Vasudatta

Vasudatta is the name of the new Indra, the ruler of svarga (heaven). The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells that he is the earlier Suvrata, the son of the brāhmaṇa Somaśarma of the Revā tīrtha. In a still earlier life Suvrata was Dharmāṅgada, the prince of Vidiśā who gave himself for his father Rukmāṅgada.

Vasudatta therefore carries three lives of bhakti (devotion), tapas (austerity) and self-offering, with the grace of Bhagavān Viṣṇu at each step.

The three lives

  1. Dharmāṅgada. He was a prince of Vidiśā and the son of King Rukmāṅgada. He cut off his own head of his own will to complete his father’s tapas. For this great act he rose to Viṣṇuloka.
  2. Suvrata. He was born to the brāhmaṇa Somaśarma and Sumanā at the Revā tīrtha, as the fruit of their tapas, blessed by Bhagavān Viṣṇu. From childhood he lived wholly in dhyāna (meditation) on Bhagavān Viṣṇu. He practised tapas at Vaidūrya Parvata, received the darśana (sight) of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, and went up bodily to Viṣṇuloka with his parents.
  3. Vasudatta. From Viṣṇuloka he was reborn, or appointed, as Vasudatta, the new Indra of svarga.

Indra’s office and Vasudatta’s fitness

The appointment of Vasudatta as Indra comes inside the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa’s larger account of choosing a new Indra. The earlier Indra had completed his term through the cosmic cycle. Bhagavān Viṣṇu had made promises to Aditi, the mother of the devas, to protect svarga through his avatāras, among them Paraśurāma, Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. The choice of the new Indra belongs to this same ordering of the worlds.

Vasudatta’s fitness for the post rests on these points:

  • The tapas gathered over three lives.
  • His nearness to Bhagavān Viṣṇu. He rose to Viṣṇuloka itself before he was sent to Indra’s seat.
  • The special qualities of pitṛ-bhakti (devotion to his parents) and dharma-niṣṭhā (firmness in dharma) that his three lives show.
  • The formal recognition of his identity and worth by Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.

Indra in the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa shows Indra as a bhakta of very great merit, raised to his place by the will of Bhagavān Viṣṇu and set in the governance of the worlds.

Sources

  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 22
  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–5