17 When the god had told them of Raji’s victory, the gods and the Dānavas were delighted. Seeking the victory, they went off to get him on their side, bull of the Bhāratas. 18 For although that most glorious king advanced the lineage of the god Soma, he was born from the demon Svarbhānu’s daughter Prabhā.*
19 All the Daityas and Dānavas said to Raji with joy in their hearts: You must take up your prize bow for the sake of our victory.
20 Raji said:
I’ll fight in the battle if, after I’ve defeated all the hosts of the gods and Shakra their leader, I become Indra as I should.
21 The Dānavas said:
Our Indra is Prahrāda. We’re fighting for his cause.
22 At that opportune moment, your majesty, the gods petitioned him. They said: Stand up! As soon as you’ve won, you’ll be Indra.
And after the gods had told him this, the king killed all the Dānavas that the thunderbolt-wielding god was trying to kill. 23 Mighty Raji, the most glorious master, killed all the Dānavas and took back the glory that the gods had lost.
24 Then, in the company of the gods, Shatakratu said to the great hero Raji: I am Raji’s son.
Shatakratu spoke again and said: 25 No doubt about it, sire, you are the Indra of all creatures, whose fame I, your son Indra, will aspire to through my deeds.
26 When he heard Shakra’s words, the king was taken in by his pretence. He was delighted, and gave Shatakratu his assent.
27 After the godlike lord of the earth had gone to heaven, Raji’s sons obtained their inheritance from the Indra, in accordance with the custom. 28 Indeed, those sons of Raji kept on striding into Shatakratu’s domain—the Trivishtapa heaven—in their hundreds. 29 After a good deal of time had passed in this way, mighty Shakra, who’d lost his sovereignty and his ritual share, said to Brihaspati:
30 Brahmin seer, make an offering-cake for me, no bigger than a jujube fruit, by means of which my glory might remain undiminished forever. 31 I’ve lost my sovereignty and my sustenance, brahmin, and I’m thin and miserable. Raji’s sons have left me weak, feeble, and confused, my lord.
32 Brihaspati said:
If only you’d petitioned me in this way earlier! Flawless Shakra, you could never desire an outcome that it isn’t my duty to accomplish. 33 I’ll strive for the outcome you desire, lord of the gods, no doubt about it. I’ll take measures such that you’ll swiftly recover your sovereignty and your ritual share, sire. Don’t be downhearted.
34 Then the supreme seer performed a rite to restore Indra’s glory, and succeeded in dulling the wits of Raji’s sons. 35 When they’d become very foolish indeed—maddened by passions, indifferent to virtue, and hostile to the Veda—they lost their potency and their powers. 36 While all of Raji’s sons were possessed by desire and anger, Indra killed them, and then he took back his sovereignty over the gods, and also his supreme domain.
37 This chapter is called Shatakratu’s Expulsion from his Domain, and his Restoration. And whoever hears or thinks about it will never fall into depravity.
22. The Story of Yayāti
1 Vaishampāyana said:
Nahusha had six sons, whose majesty matched Indra’s: Yati, Yayāti, Samyāti, Āyāti, Yāti, and Uddhava. Yati was the oldest of them, and after him, Yayāti came next. 2 But Kakutstha had a daughter named Gā, whom Yati failed to obtain, and because of that Yati sought release, and became a hermit united with brahman.
3 Out of the remaining five, Yayāti conquered this jewel-bearing earth. As his wife he obtained Devayānī, daughter of Ushanas—and also Sharmishthā, daughter of the demon Vrishaparvan.*4 Devayānī bore Yadu and Turvasu, and Vrishaparvan’s daughter Sharmishthā bore Druhyu, Anu, and Pūru.
5 In a good mood, Shakra gave Yayāti his celestial chariot, which was made of gold and glittered all over. It travelled without a hitch, pulled by superb horses—wonderful white ones as swift as thought. And Yayāti brought his wife home in it. 6 Because of that superb chariot Yayāti became untouchable in battle, and in six days and nights he conquered the broad earth, as well as the gods, including Vāsava.
7 That chariot became the chariot of all the Pauravas—that is, up until the Paurava whose name you share, Janamejaya. 8 During the reign of that king (Parikshit’s son, Kuru’s grandson) the chariot was lost, because of the curse of Garga the wise. 9 Garga’s young son was vicious with his speech, and that King Janamejaya killed him, so he became guilty of killing a brahmin.*10 Running around from place to place smelling of blood, the royal seer was rejected by the people of both town and country, and could never find any comfort. 11 Then, while he was burning with remorse but getting no sympathy anywhere, the king sought refuge with Indrota Shaunaka, 12 and that superb brahmin Indrota Shaunaka made the king perform a horse sacrifice for the sake of his purification, Janamejaya. And when he did his ablutions at the end of the ritual, the smell of blood disappeared.
13 Then Shakra was gratified by Vasu the king of Chedi, your majesty, and he gave him the celestial chariot.† And Brihadratha got it from him. 14 Then, after he’d killed Jarāsandha, Bhīma gave that superb chariot to Krishna Vāsudeva out of affection, joy of the Kauravas.‡
15 After conquering the earth with her seven continents and the ocean, Yayāti the son of Nahusha divided the realm into five for his sons. 16 That wise king, the son of Nahusha, appointed Turvasu in the south-eastern quarter, Druhyu and Anu in the western and northern quarters, 17 and Yadu, the eldest, in the north-eastern quarter. And at the centre, the son of Nahusha installed Pūru as king. 18 To this day those sons of Yayāti dutifully watch over this whole earth, with her seven continents and her towns, in accordance with his command. I’ll list their descendants in order, your supreme majesty.
19 The king laid down his bow and arrows and became dependent upon those five bulls of men. After he’d handed his burden over to his relatives 20 and put his weapons aside, King Yayāti, the undefeated lord of the earth, beheld the earth, and he was satisfied.
21 After dividing the earth up in this way, Yayāti said to Yadu: Son, as another one of your duties, take on my old age. 22 I want to set my old age down upon you, and roam the earth as a youth, with your beauty.
Yadu replied to him: 23 I’ve promised a brahmin a favour that he hasn’t yet specified, your majesty, and I can’t take on your old age without having discharged my obligation. 24 In old age eating and drinking cause many problems, your majesty, so I can’t bear to take on your old age. 25 You’ve got several sons more beloved than me, your law-knowing majesty, so choose a different son to take it on.
26 When Yadu responded in this way, Yayāti was enraged, and the eloquent king scolded his son, saying: 27 You idiot! After you’ve disrespected me—I who am your guide—what other career is there for you? What other way of life is available to you?
28 That’s what he said to Yadu, my boy, and in his fury he cursed him, your majesty, saying: You imbecile! Your descendants won’t get the kingdom.
29 Then the king made the same request of Turvasu, Druhyu, and Anu, and they refused him too, bull of the Bhāratas. 30 Yayāti the undefeated was enraged and cursed them too, just as I described to you earlier,* supreme royal seer.
31 Having thus cursed all four of the sons born before Pūru, the king made that same speech to Pūru as well, Bhārata. He said: 32 If you approve, Pūru, I want to set my old age down upon you, and roam the earth as a youth, with your beauty.
33 Majestic Pūru took on his father’s old age, and sure enough, Yayāti roamed around the earth with Pūru’s beauty. 34 His lordship was seeking the end of his desires, best of the Bhāratas, and he dallied with Vishvāchī in Kubera’s pleasure-grove.†35 But when the lord of the earth saw that his desires were just multiplying, he took his own old age back from Pūru.
36 Listen to the lyrics that Yayāti sang on that occasion, your majesty. On hearing these, one might retract one’s desires like a tortoise completely retracting its limbs:
37 Desire is never assuaged by the enjoyment of desi
red objects, just as a fire is never assuaged by oblations: it just grows stronger. 38 When you realise that all the rice, barley, gold, cattle, and women on earth isn’t enough for one man, then you attain peace. 39 When you have no bad effect upon any creature with your thoughts, words, or deeds, then you unite with brahman. 40 When you fear no one and are feared by no one, and when you neither desire nor dislike anyone, then you unite with brahman.
41 After pronouncing in this manner, the royal seer Yayāti retired to the forest with his wife, and performed great austerities for a very long time. 42 He performed austerities on Mount Bhrigutunga, and then, at the limit of austerity, that famous man cast off his body while fasting, and he and his wife attained heaven.
43 In his lineage there were five supreme royal seers, your majesty, and they spread across the whole earth, as if they were the sun’s rays. 44 So listen now to the lineage of Yadu, as approved by the royal seers, royal seer, in which Hari Nārāyana was born as a son of the Vrishni family.
45 This chapter is called the Story of Yayāti, your majesty. A person who listens to it regularly becomes healthy, long-lived, reputable, and prolific.
23. The Offspring of the Five
1 Janamejaya said:
Brahmin, I want to hear the correct version of the lineage of Pūru. And best of brahmins, I want to hear the lineages of Druhyu, Anu, Yadu, and Turvasu too.* You should narrate them, in detail and in sequence.
2 Vaishampāyana said:
Because of its connection to the lineage of the Vrishnis, the very first lineage is your own. Listen, your majesty, in detail and in sequence, to the lineage at the top, the lineage of the great Pūru, your majesty, in which you were born. 3 Oh yes, I’ll narrate the supreme lineage of Pūru for you, scorcher of the foe, as well as the lineages of Druhyu, Anu, Yadu, and Turvasu.
4 Pūru’s son was Pravīra, and his son was Manasyu, and Manasyu’s son was the king called Abhayada the Provider of Security. 5 Abhayada’s son was King Sudhanvan, Sudhanvan’s son was Subāhu, and his son was Raudrāshva.
6 Raudrāshva had ten: Arneyu, Krikaneyu, Kaksheyu, Sthandileyu, and Sannateyu; 7 and Richeyu and Jaleyu, and powerful Sthaleyu, and Vaneyu who was bent on the forest (vana); and the daughters, the ten damsels— 8 Rudrā, Shūdrā, Madrā, Maladā, and Malahā; and Khalā and Balā, your supreme majesty, and Taladā and Surathā, and the lady Gopabalā.
Those daughters were ten stacks of jewels. 9 Their husband was Prabhākara the Light-Maker, a seer born in Atri’s lineage. From Rudrā he had a famous son called Soma. 10 When the sun had been struck down by Svarbhānu* and was tumbling from the sky towards the earth, and the world was plunged into darkness, Prabhākara kept the light going. 11 As the sun was tumbling, he told him: Best of luck (svasti) to you.
Because of what that brahmin seer said, the sun didn’t tumble out of the sky onto the earth.†
12 Prabhākara was the great ascetic who founded the finest of Atri’s families. It was for his sake that the gods built up Atri’s wealth at rituals. 13 He had ten great sons from Raudrāshva’s daughters—sons with the same name, who were always busy performing fierce austerities. 14 Those seers were called the Svastyātreyas, your majesty.‡ After mastering the Veda, they had families. But they didn’t get Atri’s wealth.
15 Now then. Kaksheyu§ had sons, and all three were great warriors: Sabhānara, Chākshusha, and Paramekshu. 16 And Sabhānara’s son was the wise King Kālānala. Kālānala’s son was called Srinjaya, and he knew his duty. 17 Srinjaya’s son was virile King Puranjaya, the Conqueror of Cities, and Puranjaya’s son was Janamejaya, your majesty. 18 The son of the royal seer Janamejaya was Mahāsāla. His reputation is secure, for he was recognised among the gods. 19 Mahāsāla’s son was called Mahāmanas the Magnanimous. He was virtuous and manly, and was honoured by the hosts of the gods. 20 And Mahāmanas had two sons, Bhārata: Ushīnara who knew his duty, and powerful Titikshu.
21 Ushīnara’s five wives were born in lineages of royal seers: Nrigā, Krimī, Navā, Darvā, and the fifth was Drishadvatī. 22 From them Ushīnara had five sons to further his dynasty. These sons were born to him in his old age, on account of his great austerity. 23 Nrigā’s son was Nriga, Krimī had Krimi, Navā’s son was Nava the New, Darvā’s was Suvrata the Strict, 24 and from Drishadvatī was born King Shibi Aushīnara. So the Shibis are from Shibi, my boy, and the Yaudheyas are from Nriga, 25 Nava the New had the New Country, Krimi had the town of Krimilā, and Suvrata the Strict had the Ambashthas.
Now listen for the descendants of Titikshu. 26 Titikshu became king in the region to the east, Bhārata. There was strong-armed Ushadratha, and his son was Phena. 27 Phena begat Sutapas, and Sutapas begat a son, and he was the king with the quiver of gold, Bali born from a human womb.*28 That Bali was a great yogi. He’d been a king before, and he had five sons who left his lineage upon the land. 29 Anga was born first, then Vanga, Suhma, Pundra, and Kalinga. Kshatriyas are said to descend from Bali, and Bali had brahmin descendants who left his lineage upon the land as well.
30–31 Brahmā was delighted with Bali and granted him what he wished for, Bhārata, which was the status of being a great yogi, and a lifespan as long as a cosmic cycle. Lord Brahmā also told the king that he had to support the four fixed social classes.† Bali attained the highest peace, your majesty, and after a long time had passed, he went off to a heaven of his own.
32 Bali’s sons produced five peoples: the Vangas, the Angas, the Suhmakas, the Kalingans, and the Paundras.
Listen now as I tell you about Anga’s descendants. 33 Anga’s son was the great Dadhivāhana, an Indra among kings, and Dadhivāhana’s son was King Diviratha. 34 Diviratha’s son was as bold as Shakra, and canny. His name was Dharmaratha, and his son was Chitraratha. 35 In those days, while performing a rite on Mount Vishnupada, the illustrious Dharmaratha drank soma with Shakra.
36 Chitraratha’s son was Dasharatha, who was known as Lomapāda. Lomapāda’s daughter was Shāntā, 37 and his lineage was furthered by the celebrated hero Chaturanga Dāsharathi, who was produced with Rishyashringa’s assistance.‡
38 Chaturanga’s son was Prithulāksha, as I recall, and Prithulāksha’s son was the famous king named Champa. Champa’s capital was Champā, which had formerly been called Mālinī. 39 He had his son Haryanga through the kindness of Pūrnabhadra, and then Vibhāndaka used sacred verses to bring Indra’s elephant, the supreme vehicle for resisting enemies, down to earth for him.
40 Haryanga’s son was Karna, and his son was Vikarna, who had a hundred sons to prosper the lineage of the Angas. 41 These kings that I’ve mentioned in Anga’s lineage were all great warriors, noble and true to their vows, and they were blessed with descendants.
42 Now listen, great king, as I narrate the lineage of Raudrāshva’s son Richeyu*—the lineage in which you were born, your majesty.
43 Richeyu’s son was King Matināra, your majesty. Matināra had three very virtuous sons: 44 Tamsu the Flood, Apratiratha the Irresistible, and virtuous Subāhu the Strong-Armed. They all fulfilled the vow of learning the Veda. They were devout and spoke the truth.
45 Well, Janamejaya, there was a girl whose name was Ilā. She was a teacher of the Veda, she was a woman and then some, and Tamsu got her. 46 Tamsu’s son was Suraugha, a famous royal seer with an eye for virtue, a bold teacher of the Veda. And his wife was Upadānavī. 47 Upadānavī bore Suraugha four sons: Duhshanta, Suhshanta, Pravīra, and Anagha.
48 The bold one named Bharata was the heir of Duhshanta. Massive, with the strength of ten thousand elephants, he was also called Sarvadamana the All-Tamer. 49 Bharata is famous as a universal emperor, and he was Duhshanta’s son, born from Shakuntalā.† It’s because of his name that you’re the Bhāratas.
50 When King Bharata lost his offspring because of their mothers’ rage—as already narrated to you,‡ my boy— 51 the great Āngirasa sage Lord Bharadvāja, the son of Brihaspati, sacrificed with great rites, your majesty. 52 And because when he’d had children before it had been in vain, his son
from Bharadvāja was named Vitatha, In Vain. 53 That Vitatha went on to have five sons: Suhotra and Sutahotri, Gaya and Garga, 54 and the great Kapila. Sutahotri had two sons: courageous Kāshika of Kāshi, and mighty Gritsamati. 55 And Gritsamati’s offspring were brahmins, kshatriyas, and vaishyas.
The son of the Kāshi man was Dīrghatapas Kāshaya, your majesty. 56 Dīrghatapas’s son was the wise Dhanvantari, Dhanvantari’s son was called Ketumat, 57 and Ketumat’s son was a hero, the destroyer of every danger. He was known as Bhīmaratha of the Terrifying Chariot, and he was also called Divodāsa.
58 During this period, a monster chief by the name of Kshemaka depopulated the town of Vārānasī, 59 for the town had been cursed, by the great and wise Nikumbha, to stand empty for a thousand years, bull among men. 60 No sooner had that town been cursed than Divodāsa, the prince of his people, founded a delightful town at the edge of the kingdom, on the River Gomatī. 61 Divodāsa, the prince of his people, settled there after killing a hundred expert archers, the sons of Bhadrashrenya.
62 Divodāsa’s son was heroic King Pratardana, and Pratardana’s two sons were Vatsa, who was also a Bhārgava, 63 and Alarka, the crown prince.
King Pratardana suffered a territorial loss. For King Divodāsa had appropriated Hehaya’s inheritance, hadn’t he, 64 and the ancestral inheritance that Divodāsa had forcibly appropriated was now reclaimed by Bhadrashrenya’s redoubtable son Durdama, whom Divodāsa had spared out of compassion when he was a boy. 65 But Bhārata, King Pratardana was called Ashtāratha of the Eight Chariots—after all, your majesty, that kshatriya was the son of Bhīmaratha of the Terrifying Chariot—and, wanting to bring hostilities to an end while his sons were still young, he fought against Durdama.
66 As for Alarka, he was devout and true to his word, and he was king of the Kāshis for sixty-six thousand years. 67 Youthful and handsome, he carried the Kāshi lineage, and through the grace of Lopāmudrā he lived for a long long time. 68 After killing the monster Kshemaka, whose powers were waning, the strong-armed king settled in the delightful town of Vārānasī once again.*
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