On the Trail of the Lunar Dynasty
From Vayu Purana
THE SOLAR LINE
The sages requested Lomaharshana. “Please tell us the history of the solar line.” Lomaharshana complied.
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Vaivasvata Manu ruled as Manu. He had ten sons. The eldest was named Ila. The other sons were named Ikshvaku, Kushanabha, Arishta, Dhrishta, Narishyanata, Karusha, Sharyati, Prishadhra and Nabhaga. The solar line owes its origin to Ikshavaku. In this line was born king Bhagiratha, who brought the sacred river Ganga down from heaven. Further down the line was Dasharatha and Dasharatha‘s son was Rama. You know about Rama from the Ramayana.
ILA AND THE LUNAR LINE
Vaisvasvata Manu‘s eldest son was Ila. When Vaivasvata Manu became old, he retired to the forest. Ila was appointed the ruler in his place. Ila set out on a voyage of conquest and travelled throughout the world. There was a forest named Sharavana, frequented by Shiva and Parvati. Shiva had decreed that any man who entered the forest would become a woman. King Ila did not know about this rule and set foot in the forest inadvertently he immediaely got transformed into a woman.
“What is going to happen to me now?” thought Ila. “Where will I live?” He even forgot all about his earlier life. The moon-god, Chandra, had a son named Budha. While Ila was wandering around. Budha came upon her and fell in love with her. The two had a son named Pururava and Pururava was the ancestor of the lunar line.
Meanwhile, Ikshvaku and the other brothers had started to look for Ila. When they could find no trace of their brother, they asked the sage Vashishtha if he knew of Ila‘s whereabouts. Vashishtha used his mental powers to find out what had happened. He asked the princes to pray to Shiva and Parvati. That was the only way to make Ila a man once more.
The prayers pleased Shiva and Parvati and they found out what the princes wants. “But what you desire is quite impossible,” they told Ikshvaku and his brother. “Ila can never be made a man once again. At best, we will grant you the following boon. Ila will alternate between being a man for one month and a woman for one month.” The princes had to be content with this. As a woman, Ila continued to be known as Ila. But as a man, he came to known as Sudyumna and had three sons named Utkala, Gaya and Haritashva
CHANDRA AND BUDHA
“You forgot to tell us how Budha was born,” remarked the sages. “Nor did you tell us anything about Chandra‘s birth.” Lomaharshana filled in the blanks. The sage Atri was Brahma‘s son. Atri once performed very difficult tapasya. A tremendous amount of energy was released as a result of this meditation and the moon-god, Chandra or Soma, was born from this energy. Brahma appointed Chandra ruler over all stars, planets and herbs (oshadhi). Twenty-seven of Daksha‘s daughter were married to Chandra. These were the nakshatras (stars). Chandra performed a rajasuya yajna (royal sacrifice) and the ceremony was an outstanding success. Bt all this sucess.
But all this success and glory went to Chandra‘s head. The preceptor of the gods was the sage Brihaspati and Brihaspati‘s wife was Tara. Chandra‘s eyes fell upon Tara and he forcibly abducted her. On several occasions Brihaspati asked Chandra to return Tara, but the moon-god would not listen. A terrible war then raged between the gods and demons over Tara. The gods fought on Brihaspati‘s side and the demons aided Chandra. Shiva also fought on the side of the gods. As the war raged, Shiva let fly a terrible divine weapon named brahmashirsha at Chandra.
Chandra countered this with another terrible divine weapon named somastra. These two weapons of destruction threatened to burn up the entire universe. Brahma decided that it was time for him to intervene. “Stop this nonsense at once,” he told Chandra. “What you have done is most improper. Return Tara at once.” These words ashamed Chandra and he returned Tara. But Chandra and Tara had already had a handsome son named Budha. Budha became very skilled in the handling of elephants. In fact, the knowledge of tackling and handling elephants goes back to Budha. You already know that Budha married Ila and that they had a son named Pururava.
PURURAVA AND URVASHI
Pururava was a very strong king who ruled the earth well. He performed one hundred ashvamedha yajnas. The three goals of human life are dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), and kama (that which is desired). These three goals wished to see which of them Pururava revered the most. They therefore adopted human forms and came to visit Pururava. Pururava treated them with utmost respect and gave them golden seats to sit on. He offered them all sorts of offerings. But in the process, Dharma received more of the offerings than Artha and Kama. This angered Artha and Kama. “You will be destroyed,” Artha cursed Pururava. “You will go mad over Urvashi,” Kama cursed Pururava But Dharma blessed Pururava. “You will live for long and you will never deviate from the righteous path,” he said. “Your descendants will rule for ever.”
Having thus cursed and blessed Pururava, Dharma, Artha, and Kama disappeared. On one particular occasion, Pururava was driving his chariot through a forest. He suddenly found that a demon named Keshi was abducting an apsara (dancer of heaven). This apsara was none other than Urvashi. Pururava defeated the demon and rescued Urvashi. He restored her to Indra, the king of the gods. Indra was deligthed at this act and Indra and Pururava became friends. The sage Bharata taught mankind how to sing and dance. To celebrate Urvashi‘s return, Indra asked Bharata to stage a performance. As artistes, Bharata chose three apsaras. They were Menaka, Urvashi and Rambha. Menaka and Rambha danced as they should. But Urvashiw as attracted by King Pururava and kept looking at him. The result was that Urvashi fell out of step. This angered Bharata and he cursed Urvashi that she would have to spend fifty-five years on earth. On earth, Urvashi married Pururava and they had eight sons named Ayu, Dridayau, Ashvayu, Dhanayu, Dhritamana, Vasu, Shuchividya and Shatayu.
YAYATI
In the lunar line there was a king named Nahusha and Nahusha‘s son was Yayati. Yayati had two wives, Sharmishtha and Devayani. Sharmishtha was the daughter of Vrishaparva, the king of the danavas (demons). And Devayani‘s father was Shukracharya, the preceptor of the demons. Devayani gave birth to Yadu and Turvasu and Sharmishtha gave birth to Druhya, Anu and Puru. Yayati ruled the world extremely well for many years. He performed many yajnas.
But eventually he grew old. The problem was that although Yayati grew old, he was not yet tired of sensual pleasures. He still desired to savour the joys that the world had to offer. Yayati told his five sons. “Because of Shukracharya‘s curse, an untimely old age has come upon me and I am not content with what I have savoured of life. I request one of you to give me his youth and accept my old age in return. When I have sated myself with worldly pleasures, I will take back my old age and return the youth.” Except for Puru, the other four sons flatly refused such an exchange. They had no desire to part with their valued youth. They were thereupon cursed by their father.
As for Puru, he said, “Please accept my youth and be happy. It is my duty to serve and I will gladly take upon me your old age.” For a thousand years Yayati savoured the pleasures of the world with Puru‘s youth. A thousand years were not than enough to satisfy Yayati. He accepted his old age and returned Puru‘s youth. He blessed Puru for his obedience and announced to the word that Puru was his only true son. Puru inherited the kingdom after Yayati. His descendants were known as the Pauravas. It was in this line that King Bharata was born. It is after Bharata that the land we live in is known as Bharatavarsha.
The sages interrupted Lomaharshana. “You are going too fast.” They said. “What is this curse of Shukracharya‘s that Yayati referred to? You have forgotten to tell us about that.” “I will,” replied Lomaharshana. “But first, let me tell you about Kacha and Devayani.”
SHARMISHTHA AND DEVAYANI
Sharmishtha was the daughter of Vrishaparva, the king of the danavas. Sharmishtha and Devayani were great friends, until Indra played some mischief. The two friends had gone to bathe in a pond and had left their clothes on the bank. Indra adopted the form of a breeze and mixed up the clothes. When Sharmishtha donned her clothes after having had her bath, she put on Devayani‘s clothes by mistake. Devayani said, “How dare you wear my clothes ? My father is your father‘s teacher and you are my inferior in every respect. You have no business to put on my clothes.” “I am not your inferior.” Replied Sharmishatha. “It is you who are my inferior. My father is the king and your father thrives on my father‘s generoisty.” The two friends started to quarrel. Sharmishtha flung Devayani into a well and left her there, taking her to be dead.
At that time, King Yayati came to the forest on a hunt. He was thirsty and looked for some water. When he found the well, he discovered Devayani inside it. He rescued Devayani. Yayati also fell in love with her, so that the two got married. Shukracharya got to know about all this and was furious at the treatment that Sharmishtha had meted out to his daughter. He threatened to leave the demons. Vrishaparva did his best to persuade Shukracharya not to leave them, but Shukracharya insisted that he would stay only if Devayani was pacified. Vrishaparva promised to give Devayani whatever it was that she wished for. “Sharmishtha has insulted me,” said Devayani. “She has called me her inferior. My mind will be set at rest only if Sharmishtha serves as a servant. Vrishaparva agree to this conditon and Sharistha became Devayani‘s servant, together with one thousand other demon women.
After Yayati and Devayani got married, Shukracharya told Yayati, “Sharmisha is Devayani‘s servant and you are married to Devayani. Under no circumstances marry Sharmishtha, otherwise I am going to curse. In due course, Devayani gave birth to Yadu and Turvasu. Sharmishtha had secretly married Yayati and she too gave birth to Druhya, Anu and Puru. “How came you to have sons? Asked Devayani. “Who is your husband? “My husband is a brahmana,” replied Sharmishtha. “I do not know his name.” But when Devayani asked Druhya, Anu and Puru about their father, the truth came out. They told her that they were King Yayati‘s sons. “You have insulted me,” Devayani told Yayati. “Will remain your wife no longer. You have married my servant.”
Shukracharya was also furious. Yayati had gone against his wishes and had married Sharmishtha. Shukracharya cursed Yayati that old age would set upon the king, although he was still in the prime of youth. “Please do not curse me,” said Yayati. “I am married to your daughter. I wish to live with her as her husband. Do you wish your son-in-law to be an old servant?” “My curse cannot be lifted,” replied Shukracharya. “But I will try and mitigate the effects. I grant you the power that you can pass on this old age to whomsoever you wish.” It was this old age that Puru accepted.
., but I digress., the history/archeology departments of several US/European universities just are locked out of the above discoveries - hence the alternatives proposed. Everybody knows that once the SIVC is linked with Brahmi and deciphered those US/Europeans have to close their departments and go home.
