The Account of Dhundhumara – Stories from Aranyaka Parva

After listening to the story of Indradyumna, Yudhistira asked Rishi Markandeya to tell him about Dhundhumara and why Kuvalashva of the Ikshvaku lineage changed his name to Dhundhumara. 

The rishi obliged. 

Once upon a time, there lived a rishi named Utanka. He was a devotee of Hari and performed a tapasya to see the god. When Hari appeared, Utanka was delighted to see him in person. Hari offered a boon and insisted that Utanka ask for one. Utanka only wanted to follow his dharma and ensure that he stayed on the righteous path. Hari granted him the boon and also gave him another. He said Utanka would play a role and help a certain king named Kuvalashva kill an asura named Dhundhu. This would happen a few decades later. 

Rishi Markandeya first gave a quick summary of the Ikshvaku family tree. 

After Ikshvaku’s death, Shashada became the king. He was followed his son, Kakutstha. His son Anenas came to the throne and handed it over to his son Prithu. Prithu’s son was Vishvagashva, and Vishvagashva’s son was Ardra. Ardra’s son Yuvanashva had Shravasta, who built Shravasti (currently in Uttar Pradesh). Shravasta’s son was Brihadashva. His son was Kuvalashva, and the king Utanka had to help. 

When Brihadshava was old, he handed over the kingdom to his son and went to the forest to perform austerities. Utanka heard of this news and went to meet Brihadshava in the forest. He asked the king not to retire and to take care of his subjects. Utanka said he wouldn’t be able to perform his tapasya in peace since there was a desert region near his ashram, an ocean of sand named Ujjanaka. An extremely powerful asura named Dhundhu lived here. 

Dhundhu was the son of Madhu and Kaithbha (both were killed by Vishnu). Utanka implored the king to first kill the asura and then retire to the forest. Otherwise, the asura would destroy all three worlds and even harm the gods. Utanka said the king would have the blessings and energy of Vishnu to achieve this feat. 

However, Brihadshava said that his son Kuvalashva would do the needful since he was a powerful and valiant warrior. The old king said that he had already discarded his weapons, and hence his son was the right person to fight the asura.

At this point, Yudhistira asked Rishi Markandeya to tell him more about Dhundhu, the asura. 

A long time ago, Vishnu was sleeping in the ocean, lying on Sesha. When he was asleep, a lotus sprouted from his navel and glowed like the sun. From this lotus emerged Brahma, the creator of the universe. Once the two asuras, Madhu and Kaitabha, saw Vishnu sleeping on Sesha and shook the lotus stem to scare Brahma sitting inside it. This woke up Vishnu, who smiled at them and told them to ask him a boon. The asuras laughed at him and said he should ask them for a boon instead, and added that they weren’t joking. They said that a great calamity awaited them and wanted to overcome it. The asuras wanted Vishnu to kill them in a spot that was completely uncovered by water so that they would be born as his sons. 

Vishnu agreed and gave them the boon. He saw that the only uncovered parts (not immersed in water) were his thighs. He sliced their heads there using the chakra. 

The two asuras had a son called Dhundhu who performed severe austerities and got a boon from Brahma that he wouldn’t be killed by gods, danavas, yakshas, nagas, gandharvas, and rakshasas. Dhundhu then went to harass the gods and Vishnu. He went to Ujjanaka and made it his kingdom. There, he stayed underground and continued to do tapasya to increase his strength and destroy the world. Utanka’s ashram was to the north of this region. 

 Kuvalashva, now the king, went to meet Utanka and was accompanied by his twenty-one sons. Here, Utanka invoked Vishnu/ Hari, who infused his powers in the king to make him capable of killing the asura Dhundhu. The gods cheered and showered flowers on him as he went towards Ujjanaka.

The king had the sand dug up to expose the asura. Dhundhu was asleep, so the king asked his sons to wake him. When the asura woke up, a fierce battle took place between him and Kuvalashva. When Dhundhu let out a gust of fire from his mouth, a rush of water flowed from the king’s body to douse it. Then the king burned down the asura using the Brahmastra. The gods cheered for him. 

Since he was successful in killing Dhundhu, Kuvalashva became popular as Dhundhumara, the one who killed Dhundhu. When the gods offered him a boon, the king asked that he always be a good man who gave donations to the Brahmins, stayed a good friend of Vishnu, and never exhibited enmity towards anyone. Dhundhumara wanted to be devoted to dharma and find a place in heaven after his demise. The gods granted him the boon. Only three sons (Dhridhashva, Kapilashva, and Chandrashva) of the king were left alive, and they continued the Ikshvaku lineage.