Shibi Daitya

Shibi — Daitya Prince, Grandson of Hiranyakashipu, Whose Amsha Became King Druma

Shibi · Sibi · Śibi · Sivi

Shibi is a Daitya figure of the third generation of the lineage descended from the sage Kashyapa and Diti, named in the Agni Purana, the Vishnu Purana, and the Mahabharata as a son of Samhlada, who was himself a son of the Daitya king Hiranyakashipu. Shibi's textual record is sparse: no narrative episodes are attached to him in his own right, and he is named only in genealogical lists. His sole point of individual significance is the statement in the Amshavatara Parva of the Mahabharata that this Daitya Sibi was born in the human world as Druma, the king of the Kimpurushas. The profile must be kept proportionally brief in honest reflection of the limited textual base. Importantly, this Daitya Shibi must be carefully distinguished from several other figures of the same name in the tradition, with whom he shares no connection.

✦ The Name

The name Shibi (Sanskrit Sibi or Sivi) does not share the hlad-root pattern of his father Samhlada's name and his uncles' names. The primary texts consulted offer no etymological gloss for the name Shibi in the Daitya context. The same name is borne by multiple unrelated figures in the Puranic and epic tradition, and its recurrence likely reflects the tradition's reuse of familiar names across different genealogical lines rather than any intended connection between the figures.

✦ Lineage

• Great-paternal grandfather: Kashyapa — the primordial sage, son of Marichi (a mind-born son of Brahma); the progenitor of the Daitya race through his wife Diti.
• Great-paternal grandmother: Diti — a daughter of the Prajapati Daksha; mother of Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha, the two founding Daitya kings.
• Paternal grandfather: Hiranyakashipu — the great Daitya tyrant who obtained near-invulnerability through a boon from Brahma, conquered the three worlds, and was killed by the Narasimha avatar of Vishnu.
• Paternal grandmother: Kayadhu — wife of Hiranyakashipu, daughter of the Danava Jambha and a descendant of the Danava race.
• Father: Samhlada — son of Hiranyakashipu; a Daitya of the second generation, whose partial incarnation in the Dvapara Yuga became Shalya, king of the Madra kingdom and a commander of the Kaurava forces at the Kurukshetra War.
• Uncles: Anuhlada, Hlada, and Prahlada — brothers of Samhlada; Prahlada is the most celebrated figure of the family, revered across all major Puranas as the supreme devotee of Vishnu born in a Daitya household.
• Brothers (per Agni Purana and Vishnu Purana): Ayushman and Bashkala — named alongside Shibi as the three sons of Samhlada; Bashkala's partial incarnation became Bhagadatta, king of Pragjyotisha.

✦ The Partial Incarnation: King Druma of the Kimpurushas

The Amshavatara Parva of the Mahabharata (Adi Parva, Chapter 67, verse 8) records that the Daitya Sivi — identified with Shibi, the son of Samhlada — was born in the human world of the Dvapara Yuga as Druma, a king of the Kimpurushas. The Kimpurushas are a class of semi-divine or mythological beings in Puranic cosmology, often described as horse-headed or as dwellers of a realm adjacent to the divine mountain Meru. Druma is mentioned in the broader Mahabharata tradition as a king of this people, though the epic does not elaborate on his role at great length. The Amshavatara passage frames his identity as a human-world manifestation of the Daitya Sibi in the same way it frames Samhlada as the previous identity of Shalya and Vashkala as the previous identity of Bhagadatta — as part of the systematic doctrine that various beings of earlier cosmic ages took partial birth in the human world of the Dvapara Yuga.

✦ Textual Variants and Inconsistencies

The Agni Purana (Chapter 19) names Shibi as a son of Samhlada, placing him in the third generation of the Daitya lineage. The Mahabharata's Adi Parva (Chapter 65, verse 18), however, lists Prahlada, Samhlada, Anuhlada, Shibi, and Bashkala together as the five sons of Hiranyakashipu directly — making Shibi a second-generation figure, a son of Hiranyakashipu rather than a grandson through Samhlada. A third arrangement appears in Adi Parva Chapter 59 (verses 18–19), which also lists five sons of Hiranyakashipu — Prahlada, Samhlada (given as Sahradha), Anuhlada, Shibi, and Vashkala — consistent with Chapter 65 but contradicting the Agni Purana's placement of Shibi one generation lower. The Puranic Encyclopaedia entry on Shibi (drawing on the Agni Purana) presents him as Samhlada's son, while also noting the Adi Parva's contradictory placement as a direct son of Hiranyakashipu, and treats both as records of the same figure. No primary text harmonizes these two genealogical levels, and the inconsistency stands unresolved across the corpus.

✦ Disambiguation

The name Shibi is shared by several entirely distinct figures in the tradition, and this Daitya Shibi must not be confused with any of them. The most celebrated figure of the same name is Shibi of Usinara — a righteous human king of the Lunar dynasty, a son of Usinara and descendant of Yayati through Anudruhyu, renowned for cutting flesh from his own body to save a dove from an eagle in a famous episode of self-sacrifice narrated in the Mahabharata and praised throughout the Puranas; this Shibi has no connection whatsoever to the Daitya line. A further Shibi is listed among the Indras of past Manvantaras (the Tamasa Manvantara). Another King Shibi, of the Usinara dynasty born of Madhavi, appears in the Bhagavata Purana's ninth canto with four sons named Bhadra, Suvira, Kekaya, and Vrishadarbha. None of these figures is related to the Daitya Shibi who is the subject of this profile.

✦ References

• Primary Sources
• Agni Purana, Chapter 19: Names Shibi as one of three sons of Samhlada (alongside Ayushman and Bashkala); the principal source for placing him in the third Daitya generation.
• Vishnu Purana, Amsha 1, Chapter 21: Names Shibi (as Sivi) among the three sons of Sanhrāda (= Samhlada), corroborating the Agni Purana genealogy.
• Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 59 (verses 18–19): Lists Sivi as one of five sons of Hiranyakashipu directly — a contradictory placement making him a second-generation figure.
• Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 65 (verse 18): Lists Shibi as one of five direct sons of Hiranyakashipu — a second contradictory placement consistent with Chapter 59 but at odds with the Agni Purana.
• Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 67 (Amshavatara Parva), verse 8: Records that the Daitya Sivi (= Shibi) was born in the human world as Druma, king of the Kimpurushas.
• Secondary Sources
• Wisdomlib.org, "Shibi" entry: Compiles the Puranic Encyclopaedia entry identifying Shibi as a grandson of Hiranyakashipu through Samhlada per the Agni Purana, and noting the Mahabharata's contradictory placement; also records the Druma identification from Adi Parva Chapter 67.
• Transliteral.org, "Shibi" dictionary entry: Provides the full Puranic Encyclopaedia text distinguishing Shibi I (Daitya, grandson of Hiranyakashipu), Shibi II (the Sibi people), Shibi III (king of the Usinara dynasty, Pandava ally), Shibi IV (a Tamasa Manvantara Indra), and Shibi V (the celebrated righteous king of Usinara).
• Sacred-texts.com, Mahabharata Adi Parva, Section LXVII: Provides the English translation of the Amshavatara passage connecting Sibi to Druma.
• Vettam Mani, Puranic Encyclopaedia (Motilal Banarsidass): Referenced via Wisdomlib and Transliteral for the entry on Shibi I, cross-referencing the Agni Purana and Mahabharata sources.