King Priyavrata was an important figure in Indian history. He was one of the sons of Manu, the first human of the Swayambhuva manvantara. He led the dynasty of many other great kings such as King Rishabhadeva and King Bharata. He is the brother of Uttanapada, who was the father of Dhruva. Early in his life, he gained spiritual knowledge (jnana) from the great Sage Narada. However his wishes didn’t match his father’s wishes. His father wanted him to be a king and rule the world. Although Priyavrata wanted to take sanyasa and lead the life of a sage. The Bhagavata Purana tells us that Brahma persuaded Priyavrata to rule the Earth as a king.
Later on in his life, King Priyavrata married Kamya, the daughter of Kardama. They had ten sons. It is said that King Priyavrata split up the world into seven continents and gave seven of his sons a continent to rule. Now you might be asking: ‘What happened to the other three sons?’ Well, the other three said that they were not interested in having a kingdom and wanted to lead a religious life. Out of the seven rulers, Agnidhra was the one selected to rule the continent of Jambu dvipa, which is presumed to be Asia. Agnidhra distributes this continent of Jambu dvipa into 9 parts which are divided among nine of his sons. Out of his 9 sons, Nabhi was the one selected to rule the country called ‘Hima’ which is south of the Himalaya mountains. Nabhi was later succeeded by Rishabhadeva and then by Bharata. King Bharata was the reason this region was named Bharat.
Govind, 13 years, Fremont, CA
Congratulations Govind! You have so wonderfully narrated King Priyavrata’s life. Concise and whole! Awaiting more from you.
Glad to know about KING PRIYAVRATA. Even my name is Priyavrat but I doesn’t know about my name, from where it originates. Whenever someone ask “After whom you are named?”, “What does it mean?”, “Who was Priyavrat?”. Literally I don’t have any answer and always said “Hoga koi mujhe kya pata”. But now I can answer all of them.
Thank you Govind for describing King Priyavrata.