Druhyu

Druhyu

Gāndhāra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Gāndhāra.

Druhyu is one of the five sons of King Yayāti, son of Nahusha. His mother was Śarmishṭhā, daughter of the asura king Vṛshaparvan, and his brothers by her were Anu and Pūru; Yadu and Turvasu were his half-brothers, the sons of Devayānī. When Yayāti asked his sons to take his old age, Druhyu refused, and with the other three who refused he came under his father’s śāpa; in the Gautamī Māhātmya his brother Puru later won from Bhagavān Śiva the release of all four. From Druhyu came Babhrusetu, Aṅgārasetu and Gāndhāra, after whom the land of Gāndhāra is named.

Birth and his father’s old age

The teller of the Purāṇa tells the munis that Yayāti took as wives Devayānī, daughter of Uśanas (Śukra), and Śarmishṭhā, daughter of the asura Vṛshaparvan. Devayānī bore Yadu and Turvasu; Śarmishṭhā bore Druhyu, Anu and Pūru. Yayāti conquered the earth with its oceans and seven dvīpas and divided it among his five sons.

In his old age Yayāti asked Yadu to take his old age and give him his youth. Yadu refused, and Yayāti pronounced a śāpa on him: his progeny would have no kingdom. He asked all his sons the same, and when the four refused, he pronounced the same śāpa on each of them. Pūru alone, the fifth, accepted his father’s old age and gave him his youth.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 12

Per the Gautamī Māhātmya

Brahmā tells Nārada the glory of the tīrtha Yayāta, where Bhagavān Śiva is called Kālañjara. Śarmishṭhā gave birth to three sons like devas, Druhyu, Anu and Puru, who had the lustre of Indra, Agni and Varuṇa. Because Śarmishṭhā had three sons and she only two, Devayānī was distressed and went to her father, and Śukra pronounced a śāpa that Yayāti would become old. When Yayāti showed that he had done no wrong, Śukra, who never speaks falsely, softened the śāpa with a vara: Yayāti might pass his old age to any son he wished. Yayāti, with Śukra’s leave, declared that only the son who took on his old age would be king, and that he would pronounce a śāpa on the son who refused.

Yadu refused, and Yayāti pronounced a śāpa on him; Turvasu refused, and he too came under the śāpa. Then Yayāti said to Druhyu, “Receive this old age of mine.” Druhyu too would not take on the old age passed on by his father, “the old age that destroys the beauty of form”. Anu refused as well, and Puru accepted his father’s old age for a thousand and one years.

When Yayāti was satisfied and asked for his old age back, Puru would not give up what he had accepted for his father, and performed tapas on the southern bank of the Gaṅgā. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and asked what he should give. Puru asked nothing for himself: he asked that the old age born of the śāpa be destroyed and that his brothers be freed from the śāpas their father had pronounced on them. Saying “So be it”, Bhagavān Śiva destroyed the old age and freed Puru’s brothers from their śāpas. From then on that tīrtha destroys old age and sickness.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 76

His line

The Sūta, telling the munis the lines of Turvasu, Druhyu, Anu and Yadu, gives the line of Druhyu. Druhyu’s son was the great king Babhrusetu. His son was Aṅgārasetu, king of the Maruts, a hero whom Yauvanāśva felled in battle only with great difficulty, after a terrible war of fourteen months. Aṅgārasetu’s son was Gāndhāra, after whom the country of Gāndhāra became famous; the horses of the Gāndhāra country are excellent.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 13

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 12–13; Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 76