पुरूरवस्
[pururavas] IAST: PURŪRAVAS
I. A prominent king of चन्द्रवंश (lunar race).
Origin of चन्द्रवंश and birth of पुरूरवस्
Descending in order from ब्रह्मा came अत्रि -- चन्द्र -- बुध पुरूरवस् . The dynasty which came from चन्द्र was called the चन्द्रवंश . Though बुध was the first king of चन्द्रवंश it was पुरूरवस् who became celebrated. The story of the birth of पुरूरवस् is given below:
ब्रह्मा in the beginning deputed the sage अत्रि for the work of creation. अत्रिमहर्षि started the penance called अनुत्तर to acquire sufficient power for creation. After some years सच्चिदानन्द ब्रह्म with an aura of lustre reflected in the heart of that pure and serene soul. In sheer ecstasy tears rolled down his cheeks and the glittering flow of water was lustfully drunk by the zones taking the form of women with a view to producing progenies. They became pregnant but were unable to bear the embryo of अत्रि and so they threw them away. ब्रह्मा took them all and made them into one armoured youth and took him in his chariot to his land. Then the ब्रह्मर्षिस् requested ब्रह्मा to make him their lord. When the र्षिस्, देवस्, गन्धर्वस् and nymphs praised him reciting सामवेद the majestic lustre of the youth increased. It was from this that औषधस् (medicines) originated and that is why चन्द्र is considered to be the lord of medicines, द्विज and वेदस्वरूप . The चन्द्रमण्डल is full of chemicals. It increases and decreases according to the white half and black half of the moon-based month.
दक्ष gave in marriage to चन्द्र twentyseven beautiful maidens. Then चन्द्र did penance meditating on विष्णु for ten thousand कल्पस् . विष्णु pleased by his penance asked him to name a boon and चन्द्र said "When I perform a याग in स्वर्ग all the देवस् like ब्रह्मा should come in person to my यागशाला and take the यागभाग . शूलपाणि should remain as a watchman at my राजसूय ." Accordingly with the blessing of विष्णु , चन्द्र conducted the याग in which अत्रि, भृगु, ब्रह्मा, विष्णु, देवस्, वसुस्, मरुत्स् and विश्वदेवस् took part. चन्द्र gave as yāga-fees to ऋत्विक्स् all the three worlds. The याग was complete and when चन्द्र rose up after a bath nine देवीस् fell in love with the amorous beauty of चन्द्र . लक्ष्मी , wife of विष्णु , सिनीवाली , wife of कर्दम , द्युति , wife of विभावसु , पुष्टि , wife of धाता , प्रभा , wife of सूर्य , कुहू , wife of हविष्मान् , कीर्ति , wife of जयन्त , अंशुमाली wife of कश्यप and धृति wife of नन्द , abandoned their husbands and went with चन्द्र . चन्द्र treated them all as his own wives and gave them erotic pleasure to their hearts' content. Those who saw this non-virtuous act stood dumbfounded unable to curse चन्द्र .
Attracted by the dazzling brilliance of चन्द्र तारा , wife of बृहस्पति , went with him. Enraged at this, बृहस्पति joining with other देवस् prepared for a fight against चन्द्र . देवस् took sides and by the mediation of इन्द्र a conference of both the parties was held and तारा was sent back to बृहस्पति . तारा was pregnant then and तारा confessed that the child in her womb was that of चन्द्र . So when that child was born चन्द्र took it away and named it बुध . ब्रह्मा and other ऋषिस् gave बुध a seat among the planets.
बुध married इला and they got a son named पुरूरवस् . (See under Ilā) . After that बुध performed a hundred अश्वमेधयागस् . He then enjoyed world prosperity as lord of सप्तद्वीप living in the beautiful हिमाद्रिशृङ्ग . worshipping ब्रह्मा . (Chapter 12, Bhāga 3, Padma Purāṇa)
Testing पुरूरवस् and the curse
पुरूरवस् by his brilliance performed a hundred अश्वमेधयागस् and lived in glory at हिमाद्रिशृङ्ग . Great demons like केशी became his servants. उर्वशी attracted by his beauty became his wife. While he was living like that धर्म , अर्थ and काम went in disguise to his palace to test him. He received them all well but paid more attention to धर्म . अर्थ and काम got angry and cursed him. अर्थ cursed him saying that he would be ruined by his greed and काम cursed him saying he would go mad by being separated from उर्वशी . Hearing that धर्म blessed him thus: "You will live long leading a virtuous life. Your race will increase and remain in glory till the end of the moon and the stars. The insanity caused by your passion for उर्वशी would end by the end of sixty years. That celestial maiden would remain then with you for one मन्वन्तर ." (Chapter 12, Bhāga 3, Padma Purāṇa) .
पुरूरवस् used to visit इन्द्र daily. One day while he was going through air well-armed with a bow and arrows he saw a demon named केशी carrying away by force उर्वशी and चित्रलेखा and after defeating केशी in a fight recovered the nymphs and gave them back to इन्द्र . इन्द्र praised पुरूरवस् and in his honour a drama, लक्ष्मीस्वयंवर , was enacted by उर्वशी , मेनका and others. उर्वशी taking the part of लक्ष्मी started to dance but seeing पुरूरवस् before her she became lustful and made wrong steps. नारद who was present at the function got angry and cursed her "You will forget all you have learnt. Not only that, you will live as a creeper separated from पुरूरवस् for a period of sixty years." (For details see under Urvaśī) . पद्म पुराण says that it was भरत who cursed उर्वशी . This story is slightly different from that found in the other पुराणस् .
Sons of पुरूरवस्
उर्वशी got eight sons of पुरूरवस् named आयुस् , दृढायुस् , वश्यायुस् , दनायुस् , वृत्तिमान् , वसु , दिविजात and सुबाहु . Of these आयुस् became the propagator of the dynasty. Of the sons born to आयुस् five sons, नहुष , वृद्धशर्मा , रजि , दम्भ and विपाप्मा became celebrities. A hundred sons were born to रजि . They were called राजेयस् . (Chapter 12, Bhāga 3, Padma Purāṇa)
Some पुराणस् state that पुरूरवस् had six sons while some state that he had seven sons.
Other details
The following references are made about him in the महाभारत .
Once पुरूरवस् stole the wealth of some ब्रह्मिन्स् . The ब्रह्मिन्स् took सनत्कुमार along with them and made representations to the king. पुरूरवस् did not give back their wealth. The ब्रह्मिन्स् cursed him and as a result the prosperity of the King waned. Then पुरूरवस् brought down from स्वर्ग three अग्निस् and performed a याग and thus regained his lost splendour and prosperity. [mh-1-75-1 ]
पुरूरवस् got six sons of उर्वशी named आयुस् , धीमान् , अमावसु , दृढायुस् , वनायुस् and शतायुस् .
Once he asked वायु the wind-god about the origin of the four castes and the superiority of the ब्रह्मिन्स् over other castes. [mh-12-72-3 ] .
At another time he discussed about यज्ञपुरोहितस् with कश्यप . [mh-12-73-1 ] .
इक्ष्वाकु gave पुरूरवस् a sword which in his old age he gave to his son आयुस् . [mh-12-166-1 ] .
He once declared that one can attain स्वर्ग by the blessings of ब्रह्मिन्स् . [mh-13-6-31 ] .
पुरूरवस् was famous as a donor of cows. [mh-13-76-26 ] .
पुरूरवस् never ate meat. [mh-13-111-65 ] .
A king of the race of दीप्ताक्ष . [mh-5-74-15 ] .
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