Maru (Ikshvāku King)

Maru · maru, “the desert”

Maru is a king of the Ikshvāku line, the Sūrya vaṃśa, in the line that came down from Kuśa, the son of Śrī Rāma. He was the son of Śīghra and the father of Prasuśruta. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells that Maru conquered death by the power of yoga and lives even now in the village called Kalāpa. When the Sūrya vaṃśa has disappeared, at the end of the Kali yuga, he will set it going again.

With him in Kalāpa lives Devāpi, the brother of Śantanu, of the lunar line. Both have great yoga-śakti. Bhagavān Kalki will give them his teaching, and at the end of the Kali yuga they will come to Āryāvarta and spread the dharma of the varṇas and āśramas as it was in the Kṛta yuga.

His place in the Ikshvāku line

Śuka Maharshi, telling Parīkshit the kings of the Raghu vaṃśa after Śrī Rāma, gives the line from Kuśa, each king the son of the one before: Kuśa, Atithi, Nishadha, Nabha, Puṇḍarīka, Kshemadhanvā, Devānīka, Anīha, Pāriyātra, Balasthala, Vajranābha, Khagaṇa, Vidhṛti, Hiraṇyanābha, Pushya, Dhruvasandhi, Sudarśana, Agnivarṇa, Śīghra, and then Maru.

Maru conquered death by yoga and is now living in the village called Kalāpa. At the end of the Kali yuga he will again set going the Sūrya vaṃśa, which will have disappeared.

Maru’s son was Prasuśruta, and the line went on through Sandhi, Amarshaṇa, Mahasvanta, Viśvasāhva, Prasenajit and Takshaka to Bṛhadvala, whom Abhimanyu slew in the Mahābhārata war.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 12

Waiting in Kalāpa

Closing his account of the Kali age and of the line of Vaivasvata Manu, Śuka tells Parīkshit that of all those great men only their fame remains on the earth; they are known now only by their names and their accounts. But Devāpi, the brother of Śantanu, and Maru, born in the Ikshvāku line, are even now in the village of Kalāpa, and they have great yoga-śakti. 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 12, Chapter 2

Sources

• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 12; Skandha 12, Chapter 2