Chapter 201

Markandeya said, “O king, after the death of Ikshvaku, a highly virtuousking of the name of Sasada, ascending the throne of Ayodhya ruled thisearth. And from Sasada was descended Kakutstha of great energy. AndKakutshta had a son of name Anenas. And Anenas had a son named Prithu andPrithu had a son named Viswagaswa and from Viswagaswa sprang Adri andfrom Adri sprang Yuvanaswa and from Yuvanaswa sprang Sravastha and it wasby this Sravastha that the city called Sravasthi was built and fromSravastha was descended Vrihadaswa and from Vrihadaswa sprang Kuvalaswaand Kuvalaswa had twentyone thousand sons and all these sons were fierceand powerful and skilled in learning. And Kuvalaswa excelled his fatherin every quality. And when the time came, his father Vrihadaswa installedhim–the brave and highly virtuous Kuvalaswa–on the throne. And havingthus made over the royal dignity to his son, that slayer of foes–kingVrihadaswa of great intelligence–retired into the woods for asceticism.”

“Markandeya continued, ‘O king, when the royal sage Vrihadaswa was aboutto retire into the woods, that best of Brahmanas, Utanka heard of it. AndUtanka who was possessed of great energy and immeasurable soul,approached that foremost of all wielders of weapons and best of men. Andapproaching him, the Rishis began to persuade him to give up asceticism.And Utanka said, ‘O king, to protect (the people) is thy duty. Itbehoveth thee to do that duty of thine. Let us be free from all anxietythrough thy grace. Possessed as thou art of a great soul, protected bythee, the earth will be freed from all dangers. Therefore, it behoveththee, not to retire into the woods. Great merit attaches to the act ofprotecting people in this world. Such merit can never be acquired in thewoods. Let not thy heart, therefore, turn to this course. The merit,great king, that was acquired in days of old by great royal sages byprotecting their subjects was so great that nothing equal to it could beseen. The king should always protect his subjects. It behoveth thee,therefore, to protect thy people. O lord of the earth, I cannot (atpresent) perform my ascetic devotions peacefully. Close to my asylumthere is a sea of sands known by the name of Ujjalaka. And it occupies alevel country and is without any water. And it extends many yojanas inlength and breadth and in that desert dwells a chief of the Danavascalled Dhundhu by name. And Dhundhu is the son of Madhu and Kaitabha, andis fierce and terrible and possessed of great prowess. And endued withimmeasurable energy, that Danava, O king, dwelleth under the ground, and,O king, it behoveth thee to retire into the woods, having first slainthat Asura. That Asura is now lying still in the observance of an asceticpenance of great austerity and, O king, the object he hath in view issovereignty over the celestials as also of the three worlds. And, O king,having, obtained a boon from the Grandsire of all creatures, that Asurahath become incapable of being slain by the gods and Daityas andRakshasas and Gandharvas. Slay though him, O king, and blessed be thouand let not thy heart turn to any other course. By slaying him thou wiltwithout doubt, achieve a great thing and thou wilt also obtain eternaland undying fame. And O king, when at the end of every year that wickedAsura lying covered with sands, wakes up and begins to breathe, then thewhole earth with her mountains, forests and woods begins to tremble. Andhis breath raiseth up clouds of sands, and shroudeth the very sun, andfor seven days continually the earth tremble all over, and sparks andflames of fire mixed with smoke spread far around and for all this, Oking, I cannot rest in peace in my asylum. Slay thou him, O king, for thegood of the world. Indeed, when that Asura is slain the triple world willbe in peace and happiness. That thou art competent, O king, to slay thatAsura, I fully believe. Thy energy will be enhanced by Vishnu with theaddition of his own. In days of old, O king, Vishnu gave this boon thatthe king who should slay this fierce and great Asura would be pervaded bythe invincible energy of Vishnu himself. Bearing that invincibleVaishnava energy in thyself, slay thou, O great king, that Daitya offierce prowess. Possessed as Dhundhu is of mighty energy, no one, O king,that is endued with small energy himself will be capable of consuminghim, even if he were to strive for a hundred years.'”