Pramati (father of Sumati)

Pramati · pra-mati, “of excellent understanding”

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

Pramati was a powerful emperor (samrāṭ), “a bull among kshatriyas”, who conquered all his enemies and went to the world of Indra. There he laughed at Indra playing dice with the Maruts, played against him and won the apsarā Urvaśī and then the vajra and the chariot of victory, and defeated even Viśvāvasu, the chief of the gandharvas, who played with the gandharva lore. Grown proud, he told Indra to become his worshipper and ordered Urvaśī to be his servant maid. Then Citrasena, the son of Viśvāvasu, played him for the kingdom and for both their lives, won everything, and bound him with the nooses of the gandharvas. Pramati was held in the world of the devas for a thousand years, until his young son Sumati, guided by the purohita Madhucchandas of the family of Viśvāmitra, went to the Gautamī, bowed to Bhagavān Vishṇu, worshipped Bhagavān Śiva and performed tapas. By the grace of Śiva and Vishṇu and his son’s effort, Pramati was freed and regained his kingdom, and because he had gained the gandharva lore he became a favourite of Indra. Brahmā tells the account to Nārada as the glory of Urvaśītīrtha on the Gautamī.

The game with Indra

Brahmā tells Nārada of Urvaśītīrtha, where Maheśvara and Bhagavān Vishṇu, the wielder of the Śārṅga bow, dwell. There was a powerful emperor named Pramati. After conquering his enemies he went at once to Indraloka, where the devas dwell, and saw Devendra with the Maruts. Pramati laughed at Indra, who had dice in his hands. Seeing him laugh, Indra said: “You have reached svarga after conquering the quarters. Enough of play with the Maruts; play with me.”

Pramati said: “So be it. But what do you offer as stake?” Indra said: “Urvaśī alone is our stake. She can be obtained only through every kind of yajña. O king, what do you offer?” Pramati answered with pride: “Devendra, I will stake whatever you say.” Indra said: “Then stake your right hand, the hand of dharma, together with its arm-guard and its arrows.”

They played, and Pramati won the stake, the apsarā Urvaśī. Bold with his win, he said: “Offer something else, and I will play with you again.” Indra said: “I stake the vajra, worthy of the devas, and the excellent chariot famous in victorious campaigns, against your arm.” Pramati laughed, took other dice set with jewels, and said: “It is won by me.”

Viśvāvasu and the pride of Pramati

Then Viśvāvasu, the chief of the gandharvas, well versed in dice, came there and said: “O king, we shall play with you by means of the gandharva lore (gāndharva-vidyā).” The king agreed, and again said: “It is won by me.”

Having defeated both, the king foolishly spoke shameful words to Devendra: “You will never be victorious, Mahendra, either in battle or at dice. So become my worshipper. Tell me, by what means did you gain the place of Devendra?” And he said to Urvaśī with pride: “Go, be our servant maid.” Urvaśī answered: “I shall behave towards you as I do towards the devas, with noble feeling. It does not befit you to despise me.” Pramati said: “I have servant maids like you. Why are you ashamed? Go, be our servant maid.”

Citrasena’s game and the gandharva nooses

Hearing the king, the powerful Citrasena, king of the gandharvas and son of Viśvāvasu, said: “O king, I will play dice with you with all these as stake: the kingdom, my life and your life.” Pramati said “So be it”, and they played with great excitement. This time Citrasena won. He bound the king with the strong nooses (pāśas) of the gandharvas and won all that Pramati had ever possessed: his kingdom, his treasury, his army and his other wealth, and chief of all, Urvaśī herself.

Sumati and Madhucchandas

Meanwhile Pramati’s son Sumati, still a boy, asked his purohita Madhucchandas, a wise ṛshi of the family of Viśvāmitra: “What pāpa has my father committed? Where is that wise king held? How will he come home, and how will he be freed from the nooses?” Madhucchandas sat in dhyāna for a while and said: “Your father is held prisoner in the world of the devas. He has been ousted from his kingdom by cunning gamblers.”

Then he taught the boy the fault of gambling. Even one who only walks into an assembly of gamblers comes to pain. Gambling, liquor and meat are the vices of those given to pāpa; even one of them alone leads to naraka and great pāpa. Drawn by gamblers and cheats, even men of noble birth fall into quarrels. The gambler’s wife is ever dejected, and the gambler, looking at her, feels no joy and says to himself: “In the whole world there is no pāpī like me.” No gambler is seen happy in this world or the next: his mind is scorched by shame, he has lost his dharma, and he wanders with all he owned forfeited. A brāhmaṇa may take to farming, cattle-keeping or trade, but never to gambling. “The Vedas forbid it for its faults, yet your father took it up eagerly. What shall we do? Whatever you say shall be carried out.”

Sumati asked what his father must do to regain the kingdom. Madhucchandas meditated again and said: “Go to the Gautamī. There worship Śaṅkara, Aditi, Varuṇa and Vishṇu. By that he will be freed of his nooses.”

Release at the Gautamī

Sumati said “So be it” and hastened to the Gaṅgā. He bowed to Bhagavān Vishṇu and worshipped Bhagavān Śiva, and keeping all the niyamas he performed tapas. So he freed his father from the world of the devas, where Pramati had been held prisoner for a thousand years, and Pramati regained his kingdom. By the grace of Śiva and Vishṇu and the effort of his own son he was freed from the nooses, and because he had gained the gandharva lore, he became a favourite of Indra.

From then on the tīrtha is called Śāmbhava (of Śambhu), Vaishṇava (of Vishṇu), Urvaśītīrtha and Kaitava (of the gambler). Brahmā says: “What cannot be gained through the grace of Śiva, of Vishṇu and of the Gautamī, the mother of all rivers?”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 101

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 101