Tumburu
Tumburu
Tumburu is a gandharva, the best of the gandharva singers, and the companion of Nārada Maharshi. In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa he goes with Nārada from world to world, and he leads the gandharvas in song wherever a great event of dharma takes place: when Dhruva rose to his eternal place, when Mahārāja Pṛthu was born as an aṃśa of Śrī Hari, when Śrī Kṛshṇa set Govardhana back in its place, and when Kāmadhenu and Indra performed the abhisheka of Śrī Kṛshṇa as Govinda. With Nārada he sang the glories of Bhagavān Ananta in the sabhā of Brahmā. In the order of Sūrya‘s months he is the gandharva who, with Sūrya, conducts the month of Caitra.
The companion of Nārada Maharshi
After Vidura, Dhṛtarāshṭra and Gāndhārī had left Hastināpura without a word, Dharmarāja Yudhishṭhira was lost in grief. Then the revered Nārada Maharshi came there with Tumburu. Dharmarāja and his brothers rose, went to meet them and bowed to them, and, in his grief, offered them pūjā. Nārada taught him not to grieve and told him where his elders had gone and what would come to pass. Having said this, Nārada went to svarga (the heavenly world) together with Tumburu, and Dharmarāja, remembering Nārada’s words, gave up his grief.
Śuka tells Parīkshit that once Nārada, the son of Brahmā, worthy of pūjā, together with Tumburu, sang at length the glories of Bhagavān Ananta in the sabhā of Brahmā: how the guṇas of māyā create, sustain and withdraw the world only by the will of Parabrahman, and how Ananta, out of his great compassion, has taken a pure form in which sattva shines.
Nārada himself tells Yudhishṭhira that when Hiraṇyakaśipu, by his own power, sat on the throne of Mahendra and ruled the three worlds, Viśvāvasu, Tumburu and those like Nārada sang his glory, and the gandharvas, siddhas, maharshis, vidyādharas and apsarases praised him again and again.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 13; Skandha 5, Chapter 25; Skandha 7, Chapter 4
The singer at the great events
Maitreya tells Vidura that when Dhruva, having bathed and done his daily rites, placed his foot on the head of Death and mounted the wondrous vimāna sent by Śrī Hari, kettle-drums, mṛdaṅgas and drums sounded, Tumburu and the other chief gandharvas sang gloriously, and rains of flowers fell.
When the maharshis churned the arms of King Vena and Pṛthu and Arci were born, an aṃśa of Śrī Hari and an avatāra of Lakshmī Devī, the brāhmaṇas praised Pṛthu, and Tumburu and the other best of the gandharvas sang, the siddhas rained flowers and the apsarases danced, while conches, trumpets, drums and dundubhis sounded in the sky.
When Śrī Kṛshṇa, the all-powerful, had held up Govardhana for the people of Gokula and set the mountain back in its place, the devatās in the sky sounded conches and dundubhis, and the best of the gandharvas, headed by Tumburu, sang. Soon after, when Kāmadhenu performed the abhisheka of Śrī Kṛshṇa with her own milk, and Indra with the waters of the Ākāśagaṅgā and gave him the name Govinda, Devarshi Nārada, Tumburu, Citraratha and the other gandharvas, with the vidyādharas, siddhas and cāraṇas who had come there, sang the glory of Śrī Hari, which removes the pāpa (wrongdoing) of people, and the apsarases danced with joy.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapters 12, 15; Skandha 10, Chapters 25, 27
In the gaṇa of Sūrya
Sūta tells Śaunaka that Bhagavān Sūrya, taking the form of time, moves through the twelve months with twelve gaṇas of seven. In the month of Caitra the seven are Dhātā, the Sūrya of the month; Kṛtasthalī, the apsarā; Heti, the rākshasa; Vāsuki, the nāga; Rathakṛt, the yaksha; Pulastya, the maharshi; and Tumburu, the gandharva. These seven make the month of Caitra full.
In the line of the Yadus, Anu, son of Kapotaroma, is named as having Tumburu as his friend.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 24; Skandha 12, Chapter 11
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 13; Skandha 4, Chapters 12, 15; Skandha 5, Chapter 25; Skandha 7, Chapter 4; Skandha 9, Chapter 24; Skandha 10, Chapters 25, 27; Skandha 12, Chapter 11