Priyavrata

Priyavrata was the eldest son of Svāyambhuva Manu and Śatarūpā. He was the first emperor of the earth. He divided the whole bhū-maṇḍala (the circle of the earth) into seven dvīpas (island-continents) and gave each one to one of his seven sons. In this way he became the father of the royal lines of all seven dvīpas.

His son Āgnīdhra received Jambū-dvīpa. From Āgnīdhra’s line came Nābhi, and then Ṛṣabhadeva, from whom came Bharata, the first great king of Bhārata-varṣa.

Family

Priyavrata was born as the eldest son of Svāyambhuva Manu, the first Manu, who was himself born from the form of Brahmā at the start of the present kalpa (age of creation). His mother was Śatarūpā, the radiant wife of Svāyambhuva Manu, rich in tapas (austerity). Priyavrata had a younger brother, Uttānapāda, from whose line came the great devotee Dhruva, and two sisters, Ākūti and Prasūti.

Priyavrata married a daughter of the Prajāpati Kardama. They had ten sons and two daughters. Of the ten sons, seven are honoured as the founders of the seven dvīpas. (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 107)

The partition of the earth

The Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 107) says that Priyavrata, as emperor of the whole earth, divided the bhū-maṇḍala into seven great dvīpas and gave the rule of each to one of his seven sons.

Each son became the first ruler of his dvīpa and the ancestor of its people. The seven dvīpas, with the oceans around them, make up the whole structure of Bhū-maṇḍala in this age. The Agni Purāṇa presents the partition as a righteous ordering of creation under dharma. Each dvīpa received its proper guardian, and its people followed the varṇāśrama-dharma (the duties of the social orders and stages of life) fitting that region.

Āgnīdhra and the line of Jambū-dvīpa

Āgnīdhra received Jambū-dvīpa, the central and most sacred continent, where Mount Meru stands. His nine sons in turn received the nine varṣas of Jambū-dvīpa. The son Nābhi received the southern part, Bhārata-varṣa, as his realm.

From Nābhi and his queen Merudevī was born Ṛṣabhadeva, the great king and ṛṣi whom the Purāṇas honour as a very high manifestation of dharma. From Ṛṣabhadeva was born Bharata, the first paramount king of the southern land. The whole realm takes the name Bhārata-varṣa from him, and the line of the Pūru kings finally comes down from him. (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 107)

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Chapter 50) gives nearly the same account, with some change in the names of the daughters. It names Priyavrata’s daughter Sāmrāṭ and also Kukṣi. It names the sons Medha, Agnibāhu and Mitra as further children besides the seven rulers of the dvīpas. The partition of the earth among the seven sons is the same as in the Agni Purāṇa. (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 50)

The Liṅga Purāṇa

The Liṅga Purāṇa (Pūrvārdha, Chapter 46) also records the partition of the bhū-maṇḍala by Priyavrata. It gives the same seven lords of the dvīpas, but names the lord of Śāka-dvīpa Havya, not Bhavya as in the Agni Purāṇa.

The Liṅga Purāṇa adds this about the seven dvīpas:

In all seven dvīpas, Sāmba-Sadāśiva dwells in various forms with his gaṇas.

So Priyavrata’s partition of the earth did not cut the dvīpas off from the presence of Parameśvara. Sadāśiva is present in all seven at once, in many divine forms. The Liṅga Purāṇa also records that Savana’s two sons, Mahāvīta and Dhātaki, gave their names to the two varṣas of Puṣkara-dvīpa, Mahāvīta and Dhātaki-khaṇḍa.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa (5th Skanda, Chapter 1)

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells the story of Priyavrata, the Priyavrata Upākhyāna, with deep teaching. Priyavrata at first leaned toward renunciation. He was a disciple of Nārada Maharṣi and did not want to be a king. Brahmā came down in person from Satyaloka to advise him. Brahmā explained that all beings, Brahmā himself, Śiva and Nārada too, serve the will of Bhagavān Hari. He said that ruling the earth in the spirit of that service is not lower than renunciation.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa names the ten sons born to Priyavrata and his chief queen Barhiṣmatī: Āgnīdhra, Idhmajihva, Yajñabāhu, Mahāvīra, Hiraṇyaretas, Ghṛtakṛṣṇa, Savana, Medhātithi, Vītihotra and Kavi. Kavi, Mahāvīra and Savana chose the paramahaṃsa path of renunciation from the very beginning. The other seven ruled the seven dvīpas.

By a second wife, Priyavrata had three more sons, Uttama, Tāmasa and Raivata. They became the lords of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Manvantaras. His daughter Ūrjasvatī was given in marriage to Śukrācārya and became the mother of Devayānī.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa says that Priyavrata ruled for eleven crore (110 million) years. He drove his chariot seven times around the earth, following the path of the sun. Its wheels cut seven furrows, which became the seven great oceans and set the seven island-continents apart. After this rule over the whole world, and after giving the seven dvīpas to his seven sons, he gave up his rule and went back to the paramahaṃsa path. In the end he attained mokṣa (liberation).

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (Pūrva Bhāga, Chapters 14–15) agrees on the partition into seven dvīpas, with some details of its own.

It calls Priyavrata the pautra (grandson) of Svāyambhuva Manu, not his son, but it does not name the generation between them. His wife was the daughter of Kardama Prajāpati, and they had ten sons and two daughters, Samrāṭ and Kukṣī. The ten sons were Agnīdhra, Agnibāhu, Medha, Medhātithi, Vasu (the same as Vapuṣmān), Jyotiṣmān, Dyutimān, Havya, Savana and Satra. Seven of them were set over the seven dvīpas. Three of them, Agnibāhu, Medha and Satra, were not given the rule of a dvīpa.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa names Havya, not Bhavya, as the lord of Śāka-dvīpa, as the Liṅga Purāṇa does. It names the seven sons of each lord of a dvīpa and lists their varṣas:

• Puṣkara (Savana): sons Mahāvīta and Dhātaki, who gave rise to Mahāvīta-varṣa and Dhātakī-khaṇḍa.
• Śāka (Havya): Jalada, Kumāra, Sukumāra, Majīvaka, Kusumottama, Modaka, Mahādruma.
• Krauñca (Dyutimān): Kuśala, Manonu, Uṣṇa, Pāvana, Andhakāraka, Muni, Dundubhi.
• Kuśa (Jyotiṣmān): Udbhijña, Veṇumān, Vairatha, Lavaṇa, Dhṛti, Prabhākara, Kapila.
• Śālmali (Vapuṣmān): Śveta, Harīta, Jīmūta, Rohita, Vaidyuta, Mānata, Suprabhā.
• Plakṣa (Medhātithi): Jyeṣṭha (Śāntabhaya), Śiśira, Sukhodaya, Nanda, Śivanāma, Kṣemaka, Dhruva.
• Jambū (Āgnīdhra): nine sons, Nābhi (the eldest), Kimpuruṣa, Harivarṣa, Ilāvṛta, Ramya, Hiraṇvān, Kuru, Bhadrāśva and Ketumāla. Each son received one of the nine parts of Jambū-dvīpa.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa then gives a long royal line for Bhārata-varṣa: Nābhi, Ṛṣabha, Bharata, Sumatī, Tejasa, Indradyumna, Parameṣṭhi, Pratihāra and onward for many generations. It sets out the whole family line of the ruling houses of Bhārata-varṣa down to Śatajit, the 22nd-generation descendant of Bharata, whose hundred sons filled the whole land. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa adds that after the pralaya (dissolution), these same seven varṣas are set up again in each new manvantara by the lines of the same seven kings of the dvīpas.

Sources

• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 107
• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 50
• Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 46
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 5th Skanda, Chapter 1
• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrva Bhāga, Chapters 14–15