Dhṛtavrata (husband of Mahī)
Dhṛtavrata · dhṛta-vrata, “firm in his vows”
Vijaya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vijaya. Mahī has other meanings too: see all meanings of Mahī.
Dhṛtavrata was a brāhmaṇa, pure and dīkshita (initiated into the Vedic rites). His wife was Mahī, the most beautiful woman in the world, and their son was Sanājjāta, who shone like the sun. Mṛtyu, urged by Kāla (time), took Dhṛtavrata away while his son was still young.
His wife and son
Brahmā tells Nārada of the Pāpapraṇāśana tīrtha on the Gautamī. After Dhṛtavrata’s death, the young widow Mahī, seeing no one to protect her, left their son in the āśrama of the ṛshi Gālava and wandered from land to land, at last living as a veśyā (courtesan) at Janasthāna. Sanājjāta grew up in Gālava’s āśrama and mastered the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, yet he too was given to desire, and in time he also came to Janasthāna. By the turn of daiva (fate) mother and son came together without either knowing the other.
Brahmā says that though Sanājjāta’s acts were bad, he kept a good mind through the puṇya of his father. He never gave up his morning prayers, bathed every day in the Gautamī and bowed to Gālava, and the river washed his pāpa away each day. When at last Mahī told him, “There was a pure, initiated brāhmaṇa named Dhṛtavrata. I am Mahī, his wife,” he knew her, and told Gālava, “I am the son of Dhṛtavrata.” By Gālava’s word mother and son bathed in that tīrtha and were freed of their pāpa, and the tīrtha has since been called Dhautapāpa.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 22
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 22