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Haryarksha — Son of Prithu, Named in the Bhagavata Purana Genealogy
Haryarksha · Haryyaksha
Haryarksha is the second of five sons attributed to the sovereign Prithu in the Bhagavata Purana's genealogical account of the early royal lineage descending from Manu Svayambhuva. Prithu — regarded in the Puranic tradition as the first consecrated king of the earth, born through the churning of the arms of the dead king Vena by the assembled sages, and described as a partial avatar of Vishnu — is given five sons in the Bhagavata Purana: Vijitashva, Haryarksha, Dhumrakesha, Vrika, and Dravina. Haryarksha is named in this list but receives no narrative episode, no recorded descendants, and no further characterisation in any primary text consulted. His presence in the tradition rests entirely on this genealogical enumeration.
✦ The Name
The name Haryarksha is a Sanskrit compound. The first element, hari, carries a range of meanings in Sanskrit — tawny, golden, green, or lion-coloured — and is also one of the most prominent names of Vishnu. The second element, arksha, relates to bears or to the constellation of the Great Bear, Ursa Major, which is called riksha or arksha in Sanskrit astronomical literature. The compound thus suggests one associated with tawny bears or one of the bear constellation, though no mythological significance is developed for this name in relation to the figure of Prithu's son in any primary source. The name is also rendered Haryyaksha in some transliterations.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Prithu — the first consecrated king of the earth in the Puranic tradition, born from the churning of the arms of the dead king Vena by the assembled sages. Vena was himself a king of the lineage descending from Manu Svayambhuva through Dhruva, Sishti, and Anga. Prithu is described in the Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana as a partial avatar of Vishnu and is celebrated for his milking of the earth-goddess Prithvi, from whom the earth takes her name.
- Mother: Archi — the wife of Prithu, described in the Bhagavata Purana as having been born alongside Prithu from the churning of Vena's arms. She is noted for following Prithu into the forest in his final years of penance and for performing sati upon his funeral pyre.
- Brothers: Vijitashva — the eldest son, also called Antardhana, through whom the main line of descent from Prithu continues in all major Puranic accounts; Dhumrakesha, Vrika, and Dravina — the remaining brothers named alongside Haryarksha in the Bhagavata Purana's list.
✦ Textual Basis
Haryarksha is named in the Bhagavata Purana as one of Prithu's five sons. The Vishnu Purana, the Vayu Purana, the Brahma Purana, and the Harivamsha do not include Haryarksha in their accounts of Prithu's descendants — the Vishnu Purana naming only two sons, Antardhana and Palin, and the Harivamsha naming Antardhana and Pali. Haryarksha is therefore a figure whose existence in the tradition is confined to the Bhagavata Purana's genealogical list. No narrative is attached to him in that text or in any other primary source, and no descendants are recorded.
✦ References
- Bhagavata Purana, Book IV, Chapter 22: Names Haryarksha as the second of Prithu's five sons in the genealogical passage describing Prithu's lineage.
- Vishnu Purana, Book I, Chapter 13: Gives Prithu only two sons — Antardhana and Palin — without naming Haryarksha; establishes the textual variant between the two major Puranic accounts of Prithu's descendants.
- Vettam Mani, Puranic Encyclopaedia (Motilal Banarsidass, 1975): Notes Haryarksha as a son of Prithu named in the Bhagavata Purana's genealogical account.
- H. H. Wilson, The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition (1840): English translation with notes; used for cross-referencing the Vishnu Purana's differing account of Prithu's sons.