Devāpi
Devāpi · deva-āpi, “friend of the devas”
Devāpi was the eldest son of King Pratīpa of the Kuru line and the elder brother of Śantanu. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells that he gave up the royal authority that came to him from his father and went to the forest, so that Śantanu became king. When no rain fell for twelve years in Śantanu’s kingdom, because Śantanu ruled while his elder brother lived, Śantanu went to the forest to give the kingdom back to Devāpi; but Devāpi, led away from the Veda dharma by men whom Śantanu’s minister Aśmarāva had sent, spoke against it and so was no longer fit to rule, and the rain came. Devāpi now dwells in yoga at the village of Kalāpa with great yoga-power. At the end of the Kali yuga, taught by Bhagavān Kalki, he will come back with Maru of the Ikshvāku line and set up again the Candra vaṃśa and the dharma of the varṇas and āśramas.
The eldest son of Pratīpa
Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells Parīkshit the line of Kuru down to Pratīpa: Jahnu‘s son Suratha, then Vidūratha, Sārvabhauma, Jayasena, Rādhika, Ayuta, Krodhana, Devātithi, Ṛshya, Dilīpa and Pratīpa. Pratīpa had three sons: Devāpi, Śantanu and Bāhlika. Of them Devāpi gave up the royal authority that came to him from his father and went to the forest. Śantanu, who in his previous birth was Mahābhisha, became king.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 22
Śantanu and the twelve years without rain
In Śantanu Mahārāja’s kingdom the varshādhipati, the deva of rain, did not rain on a single day for twelve years. Then the knowers of Brahman said to Śantanu: “While your elder brother lives, you are enjoying his kingdom. So you too are like a parivettā (one who marries before his elder brother). To remove that fault, and to bring growth to the city and the kingdom, hand over the kingdom to your elder brother at once.” When the knowers of the Veda spoke thus, Śantanu went to the forest and prayed to his elder brother Devāpi.
But before that, Śantanu’s minister Aśmarāva had, without Śantanu’s knowledge, sent some knowers of the Veda to Devāpi. They taught him the pākhaṇḍa doctrine and made him fall away from the Veda dharma. Fallen in this way, Devāpi spoke to Śantanu words reviling the Veda dharma; by this, the text says, he lost his fitness to rule, and Śantanu’s fault like that of a parivettā was removed. Only then did Parjanya Deva rain in that kingdom.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 22
In yoga at Kalāpa
Devāpi, practising yoga, has taken refuge in Kalāpa grāma and dwells there. In the Kali yuga the Candra vaṃśa will perish; then, at the start of the Kṛta yuga, Devāpi will establish the Candra vaṃśa again.
At the close of his account of the line of Vaivasvata Manu, Śuka tells Parīkshit that of all those great men only their fame now remains on the earth. But Devāpi, the brother of Śantanu, and Maru, born in the Ikshvāku line, are now in the village of Kalāpa, with great yoga-power. Bhagavān Kalki will give these two his upadeśa, and at the end of the Kali yuga they will come here, to Āryāvarta, and spread the dharma of the varṇas and āśramas as it was in the past Kṛta yuga.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 22; Skandha 12, Chapter 2
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 22; Skandha 12, Chapter 2