| YouTube Channel

धुन्धुमारोपाख्यान (dhundhumAropAkhyAna)

 
Monier Williams Cologne
English
धुन्धु—मा°रोपाख्यान
n.
N.
 of 3rd ch. of
PadmaP.
 iii.
Mahabharata
English
[Dhundhumāropākhyāna(ṃ)]
(“the episode about the slayer of Dhundhu”). Cf. Dhaundumāra(ṃ) upākhyāna(ṃ). § 474 (Mārkaṇḍ.): The great ṛshi Uttaṅka, in his hermitage in the wilderness, by severe penances for numberless years obtained that Vishṇu appeared to him, and having been praised by him (vv. 13494--13503) (), granted him that he should always remain virtuous and devoted to Vishṇu, and that he should obtain a yoga power and urge Kuvalāśva (son of Bṛhadaśva of Ikshvāku's race), who had been furnished with yoga power from Vishṇu, to kill the Asura Dhundhu (III, 201).--§ 475: After the death of Ikshvāku, Śaśāda was king in Ayodhyā. List of Śaśāda's descendants
Śaśāda&gt
Kakutstha&gt
Anenas&gt
Pṛthu&gt
Viśvagaśva&gt
Adri&gt
Yuvanāśva&gt
Śrāva&gt
Śrāvastaka (who built Śrāvastī)&gt
Bṛhadaśva&gt
Kuvalāśva&gt
21, 000 sons.--§ 476: Having installed Kuvalāśva on the throne, Bṛhadaśva retired into the forest as an ascetic. Then Uttaṅka asked him first to slay the Daitya chief Dhundhu (son of Madhu and Kaiṭabha), who dwelt underground in the sea Ujjālaka, which was full of sand, in the desert, practised austerities with a view to destroy the gods and the three worlds, Brahmán having granted him that he could not be slain by gods, Daityas, Rākshasas, Yakshas, and Gandhervas. “Every year, when he sleeps covered with sand and begins to breathe, the earth trembles for seven days, and the sand raised by his breath shrouds the sun.” He then told him the boon granted by Vishṇu (see § 474) (III, 202). They agreed that Kuvalāśva should slay the Daitya, and Bṛhadaśva retired to the forest.--§ 477: Asked by Yudhishṭhira, Mārkaṇḍeya related: During the cataclysm, when Vishṇu, wearing a crown and the Kaustubha, and dressed in yellow (pīta) silk, stretched over many yojanas, lay sleeping on the hood of Śesha, who encircled the earth, and a lotus sprang from his navel, and from that lotus Brahmán, who is the four Vedas with four faces, the Dānavas Madhu and Kaiṭabha began to terrify Brahmán. Vishṇu awoke, and offered to grant them a boon, and as they wished to grant him a boon, he chose that they should be slain by him, and at their request he promised to slay them on a wholly uncovered spot, and that they should become his sons
as only his thighs were uncovered, he there cut off their heads with his discus (III, 203).--§ 478: Their son was Dhundhu. Description of his penances, and the boon he obtained from Brahmán, etc. (see § 476). When Kuvalāśva, with his 21, 000 sons and his troops, and Uttaṅka set out, and aërial voice was heard, the gods showered flowers, etc., and the gods, Gandharvas, and great ṛshis came to behold the encounter. At the request of Uttaṅka, Vishṇu filled Kuvalāśva with his own energy. He let his sons excavate the sea of sands in seven days, and then they aroused the Dānava, assailing him with arrows, etc. He swallowed the arrows and vomited flames, which consumed all the sons of Kuvalāśva, but were extinguished by a stream of water flowing from the body of Kuvalāśva, who then burnt him with the Brahmāstra, whence he was named Dhundhumāra (“slayer of Dhundhu”). The gods and great ṛshis granted him the boon that he should always be able to give wealth to brahmans, etc. Then the gods and great ṛshis went away to their abodes. Kuvalāśva had three sons left--Dṛḍhāśva, Kapilāśva, and Candrāśva, from whom sprang the Ikshvāku kings. Blessing upon the reader (III, 204).