Bhūridyumna

Bhūridyumna, simply known as Bhuridyumna, Sanskrit: भूरिद्युम्न, Telugu: భూరిద్యుమ్నుడు, Hindi: भूरिद्युम्न.

Bhūridyumna was the son of King Vīradyumna. He appears inside the account of the Ṛshabha Gītā in the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata. His disappearance is the reason for Vīradyumna’s anxious search and grief.

The account remembers Bhūridyumna for one wrong act. A thin brāhmaṇa muni came to him with a request, and he did not honour it. This was the pāpa (sin) of brāhmaṇa-avamānana, the insult of a brāhmaṇa. Because of it the thin muni, who is named as Ṛshabha, resolved that he would never again accept anything from kings.

Place in the Ṛshabha Gītā account

The Ṛshabha Gītā is spoken by an unnamed kṛśa (thin, lean) muni at the āśrama of Nara-Nārāyaṇa. He speaks with the Haihaya king Sumitra and with a second figure inside the account, Vīradyumna. In this account Vīradyumna is a king who has lost his son Bhūridyumna and searches for him in grief.

The Śānti Parva says that Bhūridyumna dishonoured the request of the brāhmaṇa muni. The thin muni had come to him, and his request was not honoured. From that moment the muni resolved in his mind never to accept anything from any king. This included gifts (dāna), hospitality and help.

This resolve belongs to the muni’s past. It explains the state in which Sumitra finds him. The insult by Bhūridyumna is therefore the direct cause of the muni’s strict refusal to accept anything.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva (the Ṛshabha Gītā account)