Khanitra

Khanitra was the chief among the five sons of Prajāti and a descendant of the solar lineage through Vatsaprī, Bhalandana, and Nābhāga. He was renowned as a peaceful, truthful, and heroic king who was devoted to the welfare of all beings. He ruled the entire earth as overlord while lovingly appointing his brothers as kings of separate regions. His reign came to a sorrowful turn when a wicked minister named Viśvavedī conspired with his brothers’ purohitas to destroy him through abhicārika-karma, but the Kṛtyā powers born from that ritual could not harm Khanitra due to his puṇya and instead turned back and destroyed the conspirators themselves. Overcome with grief at having become the indirect cause of Brahma-hatyā, Khanitra renounced the kingdom, crowned his son Kṣupa, and retired to the forest with his three wives to perform tapas, ultimately attaining imperishable worlds. His account is narrated by Mārkaṇḍeya in Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa.

Lineage and Ancestry

Twelve sons were born to Vatsaprī from the womb of Saunandā. Their names in order were Prāṃśu, Pravīra, Śūra, Sucakra, Vikrama, Krama, Bala, Balāka, Caṇḍa, Pracaṇḍa, Suvikrama, and Sunaya. All of them were very fortunate and victors in battle. Among them, the eldest and great hero Prāṃśu became the King, and the other eleven brothers were like servants and subject to him. During the yajñas he performed, with the infinite heaps of wealth left by many Brāhmaṇas and other varṇas, the name Vasundharā became meaningful for the earth. While protecting the subjects like his own children, whatever wealth was filled in his treasury was used to perform innumerable yajñas. They could not be counted even by the numbers of hundreds, thousands, lakhs, crores, or padmas.

A son named Prajāti was born to Prāṃśu. In his yajña, Indra along with the Devas attained incomparable satisfaction through the yajña portions. Prajāti slew ninety-nine dānavas of great heroism, Balāsura who was the best among the powerful, the excellent asura Jambhāsura, and other rākṣasas who were great heroes and enemies of the Devas. Such a Prajāti had five sons, of whom Khanitra was the chief.

The Character of Khanitra

Among the five sons of Prajāti, Khanitra became the King, famous for his own parākrama. He was peaceful, a speaker of truth, a hero, and devoted to the welfare of all beings. He was devoted to his own dharma, always serving the elderly, a seer of many śāstras, eloquent, endowed with humility, and free from ego. He was dear to all the worlds.

He would always speak thus day and night. He would say, may all beings enjoy happiness, may I be a possessor of love even in deserted places, may there be victory for all living beings, may all be free from fear, may the afflictions of beings be destroyed, and may no one suffer mental agony. He would pray that all beings nourish the feeling of friendship toward everyone, that there be auspiciousness for Brāhmaṇas, mutual love, prosperity of all varṇas, and the accomplishment of all acts.

He would address his people and say that just as they always desire the welfare of themselves and their sons, similarly they should desire the welfare of all living beings, for such a disposition is extremely beneficial. He would teach that toward whomsoever one becomes an offender and whichever slow-witted person performs any harm to anyone, harm shall occur to such a person himself, for the fruit of an act must be experienced by the doer. He urged the people to reflect in this manner and possess a disposition of welfare toward all beings, to always perform welfare for beings, and not to engage in worldly sins, saying that by doing so they shall attain the puṇyaloka. He would say that whoever was showing love toward him at that time, may they always have victory on the earth, and whoever hated him, may they also see auspiciousness. Such was the prince Khanitra, endowed with all qualities and having eyes like lotus petals.

The Division of Kingdoms Among Brothers

With love, Khanitra appointed his brothers in separate kingdoms. He was ruling and enjoying this earth up to the ocean. He gave kingdoms to Śauri in the East, to Udāvasu in the South, to Muni in the West, and to Mahārathi in the North. Different gotras of munis became the purohitas for those kings. A Brāhmaṇa named Suhotra born in the Atri kula became the purohita for Śauri. Kuśāvarta born in the Gautama lineage became the purohita for Udāvasu. Pramati of the Kāśyapa gotra became the purohita for Sunaya. And Vasiṣṭha became the purohita for Mahārathi. The four brothers remained as kings and were enjoying their respective kingdoms. Khanitra, the lord of the entire earth, remained as their overlord. The Mahārāja Khanitra behaved with all his brothers and all the subjects always beneficially, just as a father behaves with his sons.

The Conspiracy of Viśvavedī

One day, the minister Viśvavedī spoke to Śauri in a solitary time. He told the King that under whose control the entire earth and the groups of kings remain, he and the ones in his lineage, such as his sons and grandsons, alone become the kings, while his brothers remain only as lords of small kingdoms. He explained that in order, the son becomes the lord of a kingdom smaller than his father’s, and the grandson becomes the lord of a kingdom even smaller. In the course of time, with the succession of men, the kingdom decreases, and finally those in that lineage will live by performing agriculture.

Viśvavedī further argued that a brother bound by brotherly love can never uplift his brother. He said that subsequently, the sons of two brothers will consider each other as strangers, and the children born to them will consider them as others. He said that the King would reflect more upon what act would make his son happy and would adopt whichever act was pleasing. He asked for what purpose rulers of the earth appoint ministers, and said that if there were ministers like himself, Śauri could enjoy the entire kingdom. He urged the King to rule the kingdom of his father and grandfather through the act itself, saying that he gives the fruit only in this world and is not the giver of the other world.

Śauri’s Resistance and Submission

Śauri replied that the King, the protector of the earth, was their eldest, and they were his younger brothers. Therefore, the eldest was enjoying the entire earth while they were enjoying only a small portion. He said that they were five brothers but the earth was only one, and asked in what way they could be capable of enjoying all the prosperity of the earth by dividing it into separate portions.

Viśvavedī responded that they accepted what the King said was true, that the earth was only one, and therefore Śauri alone should accept it. He urged Śauri to be the chief among all and rule the earth alone, becoming the Akhileśvara among the brothers. He said that just like himself, the minister appointed for the eldest brother would also do the same.

Śauri replied that the eldest, the elder brother, was protecting them with affection like sons, and asked how he could feel greed for the kingdom toward such a person. Viśvavedī told him to become the eldest to the kingdom with authority and worship the elder brother with various honors, saying that for a person desiring the kingdom, it is useless to deliberate on younger or elder.

Afterwards, Śauri agreed to this. Subsequently, Viśvavedī brought the other brothers of that King under his control as well.

The Abhicārika-Karma and the Kṛtyās

Viśvavedī appointed the purohitas of the brothers in the act of ending Khanitra within the śānti-karma that was being performed. He appointed the faithful servants of Khanitra in increasing the influence of punishment through the methods of sāma, dāna, and bheda. Whenever the four purohitas became engaged in performing the extremely fierce abhicārika-karma daily, four powers called Kṛtyās were born. All of them had terrifying bodies, terrible faces, and were very fierce to look at. In their hands there were great spears, and with their large bodies they were formidable.

As soon as those four powers went near Mahārāja Khanitra, they were unable to do anything due to the tejas of that King who knew no sin, by the strength of his puṇya. Those powers returned to the four purohitas of those kings and to Viśvavedī. Then the purohitas and Viśvavedī, who gave wicked advice to Śauri, were not only killed by the Kṛtyā powers but were also turned to ashes.

The Aftermath and Khanitra’s Grief

Although the cities of Khanitra’s brothers were separate, the dwellers of the cities were destroyed at the same time, which was a great wonder to the entire world. Hearing that his brothers’ purohitas, the minister, and Viśvavedī were turned to ashes, Mahārāja Khanitra became very astonished, not knowing the reasons.

The King asked Maharṣi Vasiṣṭha, who had come to his house, what the reason was for the brothers, minister, and purohitas to be destroyed. Vasiṣṭha told all that had happened, everything as it was. He told what the minister had said to Śauri, what Śauri had said to the minister, what acts they performed through that wicked minister to create difference of opinion among the brothers, what the purohitas did, and for what reason those purohitas, who would show compassion even toward an enemy, were destroyed for being prepared to do harm to the faultless King.

The King heard these matters and, saying “Hā hatosmi,” began to blame himself in the presence of Vasiṣṭha. He said that he had not performed earning, that he was a person devoid of small fortune, that fortune was contrary toward him, and that he was blamed in all the worlds as a sinner who should be rebuked, because four Brāhmaṇas attained death due to him. He asked who on the earth-maṇḍala could be a greater sinner than him.

He lamented that if he had not been born as a man on this earth, his brothers’ purohitas would not have attained death. He declared that he alone became the cause of the destruction of the Brāhmaṇas. He pronounced rebuke upon his kingdom and upon his birth in a great royal kula. He said that his brothers’ purohitas were destroyed for the sake of their lords’ purpose and therefore they were not the guilty ones; he, who became the cause of their destruction, alone was the guilty one. He cried out asking what he should do and where he should go, saying there could be no other sinner on the earth equal to him, who became the cause of Brahma-hatyā.

Renunciation and Tapas

In this manner, the protector of the earth Khanitra, with an agitated mind, resolved to go to the forest. He performed the rājyābhiṣeka for his son named Kṣupa and went to the forest with his three wives to perform tapas.

The best among kings entered the forest and performed tapas for three hundred and fifty years according to the vānaprastha procedure. Afterwards, that King, who was the ornament of the royal kula and a dweller of the forest, had his body withered due to tapas. He restrained all his senses and gave up his life.

Attainment of Imperishable Worlds

After dying, Mahārāja Khanitra attained those imperishable worlds which kings do not attain even by performing hundreds of Aśvamedha yajñas. His three wives also gave up their lives along with their lord and attained those same worlds along with that mahātmā. Mārkaṇḍeya declared that by hearing or reading the history of Khanitra, all sins are destroyed.

Source: Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 114, 115