CHAPTER TWENTY

The Dynasty of Piru

This chapter describes the history of Piru and his descendant
Dusmanta. The son of Piru was Janamejaya, and his son was Pracinvan.
The sons and grandsons in the line of Pracinvan, one after another, were
Pravira, Manusyu, Carupada, Sudyu, Bahugava, Samyati, Ahamyati and
Raudrasva. Raudrasva had ten sons—Rteyu, Kakseyu, Sthandileyu,
Krteyuka, Jaleyu, Sannateyu, Dharmeyu, Satyeyu, Vrateyu and Vaneyu.
The son of Rteyu was Rantindva, who had three sons—Sumati, Dhruva
and Apratiratha. The son of Apratiratha was Kanva, and Kanva’s son was
Medhatithi. The sons of Medhatithi, headed by Praskanna, were all
bréhmanas. The son of Rantinava named Sumati had a son named Rebhi,
and his son was Dusmanta.

While hunting in the forest, Dusmanta once approached the asrama of
Maharsi Kanva, where he saw an extremely beautiful woman and became
attracted to her. That woman was the daughter of Visvamitra, and her
name was Sakuntala. Her mother was Menaka, who had left her in the
forest, where Kanva Muni found her. Kanva Muni brought her to his
asrama, where he raised and maintained her. When Sakuntala accepted
Maharaja Dusmanta as her husband, he married her according to the
gandharva-vidhi. Sakuntala later became pregnant by her husband, who
left her in the asrama of Kanva Muni and returned to his kingdom.

In due course of time, Sakuntala gave birth to a Vaisnava son, but
Dusmanta, having returned to the capital, forgot what had taken place.
Therefore, when Sakuntald approached him with her newly born child,
Maharaja Dusmanta refused to accept them as his wife and son. Later,
however, after a mysterious omen, the King accepted them. After
Maharaja Dusmanta’s death, Bharata, the son of Sakuntala, was en-
throned. He performed many great sacrifices, in which he gave great
riches in charity to the brahmanas. This chapter ends by describing the
birth of Bharadvaja and how Maharaja Bharata accepted Bharadvaja as
his son.

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