A दानव king who served देवस् and असुरस् as their architect and builder.

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कश्यप Prajāpati, son of मरीचि and grandson of ब्रह्मा married the thirteen daughters of दक्ष . Among them, the first was अदिति , the second was दिति and the third was दनु . आदितेयस् were born to अदिति , दैत्यस् were born to दिति and दानवस् were born to दनु . The chief among the sons of दनु was मय .

मय was found to be very proficient in the art of architecture even from his boyhood. He worshipped ब्रह्मा in the हिमालयस् to gain unrivalled skill in architecture ब्रह्मा was pleased and appeared before him. He blessed मय to become the unequalled architect of the देवस् . असुरस् and दानवस् . After that मय was engaged in building magnificent mansions for देवस् and असुरस् . He was also anointed King of the दानवस् .

It was a period of friendly co-operation and brotherly relations between देवस् and असुरस् . Once there was a dancing show in देवलोक . मय was also invited to see the performance of the women of देवलोक . All the dancers acquitted themselves creditably. But what attracted मय most, was the dance of हेमा , the अप्सरा woman. मय and हेमा were mutually attracted and fell in love with each other. The देवस् who came to know of this, gave हेमा in marriage to मय . (Uttara Rāmāyaṇa)

Domestic life

मय and हेमा went to the valley south of हिमवान् and built there a city named "Hemapura". While leading a happy life there, two sons, मायावी and दुन्दुभि were born to them. But they had no daughter. So they worshipped शिव , praying for a daughter.

At about that time, one day, an अप्सरा woman, मधुरा , after observing सोमवार व्रत , came to शिव and did obeisance to him. पार्वती was not at home at the moment. Fascinated by मधुरा 's charm, शिव embraced her. पार्वती who came to know of it, cursed मधुरा and turned her into a frog. But she said that after twelve years, the curse would be lifted and she would become a woman again. It was in a well near the place where मय and हेमा were performing तपस् that मधुरा fell as frog. After twelve years, the frog recovered her former shape as a woman. At that time मय saw her, and taking her to be the daughter given to him by शिव , took her with him to his palace. He gave her the name "Mandodarī". It was this "Mandodarī" whom रावण married later.

Besides these three children, मय had some other sons and daughters. In देवी भागवत , 8th Skandha there is a reference to the दानव named बल , the son of मय , living in अतल , a section of पाताल . In कथा सरित्सागर , मदनमञ्चुकालम्बक , 3rd Taraṅga we find that मय had two daughters named स्वयम्प्रभा and सोमप्रभा . Of them, सोमप्रभा was married by नलकूबर , the son of वैश्रवण .

Alliance with अर्जुन and construction of इन्द्रप्रस्थ

Once कृष्ण and अर्जुन offered खाण्डववन to अग्निदेव as a feast. (See under the word "Khāṇḍavadāha") . While अग्नि was furiously feeding upon the forests, the human and animal inhabitants in it began to flee from it. कृष्ण and अर्जुन shot them down with arrows. At that time मय was hiding himself in the disguise of तक्षक . When the flames of fire approached that place मय left his shelter and rushed out. श्री कृष्ण aimed his weapon चक्र at him. Crying aloud with fear, मय ran to अर्जुन praying for protection. अर्जुन stopped अग्निदेव and श्री कृष्ण and thus saved मय . [mh-1-240-1 ] Mahābhārata • Ādi parva

From that time, मय became a loyal follower of अर्जुन . After खाण्डवदाह , कृष्ण and अर्जुन were taking rest when मय approached them with joined palms and asked अर्जुन what he should do in return for saving him from the fury of कृष्ण and the blazing fire. अर्जुन replied that he expected no return from मय for saving his life but wanted only his friendship. मय was not satisfied. He insisted that अर्जुन should accept some service from him as a token of his deep gratitude. On hearing this, श्री कृष्ण suggested that मय should build a beautiful palace for the पाण्डवस् . Accordingly he built a magnificent palace for the पाण्डवस् at the place called खाण्डवप्रस्थ . [mh-2-1-1 ] Mahābhārata • Sabhā parva .

मय settled down in विन्ध्य

Once Maya sought shelter from महाविष्णु . विष्णु offered shelter to Maya and so he built a mansion called "Sudharmā" for all the देवस् . It was a building of inexpressible beauty and rare architectural workmanship. The असुरस् who became angry with Maya for his अल्लिअनेए with the Devas made preparations to attack him. Alarmed at it, Maya fled southwards with his family and reached विन्ध्य . There he built a lovely mansion and settled down in it. (Kathāśaritsāgara, Madanamañcukālambaka, 3rd Taraṅga) .

In वाल्मीकि रामायण , किष्किन्धा काण्ड , 50th sarga also there is a reference to this wonderful mansion which मय built on the विन्ध्य mountain. In their search for सीता , हनूमान् and the other monkeys reached the विन्ध्य mountain. There they combed the forests and caves to find out सीता . When they caṃe to the peak to the south west of the mountain, they saw a huge dark cave. They entered it and cautiously moved forward. After a long and tedious walk the monkeys were exhausted with hunger and thirst. When they proceeded a little further, they came across a bright place. There they saw a woman sitting alone, dressed in deer skin and barks of trees. She greeted them and in the course of her talk with the monkeys she told them that the cave was made by the magician मय and that her name was स्वयम्प्रभा . Her mother was मेरुसावर्णी and that she ( स्वयम्प्रभा ) was entrusted with the task guarding the wonderful mansion. Then she gave them fruits and fresh water.

त्रिपुरस्

It was Maya who built three magic dwellings for the three दानवस् , कमलाक्ष , तारकाक्ष and विद्युन्माली . (For details see under the word Pura) .

Other details

महाभारत , आदि पर्व , Chapter 227, Verse 41 says that नमुचि the दानव was the brother of मय .

मय had two sons named सुनीथ and सुदण्डिक They became human beings under a curse. (For details see under the word Sūryaprabhā) .

In कथासरित्सागर मदनमञ्चुकालम्बक , ८थ् तरङ्ग we see that मय was an incarnation of विश्वकर्मा .

At the time when महाविष्णु as वामन took the three worlds from महाबलि , मय joined with other दानवस् and fought against वामन . [mh-19-55-1 ] Mahābhārata • Book 19 [bh-1-20-12 ] bh • Book 1 Note: 'Bhaviṣya Parva' is not part of the original list of 18 Parvas provided in the initial context. Here, 'bh' is used as a placeholder Parva identifier. .

Once मय was relaxing with his friends on the मलय mountain. Knowing about it महेश्वर sent इन्द्र to that mountain. इन्द्र challenged the दानवस् for a fight. In the battle that followed, इन्द्र killed the दानव named पाक . Thus he got the name, " पाकशासन ". इन्द्र killed पुर , the son of महाबलि also in that battle and so came to be known as " पुरन्दर " The remaining दानवस् under the leadership of मय fled to पाताल . (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 71) .