Indradyumna (King of Avantī)
Indradyumna · indra-dyumna, “whose splendour is like Indra’s”
Indradyumna has other meanings too: see all meanings of Indradyumna.
Indradyumna was a king of Avantī, the city also called Ujjayinī in the Mālava country, in the Kṛta-yuga. The Brahma Purāṇa tells his account as Brahmā tells it to the munis: how the king, a devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu, came to the Purushottama-kshetra on the shore of the southern ocean, performed an aśvamedha there with abundant dakshiṇā, built a lofty prāsāda (temple) for Bhagavān Vishṇu, and installed in it the mūrtis of Saṅkarshaṇa (Balarāma), Kṛshṇa and Subhadrā. He established the pañcatīrtha (five tīrthas) of the kshetra, bathed, gave dāna, performed tapas and homa, worshipped Hari every day with bhakti, and by the grace of Bhagavān Vishṇu attained moksha.
He was equal to Indra in valour, truthful, pure and learned in every śāstra, a generous giver and a performer of yajñas, a knower of Brahman, full of sattva, master of anger and the senses, and firm in dharma. Longing to serve Hari, he searched all the scriptures until he reached the truth of Vāsudeva. At Purushottama-kshetra he grieved night and day over how to make the image of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and praised him with the Kāruṇya-stava. Bhagavān Vishṇu granted him darśana in a dream and told him of a wondrous tree on the sea shore. When the king cut it, Bhagavān Vishṇu and Viśvakarmā came in the form of two brāhmaṇas, and Viśvakarmā carved the three mūrtis in a moment. Bhagavān Vishṇu then revealed himself as Purushottama, granted the king a reign of 10,900 years followed by his own divine pada, and named the tīrtha Indradyumna-saras after him. Brahmā calls this ancient account one that removes all pāpa (sin) and gives bhukti (enjoyment) and mukti (freedom).
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 43–51
See also Indradyumna, where the Skanda Purāṇa‘s account of King Indradyumna and the prāsāda of Jagannātha at Purushottama-kshetra is told.
The king and his virtues
Brahmā tells the munis that long ago, in the Kṛta-yuga, there was a king named Indradyumna. In the order the Purāṇa gives them, his qualities were these: equal to Indra in valour; truthful, pure and capable; learned in all the śāstras; handsome and fortunate; brave; a giver and an enjoyer; sweet of speech; a performer of yajñas; a knower of Brahman; true to his vows; skilled in the Dhanur-veda, the Veda and the śāstras; a joy to women and men like the full moon; in splendour like Sūrya, so that none could gaze at him; terrible to the hosts of his enemies; a devotee of Vishṇu; full of sattva; one who had conquered anger and the senses; a student of the Yoga-śāstra and the Sāṅkhya-śāstra; desiring moksha and firm in dharma.
While this king, a treasury of every good mark, ruled the earth, the resolve arose in him to worship Hari. “How can I worship Janārdana, the Devadeva? Which kshetra, tīrtha, river bank or āśrama is fit for it?” He surveyed the whole earth in his mind, passed over all the tīrthas, kshetras and cities, and chose the temple in Purushottama-kshetra. His army and vehicles followed him there.
The munis then asked Brahmā to tell it all in full: why Indradyumna went to that mukti-kshetra, how he worshipped with the aśvamedha, how he built the temple famous in the three worlds, how he made the mūrtis of Subhadrā, Balarāma and Kṛshṇa, how he protected the kshetra and how he installed the mūrtis. “Well asked!” Brahmā said. “You have asked an ancient account. It removes all pāpa, gives bhukti and mukti, and is auspicious. I tell the history of the Kṛta-yuga; listen with śraddhā.”
In the Mālava country there is a city named Avantī, the crown jewel of the earth. There Bhagavān Śiva, the enemy of Tripura, dwells as Mahākāla, granting every desire; the river Śiprā flows there; and Bhagavān Vishṇu dwells there as Govinda-svāmī and as Vikrama-svāmī. The city has eighteen great quarters and wide royal roads; all its people are learned, it echoes with the Vedas, and every day itihāsa, śāstra and purāṇa are expounded there. Indradyumna ruled it.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 43
His search for the truth of Vāsudeva
Indradyumna ruled his people in Avantī as his own children. He was truthful, brave, rich in every virtue, dhārmika, wise, knowing all the śāstras, and the conqueror of the best of kings. He was like Ravi (Sūrya) in splendour, like the Aśvinī-kumāras in beauty, like Indra in valour and like Candra in delighting the people. He performed the aśvamedha and other yajñas, gave dāna, performed tapas, and was rich in the eight aiśvaryas. At every yajña he gave the vipras gold, gems, pearls, elephants and horses, blankets, deer-skins, garments, wealth and grain in full abundance.
Then the desire arose in him to serve Hari, the Yogeśvara, who gives bhakti and mukti. He searched all the Nigamas and Āgamas, the itihāsas and purāṇas, the Vedas and Vedāṅgas. He kept the niyamas the ṛshis taught, served vipras who had mastered the Vedas, served his guru, and, reaching dharma, the highest aim, became kṛtārtha, one whose purpose is fulfilled. He reached the truth of Vāsudeva, was freed of false knowledge, took up the longing for moksha and mastered all his senses.
Meditating on that form and thinking “How shall I worship Bhagavān Vishṇu?”, he set out from Ujjayinī for the shore of the southern ocean. With him went his ministers, his purohita, his servants and household, the four-limbed army, the women of the inner palace, bards singing auspicious songs, the four varṇas beginning with the brāhmaṇas, people of many families, merchants, poets, singers and the townsfolk, following him as sons follow a father going to another village.
He saw the ocean, full of gems, crowded with timi, timiṅgila and many other creatures, deep, pure, the best of all tīrthas and the master of all rivers, and was filled with wonder. He camped on its shore, which was lovely with every tree, full of the flowers and fruits of all seasons, sweet with the calls of parrots, mynas, peacocks, cakoras and cakravākas, fragrant with mallikā, kunda and mandāra, with gardens like Nandana and lotus pools where swans sported, and where vidyādharas, gandharvas, kinnaras and apsarās played and sang. There the king saw the divine kshetra, ten yojanas long and five yojanas wide, worthy of pūjā by the three worlds, and was overcome with joy.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 44
His resolve at Purushottama-kshetra
When the munis asked about the kshetra, Brahmā told them the account Śrī Hari once gave to Śrī Devī on Mount Sumeru: of the Purushottama-kshetra on the shore of the southern ocean, the undying banyan where Hari himself dwells, the temple of Keśava south of it, and the image made of indranīla gem, which sent all who saw it to the white abode, until Yama Dharmarāja asked Hari to withdraw it and Hari hid it.
Then Brahmā told what Indradyumna did when he reached that king of kshetras. The king saw the lovely lands and the puṇya rivers flowing from the foot of the Vindhya, the villages and towns green with crops on their banks, the people well fed and content, the four varṇas devoted to their own dharma, the vipras learned in the Vedas and their recitation, keepers of the daily agnihotra and performers of Soma yajñas. Everywhere, in streets, groves, halls and temples, he heard itihāsa and purāṇa, the study of the Vedas, and gatherings on kāvya and śāstra. The women of that land, beautiful as the women of svarga, sang and danced with bhakti to vīṇā, flute and mṛdaṅga, and night and day the sound of conches and dundubhis rang there. Bhikshus, vaikhānasas, snātakas, brahmacārīs and siddhas of every kind served Bhagavān Vishṇu there.
Seeing this divine kshetra, the king rejoiced: “Truly this is the kshetra of my mind. This is Purushottama. What I knew, I now know.” He resolved: “I will go to the shade of the banyan, and so that the auspicious form whose body is like a dark rain-cloud, the mūrti made of indranīla gem, may become visible to me, I will perform yajñas, do tapas, offer homas, meditate, fast and do arcanā.” With his mind fixed on nothing else, he resolved to build a temple of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 45–46
The temple and the aśvamedha
The king planned the Vishṇu-prāsāda and began it. He had the astrologers examine the ground and took counsel with jñānīs, masters of the Veda and śāstra, amātyas and mantrīs. At an auspicious muhūrta, with the strength of moon and stars and the favour of the grahas, he had the work begun by experts in vāstu, while auspicious instruments sounded and the Vedas were recited. With flowers, akshatas, parched grain, lamps and full pots he offered arghya to Bhagavān Vishṇu with bhakti.
He invited the lords of Kaliṅga, Utkala and Kośala and sent them with sculptors to the Vindhya mountain, by cart and boat, to bring stone fit for the image of the Svāmī. He sent messengers to give the good news to all the kings of the earth, and they came with their armies and households, from the four directions, from the mountains, the islands and the hills. To the assembled kings he said: “This puṇya kshetra gives bhukti and mukti. I am eager to perform an aśvamedha here and to build a Vishṇu-prāsāda. All of you must help me.” The kings rejoiced and brought, on elephants and horses, heaps of wealth beyond counting: gold, gems, pearls, diamonds, vaiḍūryas, shawls and new garments, and the nine grains, black gram, green gram, rice and sesame, until the granaries were full.
Seeing the materials of the yajña, the king was filled with joy. He saw the maharshis and devarshis, those of the four āśramas, the ācāryas, upādhyāyas and ṛtvijas and the sadasyas skilled in all the śāstras, and told his purohita to send brāhmaṇas who had mastered the Vedas to the lands to choose the horse for the aśvamedha. The royal purohita had a yajña enclosure built by the śāstra near a village, shining with royal mansions, jewelled vedis, golden pillars and arched gateways, with palaces for the visiting kings and lodgings, beds, seats and rich food for all the brāhmaṇas and vaiśyas who came. Great mahātmās, knowers of Brahman, came with their disciples, and the king himself welcomed them from the heart, without pomp. He watched every preparation with his ministers, and his body thrilled with joy.
When the yajña began, the sadasyas held debates on the meaning of the śāstras. The yajña enclosure surpassed the glory of Devendra, with full kalaśas, wooden yūpa posts set up as the Śruti says, and the yajña animals of land and water. Milk and curd flowed in streams, the dundubhis sounded, and it seemed as if all Jambū-dvīpa had gathered there. The company of the yajamāna’s wives, of noble family and conduct, adorned with gold, gems and pearls, gave the yajña a wondrous splendour, and great elephants, horses of Sindhu and armed soldiers guarded it.
As the yajamāna, the king commanded: “Bring the aśvamedha horse marked with every auspicious mark. Let the princes, well armed, follow and guard it. Let the ṛtvijas learned in the dharma-śāstra perform the homas. Bring a black goat, a black antelope, a bull of good breed, a he-buffalo, cows and cowherds. Perform the special ishṭis. After that the Vishṇu temple will be built. Give the vipras whatever they ask, and give every suppliant every kind of wealth, never saying no. This yajña must go on until Bhagavān Vishṇu grants me darśana in person.”
He gave gold, elephants, horses, cows and bulls by crores and arbudas, and to the knowers of the Veda many cows with golden caps on their horns and bronze vessels for milking. He gave priceless garments and ornaments, white beds, seats and coverings, corals, diamonds, vaiḍūryas and gomedhikas beyond measure. He performed kanyā-dāna of adorned maidens. He gave the fourfold feast, rich with ghṛta, pāyasa and cakes, and anna-dāna until every being was satisfied, and there was no end to his gifts. Devas, daityas, cāraṇas, gandharvas, apsarās, siddhas, ṛshis and kings were astonished. There was no one there soiled, wretched, hungry, troubled, dejected or sick in body or mind. In his kingdom there was no untimely death, no possession by grahas, bhūtas, pretas or piśācas and no touch of poison; the munis attained the highest siddhi in their tapas, and never before had a yajña been so rich in wealth and grain. So Indradyumna, best of kings, completed the aśvamedha and the Vishṇu-prāsāda according to rule and brought about the good of the world.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 47
The king’s longing and the Kāruṇya-stava
When the munis asked how the images were made and how Mādhava was pleased, Brahmā told them. With the yajña begun and the temple built, the thought of the image settled in the king’s mind night and day: “I do not know the Sarveśvara, maker of creation, sustenance and dissolution. How shall I behold that Svāmī?” He did not sleep, and all his wealth gave him no contentment. “Of stone, clay or wood, which is fit for the image of Vishṇu? What mūrti will please him?” Then he worshipped Purushottama by the Pāñcarātra rule and began to praise him.
His stotra is the Kāruṇya-stava, opening “Vāsudeva! Cause of moksha!”. He prayed to be saved from the ocean of birth and saṃsāra; he praised Bhagavān Vishṇu as one, though named in many forms, Balarāma, Saṅkarshaṇa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna and the forms beginning with Keśava, with Garuḍa, the conch, the discus and the dikpālas as his limbs; as pure being beyond name and form, unknown even to the devas; and as the arcā-mūrti the devas and bhaktas worship, four-armed, in yellow silk, bearing conch, discus and mace, with crown, Śrīvatsa and vanamālā. He told of his many births, as worm, beast and bird, as servant and as king, as beggar and as giver, in svarga, naraka and on earth, whirling like a pot on a water-wheel, and took refuge in Kṛshṇa: “Wherever I am born by my prārabdha, may I always have firm bhakti in you.” Praised thus, Bhagavān Vishṇu, whose banner is Garuḍa, was gracious and gave him whatever he desired in his heart.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 48–49
The dream and the tree on the shore
Having bowed to and praised Jagannātha, the king spread darbha grass on the ground with a cloth over it and lay down, his mind on the deva: “The Devadeva who removes my distress will appear before me.” In his sleep Bhagavān Vishṇu, the guru of the world, granted him darśana of his own form: eight-armed, bearing the śaṅkha, the cakra, the gadā and the bow Śārṅga, seated on the shoulders of the divine Garuḍa, ringed with light and shining like the sun at the end of a yuga.
Bhagavān Vishṇu said: “I am pleased with your yajña and with your bhakti and śraddhā. Why do you grieve for nothing? This image is worshipped by the world; it is sanātana, not of today. I will tell you how you will obtain it. When the sun rises, at the far edge of the sea, against the shore, a tree will be seen amid the waves, touching both water and land, unshaken by their blows. Take an axe, go alone into the water without fear, and when you see the tree with these marks, cut it without hesitation and make my divine mūrti from it. Let no other thought confuse you.” Then Hari withdrew. The king woke and was full of wonder.
All night he recited the mantras of Vishṇu and the Vishṇu-sūkta. At dawn he bathed in the sea and went down alone to the shore, with no horse, foot-soldier, elephant or charioteer. There he saw the puṇya tree: radiant, huge, very broad, tall and thick, at the water’s edge, red like mañjishṭhā, a tree whose kind and name no one could know. Rejoicing, he struck it with his sharp axe to cut it in two, and it was a wonder to see.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 50
The two brāhmaṇas and the three mūrtis
Then Viśvakarmā, the śilpī of the devas, and Bhagavān Vishṇu came there in the form of two brāhmaṇas, shining in one form, with divine garlands and divine fragrance. They said to the king, the friend of Indra: “Mahārāja, why have you cut this great tree alone, without a companion, in this wild forest on the shore of the great ocean?” The king saw them, like the moon and the sun, bowed, and stood with head bowed before them. “The thought arose in me to make an image for worshipping the endless Ananta-mūrti, Jagannātha,” he said. “In a dream that deva instructed me.”
Bhagavān Vishṇu smiled, pleased, and said: “Good, good, O king! This saṃsāra is without substance like a plantain leaf, full of sorrow, troubled by kāma and krodha, like a bubble on water. Because the thought of worshipping Vishṇu has come to you, you are blessed and adorned with good qualities, and blessed too are your people of the four varṇas, with their cities, villages, mountains and forests, and the earth you rule. Come and stand by this cool tree. This man with me is a great śilpī, equal to Viśvakarmā; he will make the image I intend.” The king came away from the shore and stood in the shade of the tree.
Bhagavān Vishṇu commanded the śilpī to carve three images: the first with eyes like lotus petals, the Śrīvatsa and Kaustubha on the chest, bearing the śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and Śārṅga; the second pure white like milk, with the svastika mark, holding the plough, the Ananta-mūrti; and the third Subhadrā, the sister of Vāsudeva, golden, supremely beautiful and marked with every auspicious mark. At that very moment Viśvakarmā made them. The Balarāma mūrti was white like the autumn moon, with red eyes, a large body, a head like a serpent’s hood, a dark garment and a single kuṇḍala, bearing the divine gadā and the musala. The Śrī Hari mūrti had eyes like white lotuses and a body blue like a rain-cloud and the atasī flower, with the yellow garment, the Śrīvatsa and the cakra in hand. The Subhadrā mūrti was golden, with wondrous ornaments, jewelled necklaces and armlets, lotus eyes and wondrous garments.
Seeing the divine mūrtis made in a moment, the king was amazed. “You two who have come as brāhmaṇas are devas of deeds beyond the human. Are you devas, yakshas or vidyādharas? Are you Brahmā and Vishṇu, the Vasus or the Aśvinī-kumāras? I cannot know. We take refuge in you. Reveal your own form to me.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 50
The darśana of Purushottama and the vara
Parameśvara said to Indradyumna: “O king, I am none of the yakshas or gandharvas, nor Mahendra, Brahmā or Rudra. Know me as Purushottama. I remove all pāpa; I am Ananta, of endless strength, to be worshipped by all beings. The one whom yogīs name as reached by jñāna and as Vāsudeva, whom the Vedāntas proclaim, is I. I am the three mūrtis; the dikpālas are I; the whole world, moving and unmoving, is I, and there is nothing other than me. I am pleased with you; ask a vara. My darśana does not come even in a dream to one without puṇya; because you are rich in firm bhakti, you have seen me directly.”
The king’s body thrilled, and he praised Bhagavān Vishṇu as Lakshmīnātha, wearer of yellow silk, Śrīnivāsa; as the first Purusha, Sarveśvara, facing every direction, eternal; as Hṛshīkeśa, beyond words, beyond the guṇas, subtle and all-knowing, bearing śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and musala, dark as the blue lotus, the giver of varas, lying on Śesha on the ocean of milk; and as the cause of moksha, all-pervading and imperishable. With joined palms he bowed and asked: “Jagannātha, the parama-pada on which devas, asuras, gandharvas, siddhas, sannyāsīs, yogīs and the knowers of moksha meditate, nirguṇa, stainless and peaceful, that pada I wish to attain by your grace.”
Bhagavān Vishṇu answered: “Good, O king. You will attain the place you desire by my grace; have no doubt. You will rule the kingdom for ten thousand nine hundred years, and then attain my divine pada. Your fame will be eternal. Your tīrtha, born of the limbs of the yajña, will bear the name Indradyumna-saras. There, honoured by the apsarases with the songs of the gandharvas, you will dwell in a vimāna and roam as long as fourteen Indras rule.” He also told of the seven-day festival in the maṇḍapa near the banyan, south-west of the lake, on Āshāḍha śukla pañcamī in the Maghā nakshatra. Having given the vara, Hari withdrew from sight together with Viśvakarmā.
The installation and Vishṇu-pada
Full of joy, thinking “I have attained my aim”, the king placed Balarāma, Kṛshṇa and Subhadrā on a chariot like a vimāna of the devas and took them in procession with his purohita, ministers and vassal kings. In a fine, pure place, at an auspicious lagna, he installed them, worshipped them according to rule, and honoured the ācārya and the ṛtvijas with abundant dakshiṇā. After that he performed many yajñas, and, his work done, gave up worldly pleasures and attained Vishṇu-pada. “This,” Brahmā tells the munis, “is the greatness of this Purushottama-kshetra.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 51
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 43–51