||Srimad Bhagavath Mahapuran||

||Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaya||

Chapter – 40– The legend of Prithu Maharaj

Prithu Maharaj was crowned as the King and got married to Archi.  The deities arrived with numerous presents to offer this pious couple.  Before the birth of King Prithu, the Kingdom was witnessing all the inauspicious signs like natural calamities, famine, drought, etc.  There were several people who died of hunger.  During the coronation ceremony of King Prithu, the subjects approached the King to resolve the pathetic issue of famine and drought, otherwise, they would die of hunger.  King Prithu immersed in deep thought found that his subjects were hard-working and skilled; it was not their fault the Kingdom was facing scarcity of grains.   It was the Mother Earth who was not willing to give anything in return.  So he decided to punish the mother Earth and took his bow and arrow, mother Earth frightened and enquired the reason for his anger.  King Prithu asked her “Devi, you are the mother of all the living beings, receiving oblations from fire sacrifices, but you are not willing to offer grains to the people of my Kingdom.”  The mother Earth said “ Oh! Maharaj, Lord Bhrama created herbs, fiber root vegetables and rich natural resources which were consumed by the immoral people while King Vena was ruling the Kingdom.  They were consuming all the grains and vegetables for sensual pleasure, not for any Dharmic purpose.  Therefore I had to hide the seeds under Earth and it has become ineffective now.  Therefore, you have to restart the Dharmic rites, spiritual and religious rites at the earliest to control the famine and invigorate the seeds.”  Maharaj Prithu became calm, and sincerely followed the advice of the Mother Earth.  During the regime of Maharaj Prithu, the Mother Earth served the people abundantly and fulfilled all the desires of the people.  Maharaj Prithu was too pleased, affectionate and considered Mother Earth as his daughter, thus the Mother Earth has got her name Prithvi.

After some time, Prithu Maharaj conducted a thousand Ashwamedha Yaga while conducting the last Yagna on the river banks of Saraswathi.  Lord Indra/Shathakrathu was worried about the Yagna of Maharaj Prithu, the Earth was flourished with rich natural resources and herbs, oceans filled with precious gems, an abundance of grains, etc.  Lord Indra stolen the horse offered for the Yagna many times, and it was founded by the son of Prithu Maharaj.  In this way, Indra was kept stealing the horse disguised as a saintly person, the son of Prithu Maharaj did not hurt the saintly person, he caught hold of the horse every time.   This scenario has repeated several times and it motivated the people to disguise as saintly men and conduct living on alms, it angered Prithu Maharaj.  The Rishis and Sages advised Prithu Maharaj not to battle against Indra or kill him.  The Rishis decided to conduct Yagna to invoke Indra to receive oblations so that he will turn into ashes in the sacrificial fire.  Lord Bhrama appeared before the Rishis and advised that Lord Indra is the King of deities; it is the responsibility of the Rishis and sages to offer oblations to deities, so plotting against Lord Indra is an immoral act.  Lord Bhrama said to Prithu Maharaj “ Oh! Rajan, you are already a favorite of Lord Vishnu; there is no need for hundreds of Ashwamedha Yaga, therefore be happy with the ninety-nine Ashwamedha Yaga.”  Lord Vishnu was pleased  and  appeared before Prithu Maharaj while performing the 99^th Ashwamedha Yaga,  all the deities were accompanied by Lord Vishnu and Lord Indra requested to forgive him, Prithu Maharaj was already forgotten the unpleasant incidents happened between them, he embraced Lord Indra.   Lord -Vishnu was highly pleased with Prithu Maharaj and kept his lotus feet first time on the Earth and blessed Prithu Maharaj that soon he will have the Dharshan of Sanath, Sanaka, Santhkumara and Sananthan.  Prithu Maharaj realized the compassion of supreme Lord reverentially prostrated before Lord Vishnu and prayed for the permanent association of devotees of Lord and intense devotion upon the Supreme Lord.  Prithu Maharaj ruled the Prithvi for several years, conducted several spiritual and religious rites.   He motivated people to choose the Dharmic way of living, respect and engage in the selfless service of the devotees of Lord, surrender to supreme Lord with the mind, action and thought.  The Rishis and Sages highly praised the Prithu Maharaj.   The Sanathkumaras arrived in the Kingdom were received with great reverence by the King, he washed their feet and sprinkled the water on his head.  The Sanathkumaras were pleased with the devotion of the King and advised Prithu Maharaj to contemplate upon supreme Lord Krishna, remain distant from the wicked and materialistic people, and always remain in the association of devotees of the Lord.  Prithu Maharaj and his wife Archi lived a saintly life, eventually entered into woods and conducted Tapasya.

||Srimad Bhagavath Mahapuran||

||Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaya||

Chapter – 39– The legend of Prithu Maharaj - The birth of Prithu Maharaj

Prithu Maharaj was born in the clan of Druva, an incarnation and ardent devotee of Lord Krishna.  There was a famous King Anga in the Druva clan, he had no offspring because of the Karma of his previous birth. He conducted a Yajja for the benefit of offspring, the Yajja was conducted by illustrious Rishis and sAges, the recitation of chant are meticulously followed, but there was no Yajjapurusha appeared from the sacrificial fire, and the Yajja became unfruitful.  King Anga was desperately asked the sacrificial priest “ Oh! Mahabhaga, why did no deities receive oblations from the fire sacrifice? What I have done in my previous birth to make the deities unhappy?” The Rishis said “ Hey Rajan, you have not committed any immoral deed by action or words or thought, therefore you are a pure soul. We will conduct a Yajja to please Lord Vishnu, if we please the Supreme Lord Vishnu, eventually all the deities would accept oblation from the fire sacrifice.”  Thus a Yajja conducted to please the Supreme Lord Vishnu, and the oblation was received by the deities, there appeared Yajja Purusha in marvelous white garment holding the golden vessel full of Kheer.  King Anga respectfully greeted Yajjapurusha and received the golden vessel, handed to his wife Sunitha who was the daughter of Mrithyu.  In due course of time, Sunitha got pregnant with the child and gave birth to Vena.  Usually, the girl child inherits qualities from the father and the male child adopts all the qualities from the gene of the mother.  Vena adopted all the immoral deeds of his grandfather, he was too cruel by birth, he learned Asthra at a young age, he conducts hunting expedition to woods and mercilessly killed several deer.  During childhood days he plays with his mates and kills them in anger.  King Anga imposed various punishments upon his son Vena to control his heartless acts, but none was worked on him.  King Anga was extremely worried and anxious about the immoral deeds of Vena; he used to think that childless couples are fortunate; they need not worry about the deprived children.  King Anga was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu; he received all the miseries and sorrows as blessings of Lord to liberate him from the worldly bondage.  Eventually, King Anga became uninterested in the family as well as the Kingdom, he returned to woods for penance. 

The Kingdom with no King would create chaos among the people, so the Rishis and sages decided to crown Vena as the King.  Soon after the coronation,  King Vena mercilessly punished the saintly people, created impediments in all the spiritual and religious rites in the Kingdom.  The Rishis and Sages thought that if Vena crowned as King, he would protect the Kingdom from the thieves and promote religious and spiritual rites, but he became the enemy of the people and saintly men. 

The Rishis and sages approached King Vena and amiably made him understand the insecurities in the Kingdom and the increase of immoral activities.  King Vena was not willing to listen to any of the advice of Rishis, moreover, he humiliated them with harsh words.  The Rishis got angry and uttered the sound ‘Hm’, instantly Vena turned into ashes, his bones were churned and a dwarf-like Nishad has appeared with the dark complexion who took all the sins of Vena upon him, these Nishad clan resides in the woods permanently.  The Rishis continued to churn the bones of Vena and appeared a male Maharaj Prithu and female Archi who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Mahalakshmi as well.