The Vishnu Purana: Book IV: Chapter XI | Internet Sacred Text Archive

CHAP. XI.

The Yádava race, or descendants of Yadu. Kárttavírya obtains a boon from Dattátreya: takes Rávańa prisoner: is killed by Paraśuráma: his descendants.

I WILL first relate to you the family of Yadu, the eldest son of Yayáti, in which the eternal immutable Vishńu descended upon earth in a portion of his essence 1; of which the glory cannot be described, though for ever hymned in order to confer the fruit of all their wishes--whether they desired virtue, wealth, pleasure, or liberation--upon all created beings, upon men, saints, heavenly quiristers, spirits of evil, nymphs, centaurs, serpents, birds, demons, gods, sages, Brahmans, and ascetics. Whoever hears the account of the race of Yadu shall be released from all sin; for the supreme spirit, that is without form, and which is called Vishńu, was manifested in this family.

Yadu had four sons, Sahasrajit, Krosht́i, Nala, and Raghu 2. Śatajit was the son of the elder of these, and he had three sons, Haihaya, Veńu 3, and Haya. The son of Haihaya was Dharmanetra 4; his son was Kuntí 5; his son was Sáhanji 6; his son was Mahishmat 7; his son

was Bhadrasena 8; his son was Durdama; his son was Dhanaka 9, who had four sons, Kritavíryya, Kritágni, Kritavarman, and Kritaujas. Kritavíryya's son was Arjuna, the sovereign of the seven Dwípas, the lord of a thousand arms. This prince propitiated the sage Dattátreya, the descendant of Atri, who was a portion of Vishńu, and solicited and obtained from him these boons--a thousand arms; never acting unjustly; subjugation of the world by justice, and protecting it equitably; victory over his enemies; and death by the hands of a person renowned in the three regions of the universe. With these means he ruled over the whole earth with might and justice, and offered ten thousand sacrifices. Of him this verse is still recited; "The kings of the earth will assuredly never pursue his steps in sacrifice, in munificence, in devotion, in courtesy, and in self-control." In his reign nothing was lost or injured; and so he governed the whole earth with undiminished health, prosperity, power, and might, for eighty five thousand years. Whilst sporting in the waters of the Narmadá, and elevated with wine, Rávańa came on his tour of triumph to the city Máhishmatí, and there he who boasted of overthrowing the gods, the Daityas, the Gandharbas and their king, was taken prisoner by Kárttavírya, and confined like a tame beast in a corner of his capital 10. At the expiration of his long reign Kárttavírya was killed by Paraśuráma, who was an embodied portion of the mighty Náráyańa 11. Of the hundred sons of this king, the five principal were Śúra 12, Śúrasena, Vrishańa 13, Madhu 14, and