CHAPTER SEVEN

The Descendants of King Mandhata

In this chapter the descendants of King Mandhata are described, and in
this connection the histories of Purukutsa and Hariscandra are also
given.

The most prominent son of Mandhata was Ambarisa, his son was
Yauvanasva, and Yauvanasva’s son was Harita. These three personalities
were the best in the dynasty of Mandhata. Purukutsa, another son of
Mandhata, married the sister of the snakes (sarpa-gana) named
Narmada. The son of Purukutsa was Trasaddasyu, whose son was
Anaranya. Anaranya’s son was Haryasva, Haryasva’s son was Praruna,
Praruna’s son was Tribandhana, and Tribandhana’s son was Satyavrata,
also known as Trisanku. When Trisanku kidnapped the daughter of a
brahmana, his father cursed him for this sinful act, and Triganku be-
came a canddla, worse than a Stdra. Later, by the influence of
Visvamitra, he was brought to the heavenly planets, but by the influence
of the demigods he fell back downward. He was stopped in his fall,
liowever, by the influence of Visvamitra. The son of Trisanku was
Hariscandra. Hariscandra once performed a Rajasiiya-yajiia, but
Visvamitra cunningly took all of Hariscandra’s possessions as a daksina
contribution and chastised Hariscandra in various ways. Because of this,
a quarrel arose between Visvamitra and Vasistha. Hariscandra had no
sons, but on the advice of Narada he worshiped Varuna and in this way
got a son named Rohita. Hariscandra promised that Rohita would be used
to perform a Varuna-yajiia. Varuna reminded Hariscandra repeatedly
about this yajna, but the King, because of affection for his son, gave
various arguments to avoid sacrificing him. Thus time passed, and
gradually the son grew up. To safeguard his life, the boy then took bow
and arrows in hand and went to the forest. Meanwhile, at home,
Hariscandra suffered from dropsy because of an attack from Varuna.
When Rohita received the news that his father was suffering, he wanted
to return to the capital, but King Indra prevented him from doing so.
Following the instructions of Indra, Rohita lived in the forest for six

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