Prithu
Vena gave up the religion that was laid down in the Vedas and stopped all yajnas. He instructed his subjects that he alone was to be worshipped.
The sages led by Marichi came to Vena to try and persuade him to mend his ways. But Vena was in no mood to listen. He insisted that there was no one equal to him in the whole universe.
The sages realized that Vena was a lost cause. They physically caught hold of Vena and began to knead his right thigh. From this kneading there emerged a horrible looking creature. It was a dwarf and its complexion was extemely dark. The sage Arti was so aghast at the dwarf’s appearance that he blurted out, nishida, which means sit. From this the dwarf came to be known as nishada. The race of nishadas became hunters and fishermen, and lived in the Vindhya mountains. From them were also descended uncivilized races like tusharas and tunduras.
The evil that was in Vena’s body and mind came out with the emergence of the nishada.
When the sages began to knead Vena’s right arm, Prithu emerged. He shone like a flaming fire and his energy lit up the four directions. He held a bow in his hand and he was clad in beautiful armour. As soon as Prithu was born, Vena died.
All the rivers and the oceans arrived with their waters and their jewels to anoint Prithu as the king. The gods and the sages also came for the coronation. Brahma himself crowned Prithu the king of the earth. He also took the opportunity to apportion out the lordships of other parts of the universe. Soma was appointed lord over creepers, herbs, stars (nakshatras), planets (grahas), sacrifices, meditation (tapasya) and over the first of the four classes (brahmans). Varuna became lord of the oceans, Kubera of all the kings, Vishnu of the adityas, Agni of vasus, Daksha of all Prajapatis, Indra of Maruts, Prahlada of daityas and danavas, Yama of the pritris (ancestors), Shiva of yakshas, rakshasas and pishachas (ghosts), and Himalaya of the mountains.
The ocean (samudra) was made the lord of all rivers. Chitraratha of gandharvas, Vasuki of nagas,
Takshaka of sarpas, Garuda of birds, the tiger of deer, Airavata of elephants, Ucchaihshrava of horses, the bull of cows and the ashvattha tree (a banyan) of all trees. Brahma also appointed four overlords (dikapalas) for the four directions. To the east there was Sudhanva, to the south Shankhapada, to the west Ketumana and to the north Hiranyaroma.
Prithu was a king who ruled the earth well. During his reign, the earth was laden with foodgrains. The cows were full of milk and the subjects were happy. To glorify King Prithu, the sages performed a sacrifice and from this sacrifice there emerged two races known as the sutas and the magadhas. The sages decreed that henceforth, these two races would be given the task of singing praises in honour of great kings and holy personages.
But what praise will we sing? asked the sutas and the magadhas. Prithu is till young. He has not done much that can be praised.
That may be true, replied the sages. But he will do wonderous deeds in the future. Sing praises of those wonderful deeds. We will tell you about them.
Having learnt of these future deeds from the sages, the sutas and the magadhas began to compose songs and chant praises in honour of Prithu. These stories were related throughout the earth. Some of Prithu’s subjects heard these stories and came to see Prithu. King , they said. We have heard of your great deeds. But we find it difficult to make a living. Please indicate to us our habitations on earth. And tell us where we may be able to get the food we need for subsistence.
King Prithu picked up his bow and arrow. He decided to kill the earth, since the earth was not yielding foodgrains to his subjects. The earth adopted the form of a cow and began to flee. But wherever the earth went, Prithu followed with his bow and arrow. He followed the earth to the heaven and to the underworld.
Finally, in desperation, the earth started to pray to Prithu. King, she said, please control your anger. I am woman. Killing me will only mean a sin for you. Besides, what purpose will killing me serve? Your subjects will then be without a place to live in. There will be some other way of ensuring that your subjects can make a livng.’
The earth then herself offered a solution and King Prithu did her bidding. With his bow, he levelled out the earth. The plains could now be used for villages and cities and for agriculture and animal husbandry. The mountains were gathered together in select places, instead of being littered over the whole earth. Earlier, Prithu ‘s subjects had lived off fruits and roots. Now Prithu milked the earth (in her form of a cow) and obtained the seeds of foodgrains on which people could live. Because of Prithu’s deeds, the earth came to be known as prithivi.
Manvantaras
A manvantara is an era. There are four smaller eras (yugas) and their names are satya or krita yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga. Each cycle of satya yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga is called a mahayuga. A mahayuga comprises of 12,000 years of the gods, or equivalently, 4,320,000 years for human. 71 mahayugas constitute a manvantara and 14 manvantaras constitute a cycle (kalpa). One kalpa is one of Brahma’s days and the universe is destroyed at the end of a kalpa.
Each manvantara is ruled over by a Manu. In the present kalpa, six manvantaras have already passed and the names of the six Manus who ruled were Svayambhuva, Svarochisha, Uttama, Tamasa, Raivata and Chakshusha. The name of the seventh Manu, who rules over the seventh manvantara of the present kalpa, is Vaivasvata.
The titles of the seven great sages (saptarshi) as well as the title of Indra change from manvantara to manvantara. The gods also change.
In the present vaivasvata manvantara, the seven great sages are Atri, Vashishtha, Kashyapa, Goutama, Bharadvaja, Vishvamitra and Jamadagni. The gods now are the sadhyas, the rudras, the vishvadevas, the vasus, the maruts, the adityas and the two ashvinis.
There will be seven manus in the future before the universe is destroyed. Five of these Manus will be known as Savarni Manus. The remaining two will be called Bhoutya and Rouchya.
The Sun and the Solar Dynasty
You have probably forgotten by now that Kashyapa and Aditi had a son named Vivasvana. This was the sun god, also known as Surya or Martanda.
Surya was married to Samjna, Vishvakarma’s daughter. They had two sons. The first son was Vaivasvata Manu and the second son was Yama or Shraddhadeva, the god of death. Yama had a twin sister named Yamuna.
The sun’ s energy was so strong that Samjna could not bear to look at her husband. Through her powers, she created an image from her own body that looked exactly like her. This image was called Chhaya (shadow).
Samjna told Chhaya, I cannot bear the energy of my husband. I am going off to my father’s house. Stay here, pretend to be Samjna and look after my children. Under no circumstances tell anyone, certainly not my husband, that you are not Samjna.
I will do as you have asked me to, replied Chhaya. But the moment someone curses me or pulls me by the hair, I shall be forced to reveal the truth.
Samjna went to her father Vishvakarma and told him what she had done. Vishvakarma kept asking her to return to her husband. But this Samjna refused to do. Instead, she went to the land known as Uttara Kuru and started to live there as a mare.
Meanwhile, Surya, who had not realized that Samjna had been replaced by Chhaya, had two sons through Chhaya. They were named Savarni Manu and Shani (Saturn). As soon as her own children were born, Chhaya no longer displayed as much of love for Samjna’s children as she used to do. Vaivasvata Manu was a quiet sort of person and he ignored the implied neglect. But Yama was not that tolerant. Besides, he was also younger. He raised his leg to kick Chhaya. At this, Chhaya cursed Yama that his legs would fall off.
Yama went and complained to Surya. I have not really kicked her, he said. I only threatened to. And does a mother ever curse her children?
I can’t undo the curse, replied Surya. At best, I can reduce its severity. Your legs will not actually fall off. Some of the flesh from your legs will fall off onto the earth and create worms. Thereby, you will be freed of your curse.
But nevertheless, Surya felt that there was some truth in Yama’s asking whether a mother would ever curse her children. He taxed Chhaya with the truth, but Chhaya would not reveal anything. Surya then grasped her by the hair and threatened to curse her. Since her conditions were now violated, Chhaya blurted out the truth.
In an extremely angry mood, Surya dashed off to Vishvakarma’s house. Vishvakarma tried to cool him down. It is all because of your excess energy that this has happened, exclaimed Vishvakarma. If you permit, I will shave off some of the extra energy. Then Samjna will be able to look at you.
Surya agreed to this proposition. With the shaved off energy, Vishvakarma manufactured Vishnu’s chakra (a weapon like a bladed discus).
Surya found out that Samjna was in Uttara Kuru in the form of mare. He joined her there in the form of a horse. As horses, they had two sons named Nasatya and Dasra. Since ashva means horse, the sons were also known as the two Ashvinis and became the physicians of the gods.
Surya and Samjna then gave up their equine forms and lived happily ever after.
