Vasuhoma

Vasuhoma was a king of the Aṅga dynasty. He appears in the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata as the king who asks the question that begins the Daṇḍotpatti narrative, the account of how daṇḍa began. Māndhātā answers him.

His question

Vasuhoma asked how daṇḍa (the force of governance, the rod of law) came into existence in the world. He asked it as a king who had received the duties of rule and wished to know their source. Māndhātā gave him the answer by going back to the first creation.

Māndhātā’s answer

The account Māndhātā gives traces the origin of daṇḍa through these steps:

• Brahmā first made Kshupa, who was born from Brahmā’s sneeze, and gave him daṇḍa as its first holder.
• Great disorder followed when daṇḍa vanished from the world.
• Brahmā appealed to Mahādeva, who made daṇḍa again.
• Sarasvatī made daṇḍanīti, the science of governance.
• Mahādeva named rulers over the different domains.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapter 122