Kiṃpurusha Varsha
Kiṃpurusha Varsha · kim-purusha varsha, “the land of the kiṃpurushas”
Kiṃpurusha Varsha is one of the nine varshas (regions) of Jambū Dvīpa. The Vāmana Purāṇa calls it Kiṃnara-varsha (కింనర వర్షం) and places it in the south-east (āgneya) of Jambū Dvīpa. It is one of the eight varshas outside Bhārata, pure and lovely lands where there is no division into yugas, no fear of old age and death, and where the people attain siddhi naturally, without effort.
The Agni Purāṇa tells that Āgnīdhra, son of Priyavrata, gave this varsha, the Hemakūṭa-varsha, to his son Kiṃpurusha. It counts it as the second of the varshas south of Meru, after Bhārata, nine thousand yojanas in extent, and as the first of the eight varshas of great happiness, where all enjoyments come without effort and the people live for twenty-four thousand years. The varsha is called upon in the abhisheka of a king to protect him and give him the kingdom.
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa places Kiṃpurusha south of Ilāvṛta, between Harivarsha and Bhāratavarsha, bounded by the Hemakūṭa mountain, and names it after Kimpurusha, a son of Āgnīdhra. There Hanumān, best of the devotees of Śrī Hari, with the Kimpurushas and their leader Ārshṭisheṇa, worships Bhagavān Śrī Rāma with unshaken bhakti, listening to the gandharvas sing his account and reciting his mantra and stotra.
Its place in Jambū Dvīpa
The account is given in Pulastya Maharshi‘s telling to Nārada Maharshi. The rākshasa king Sukeśī went to the maharshis of a forest in Magadha and asked them about the worlds. When they had described Pushkara Dvīpa, he asked them: “Now tell me the state of Jambū Dvīpa.” The ṛshis answered that Jambū Dvīpa is in nine divisions, very vast, and able to grant svarga (heaven) and moksha.
Its nine varshas, with their directions, are:
- in the middle, Ilāvṛta-varsha
- in the east, the wonderful Bhadrāśva-varsha
- in the north-east, Hiraṇya-varsha
- in the south-east, Kiṃnara-varsha
- in the south, Bhārata-varsha
- in the south-west, Hari-varsha
- in the west, Ketumāla-varsha
- in the north-west, Ramyaka-varsha
- in the north, Kuru-varsha, full of kalpavṛkshas (wish-fulfilling trees)
All these nine regions are pure and lovely.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13
Per Agni Purāṇa, Agni Deva, telling Vasishṭha Maharshi of the bhuvanakośa (the treasury of the worlds), places Kiṃpurusha south of Meru. To the south of Meru stand the varsha mountains Himavān, Hemakūṭa and Nishadha; to the north, Nīla, Śveta and Śṛṅgī. Of the southern varshas the first is Bhāratavarsha, the second Kiṃpurusha and the third Harivarsha. On the north are Ramyaka, Hiraṇmaya and Uttarakuru. These are equal to Bhāratavarsha, and each is nine thousand yojanas in extent. In the middle of them all is Ilāvṛta-varsha, where Meru stands.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 108
Kiṃpurusha, son of Āgnīdhra
The Agni Purāṇa gives the varsha’s first lord. Priyavrata gave the seven dvīpas to his sons, and to Āgnīdhra he gave Jambū Dvīpa, many lakhs of yojanas in extent. Āgnīdhra divided it among his own sons:
- Nābhi received Himavarsha, which is Bhāratavarsha
- Kiṃpurusha received Hemakūṭa-varsha
- Harivarsha received Naishadha-varsha
- Ilāvṛta received Ilāvṛta-varsha in the middle, with Mount Meru
- Ramyaka received Ramyaka-varsha, near Mount Nīla
- Hiraṇvān received Śveta-varsha
- Kuru received Uttarakuru-varsha
- Bhadrāśva received Bhadrāśva-varsha
- Ketumāla received Ketumāla-varsha, west of Meru
Having made his sons lords of these varshas, Priyavrata became a vānaprastha (a forest-dweller), performed tapas at the Śālagrāma kshetra and attained Vishṇuloka.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 107
The life of its people
In Kiṃnara-varsha and the other seven varshas beginning with Ilāvṛta, all except Bhārata, there is no division of time into yugas and no fear of old age and death. The people there attain siddhi (spiritual perfection) easily, without effort: it is natural to them (sahaja-siddha). Among them there is no distinction of high and low, and no reversal of fortune of any kind.
Bhārata is the ninth varsha. There, the maharshis said, people become pure by carrying out the duties of their own varṇa, and their puṇya and pāpa, their reaching svarga and moksha, are decided by what they do.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13
Per Agni Purāṇa, the eight varshas outside Bhārata are counted from Kiṃpurusha. Agni Deva said to Vasishṭha Maharshi: “O best of munis! In the eight varshas beginning with Kiṃpurusha there is great happiness. All bhogas (enjoyments) are gained without effort. There is no fear of old age and death, no dharma and adharma, no division into high, middle and low. There is no change of yugas there.” In these varshas there is no hunger, fear or grief. The people live for twenty-four thousand years, with no disease and no grief. There are no Kṛta, Tretā and the other yugas. Rain does not fall; the people have only the water that comes from the earth. In each of these varshas there are seven kula-parvatas (chief mountains), and from them flow hundreds of rivers that are tīrthas.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 107–108
In the abhisheka of a king
Pushkara, teaching Paraśurāma the mantras for the abhisheka of a king, gives a long line of blessings spoken over the king. Among them the varshas are called upon: “May the varshas Uttarakuru, Ramya, Hiraṇyaka, Bhadrāśva, Ketumāla, Balāhaka, Hari, Nara, Kiṃpurusha, Indradvīpa, Kaśerumat, Tāmravarṇa, Gabhastimat, Nāgadvīpa, Saumyaka, Gāndharva, Vāruṇa, the ninth and the rest protect you and give you the kingdom.” Pushkara says that these abhisheka mantras remove all pāpas.
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 219
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa
Its name and its place
Śrī Śuka tells Parīkshit that Āgnīdhra, ruler of Jambūdvīpa, had nine sons by the apsarā Pūrvacitti: Nābhi, Kimpurusha, Harivara, Ilāvṛta, Ramyaka, Hiraṇmaya, Kuru, Bhadrāśva and Ketumāla. Āgnīdhra divided Jambūdvīpa among them, and the portions took their names.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 2
Jambūdvīpa has nine varshas, each nine thousand yojanas long, with Ilāvṛta and Mount Meru in the middle. South of Ilāvṛta lie Harivarsha, Kiṃpurushavarsha and Bhāratavarsha, and their boundaries, in order, are the mountains Nishadha, Hemakūṭa and Himālaya: Hemakūṭa is the boundary of Kiṃpurusha. Like the northern mountains these stretch from east to west, and their height is ten thousand yojanas.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 16
Hanumān worships Śrī Rāma
In Kimpurusha varsha, Hanumān, best among the devotees of Śrī Hari, together with the Kimpurushas, worships Bhagavān Śrī Rāma with unshaken bhakti: Śrī Rāma, the cause of the world, the full one, elder brother of Lakshmaṇa and most dear to Sītā Devī. Nearness to his feet is most dear to Hanumān. There the gandharvas sing the most auspicious account of Bhagavān Śrī Rāma, and Hanumān, with the leader of the Kimpurushas named Ārshṭisheṇa, listens closely to the account of his master, and himself chants this mantra:
“The glory of Śrī Rāma, the avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu, is great. In him, master of the mind, are the marks, nature and conduct of the best of men. He is the cakravartī who worshipped as divine the very people he ruled! Devoted to those who know the Veda, he is the touchstone for the word ‘good man’. Many namaskāras to that Purushottama Deva.”
And he recites the stotra:
- The non-dual Parabrahman is the innermost self of a person, the Ātmā. The sādhaka attains it in a purified antaḥkaraṇa only as his own experience, free of doership, enjoyership and ahaṅkāra. By the light of that stainless Ātma-tattva, beyond name and form, the states of dream, waking and deep sleep, the products of sattva, rajas and tamas, do not touch it. I take refuge in that changeless Ātma-tattva.
- Parameśvara came down into this world as a man not only to destroy the rākshasas, but to teach men by his conduct. Otherwise, how could sorrow arise because of Sītā for Īśvara, who delights in the Ātmā and is the Ātmā itself?
- Śrī Hari, the dwelling of all the world, self-luminous, is the Ātmā in all beings, the great friend of those who have conquered the senses; he has no attachment to anything in the three worlds. To say that he truly suffered sorrow because of his wife, or that he abandoned Lakshmaṇa, does not fit him.
- What pleases a mahātmā is not birth in a great family, nor beauty, nor eloquence, nor learning, nor jāti. We who live in the forest have none of these marks, yet Śrī Rāma, elder brother of Lakshmaṇa, took us as his friends. What a wonder!
- Whether deva, asura, vānara or man, whoever it is should serve Śrī Rāma. Śrī Hari, Purushottama, himself became a man and came down as Śrī Rāma. Śrī Rāma kept in memory even a small help done by others, and he granted svarga to the dwellers of the Uttara Kosala country.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 19
Brahmā, speaking to Nārada Maharshi, names Ārshṭisheṇa among those who have known the māyā of Śrī Hari.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7
The Kimpurushas
Maitreya Maharshi, telling Vidura of creation, counts the deva sarga in eight kinds: the devatās; the pitṛ-devatās; the asuras; the gandharvas and apsarases; the yakshas and rākshasas; the siddhas, cāraṇas and vidyādharas; the bhūtas, pretas and piśācas; and the kinnaras, kimpurushas and others.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 10
When Bhagavān Vishṇu was born as Vāmana to Aditi, the hosts of Siddhas and Vidyādharas, the Kimpurushas, Kinnaras, Cāraṇas, Yakshas, rākshasas, Garuḍas and the best of the Nāgas sang, praised and danced, and rained flowers over Aditi’s āśrama.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 18
Conquered by Parīkshit
Sūta tells the ṛshis that when Parīkshit heard that Kali had entered the land ruled by his armies, he set out for digvijaya on his chariot yoked with black horses and bearing the lion banner. He conquered the varshas Bhadrāśva, Ketumāla, Bhārata, Uttarakuru, Kiṃpurusha and others, and received gifts from them.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 16
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 13
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 107–108, 219
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 16; Skandha 2, Chapter 7; Skandha 3, Chapter 10; Skandha 5, Chapters 2, 16, 19; Skandha 8, Chapter 18