About
Suhotra — Son of Kshatravriddha, Ancestor of the Kashi Kings
Sunahotra
Suhotra is the son of Kshatravriddha, himself a son of Ayus of the Lunar dynasty, and stands as the second generation of the royal branch that would eventually produce the kings of Kashi. He is recorded as the father of three sons: Kashya (also spelled Kasya), from whose line the Kashi kingdom's royal succession continues; Gritsamada, ancestor of the Vedic seer Shaunaka and the priestly Saunaka lineage; and a third son variously named across sources. He appears in the genealogical accounts of the Vishnu Purana, the Bhagavata Purana, and the Harivamsha.
✦ The Name
Suhotra combines su-, "good" or "excellent," with hotra, "oblation" or "sacrificial offering," giving the sense "one of excellent sacrifice" or "possessed of good oblations." The Harivamsha's variant, Sunahotra, is treated by translators as an alternate rendering of the same name rather than a name with distinct meaning.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Kshatravriddha, son of Ayus of the Lunar dynasty.
- Sons: Kashya (also Kasha), ancestor of the Kashi royal line; a second son, named Kusha in the Bhagavata Purana, Lesha in the Vishnu Purana, and Shala in the Harivamsha; and Gritsamada, whose son Shunaka fathered Shaunaka, remembered in the Bhagavata Purana as the great Rigvedic sage who established the fourfold division of caste.
✦ Textual Variants
Suhotra's second son is named differently in each of the three principal sources, Kusha, Lesha, and Shala, while his first son, Kashya, and third son, Gritsamada, remain consistent across all of them. A further complication, noted by the translator H. H. Wilson, is that the Puranic genealogies contain at least three separate individuals named Suhotra: this Suhotra, son of Kshatravriddha and ancestor of the Kashi kings; a Suhotra descended from Amavasu and ancestor of the Kaushikas; and a Suhotra, son of Vrihatkshatra, who was father of Hastin. Wilson observes that later compilations, particularly the Harivamsha, repeatedly confuse these three, in one instance wrongly connecting the Kashi kings to the line of Puru rather than to Ayus's line through Kshatravriddha.
✦ Connection to the Wider Genealogy
Through his son Kashya, Suhotra stands several generations removed from Kasi, the figure after whom the kingdom and city of Kashi (Varanasi) are said to be named, and further still from Dhanvantari and Divodasa, later kings of that same line. Through his son Gritsamada, he is also recorded as an ancestor of the Vedic sage Shaunaka, linking the Kashi royal genealogy to a parallel Brahmanical lineage, the Saunakas.
✦ References
- Vishnu Purana, Book IV, Chapter XIX (Wilson translation, with Wilson's footnote on the three Suhotras): source for Suhotra's three sons and the disambiguation of the name Suhotra.
- Bhagavata Purana (9.17.3–4): source for the parallel list of Suhotra's three sons.
- Harivamsha (Dutt translation, Chapter 29): source for the variant naming of Suhotra's second son as Shala.
- Vettam Mani, Puranic Encyclopaedia: secondary reference cross-checking the Suhotra entries.