A king born in Swayambhuvamanu’s dynasty. He ruled the Pandya kingdom.<\/p>\n
Antecedents: Vishnu – Brahma – Swayambhuvamanu – Priyavrata – Agnidhra – Nabhi – Rishabha – Bharata – Sumati – Indradyumna.<\/p>\n
Indradyumna, a devotee of Vishnu, left his kingdom to his children in old age and went to Malayadri to meditate. Once when he was deep in prayers, he didn\u2019t notice Agastya approaching him. Agastya was furious and cursed Indradyumna to live as an elephant for a thousand years. The king got to know of this from his attendants and immediately begged Agastya for forgiveness. Agastya said that after a thousand years, Vishnu would appear before him, touch him and then the curse would be over. Indradyumna was immediately transformed into an elephant and began roaming the jungles. He finally reached Trikuta. At that time, a sage called Devala was meditating in that area. One day, a gandharva named Huhu passed by that way accompanied by a few apsaras. They began frolicking in the stream in front of Devala\u2019s ashram. Devala was angry at Huhu for disturbing him, and cursed him into becoming a crocodile. Huhu lived in that stream, located in the Trikuta mountains, unchallenged. One day, Indradyumna, the elephant waded into the stream and the crocodile immediately caught him by the foot. This tussle is said to have lasted a thousand years, at the end of which they were both tired and started praying. Vishnu appeared with Garuda, separated them with his chakra and released them from the curses, as per Bhagavata Ashtamaskanda. Both of them gained entry to devaloka.<\/p>\n
Later Indradyumna, while in devaloka, lost his karma and fell back to earth. He approached the sage Markandeya, who didn’t recognise him. The sage didn\u2019t, but\u00a0 took him to the Himalayas, to a chiranjeevi owl called Pravirakarna, who might have known him.\u00a0 But the owl didn’t know him either, and together they went to the pool called Indradyumnam, where lived Nadijanghan, a crane who was an older chiranjeevi than him. The crane too said that he didn\u2019t know Indradyumna, but in the pool was a tortoise who was a chiranjeevi even older than him, called Akupara.<\/p>\n
Indradyumna asked the tortoise if he knew him. Akupara meditated for a while, and then said, with tears in his eyes, \u201cHow could i not know you? Your acts of kindness are famous. This very river is through an act of yours. As soon as these words were said, the chariot of the gods appeared, and Indradyumna was taken back to heaven, as per Mahabharata Vanaparva Chapter 199.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A king born in Swayambhuvamanu’s dynasty. He ruled the Pandya kingdom. Antecedents: Vishnu – Brahma – Swayambhuvamanu – Priyavrata – Agnidhra – Nabhi – Rishabha – Bharata – Sumati – Indradyumna. Indradyumna, a devotee of Vishnu, left his kingdom to … Continue reading