About
Manidhara — Yaksha Son of Rajatanabha, Resident of the Lohita Hill
Manidhara · Maṇidhara
Manidhara is a Yaksha recorded in the Brahmanda Purana and the Matsya Purana as a son of Rajatanabha — himself a Yaksha of the lineage descended from Vasuruci and the Apsara Kratusthala. He is associated in those texts with the sacred mountain known as the Lohita hill, where he is said to dwell. No further narrative episodes, wives, or children are attached to Manidhara in the primary sources consulted. His textual record is limited to his name, parentage, and dwelling place across three Puranic verse references, and this profile is kept proportionally brief in honest reflection of that base. The question of whether Bhadra — the Daitya princess daughter of Anuhlada who was given in marriage to Rajatanabha — is specifically his mother, as she is for his brothers Manivara and Manibhadra in the Vayu Purana tradition, is not stated in the verses that mention Manidhara; the sources identify him only as a son of Rajatanabha without specifying his mother.
✦ The Name
The Sanskrit compound manidhara is formed from mani (jewel, gem) and dhara (bearing, holding, wearing, or sustaining). The name therefore means "jewel-bearer," "he who holds gems," or "wearer of jewels." It belongs to the same mani-prefixed cluster as his brothers' names — Manivara (best of jewels), Manibhadra (jewel of good fortune) — reflecting a consistent naming pattern within this branch of the Yaksha lineage that emphasises gemstones and their associated qualities of brilliance, wealth, and purity.
✦ Lineage
- Paternal grandfather: Vasuruci — a Yaksha, the progenitor of Rajatanabha's line in the Vayu Purana's genealogy of the Yaksha lineages.
- Paternal grandmother: Kratusthala (also rendered Kratusthali or Pancachuda) — an Apsara, wife of Vasuruci; the Brahmanda Purana (III.7.100) identifies her as the mother of Rajatanabha.
- Father: Rajatanabha — a Yaksha, son of Vasuruci and Kratusthala; his name means "silver-navelled." The Vayu Purana's Yaksha genealogy records him as the husband of Bhadra, the Daitya princess who was a daughter of Anuhlada (himself the second son of Hiranyakashipu), through whom he fathered Manivara and Manibhadra. Whether Manidhara was also born of Bhadra is not stated in the verses citing him.
- Brothers (attested in the same Rajatanabha lineage): Manivara — son of Rajatanabha and Bhadra; husband of Devajani and father of the Guhyaka class of Yakshas and of Purnabhadra; and Manibhadra — son of Rajatanabha and Bhadra; commander-in-chief of the Yaksha host, tutelary deity of travellers and merchants, attested widely across the Puranas and both Sanskrit epics.
- Maternal lineage (contingent): If Manidhara is also a son of Bhadra the Daitya princess — which the texts do not explicitly confirm — then through her he would be a grandson of Anuhlada, a great-grandson of Hiranyakashipu, and would carry the same Daitya blood of the lineage of Kashyapa and Diti that flows through his brothers Manivara and Manibhadra.
✦ Abode
The Brahmanda Purana (II.18.12) and the Matsya Purana (121.13), cited in the Wisdomlib Purana Index under Manidhara's entry, place him as a Yaksha residing on the Lohita hill — referred to in the Matsya Purana as the Hemashtinga hill, a variant name for the same sacred mountain. The Lohita hill is a location in Puranic sacred geography associated with the northeastern regions, the Yaksha and Guhyaka realm that falls under the broad sovereignty of Kubera, the lord of wealth and guardian of the north. The same hill is mentioned in connection with his brother Manivara in some passages, suggesting it is a shared sacred location for this branch of the Yaksha lineage.
✦ Note on Maninabha
The name Maninabha was queried as a possible further child of Rajatanabha and Bhadra. No attestation of a figure named Maninabha as a son or child of Rajatanabha has been found in any primary Puranic source consulted, including the Brahmanda Purana, the Vayu Purana, the Matsya Purana, the Bhagavata Purana, or in the Wisdomlib Purana Index. No profile can responsibly be generated for this figure on the basis of the sources available.
✦ References
- Primary Sources
- Brahmanda Purana, II.18.12 and II.36.216: The primary Puranic sources naming Manidhara as a son of Rajatanabha and placing him on the Lohita hill.
- Matsya Purana, 121.13: Corroborates the Brahmanda Purana placement, giving the hill's alternative name as Hemashtinga in this text's version.
- Secondary Sources
- Wisdomlib.org, "Manidhara" entry: Compiles the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries Purana Index references from the Brahmanda Purana and Matsya Purana, establishing Manidhara as a Yaksha son of Rajatanabha residing on the Lohita hill; the sole secondary source found to address this figure directly.