Dhurtakhyan

SR No.: 001861
Original Sutra Author: Haribhadrasuri
Author: Jinvijay
Publisher: Saraswati Pustak Bhandar Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 160
Language: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati
Classification: Book_Devnagari, Story, Literature, P000, & P030
File Size: 14 MB

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DAŪRTĀKHYANA:
BECOMES A BOA :-i) [?]; ii) Mbh., Aranyakaparvan (critical ed.), 175-178, also App. I, passages 19-20, pp. 1065f.-i) It is not clear whether Gamdharivara refers to Dhịtarăştra ; ii) The Mbh. text has undoubtedly grown, and the present text shows more than seven questions.
As distinguished from the above legends, the sources of which we have tried to trace, there are some casual references in the Dhů. (I. 62-4; V. 114-18) to Purāņic personalities and events. Some of them are mere names; so some additional information may be noted here from second-hand sources.
Haribhadra expresses (once through the mouth of Indra) that Malāvira alone is an exception; and that all other so-called great personalities have been victims of cupidity and womanly temptations (I. 64-4), or of passions in general (V. ii): Gautama had a wife Ahalyā by name; at times, whenever taken as identical with Dirghatamas, he is painted to be quite voluptuous.--Vasiştha had for his wives Urjā, Arundhati etc.; and he had one hundred sons.-Parāśara, unmindful of place and time, fell in passionate love with Satyavati, the fisher-girl.–Jamadagni demanded, from king Reņu, Renukā in marriage; he had five sons from her; but he was a terribly suspicious husband.Kaśyapa had more than a dozen wives and a pretty large number of sons.Agastya once realized that his ancestors could not be rescued without his begetting a son. Then he formed a girl out of the most graceful parts of different animals and passed her secretly into the palace of the king of Vidarbha. When the child grew up, he demanded her in marriage; somehow the king consented; and she became his wife Lopamudrā. To satisfy his wife, who had grown up in palace, he begged wealth from different kings.-Indra selected Indrāņi to be his wife because of her voluptuous attractions; he employed celestial nymphs to excite the passions of holy men; he is called parastrikāmc-cūrin, a habitual adulterer; he tried to seduce Ruci, wife of Devasarman; and his endevour to seduce Ahalyā, wife of the sage Gautama, is wellknown.-Hara's attachment for Umā, who occupies half of his body, is often mentioned in the Purāņa.-Vişnu has his wife in Lakşmī; and in his incarnation of Krsna, he had 16000 wives, apart from his sports with Gopis to whom he is so much attached (V. 112-13).-Candra has twenty-seven wives, of whom Rohiņi is the most favourite. He carried off Tārā, the wife of BỊlaspati, from whom he had a son Budha by name.-Váyu generated Bhima from Kunti and Hanumat from Añjanā. The hundred daughters of Kućanābha would not comply with his licentious desires, so he made them crooked in physique; and thus their city came to be called Kanyā-kubja.-Yama-Dharma had several wives as Hemalatā etc. Dharma, one of the Prajāpatis, had married thirteen (or ten) of the daughters of Dakşa, and had a numerous progeny. Ile generated Yudhisthira from Kunti.
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The following works are mainly used: A Classical Dictionary of India by J. Garret (Madras 1871) and its Supplement (Madras 1873); A Ciassical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology etc. by J. Dowson (London 1879); Vodie Mythology by A. A. Macdonell (Strassburg 1897); Epic Mythology by E. W. Hopkins (Strassburg 1915); Index to the Names in tho Mahabharata ote. by S. Sörenson (London 1901-25); Bhäratavarsiya caritrakośa by Chitrava (Poona 1932).