Earth -- Ear of Infinite : October 2014

Sunday 26 October 2014

Prithu / Prithvi / Ancestry / Kumaras / Hamsa Gita

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithu
http://www.hindu.com/2001/07/21/stories/10210906.htm

“O great hero, if you desire to supply sufficient grains and other food to the citizens, then you should arrange for a suitable calf, pot and milkman. Due to the great affection that I will feel for my calf, you will be able to take from me as much of the necessities of life as you like. In addition, if you level my surface, that will also help in the production of food by increasing the retention of water, even if there is sometimes less rainfall.”

King Prithu accepted this and thus he became pacified.

Thereafter, he transformed Svayambhuva Manu into a calf and milked all of the herbs and grains from the cow-shaped earth, keeping them within his cupped hands. Then, following in King Prithu’s footsteps, other intelligent beings proceeded to milk the earth, to obtain whatever they desired.
The great rishis transformed Brihaspati into a calf and made the senses into a pot. In this way, they milked the earth of all kinds of Vedic knowledge for the purpose of purifying everyone’s mind, words and hearing. The demigods transformed Indra into a calf and milked the earth of the soma beverage, which they kept in a golden pot. Due to drinking soma-rasa, the demigods became very powerful in terms of bodily, sensual and mental strength.
The Daityas transformed Prahlada into a calf and then extracted various kinds of liquor and beer, which they kept in an iron pot.
The Gandharvas and Apsaras transformed Vishvavasu into a calf and drew out milk in the form of sweet music and heavenly beauty, putting it into a lotus flower pot.
The inhabitants of Pitriloka made Aryama into a calf and then milked the earth of kavya, which is food offered to the ancestors, and they put it into an unbaked earthen pot.
Thereafter, the Siddhas and Vidyadharas transformed the great sage Kapila into a calf and milked the earth of mystic powers, which they placed in a pot that had been made out of the entire sky.
Others, such as the Kimpurushas made the demon Maya into a calf and milked the power of appearing and disappearing at will, called antardhana.
Next, the Yakshas, Rakshasas, Bhutas (ghosts), and Pisachas (witches), who are all accustomed to eating flesh, transformed the Rudra incarnation of Lord Shiva into a calf and milked beverages made from blood, which they placed into a pot made of skulls.
Then, cobras and other snakes that are without hoods, as well as scorpions and other poisonous animals transformed Takshaka into a calf and took poison from the earth, and kept it within their snake holes.
The four-legged animals made Nandi, the bull-carrier of Lord Shiva into a calf and thus they got green grass that they put into a pot made from the forest.
Ferocious animals made a calf from a lion and were thus able to get flesh from the earth.
The birds made Garuda into a calf and then took from the earth various moving insects and non-moving plants and grasses.
The trees made a calf out of a banyan tree and thus they derived milk in the form of many delicious juices.
The mountains transformed the Himalayas into a calf and then milked varieties of minerals from the earth and placed them into a pot that had been made from the peaks of hills.

Thus, during the reign of King Prithu, the earth supplied all the necessities of life to every living creature. Because of this, Maharaja Prithu became very satisfied with the earth and developed affection for her just as if she were his own daughter. The king leveled the surface of the earth by breaking up the hills with his powerful bow, and after doing so, he divided the land into various types of residential quarters. These sections were then allotted for different purposes, and thus Prithu Maharaja established numerous towns, villages, agricultural fields and mining areas.