Text

Chapter Summary

Purport

This chapter describes the dynasty in which the great and learned scholar Janaka was born. This is the dynasty of Maharaja Nimi, who is said to have been the son of Ikshvaku.

When Maharaja Nimi began performing great sacrifices, he appointed Vasishtha to be chief priest, but Vasishtha refused, for he had already agreed to be priest in performing a yajna for Lord Indra. Vasishtha therefore requested Maharaja Nimi to wait until Lord Indra's sacrifice was finished, but Maharaja Nimi did not wait. He thought, "Life is very short, so there is no need to wait." He therefore appointed another priest to perform the yajna. Vasishtha was very angry at King Nimi and cursed him, saying, "May your body fall down." Cursed in that way, Maharaja Nimi also became very angry, and he retaliated by saying, "May your body also fall down." As a result of this cursing and countercursing, both of them died. After this incident, Vasishtha took birth again, begotten by Mitra and Varuna, who were agitated by Urvasi.

The priests who were engaged in the sacrifice for King Nimi preserved Nimi's body in fragrant chemicals. When the sacrifice was over, the priests prayed for Nimi's life to all the demigods who had come to the arena of yajna, but Maharaja Nimi refused to take birth again in a material body because he considered the material body obnoxious. The great sages then churned Nimi's body, and as a result of this churning, Janaka was born.

The son of Janaka was Udavasu, and the son of Udavasu was Nandivardhana. The son of Nandivardhana was Suketu, and his descendants continued as follows: Devarata, Brihadratha, Mahavirya, Sudhriti, Dhrishtaketu, Haryasva, Maru, Pratipaka, Kritaratha, Devamidha, Visruta, Mahadhriti, Kritirata, Maharoma, Svarnaroma, Hrasvaroma and Siradhvaja. All these sons appeared in the dynasty one after another. From Siradhvaja, mother Sitadevi was born. Siradhvaja's son was Kusadhvaja, and the son of Kusadhvaja was Dharmadhvaja. The sons of Dharmadhvaja were Kritadhvaja and Mitadhvaja. The son of Kritadhvaja was Kesidhvaja, and the son of Mitadhvaja was Khandikya. Kesidhvaja was a self-realized soul, and his son was Bhanuman, whose descendants were as follows: Satadyumna, Suci, Sanadvaja, Urjaketu, Aja, Purujit, Arishtanemi, Srutayu, Suparsvaka, Citraratha, Kshemadhi, Samaratha, Satyaratha, Upaguru, Upagupta, Vasvananta, Yuyudha, Subhashana, Sruta, Jaya, Vijaya, Rita, Sunaka, Vitahavya, Dhriti, Bahulasva, Kriti and Mahavasi. All of these sons were great self-controlled personalities. This completes the list of the entire dynasty.