35 verses
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O descendant of Mahārāja Bharata! I shall now describe the dynasty of Pūru, in which you were born, in which many lines of saintly kings and brāhmaṇas appeared.
King Janamejaya was born of this dynasty of Pūru. Janamejaya's son was Pracinvān, and his son was Pravīra. Thereafter, Pravīra's son was Manusyu, and from Manusyu came Cārupada.
The son of Cārupada was Sudyu, and the son of Sudyu was Bahugava. Bahugava's son was Saṁyāti. From Saṁyāti came a son named Ahaṁyāti, from whom Raudrāśva was born.
daśaite 'psarasaḥ putrā vaneyuś cāvamaḥ smṛtaḥ ghṛtācyām indriyāṇīva mukhyasya jagad-ātmanaḥ
Raudrāśva had ten sons, named Ṛteyu, Kakṣeyu, Sthaṇòileyu, Kṛteyuka, Jaleyu, Sannateyu, Dharmeyu, Satyeyu, Vrateyu and Vaneyu, born of the Apsarā Ghṛtācī. Of these ten sons, Vaneyu was the youngest. As the ten senses of the jīva are controlled by the main life air of the universe, these ten sons of Raudrāśva acted under Raudrāśva's full control.
Raudrāśva had ten sons. Dharma-satya-vrateyavaḥ means Dharmeyu, Satyeyu, Vrateyu. Vaneyu was the youngest. Ghṛtācyām is in the locative but has a genitive meaning. They were like the ten senses of the jīva.
Ṛteyu had a son named Rantināva, who had three sons, named Sumati, Dhruva and Apratiratha. Apratiratha had a son named Kaṇva.
The son of Kaṇva was Medhātithi, whose sons, all brāhmaṇas, were headed by Praskanna. The son of Rantināva named Sumati had a son named Rebhi. Mahārāja Duṣmanta is known as the son of Rebhi.
vilokya sadyo mumuhe deva-māyām iva striyam babhāṣe tāṁ varārohāṁ bhaṭaiḥ katipayair vṛtaḥ
Once when King Duṣmanta went to hunt, he approached the residence of Kaṇva Muni. There he saw a most beautiful woman who looked exactly like the goddess of fortune and who sat there illuminating the place by her effulgence. The King was immediately attracted by her beauty, and, accompanied by some of his soldiers, spoke to her.
Delighted to see her, relieved of his fatigue, and agitated by desire, he inquired from her, in a joking mood with gentle words.
O beautiful lotus-eyed woman! Attractive woman! Who are you? Whose daughter are you? What are you doing here alone in forest?
O beautiful woman! It appears that you must be the daughter of a kṣatriya. Because I belong to the Pūru dynasty, my mind never enjoys anything irreligiously.
It appears you are a kṣatriyas daughter. Otherwise I would not be attracted to you.
Śakuntalā said: I am the daughter of Viśvāmitra. My mother, Menakā, left me in the forest. O hero, the most powerful sage Kaṇva knows this. O hero, how may I serve you?
Kanva knows. I have heard this from Kanvas mouth, but I do not know my mother or father.
O King with lotus eyes! Please sit down and accept our welcome. Please eat. There is a supply of wild rice. If you like, please stay here.
King Duṣmanta replied: O woman with beautiful eyebrows! You have taken your birth in the family of Viśvāmitra, and your words are suitable to your family. Aside from this, the daughters of a king select husbands of equal status.
Knowing from her words What can I do for you? that she was attracted to him, he says her words were suitable.
When Śakuntalā responded to Mahārāja Duṣmanta's proposal with silence, the King, who knew the laws of marriage, immediately married her, in accordance with the Gandharva marriage.
Oṁ iti ukte means that Śakuntalā, by her silence, indicated her agreement.
King Duṣmanta, who never discharged semen without a result, placed his semen at night in the womb of his Queen, Śakuntalā, and in the morning he returned to his palace. In due course of time, Śakuntalā gave birth to a son.
In the forest, Kaṇva performed all the prescribed rites for the child. The boy would capture a lion by force and play with it.
Śakuntalā, the best of beautiful women, along with her son, whose strength was insurmountable and who was a partial expansion of the Supreme Lord, then went to her husband, Duṣmanta.
When the King refused to accept his wife and son, who were both irreproachable, an unembodied voice spoke from the sky and was heard by everyone present.
He did not accept them because of fear of gossip from the people.
The voice said: O Mahārāja Duṣmanta! A son actually belongs to his father, whereas the mother is only a bag of skin. The father is born as the son. Therefore, accept your son and do not insult Śakuntalā.
Bhastrā means a bag made of skin. The mother is only a container. The son belongs to the father. Śruti says ātmā vai putranāmāsi: the father is called the son. (Baudhāyana Dharma-sūtra 2.2.3.14.3) Accept the son (bharasva). From this the name Bharata is derived.
O King! The son saves the father who caused impregnation from going to the abode of Yamarāja. You are the actual procreator of this child. Śakuntalā speaks the truth.
You are the impregnator, the maker of a dynasty (retodhā). Or it can refer to the legitimate son, who holds the fathers semen in the form of his body. That son delivers the father from the abode of Yama. Smṛti says
punnāmno narakād yasmāt pitaraṁ trāyate sutaḥ
tasmāt putra iti proktaḥ svayam eva svayambhuvaḥ
The son is called putra because he delivers the father from the hell called put. Brahmā himself has said this. Manu Smṛti 9.138
Another version has putram. The meaning is then When there is a dispute between a mother and father for attaining a son, the father, the impregnator, being righteous, brings the child from the abode of the definer of truth into this world. The mother does not do so. After this, the King accepted his wife and child.
When Mahārāja Duṣmanta passed away, his son became the famous emperor of the world. He is glorified as a partial representation of the Supreme Lord in this world.
The son became the king.
pañca-pañcāśatā medhyair gaḍgāyām anu vājibhiḥ māmateyaṁ purodhāya yamunām anu ca prabhuḥ
aṣṭa-saptati-medhyāśvān
babandha pradadad vasu
bharatasya hi dauṣmanter
agniḥ sācī-guṇe citaḥ
sahasraṁ badvaśo yasmin
brāhmaṇā gā vibhejire
The powerful emperor Bharata, enthroned by a bathing ceremony, had the mark of Lord Kṛṣṇa's disc on the palm of his right hand, and he had the mark of a lotus whorl on the soles of his feet. He worshipped the Lord by fifty-five horse sacrifices on the bank of the Gaḍgā, beginning from its mouth and ending at its source. Making the son of Mamaṭā the priest, he bound up seventy-eight horses for sacrifice on the bank of the Yamunā River and gave away wealth. He established the sacrificial fire on excellent sites, during which time he distributed 13,084 cows to each of thousands of brāhmaṇas.
Vājibhiḥ means by horse sacrifices. He made the son of Mamatā the priest. He bound up horses for sacrifice. He established fire in a place with the best qualities (sācī-guṇe). At the time of lighting the fires, he gave 13,084 cows to each of thousands of brāhmaṇas.
Bharata, the son of Mahārāja Duṣmanta, bound thirty-three hundred horses for those sacrifices, and thus he astonished all other kings. He surpassed even the opulence of the devatās, for he achieved the supreme guru, Hari.
He surpassed the glory of the devatās since he had attained the Lord, the guru of the world. Another version has mayavattraḥ. He was the best among those with wealth, since he was a portion of the Lord.
When Mahārāja Bharata performed the sacrifice known as Maṣṇāra (or a sacrifice in the place known as Maṣṇāra), he gave in charity 1,400,000 excellent elephants with white tusks and black bodies, completely covered with golden ornaments.
Mṛgān means the best elephants. Bhadra, mantra, and mṛga are species of elephants. Maṣnāra refers a holy place or a particular ritual according to some. Śruti says:
hiraṇyena parivṛtān kṛṣṇān śukla-dato mṛgān maṣṇāre bharato ddācchataṁ baddhāni sapta ca
Bharata gave a hundred and seven baddhas of black elephants with white tusks, covered with gold at Maṣnāra. Ṛg Veda, Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 8.23.3
107 baddhas is 1,400,000 which is what Śukadeva says. Dividing 1,400,00 by 107 one gets 13,084 (approximately).
No kings in the past or after his time could perform the great actions of Bharata, just as, by the power of their arms, they could not attain Svarga.
\When Mahārāja Bharata was conquering the directions, he defeated all the Kirātas, Hūṇas, Yavanas, Pauṇòras, Kaḍkas, Khaśas, Śakas and the kings who were opposed to brahminical culture.
Formerly, after conquering the devatās, the demons had taken shelter of Rasātala, taking the women of Svarga with them. Mahārāja Bharata, however, brought them back along with their associates.
The demons after defeating the devatās when to Rasātala, and brought the women of Svarga there. Bharata took the women along with their friends from the demons and brought them back to the devatās in Svarga. Another version has paṇibhiḥ (from the demons) instead of prāṇibhiḥ.
Under Mahārāja Bharata, heaven and earth provided all necessities for his subjects. For twenty-seven thousand years, he distributed his soldiers in all directions.
For twenty-seven thousand years he distributed troops (cakram).
Bharata, the emperor, the supreme king, finally considered his orders and army, which were unfailing because of their power and bravery, as well as his wealth, and his dominion which was greater than that of the devatās to be false. He gave them all up.
His dominion was more famous than that of the devatās. He considered his orders and army, unfailing because of their power and bravery (prāṇāt), his wealth, and dominion greater than that of the devatās to be false. Giving it up, he went to the forest and attained the Lord by bhakti.
O King! Mahārāja Bharata had three pleasing wives, who were daughters of the King of Vidarbha. When the King said the sons did not resemble him, the wives, fearing rejection, killed their own sons.
The husband said These children do not resemble me. Fearing that the King would reject them for being unfaithful, they killed their sons.
The King, his attempt for progeny frustrated, performed a sacrifice to the Maruts to get a son. The devatās known as the Maruts gave a son named Bharadvāja.
For continuing his lineage, he performed a sacrifice to the Maruts. The Maruts brought and gave him a son named Bharadvāja.
When Bṛhaspati desired to have sexual relations with his brother's wife, Mamatā, who at that time was pregnant, the son within her womb objected, but Bṛhaspati cursed him and forcibly discharged semen into the womb of Mamatā.
Who was Bharadvāja? The verses explain this. Bṛhaspati desired sex with Mamatā the wife of his brother Utathya. When the child in the womb, shouting, forbade him since there was no space for two children there, Bṛhaspati cursed him in anger, Become blind! He then by force impregnated her.
Mamatā, fearing rejection by her husband for giving birth to an illegitimate son, wanted to give up the child. But then the devatās recited a verse to give a name to the child.
From the curse of Bṛhaspati, the child Dīrghatamā was born blind. That child in the womb kicked the semen of Bṛhaspati with his heel, and it fell from the womb of Mamatā on the ground. It immediately took the form of child. Mamatā desired to reject that child produced from another man. The devatās then recited a verse to Mamatā who feared rejection by her husband. The verse was a talk between Bṛhaspati and Mamatā. The verse gives the child a name.
Bṛhaspati said to Mamatā, "You foolish woman! You should maintain this child born of two fathers." Upon hearing this, Mamatā replied, "O Bṛhaspati! You maintain him!" After speaking in this way, Bṛhaspati and Mamatā both left. Thus the child was known as Bharadvāja.
Bṛhaspati said to Mamatā, who was going away leaving the child, O fool! You should maintain this child. But I fear my husband. Though he is born from the semen of another man in your womb, though he is twice born, he is born from both of us. He is your child. Therefore you should not fear your husband. Mamatā said, O Bṛhaspati! You should maintain him, because he was born wrongly from two fathers. By force you have produced this child in me, though I was unwilling. He is your son, not mine. Because both the mother and father went away, he was called Bharadvāja (maintain the son produced by two fathers). Another version has yad duḥkhāt: the mother and father left in sorrow on giving up their son.
Although encouraged by the devatās to maintain the child, Mamatā considered him useless because of his illicit birth, and therefore she left him. The Maruts maintained the child, and when Mahārāja Bharata was disappointed for want of a child, they gave this child as his son.
The devatās encouraged her in a joking way. O Mamatā! Follow the order of Bṛhaspati, your paramour. Thinking the child useless, Mamaṭa out of embarrassment abandoned the child. Another version has ādijam instead of vitatham. She gave up the child born of Bṛhaspati. The Maruts raised the child she abandoned. After accepting him, when Bharatas lineage was interrupted, they gave the child to Bharata.
Thus ends the commentary on the Twentieth Chapter of the Ninth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
The Twentieth Chapter tells the story of Śakuntalā in the story of Bharata, son of Duṣmanta, in Pūrus dynasty. Brahma-vaṁśyāḥ means producing dynasties of brāhmaṇas.