About
Pushkala — Son of Bharata and Mandavi, King of Pushkalavata
Pushkala · Bharata-putra · Pushkalavata-pati
Pushkala is a prince of Ayodhya, named in the Uttara Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana as the son of Bharata — the second son of King Dasharatha of Ayodhya — and of Mandavi, the daughter of Kushadhvaja, the brother of King Janaka of Mithila. He is one of two sons of Bharata named in that text, the other being Taksha. At the close of the events narrated in the Uttara Kanda, Rama installs Pushkala as king of Pushkalavata, a territory placed by the epic in the northwestern part of its geographical world and associated in later tradition with the region of Gandhara. The Valmiki Ramayana provides no further narrative concerning Pushkala beyond this notice.
✦ The Name
The name Pushkala is Sanskrit, related to the word pushkara, meaning lotus, water, or that which is full and flourishing, with the adjectival or nominal form pushkala carrying the sense of abundant, full, excellent, or thriving. It is a name with strongly auspicious connotations in Sanskrit usage. As with Taksha and Takshashila, the Uttara Kanda presents the territory of Pushkalavata as named after Pushkala, offering an aetiological derivation of the place-name from the personal name. Pushkalavata corresponds in later geographical tradition to the Peshawar valley region, part of the ancient Gandhara cultural zone, though this identification belongs to historical and geographical scholarship rather than to the epic text itself.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Bharata, second son of King Dasharatha of Ayodhya by his queen Kaikeyi, celebrated in the Ramayana tradition for his devoted and selfless regency during Rama's fourteen years of forest exile.
- Mother: Mandavi, daughter of Kushadhvaja — the brother of King Janaka of Mithila — wed to Bharata at the fourfold marriage ceremony at Mithila.
- Paternal uncle: Rama, eldest son of Dasharatha, hero of the Ramayana and seventh avatara of Vishnu, who installs Pushkala as king of Pushkalavata.
- Brother: Taksha, also a son of Bharata and Mandavi, installed by Rama as king of Takshashila at the same time.
- Paternal grandmother: Kaikeyi, third queen of Dasharatha.
- Maternal grandfather: Kushadhvaja, king within the Videha royal house and brother of Janaka of Mithila.
✦ Installation as King
The Uttara Kanda records that Rama installs Pushkala as king of Pushkalavata alongside the parallel installation of his brother Taksha at Takshashila and the installations of the sons of Lakshmana and Shatrughna in their respective territories. The act is part of Rama's comprehensive settlement of the next generation of the Ayodhya royal house into sovereign positions across the wider geographical world of the epic. No subsequent narrative concerning Pushkala's reign or descendants is provided in any primary source consulted.
✦ References
Primary Sources
- Valmiki Ramayana, Uttara Kanda: The sole primary source naming Pushkala as the son of Bharata and recording his installation as king of Pushkalavata; no further narrative detail is provided.
Modern Reference Works
- Vettam Mani, Puranic Encyclopaedia (Motilal Banarsidass, 1975), entry on Pushkala: Notes the figure as the son of Bharata installed at Pushkalavata and records the association of the territory with the Gandhara region in later geographical tradition.