Vena, the cruel king and father of Pṛthu

Vena was the son of the rājarṣi (royal seer) Aṅga and his wife Sunīthā, the daughter of Mṛtyu (Death). He was born after Aṅga offered a putra-kāmeṣṭi (a fire rite for a son) to Śrī Hari. From his grandfather Death he took a cruel nature. His reign was short and brought ruin, because he banned all yajñas, all dāna (giving) and all devotion to the devas other than himself. The ṛṣis ended his life. From his body they brought out the dark ancestor of the Niṣādas, who carried his pāpa (sin), and the shining pair Pṛthu and Arcī. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa says Vena was freed from the narakas (hells) by the puṇya (merit) of his son Pṛthu.

Birth

Vena was born to Aṅga Mahārāja and Sunīthā, who was the daughter of Mṛtyu. Aṅga performed a putra-kāmeṣṭi to get a son. The homa (fire offering) brought forth a shining puruṣa holding pāyasa (sweet milk rice). Aṅga gave it to Sunīthā, and she conceived. The child took after his mother’s family through Mṛtyu, not after his father’s purity. From birth he followed the nature of Death and took joy in cruelty. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapter 13)

His nature

Vena tormented animals in the forest. He beat his playmates hard, as if they were cattle. Even as a child he was feared. Aṅga tried every way of correcting him, and nothing worked. When his grief over this son became too heavy to bear, Aṅga left his kingdom in the night. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapter 13)

Coronation and tyranny

With no king, the land fell to thieves. The ṛṣis asked Sunīthā and, with reluctance, set Vena on the throne. They reasoned that even a harsh king is better than no king. When the thieves heard of his coronation, they hid at once, because Vena was known to punish without mercy.

Drunk with royal power, Vena soon became a full tyrant. He sent heralds through the land to proclaim that no yajña was to be performed, no dāna given and no homa lit, except in his own honour. All devotion was to go to him alone. The Bhāgavatam records his declaration: “Viṣṇu, Brahmā, Śiva, Indra, all the devas live in the body of the king. I alone am the ruler and the only one fit to be worshipped.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapter 14)

The counsel of the ṛṣis

The ṛṣis, Bhṛgu and others among them, gathered and talked it over. They saw the double calamity: thieves on one side and the tyrant king on the other. They said, “We placed the evil Vena on the throne for fear of lawlessness, and now the lawlessness comes from the king himself.” They decided to go to him first with advice.

In gentle words they explained the foundations of the king’s dharma. A king’s prosperity rests on his people following their svadharma (own duty) and honouring Yajñeśvara Śrī Hari. The king receives one-sixth of his people’s puṇya when he protects them, and he bears their pāpa when he does not. All the lokapālas (guardians of the worlds) live in the king’s body and give him power to rule.

Vena heard them and answered with scorn. He called the ṛṣis fools who take their own opinion for dharma. He spoke of Viṣṇu as a lesser figure who served his own rule. He declared himself the yajña-puruṣa. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapter 14)

Death

The ṛṣis’ patience was gone. They said, “This wicked man is already dead in spirit, because he insulted Śrī Hari.” With their huṃkāras, the fearful sound-breath of angry ṛṣis, Vena fell dead. Sunīthā kept his body safe with mantras and other means. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapter 14)

The Niṣāda ancestor and the pair Pṛthu and Arcī

The ṛṣis sitting on the banks of the Sarasvatī soon saw signs of new disorder. Thieves ran about unchecked, and dust rose on every horizon. They decided that the line of the great Aṅga must not end.

They churned Vena’s left thigh. From it came a short, dark, flat-nosed figure with copper-coloured hair and red eyes. He was born carrying all of Vena’s pāpa. The ṛṣis said, “Sit!” (niṣīda), and he became the ancestor of the Niṣāda hunters, who carry that line in the forests. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapter 14)

Then the ṛṣis churned Vena’s arms. From them rose a shining pair, a man and a woman. The man bore the marks of Śrī Hari’s aṃśa (a part of him), and the woman those of Lakṣmīdevī’s aṃśa. They were Pṛthu and Arcī, who became the first king of the whole earth and his queen. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapter 15)

Freed through Pṛthu’s puṇya

In Pṛthu’s stuti (praise) at the great satra (a long yajña), there is this declaration: “Even Vena, killed by the ṛṣis’ śāpa (curse), escaped naraka through the puṇya of his son Pṛthu.” The Purāṇas state that a righteous son’s puṇya can free even a father who carries pāpa from the narakas. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapter 21)

Vena in the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa

The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 36, Pūrva Bhāga) places Vena in the royal line of the Cākṣuṣa Manvantara.

Lineage

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa traces Vena’s ancestry through the Cākṣuṣa line: Dhruva, then Sṛṣṭi (Dhruva’s son), then Prācīnagarbha, Udāradhi, Dīñjaya, and Ripu. Ripu’s wife Bṛhatī gave birth to Cakṣuṣa, then came Cākṣuṣa Manu, and his son Ūru. Ūru’s wife Āgneyī bore him six sons, and Aṅga was one of them. Aṅga and his wife Sunīthā, the daughter of Mṛtyu, were the parents of Vena.

Tyranny and the ṛṣis’ warning

In this Purāṇa too, Vena banned all yajñas, all dāna and all devotion to the devas, and named himself the only one to be honoured. The ṛṣis, led by Marīci, gathered and came to him with careful advice: “O king, we are beginning a dīkṣā (vow of initiation) of a hundred years. Do not do adharma. Remember the promise you made before your coronation. The king who protects his people receives one-sixth of their puṇya. The one who fails them bears their pāpa.” Vena laughed at them. He declared himself the highest authority on dharma, beyond whom no ṛṣi could speak.

The left arm churned: birth of the Niṣāda

The ṛṣis could not persuade him. They seized Vena firmly and churned his vāma-hasta (left arm). From it came first a dark, short figure, described as krodhāviṣṭa, who crouched with joined palms before them. The ṛṣis ordered, “niṣīda” (sit down). That being became the ancestor of the Niṣāda people, who carry Vena’s gathered pāpa. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa also says that from this same act came the ancestors of the forest peoples who live in the Vindhya hills, the Tamburas, the Tumburus and the Khasas. All of them were beings of adharma nature, born of Vena’s impurity.

According to the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the Niṣāda came from Vena’s churned thigh (ūru).

The right arm churned: birth of Pṛthu

The ṛṣis then seized Vena’s dakṣiṇa-hasta (right arm) and churned it like an araṇi (fire-stick). From it came Pṛthu, blazing like Agni, holding the great Ājagava bow, arrows and armour. He was bright with the marks of Śrī Hari’s aṃśa. The ṛṣis said to the gathered people, “Rejoice! This is your king!” Vena, freed through the puṇya of his son, reached svarga (heaven).

Vena in the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa (Chapters 28–39) tells the Vena and Pṛthu account after Brahmā’s appointments of rulers over the cosmos (Chapter 27). It adds a long section in which Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa himself teaches Vena before his end. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa comes in the form of a caṇḍāla (an outcaste). This is the third birth of Dharmarāja, who was cursed by Durvāsa’s śāpa. The teaching is on dāna, kāla (time), tīrtha and supātra-lakṣaṇa (the marks of a fit receiver of gifts).

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa’s teaching to Vena

In the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa appears as a caṇḍāla who stands for Dharma in its lowered earthly form. This follows Durvāsa’s śāpa on Dharma in Chapter 14. He comes to Vena and gives him instruction. The teaching fills Chapters 32–39 and is one of the longest unbroken teachings on dharmic practice in the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa. Its parts are:

Nityanaimittika dāna-phala. The difference between nitya dāna (daily giving that must be done, where leaving it out is a fault) and naimittika dāna (giving at special times and on special occasions), and the different measures of phala (fruit) that each brings.

Dāna kālas. The good times for giving: solar and lunar occasions, visits to tīrthas, eclipses and saṃkrānti (the sun’s move into a new sign). The phala of the same gift grows according to the time in which it is given.

Tīrtha-māhātmya. A teaching on the order of tīrthas and on what makes up the inner nature of a tīrtha. It is not only the place on the ground. It is the tapas gathered there by those who practised in it, and the presence of Bhagavān Viṣṇu made firm there through devotion.

Supātra-lakṣaṇa. The marks of a fit receiver (supātra) of dāna: Vedic learning, conduct, family and practice, which make a brāhmaṇa or other receiver fit for the highest kind of dāna-phala. A gift to an unfit receiver (apātra) gives little or no fruit. A gift to a supātra multiplies the merit of the gift without measure.

(Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 32–39)

The Bhūmi Khaṇḍa account of Pṛthu’s birth

In the Bhūmi Khaṇḍa (Chapter 29), Pṛthu comes from Vena’s right arm, blazing with divine light and holding weapons. The Niṣāda comes from the left side. The appointments of Brahmā before this account (Chapter 27) set the scene. Pṛthu is born into a world that Brahmā has already ordered, with a chosen ruler for each domain: Candra for plants, Varuṇa for waters, Kubera for yakṣas and Yama for the pitṛs. Pṛthu’s birth and his appointment as the first king complete this order on the earth. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 27–29)

Vena in the Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa

In the Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa (Pradhamāṃśa, Chapter 13), Vena’s chief wrong is that he openly denies the authority of the Vedas and bans all yajña and all devotion, declaring himself the highest. The ṛṣis sent several messengers to advise him. When all appeals to dharma failed, they killed him with kuśa grass charged with the power of mantras.

From Vena’s churned right arm Pṛthu came out, fully formed as a warrior and a ruler, blazing with divine splendour. The Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa names Pṛthu plainly as an aṃśa (a part) of Bhagavān Viṣṇu himself. (Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pradhamāṃśa, Chapter 13)

Vena in the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva

The Mahābhārata tells the account of Vena and Pṛthu in Chapter 59 of the Śānti Parva (the Sūtrādhyāya). Bhīṣma tells it to Yudhiṣṭhira in answer to his question on the origin of kingship. In this account:

Vena’s mother Sunīthā is named as the mānasa-putrī (mind-born daughter) of Mṛtyu, the daughter of Death himself.
The line before Vena runs from Viṣṇu’s making of Virajasa, down through Kīrtimān, Kardama and Anaṅga (Aṅga), and Atibala, to Vena.
The ṛṣis kill Vena with mantras used as weapons (kuśa blades), not with a huṃkāra sound as in the Bhāgavata.
From the left thigh come the Niṣādas and the Mlecchas.
Pṛthu comes from the right arm.
The coronation account includes Lakṣmī coming forth from Viṣṇu’s forehead, and the naming of Śukrācārya as Pṛthu’s purohita (family priest).

In this account, Bhagavān Viṣṇu enters the king through the king’s tapas, and so the king becomes his partial form on earth. A king who keeps dharma stands for Bhagavān Viṣṇu. An unrighteous king such as Vena loses this divine support and is destroyed. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 59)

Sources

Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapters 13–15 and Chapter 21
Viṣṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pradhamāṃśa, Chapter 13
Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrva Bhāga, Chapter 36
Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Bhūmi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 27–39
Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 59 (Sūtrādhyāya)