Dilīpa
Dilīpa
Hārita has other meanings too: see all meanings of Hārita.
Dilīpa was a king of the solar Ikshvāku dynasty. The ṛshi Vasishṭha tells him the whole Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa. The Purāṇa itself says that Dilīpa was born earlier as Śivāśarman, son of the merchant Śarabha of Hastināpura, and was born again as Dilīpa after a śāpa (a curse) from Durvāsa. At the end, Vasishṭha tells Dilīpa that Bhagavān Vishṇu will be born in his Ikshvāku line as Rāma, the son of Daśaratha. So Dilīpa is an ancestor of Rāma. In the same Uttara Khaṇḍa his question begins the Māgha māhātmya (the teaching on the greatness of the month of Māgha): on a tīrtha yātrā (pilgrimage) he met the old ṛshi Hārita, who sent him to Vasishṭha, and from Vasishṭha he received the full teaching on bathing at Prayāga in Māgha. Dilīpa worshipped Vishṇu faithfully until his life ended and reached Vaikuṇṭha.
The Agni Purāṇa, in the account of the Sūrya vaṃśa that Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi, names Dilīpa as the son of Aṃśumān and the father of Bhagīratha, who brought Gaṅgā down to bhūloka (the earth). In its mantras for a king’s abhisheka (consecration) it names Dilīpa among the great kings who are asked to protect the king.
Who he is in the Padma Purāṇa
The Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa is told as a talk between the ṛshi Vasishṭha and King Dilīpa. In the outer frame, the ṛshi Sūta tells this talk to the ṛshis gathered at Naimishāraṇya. Dilīpa is a righteous Ikshvāku king and a devotee of Vishṇu. He comes to Vasishṭha with questions about Indraprastha, the greatness of tīrthas, the nature of Vishṇu, the avatāras, and right pūjā. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 199 onward)
Dilīpa and the Māgha Māhātmya
Dilīpa was a king of the solar dynasty (Sūryavaṃśa). In the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa he is the one whose question begins the Māgha māhātmya.
Meeting Hārita. During his tīrtha yātrā, Dilīpa came upon an old ṛshi, Hārita, who sat in an āśrama (hermitage) holding a conch and a discus, the signs of Vishṇu‘s devotees. Though Hārita was very old, he carried a quiet authority. Dilīpa told him of his search and his wish to know the means of moksha (liberation). Hārita did not teach him himself. He sent Dilīpa at once to the right teacher, the great ṛshi Vasishṭha, one of the seven mind-born sons of Brahmā and the highest authority on dharma and bhakti. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 125)
The Māgha teaching begins. At Vasishṭha’s āśrama, Dilīpa’s questions opened the long teaching on the month of Māgha and the tīrtha yātrā to Prayāga, which fills Chapters 125–129. He asked as one who sought moksha and the means to it. Vasishṭha answered by pointing him to the Māgha bath as the highest means of purification that anyone can reach.
From Vasishṭha, Dilīpa received the whole teaching on the Māgha pilgrimage to Prayāga. It includes all the accounts of those weighed down by pāpa who were set free, and how Prayāga purifies. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 125–126)
How the teaching is told. In Chapters 125–129, Dilīpa is the outer listener in a set of tellings within tellings. Vasishṭha speaks to Dilīpa. Within that, Devadyuti speaks to the spirit of King Citra. Within that, the account of Vasu the Keralite is told. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 125–129)
His past birth as Śivāśarman
Vasishṭha tells Dilīpa that in an earlier life he was Śivāśarman, the son of the merchant Śarabha of Hastināpura. He was born by the grace of Pārvatī at Indraprastha, at the Nigamodbodhaka tīrtha. Śivāśarman was a devotee of Vishṇu. Because of a śāpa from Durvāsa in that life, he fell from his place and was born again as Dilīpa. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 205)
His questions to Vasishṭha
All through the Uttara Khaṇḍa, Dilīpa asks Vasishṭha deep questions about:
- the greatness and consecration of Indraprastha
- the power of each tīrtha in it
- the nature of the different avatāras
- the right way to worship Vishṇu
- the meaning of the eight-syllable mantra
- the classes of Purāṇas
- why Rudra and Brahmā are not fit to be worshipped by brāhmaṇas
- Bhṛgu‘s test of the three devas
(Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, many chapters)
The mantra lineage
Vasishṭha gave Dilīpa the eight-syllable Nārāyaṇa mantra. It had come down in a direct line from Vishṇu to Brahmā, to Nārada, to Vasishṭha, and then to Dilīpa. The mantra, together with the Vaishṇava initiation rites, was the highest gift of the teaching of the Uttara Khaṇḍa. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 223)
The words about Rāma
Vasishṭha ends his telling by saying to Dilīpa: “O best of kings, in your dynasty Vishṇu, the supreme and auspicious, will be born as Daśaratha‘s son for the good of all people. So the Ikshvākus, among whom lotus-eyed Rāma is born, are honoured even by the devas.” These words make Dilīpa an ancestor of Rāma. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 254)
His end
After he received all the teachings from Vasishṭha, Dilīpa honoured his teacher with due respect, received the mantra, and worshipped Vishṇu faithfully for the rest of his life. At the proper time Dilīpa reached Vaikuṇṭha, the eternal place of Vishṇu that sants in meditation can reach. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 255)
The Mahābhārata account: father of Bhagīratha
The Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapter 109) names a Dilīpa of the Ikshvāku line who was the son of Aṃśumān and the father of Bhagīratha. This Dilīpa was the third generation to do tapas (austerity) for bringing the divine Gaṅgā down to earth. The ashes of Sagara‘s sixty thousand sons had been burnt by the glance of the ṛshi Kapila. Gaṅgā’s waters would purify them and set their ātmās (souls) free.
Dilīpa did great tapas all his life, but like his father before him he did not bring Gaṅgā down in his own time. He faithfully passed the aim on to his son Bhagīratha, in whom it was at last fulfilled. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 109)
The Agni Purāṇa gives the same line. Sagara’s beloved wife Prabhā, by the grace of Aurva Muni, bore sixty thousand sons, and his second wife Bhānumatī bore one son, Asamañjasa. The sixty thousand sons of Sagara, while digging up the earth, were destroyed by Kapila. From Asamañjasa the line runs, each the son of the one before: Aṃśumān, Dilīpa, and Bhagīratha, who brought Gaṅgā down to bhūloka. From Bhagīratha it went on through Nābhāga and Ambarīsha, and in time to Daśaratha, to whom Śrī Rāma was born. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 273)
The oath at Prabhāsa
Dilīpa was among the great gathering of ṛshis and rājarshis at Prabhāsa when the lotus that Agastya had planted with ceremony was found stolen. To prove his innocence, Dilīpa swore a self-śāpa. He said that whoever took the lotus should reach the loka that a brāhmaṇa reaches who becomes the husband of a śūdra woman in a village with only one well. Indra later confessed to the theft, which he had done to test the dharma of the assembly. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 94)
Dilīpa among those who gave up meat
In the teaching on ahiṃsā (non-harm) and meat-eating in the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma names Dilīpa among the great rājarshis who gave up māṃsa (meat), in the bright fortnight of Śrāvaṇa and in the rainy season. By this they reached svarga (heaven) and Brahmaloka. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 115)
Invoked at a king’s abhisheka
In the Agni Purāṇa, Pushkara teaches Paraśurāma the mantras for the abhisheka of a king, which remove all pāpas (sins). Each mantra is a blessing on the king. One of them calls on Yama Dharmarāja and his court, the munis and the maharshis, and the great kings of old: “May Pṛthu, Dilīpa, Bharata and Dushyanta, the very mighty Śatrujit, Manu, Kakutstha, Anenā, Yuvanāśva, Jayadratha, Māndhātṛ, Mucukunda and Purūravas protect you.”
Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 219
Per Bhavishya Purāṇa
The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa gives this line: Asamañjasa‘s son was Aṃśumān, his son was Dilīpa, and Dilīpa’s son was Bhagīratha, by whom Gaṅgā was brought to earth. (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 1)
In the Uttara Parva, Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira that a Dilīpa was among the great kings who kept the Bhīma Dvādaśī in ancient times, with Sagara, Aja, Dhundhumāra and Yayāti. (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 73–74)
He tells that in former times, at a place called Vṛshasthala in the Madhya-deśa, a Mahārāja Dilīpa had a queen named Kaliṅgabhadrā, endowed with every good quality. (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 103)
A Mahārāja Dilīpa, with Yayāti, Śibi, Nimi, Bharata and all the best rājarshis, made the gift called the halapaṅkti-dāna, and by its power those kings enjoy the happiness of svarga even today. (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 166)
Sources
- Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 125–129
- Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 199–255 (including Chapters 205, 223, 254 and 255)
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 109
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 94 and 115
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 219, 273
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 1; Uttara Parva, Chapters 73–74, 103, 166