Maladā (daughter of Raudrāśva)

Maladā

Maladā is one of the ten daughters of King Raudrāśva of the line of Pūru. With her nine sisters she became the wife of Prabhākara, a ṛshi born in the line of Atri, and the ten sisters bore him the ten Svastyātreyas, masters of the Veda.

Her family

The Sūta tells the munis the line of Pūru. Pūru’s son was Suvīra; then came Manasyu, Abhayada, Sudhanvan, Subāhu and Raudrāśva. Raudrāśva had ten sons, Daśārṇeyu, Kṛkaṇeyu, Kaksheyu, Sthaṇḍileyu, Sannateyu, Ṛceyu, Jaleyu, Sthaleyu, Dhaneyu and Vaneyu, and ten daughters: Bhadrā, Śūdrā, Madrā, Śaladā, Maladā, Khaladā, Naladā, Surasā, Gocavalā and Strīratnakūṭā.

Wife of Prabhākara

Prabhākara of the line of Atri became the husband of all ten daughters. On Bhadrā he begot the famous Soma. When Sūrya, struck down by Rāhu at an eclipse, was falling from the sky and the world was plunged in darkness, light came through Prabhākara alone: he said, “Svasti be to you!”, and at once Sūrya stopped falling from the mid-air. Prabhākara became the founder of the Ātreya gotras, of which Atri is the head. On his ten wives he begot ten sons, masters of the Veda and founders of gotras, who became famous as the Svastyātreyas, named from the “svasti” that Prabhākara spoke to Sūrya.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 13

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 13