THE STORY OF PRUTHU

THE STORY OF PRUTHU

Our mother Earth has a number of names in Sanskrit. A few of them are “ Dharini, Dhatri, Medini, Vasundhara, Vasudha, Ratnagarbha, Kshiti and many others. A few of them are based on the minerals, diamonds and various other raw materials that are extracted from mother earth. From time immemorial mother earth has been satisfying all the needs of human beings and animals and other creatures. One of the names of mother Earth is “Prithvi”. How did earth get this name? There is an interesting story behind this narrated in the Bhagavata Purana. King Anga belonged to the clan of Dhruva the great devotee of Lord Vishnu. After performing a yagna he  had a son by name Venu. But unfortunately he was very bad and tormented people and the sages. Unable to tolerate his atrocities King Anga left his kingdom never to return! Venu, as a king became so arrogant that he wanted all to worship him like Lord Vishnu! The advice of the sages went in vain and in great anger they wished for his death and he died.

The sages could not endure the lawlessness and sufferings of people in the absence of the king. They brought the dead body of Venu and rubbed  its shoulders when out of them emerged  a man and woman! They called him PRUTHU and the woman ARCHIS. They were the avatars of Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi! When Pruthu came of age, he was crowned as the  king of the country. Entire Nature rejoiced at his coronation and mountains, rivers, animals, and birds brought him presents. Among the Devas, Brahma gave him armour, Saraswathi pearl garland, Chandra white horses, Agni a bow and Surya sharp arrows! Earth offered sandals to carry him to any place and the other Devas granted him power to be invisible at will! Despite these gifts Pruthu remained very humble and said he was not worth of these gifts till he removed the sufferings of the people.

King Pruthu desired to save his people from insatiable hunger and thirst. They were clamouring for food. He knew that mother earth had withdrawn all her resources into herself. That was the reason for the pangs of the people. He became furious with anger and shot a sharp arrow into the earth! Terrified at his anger and the arrow,mother Earth took the shape of a cow and ran for life. But King Pruthu chased her over mountains and dense jungles when she fell at his feet and prayed not to harm her as she was a woman. But king Pruthu said that she deserved to be killed as she had done maximum disservice to humanity by withdrawing all her resources. She said that she had done so as she was ruled by very bad and unrighteous kings. She couldn't bear her resources being misused and wasted! She was now ready to deliver all her resources and hidden materials to humanity as the ruler was king Pruthu. She wanted a calf, a milkman,and a proper vessel so that she could start giving milk! King Pruthu was pleased to the extreme at the words of mother Earth. He lost no time and mother Earth started giving out all things she had withdrawn into herself.

Thus Manu became the calf and king Pruthu became the milkman! Jnanis got jnana or knowledge; Brihaspati was the calf when the Vedas were milked and collected in the vessels of speech, hearing and manas! With Indra as calf Somarasa or Amrita, tejas, and strength were obtained! With Prahlada as calf the asuras got 'Sura’. The Gandharvas made Viswavasu as calf and obtained music or Sangita in a lotus vessel! Later sage Kapila was made the calf and the eight Siddhis like ‘anima, mahima, garima, laghima, prapti, prakamya, isatwam and vasitwam were obtained. Everyone got what all they wanted!

King Pruthu was extremely delighted with mother Earth for the way in which she yielded every material she had withdrawn into herself. There was nothing that she had not given up including the medicinal herbs or aushadhis! King Pruthu smashed the mountain tops and filled all the openings on earth so that it could be a plain surface. In his ecstasy and appreciation of what mother Earth has done, he adopted her as his darling daughter. From that day onwards mother Earth was called “PRITHVI”. Pruthu is said to be the first king of this earth!