Kakshīvanta
Kakshīvanta
Kakshīvanta is a ṛshi, the son of the great ṛshi Dīrghatamas. He is the main figure of the Agastya Tīrtha account in the Setu Māhātmya of the Skanda Purāṇa. He bathed at the Agastya Tīrtha. A white elephant with four tusks rose from the water and carried him through the air to the court of King Svanayana. There he married the princess Manoramā at her svayaṃvara (the ceremony where a princess chooses her husband).
Who he is
Kakshīvanta is named in several Vedic and Purāṇic places as a ṛshi of the line of Dīrghatamas. Dīrghatamas was himself born in the line of Aṅgiras. In the Ṛgveda, Kakshīvān is praised as a ṛshi who composed Vedic verses. In the Setu Māhātmya, Kakshīvanta is a young ṛshi who goes on a tīrtha-yātrā (a journey to holy places) to the Setu-kshetra, the holy land of the Setu, under the guidance of his father Dīrghatamas.
The journey to Agastya Tīrtha
Kakshīvanta went to the Setu-kshetra and came to the Agastya Tīrtha on Mount Gandhamādana. This tīrtha (holy place) was set up and made holy by the presence of the great ṛshi Agastya. Kakshīvanta bathed in it with devotion. This is told in Chapter 16 of the Setu Māhātmya.
The divine elephant
As Kakshīvanta bathed at the Agastya Tīrtha, a wonder happened. A fine elephant with four tusks and a shining white colour rose from the water of the tīrtha and stood before him, as if waiting for him. He climbed onto the elephant. It rose into the air and carried him to the court of King Svanayana. This is also in Chapter 16.
The marriage to Manoramā
Kakshīvanta reached the court of King Svanayana at the time of the svayaṃvara of the king’s daughter Manoramā. She had excellent qualities and good marks of fortune (subhalakshaṇas). Manoramā chose Kakshīvanta and put a garland of campaka flowers around his neck.
The great ṛshi Udaṅka performed the wedding rites. He set up the sacred fire and did the lāja-homa (the offering of puffed grain into the fire) and the other rites. He completed the pāṇigrahaṇa (the joining of hands).
King Svanayana gave the couple rich gifts: a lakh (one hundred thousand) of gold coins, a thousand cows, a thousand maidservants, five hundred villages, ten thousand divine garments, a hundred boxes of ornaments and a thousand garlands. This is told in Chapter 17.
The return with Dīrghatamas
After the wedding, Kakshīvanta and his bride Manoramā went back to the Agastya Tīrtha with his father Dīrghatamas and bathed there again. They gave thanks to the tīrtha that had started this whole holy chain of events. The elephant that had carried Kakshīvanta went back into the Agastya Tīrtha and vanished.
Dīrghatamas then took his son, his daughter-in-law and their company to his āśrama in the Vedāraṇya, which is also called Vedakānana. There Kakshīvanta, his wife and Dīrghatamas lived happily, serving the deva of Vedāraṇya. This is also in Chapter 17.
Sources
- Skanda Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Setu Māhātmya, Chapters 16 and 17
- Ṛgveda (Kakshīvān as a ṛshi)