38 verses
King Parīkṣit said: You have described the Manvantaras, within those periods, the wonderful activities of the Supreme Lord of unlimited potency take place, and I have heard this.
sa vai vivasvataḥ putro manur āsīd iti śrutam tvattas tasya sutāḥ proktā ikṣvāku-pramukhā nṛpāḥ
Satyavrata, the saintly king of Draviòadeśa who received spiritual knowledge at the end of the last Manvantara by the grace of the Lord, later became Vaivasvata Manu, the son of Vivasvān. I have received this knowledge from you. I also understand that such kings as Ikṣvāku were his sons, as you have already explained.
Atīta-kalpānte means at the end of the last Manvantara (Cākṣuṣa).
O greatly fortunate one! O great brāhmaṇa! Describe to us separately the dynasties and characteristics of those kings, for we are always eager to hear such topics from you.
Kindly tell us about the abilities of all the celebrated kings born in the dynasty of Vaivasvata Manu, including those who have already passed, those who may appear in the future, and those who exist at present.
Sūta Gosvāmī said: When Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the greatest knower of religious principles, was thus requested by Mahārāja Parīkṣit in the assembly of all the scholars learned in Vedic knowledge, he then spoke.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King, subduer of your enemies! Hear from me in detail about the dynasty of Manu. It is not possible to speak everything, even in hundreds of years.
The Supreme Person, the soul of all superior and inferior beings, existed at the end of the millennium, when neither this manifested cosmos nor anything else but him existed.
In order to understand the topic, he relates in five verses the dynasty of Manu from the beginning of creation, bringing in topics already spoken.
O King Parīkṣit! From the navel of the Supreme Lord was generated a golden lotus, on which the four-faced Lord Brahmā took his birth.
From the mind of Lord Brahmā, Marīci took birth, and from Marīci, Kaśyapa appeared. From Kaśyapa, in the womb of Aditi, daughter of Dakṣa, Vivasvān took birth.
ikṣvāku-nṛga-śaryāti- diṣṭa-dhṛṣṭa-karūṣakān nariṣyantaṁ pṛṣadhraṁ ca nabhagaṁ ca kaviṁ vibhuḥ
O King, best of the Bhārata dynasty! From Vivasvān, in the womb of Saṁjñā, Śrāddhadeva Manu was born. Śrāddhadeva Manu, having conquered his senses, begot ten sons in the womb of his wife, Śraddhā. The names of these sons were Ikṣvāku, Nṛga, Śaryāti, Diṣṭa, Dhṛṣṭa, Karūṣaka, Nariṣyanta, Pṛṣadhra, Nabhaga and Kavi.
Manu at first had no sons. Therefore, in order to get a son for him, the great saint Vasiṣṭha, who was very powerful in spiritual knowledge, performed a sacrifice to satisfy Mitra and Varuṇa.
This was previous to the birth to Ikṣvāku and other sons.
During that sacrifice, Śraddhā, Manu's wife, who was observing the vow of subsisting only by drinking milk, approached the priest offering the sacrifice, offered obeisances to him and begged for a daughter.
Please perform a sacrifice so that I get a daughter.
Ordered by the chief priest, the hotā remembered the request of Manu's wife with concentrated mind and performed the sacrifice while chanting the word "vaṣaṭ" when the oblations were taken up.
When ordered by the advaryu, Perform the sacrifice the hota, when the oblations were taken up, remembered the request of the queen, and chanting vaṣaṭ, performed the sacrifice. Another version has adhyāyat tad: uttering vaṣaṭ he meditated on the queens request.
Because of the irregularity caused by the hotā during the sacrifice, a daughter named Ilā was born. Upon seeing the daughter, Manu, not too satisfied, spoke to his guru Vasiṣṭha, as follows.
It should be understood that the King was joyful at her birth and therefore gave her a name. But his joy was just ordinary since the problem of having no son was not removed. That is indicated by the words na atituṣṭamnamā (not too satisfied).
My lord, how has the result of the action been opposite to the one desired for you who are knowers of the Vedas? This is unfortunate. There should not have been such a reversal of the results of the Vedic mantras.
Brahma-vikiryā means the mantras should not produce wrong results.
You are conversant with the Vedas, endowed with austerity, and have destroyed all sins. How did you desire become thwarted, as if devatās were lying?
The most powerful great-grandfather Vasiṣṭha, after hearing these words of Manu and understanding the discrepancy on the part of the hotā, spoke as follows to the son of the sun-god, Manu.
Prapitāmahaḥ means Vasiṣṭha.
The discrepancy in the objective is due to your priest's deviation from the original purpose. However, by my own prowess I shall give you a good son.
O King Parīkṣit! After the most famous and powerful Vasiṣṭha made this decision, he offered prayers to the Supreme Person, Viṣṇu, desiring to transform Ilā into a male.
The Supreme Lord, the supreme controller, being pleased with Vasiṣṭha, gave him the benediction he desired. Thus Ilā was transformed into a best of men, named Sudyumna.
pragṛhya ruciraṁ cāpaṁ śarāṁś ca paramādbhutān daṁśito 'numṛgaṁ vīro jagāma diśam uttarām
O King Parīkṣit! That hero Sudyumna, accompanied by a few ministers and associates and riding on a horse brought from Sindhupradeśa, wearing armor and holding an attractive bow and astonishing arrows, went in the north pursuing animals while hunting in the forest.
There in the north, at the foot of Mount Meru, he entered a forest known as Sukumāra where Lord Śiva always enjoys with Umā.
O King Parīkṣit, when Sudyumna, who was expert in subduing enemies, entered the forest, he saw that he had become a woman and his horse had become a mare.
When his followers also saw their gender reversed, they looked at each other in confusion.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit said: O most powerful brāhmaṇa, why was this place so empowered, and who made it so powerful? Kindly answer this question, for I am very curious to hear about this.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī answered: Some sages of fixed vows and whose own effulgence dissipated the darkness of all directions once came to see Lord Śiva in that forest.
Vitimirābhāsāḥ means having effulgence which destroyed darkness.
When the goddess Ambikā saw the great saintly persons, she was ashamed because at that time she was naked. She immediately got up from the lap of her husband and put on her cloth.
Seeing Lord Śiva and Pārvatī engaged in intimacy, all the sages refrained from approaching and departed for the hermitage of Nara-Nārāyaṇa.
Thereupon, just to please his wife, Lord Śiva said, "Any male entering this place shall immediately become a female!"
Since that time, no male had entered that forest. But now King Sudyumna, having been transformed into a female, began to walk with his associates from one forest to another.
After the related story has been finished, the main story continues about King Sudyumna. The companions are addressed in the masculine form according to their previous identities, though now they were females.
Budha, the son of the moon, seeing Sudyumna who had been transformed into the best of beautiful women who excite desire, surrounded by other women, developed a desire for her.
The beautiful woman also desired to accept Budha, the son of the king of the moon, as her husband. Budha begot in her womb a son named Purūravā.
I heard that King Sudyumna, the son of Manu, having thus achieved femininity, remembered his family guru, Vasiṣṭha.
Upon seeing Sudyumna's condition, Vasiṣṭha, greatly pained, desired that Sudyumna regain his male form. Vasiṣṭha began to worship Śiva.
Āśayan means desiring.
māsaṁ pumān sa bhavitā māsaṁ strī tava gotrajaḥ itthaṁ vyavasthayā kāmaṁ sudyumno 'vatu medinīm
O King Parīkṣit, Lord Śiva, pleased with Vasiṣṭha, to satisfy him and also to keep his own word to Pārvatī, said to him, "Your disciple Sudyumna may remain a male for one month and a female for the next. In this way he may rule the world as he likes.
Prītam āvahan means being pleased.
Thus favored by the guru, according to this arrangement, Sudyumna regained his desired maleness every alternate month and in this way ruled the kingdom, although the citizens were not satisfied with this.
The citizens were not happy because every other month the King would disappear when he became a woman.
O King, Sudyumnas three very pious sons, named Utkala, Gaya and Vimala, became the kings of the Dakṣiṇā-patha.
Tasya means of Sudymna.
Thereafter, when Sudyumna, the king of Pratiṣthāna, was sufficiently old, he delivered the entire earth to his son Purūravā and entered the forest.
Pratiṣthānam-patiḥ means the king of Pratiṣṭhāna city.
Thus ends the commentary on the First Chapter of the Ninth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
Offering respects to guru and Kṛṣṇa, the ocean of mercy, I take shelter of Śukadeva, master of the world, eye of the universe. I offer myself and everything I possess to he who is the life of the gopīs, the controller, for service to his dear devotees.
Sad-dharma has been described. Now, in the Ninth Canto topics related to the followers of the Lord (īśānukathā) are told with the intention of propagating bhakti, vijñaṇa and vairāgya. This is demonstrated through splendid devotees such as Ambarīṣa. Vairāgya is demonstrated by persons like Yayāti, even though they were engaged in material pleasures. With this aim in mind, this topic also includes descriptions of the members of the dynasties of the sun and moon, whose very names are purifying, and who also taught by their personal example.
In the Ninth Canto, thirteen chapters describe the sun dynasty and eleven chapters describe the moon dynasty. Thus there are twenty-four chapters in the Ninth Canto, endowed with various astonishing subjects, and concluding with topics of Kṛṣṇa. In the First Chapter Sudyumna goes hunting, becomes a woman, and after recovering his former state, produces a son Purūravā.
Having heard that Satyavrata, a great devotee, became Manu by the mercy of Matysa, Parīkṣit, having developed faith in those topics, asks questions in four verses with the intention of learning about the devotees in the various dynasties.