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Dravina — Son of Prithu, Named in the Bhagavata Purana Genealogy
Dravina · Dravinas
Dravina is the fifth and youngest 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 from 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. Dravina 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 Dravina derives from the Sanskrit dravina, a word with a well-established meaning in classical Sanskrit: wealth, property, substance, or treasure. The term appears frequently in Vedic hymns — particularly in the Rigveda — in the context of petitioning the gods for prosperity, abundance, and material well-being. As a personal name it thus carries connotations of wealth and abundance. No mythological significance or etymological commentary is developed for the name in connection with Prithu's son in any primary source; it functions as a proper name in the genealogical list without further elaboration.
✦ 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 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, and noted for following Prithu into forest penance in his final years and for performing sati upon his funeral pyre.
- Brothers: Vijitashva — the eldest, also called Antardhana, through whom the main line of Prithu's descent continues; Haryarksha, Dhumrakesha, and Vrika — the other brothers named alongside Dravina in the Bhagavata Purana's list.
✦ Textual Basis
Dravina 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 Dravina in their accounts of Prithu's descendants. He 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 Dravina as the fifth 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 Dravina; establishes the textual variant between the two major Puranic accounts of Prithu's descendants.
- Vettam Mani, Puranic Encyclopaedia (Motilal Banarsidass, 1975): Notes Dravina 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.