṇu took the great Trivikrama form. In three strides he covered the earth, svarga and all the worlds. This was the same widening that he would later show before Bali. The third step drove Dhundhu beneath the earth, where he stayed buried.
Origin of the Kāliṇḍī river
The Vāmana Purāṇa says that the river Kāliṇḍī arose in connection with this event. The river is also known as the Yamunā. The mountain Kālinda, from which it comes down, gives it this name.
Sources
- Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 52