MĀNDHĀTĀ A King of pre-eminence in the dynasty of Ikṣvāku.
1)
Genealogy. Descending in order from Viṣṇu were born--Brahmā--Marīci--Kaśyapa--Vivasvān-- Ikṣvāku--Vikukṣi--Śaśāda--Purañjaya--Kakutstha-- Anenas--Pṛthulāśva--Prasenajit--Yuvanāśva-- Māndhātā.
2)
Birth. Yuvanāśva, father of Māndhātā had a hundred wives. Still he had no children. Greatly griefstricken by the lack of a son he went to the forests to see people of virtue and piety. During his wandering in the forest he happened to reach a club of sages. Yuvanāśva went and sat in their midst. He was happy to be in their midst but was worried in his mind and so he sent up deep sighs as he sat there sad and śilent. The sages asked him why he looked so sad and the King crying like a child told them the cause of his grief. The sages took pity on him and made him conduct the yāga ‘Indradaivata’. They brought a jug of water made potent by recitals of mantras to be given to the queens to make them pregnant and placed the pot in the yāgaśālā. The yāga was coming to an end. One day the King felt unusually thirsty and unwilling to disturb the sages who were taking rest the King entered the yāgaśālā and finding a jug there full of water drank from it and quenched his thirst, little knowing that it contained the water made potent for a specific purpose by mantras. The next day when the sages went to the yāgaśālā they found the jug almost empty and were worried and started making enquiries. The King then confessed what he had done. The sages said that it was futile to fight against fate and somehow finished the yāga and went to their āśramas. The King became pregnant and after ten months a child came out bursting open the right side of his stomach. The King consulted his ministers as to what should be done with the child and on their advice the child was taken to the forests and left there. But the child was protected by the Devas and they enquired among themselves as to whose breastfeeding it would get when Indra appeared and said “Māṁ Dhātā”, meaning it would drink me. That was how the child got the name ‘Māndhātā’. Indra thrust the child's big toe into its mouth and the child began to suck milk through it. Māndhātā who grew thus drinking its own toe became a mighty man of renown.
[7th Skandha, Devī Bhāgavata] .
3)
Administration of the state and marriage. When Māndhātā became a man of great strength his father died and he ascended the throne and became an Emperor of great fame. He conquered many kingdoms. He made his enemies flee from him. Because he intimidated the dasyus he got the name Trasadasyu. He married the perfect-figured chaste daughter Bindumatī of Śaśabindurāja. She got two sons named Purukutsa and Mucukunda. The Purāṇas state that Māndhātā had another son named Ambarīṣa and fifty daughters who were all married to a sage named Saubhari.
4)
How he caused rains in the country. Māndhātā ruled the country very virtuously without at any time going against truth and justice and his country became prosperous. Once it so happened that there were no rains for three successive years in the country and the greatly worried King went to the forests to know from the great sages there the reason for such a calamity. The sages told the King thus: “Oh King, of all yugas Kṛtayuga is the best. This yuga is a brahmin-predominant one and Dharma stands on four legs. Penance is for brahmins only and no man of any other caste can do penance in this yuga. But in your country a Śūdra is performing penance and that is why the clouds refuse to shower rains. Kill him and then the evil will go”. Hearing this Māndhātā replied, “I will never kill an innocent ascetic. Teach me my duty at this time of peril”. The sages were pleased at the reply of the King and advised him thus: “Oh King, start observing Vrata on the ekādaśī day. (Eleventh day in each half of a month). The ekādaśī which falls in the bright half of Bhādrapada is called ‘Padmanābha’, and if you observe it by its cogency you will get not only rains but prosperity and happiness free from misery of any kind. You must persuade your subjects also to observe this”. The King on returning to his palace started observing ‘ekādaśī’ along with his subjects of all the four castes and then it started to rain. Rains came in plenty and all the crops were rich. The subjects became happy.
[Chapter 59, Padma Purāṇa] .
5)
Other details.(i) Māndhātā had to fight once against Lavaṇāsura but had to accept defeat before the god-given spear which Lavaṇāsura possessed.
[Uttara Rāmāyaṇa] .
(ii) Aśvinīdevas once helped Māndhātā in his work as an owner of land.
[Sūkta 112, Anuvāka 16, Maṇḍala 1, Ṛgveda] .
(iii) Māndhātā became pure by yajña and attained Svarga.
[Śloka 5, Chapter 257, Vana Parva] .
(iv) Once Nārada spoke to Sañjaya about the greatness of Māndhātā.
[Chapter 62, Droṇa Parva] .
(v) At another time Śrī Kṛṣṇa spoke in glowing terms about the yajña of Māndhātā.
[Śloka 81, Chapter 29, Śānti Parva] .
(vi) Once Mahāviṣṇu came to Māndhātā disguised as Indra and conversed with him on ‘Rājadharma’ (duties and responsibilities of a King.)
[Śloka 16, Chapter 64, Śānti Parva] .
(vii) Utatthya, son of Aṅgiras, once taught Māndhātā the outlines of Rājadharma.
[Chapter 90, Śānti Parva] .
(viii) Māndhātā conquered the whole world in one day.
[Śloka 16, Chapter 124, Śānti Parva] .
(ix) On another occasion Bṛhaspati conversed with him on the subject of Godāna. (The giving away of cows as gifts).
[Śloka 4, Chapter 76, Anuśāsana Parva] .
(x) Māndhātā gave away as gifts millions of cows.
[Śloka 5, Chapter 85, Anuśāsana Parva] .
(xi) Māndhātā hated non-vegetarian food.
[Śloka 61, Chapter 115, Anuśāsana Parva] .