Indradyumna (Sanskrit: इंद्रदयुम्न, IAST: Indradyumn), son of Bharat and Sumati, was a Malava king, according to the Mahabharata and the Puranas. Noted Indologist John Dowson has opined that there have been several Kings of this name and the most prominent one being the Indradyumna who ruled over Avanti region [1] and set up the icon of Lord Jagannath in Puri.
Contents |
The name is derived from the Sanskrit noun root Indra with verb morpheme “dyumn” (Root ‘dyu’ - Meaning ‘resplendent’), with the meaning of “One with the splendour like that of Indra."
As per Mahabharat, sage Markandeya narrated to Yudhisthir that as recounted by tortoise Aakuupaara, King Indradyumna had undertaken thousand Ashvemedha Yajnyas, had built 1000 Yuupa poles and had donated millions of cows to the needy during the Yajna. A huge depression was created from the movements of the hooves of those cattle and the place was filled with water used by the King during the Yajnas, leading to creation of the pond, and that is why the pond bears the name Indradyumna Sarovar. Since, the pond had the sacred sacrificial water and Holy cow urine in it, it became a Tirtha place. Presently, the Indradyumna Sarovar is located on the north-western direction of the sacred precincts of the Gundicha Temple, Puri, which is exactly 2.7 kilometers from the sacred Jagannath temple of Puri. Such an account of the Mahabharat directly links King Indradyumna to the construction of the Shri Jagannath temple at Puri.
In the Bhagavata Purana, Canto 8, Indradyumna was a saintly king belonging to the lineage of Svayambuva Manu and ruled the Pandya country. Once Indradyumna was visited by the sage Agastya. Indradyumna, deeply engrossed in meditation, did not notice the arrival of Agastya, who took the king’s neglect for an insult. Agastya was enraged and cursed Indradyumna to become an elephant. The grief stricken Indradyumna importuned sage Agastya to liberate him from the curse. Agastya granted that he would be redeemed from the curse by Vishnu’s touch.
In the next birth, King Indradyumna, lived as an elephant Gajendra for many years. One day elephant Gajendra went to drink water from a lake at Mount Trikuta. In that lake lived a fallen Gandharva named Huhu, who also had been cursed and turned into a crocodile by the great sage Devala for having disturbed the sage’s meditation.
When Indradyumna as Gajendra the elephant stepped into the lake to drink, Huhu the crocodile caught hold of his hind leg and tried to drag him under the water. They fought for a thousand years. In the end, when Gajendra was exhausted and was about to be dragged into the waters by the mighty crocodile Huhu, Gajendra in great pain renounced all attempts to fight and prayed to Vishnu, offering lotus flowers with his trunk. The prayer made by Gajendra on this occasion became a famous hymn in praise of Vishnu called the Gajendra Stuti. Propitiated at the devotion of such a great devotee, Lord Vishnu appeared and killed Huhu and redeemed Indradyumna from the curse. Upon such, King Indradyumna immediately attained Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu. The tale of Gajendra forms an integral theme of the Vaishnavite religion and has huge symbolic value with Gajendra as the man, Huhu as sins and the muddy water of the lake as samsara.
In the Jagannath lore, Indradyumna is a great king of Somavamsa lineage who ruled over Malava. Indradyumna was a great devotee of Lord Nila Madhava and got three wooden images made out of the sacred log floating at the shores and built a temple for the deities. In an alternate account, according to Deula Tola of Bipra Nilambar Das, Indradyumna, got piece of sacred wood, which was the metamorphosed shape of Lord Nilamadhava from the Sabara chief Visvavasu, and out of the wood he carved three images. Indradyumna is taken to have built the first temple for Purosattam Jagannath, which was later rebuilt by King Yayati Kesari.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||