Wednesday, December 5, 2007

King Prithu-The Avtar of Lord Vishnu

In the lineage of the king Dhruv, was a king named Anga. Anga's wife was Sunita. They had a son named Vena. Since childhood Vena was evil by nature. Hence he grew up to become a very cruel ruler. After many attempt he could not able to change his attitude and his cruelty became aggravate day by day. One day the Sapt Rishis killed him for the sake of Dharma. They decided to churn his body to produce new king . From the legs of the dead king (whose body had been preserved), a dwarf was born. He was known as Nisada and his descendants were called the Naisadas. They inhabited the hills and forests and became hunters and fishermen. But Nisada had served the purpose of removing the evil from Vena's body so that a righteous king could be produced. This time the sages churned the arms of Vena's body and a couple was born. The male, Prithu, was an incarnation of Vishnu. The extremely beautiful female, Arci, was an incarnation of Lakshmi (Vishnu's consort). After Prithu had ruled for some time, the citizens approached him and said that they were starving because the earth refused to yield crops. Instead it gobbled up their seeds. Prithu took up his bow and fixed an arrow on it directed at the earth. As the earth saw him, she turned into cow and fled, afraid like a deer chased by a hunter. No matter where she went, Prithu was there. Realising that it was impossible to escape, she pleaded for mercy. As per the wishes of the earth, still in a cow's form, a calf was arranged for and out of affection for the calf, the earth gave plentiful milk to one and all. She soon began to yield crops and other material much needed by mankind. From this time onwards the earth came to be known as "Prithvi" or the daughter of Prithu.

The lineage of King Prithu was as follows

DhruvVatsara Pushparna VyusthaSarvateja–Chakshusha Ulmuka Anga Vena

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