Hiraṇyapura (Vana Parva)
Hiraṇyapura (the Golden City) is a great city that moves through the sky. Brahmā made it as a vara (a boon) for two rākshasa mothers, Pulomā and Kālakā, and their sons, the Pauloma and Kālakañja rākshasas, lived in it. It blazed with divine light, moved freely like a vimāna, was closed to attack by devas and other beings, and had every comfort. Arjuna destroyed it with the astras (divine weapons) given to him by Indra and the Lokapālas, during the years of the Pāṇḍavas’ vanavāsa (forest exile). The Mahābhārata tells this in the Vana Parva, Chapter 173.
Origin: the tapas of Pulomā and Kālakā
Two rākshasa women, Pulomā and Kālakā, performed very hard tapas (austerity) for Brahmā. It lasted one thousand divine years. Brahmā was pleased with their sincerity and endurance. He appeared before them and offered them varas.
They did not ask for themselves. They asked for their sons, the Pauloma and Kālakañja rākshasas. They asked:
- that their sons be free from suffering;
- that a beautiful city in the sky be made for them;
- that the city move wherever its dwellers wished;
- that no being could attack or enter it by force, with no opening through which devas, rākshasas, nāgas or gandharvas could come in;
- that the city hold every comfort, pleasure and auspicious quality;
- that it be free from disease and pain.
Brahmā granted all these varas. The city he made, Hiraṇyapura, was built with divine craft and shone with gems and jewels. Its trees were heavy with rare fruits and flowers, and its birds sang in sweet voices. It had four great gates, each strongly defended and rising in splendour. Each gate was guarded by rākshasa warriors armed with śūlas (spears), mudgaras (maces), musalas (clubs), bows and ṛshṭis (swords), who kept watch without rest. The Vana Parva tells this in Chapter 173.
Description
Arjuna and Mātali were passing through the sky after Arjuna had defeated the Nivātakavacas in the depths of the ocean. They saw Hiraṇyapura moving through the air like a second sun. It blazed with its own light and with the gem-fires of its buildings, and could be seen from far away. Mātali explained to Arjuna what the city was and where it came from.
The city could fly. It stood in no fixed place. It moved through the sky like a vast vehicle (ākāśa-gata-pura, a city that travels in the sky) and appeared and disappeared as its dwellers wished. In size it was like a divine vimāna, but rākshasas lived in it, not beings of the higher lokas. The vara of Brahmā made it safe from attack by devas, rākshasas, nāgas and gandharvas. The Vana Parva tells this in Chapter 173.
Destruction by Arjuna
Indra had given Arjuna the task of destroying the Nivātakavacas. The Pauloma and Kālakañja rākshasas of Hiraṇyapura were also among the enemies to be put down. When the Nivātakavacas had been completely destroyed in the ocean, Arjuna and Mātali met Hiraṇyapura in the sky.
Arjuna chose to attack the city. The Paulomas and Kālakañjas of Hiraṇyapura defended it fiercely with all their weapons. But the divine astras that Indra and the Lokapālas had given Arjuna in full won the fight. The defenders were beaten, and the flying city was brought down and destroyed. Its women wept bitterly, as the women of the Nivātakavacas had wept for their fallen city in the ocean. The Vana Parva tells this in Chapter 173.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 173