Utkala (Son of Sudyumna)

Utkala

Utkala was one of the three heirs of Sudyumna, the son of Manu, all three of them supremely dhārmika (devoted to dharma). His brothers were Gaya and Vinatāśva. The land that Utkala held came to be called Utkala after him.

Ilā and Sudyumna

The Sūta tells the munis the line of the Sun. Ilā was born from the aṃśa (portion) of Mitra and Varuṇa. When Manu told her to follow him, she went to Mitra and Varuṇa with joined palms, and they said to her: “We are pleased with your dharma, your humility, your control of the senses and your truth. You will be famed as our daughter. You will also be the son who carries on Manu’s line, dear to the world, of dharmic conduct, and famed in the three worlds by the name Sudyumna.” On her way back, Budha, the son of Soma, desired her, and from him she bore a son named Purūravas. After that she became a man by the name Sudyumna.

Utkala, Gaya and Vinatāśva

Sudyumna had three heirs, supremely dhārmika: Utkala, Gaya and Vinatāśva. Utkala’s land was called Utkala; Vinatāśva held the western direction; and Gaya’s eastern land was called Gaya.

When Manu entered into Sūrya, his heirs, of the kshatriya jāti, divided the earth into ten parts, and the eldest, Ikshvāku, received the Madhya-deśa, the middle country. Sudyumna, because he had once been a maiden, had no share of the kingdom. By the word of Vasishṭha he was given a settled place at Pratishṭhāna, and he gave it to Purūravas. Though Manu’s son, he had the marks of both woman and man, was called Ilā-Sudyumna, and ruled the earth.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 7

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 7