Mandhatri

Mandhata's legend is cited in the Vana Parva, Drona Parva, and Shanti Parva of Mahabharata.

King Yuvanaswa of Ayodhya was childless. Once, he went on a hunting expedition and in the afternoon, he became wracked with thirst.

He came across the hermitage of sage but found no one. The king saw a pitcher of water and drank it. When sage came to know of this, he told the king that the water was meant for his wife so that she would conceive. Since the king drank it he became pregnant with his son.

One century later, the sages and saints arrived to help him give birth and slit open the left side of Yuvanaswa's abdomen without causing pain and brought the baby boy. Indra, King of the Gods declared "He shall draw sustenance and dependence from me" or "Mandhata". Indra provided milk from heaven to Manadhata. The milk began to accelerate the boy's growth. Within twelve days, he resembled a twelve-year-old boy who was thirteen cubits tall. Mandhata spontaneously acquired the entire knowledge of the Vedas and military sciences. Mandhata acquired an impenetrable armor, a quiver with an inexhaustible supply of arrows and the Ajagava bow (originally belonging to Shiva) which fell from the sky. Mandhata ascended the throne.

As a result, he abolished taxes. By mere willpower, he conquered the entire earth in one day. He proceeded to vanquish the kings Marutta of Ushiraviga, Asita, the Druhyu King Angara, Nriga, Brihadratha of Anga, Suna, Jaya, Janamejaya, Sudhanwan, Gaya of Kanyakubja, Angara's son Gandhara and several others in battle. Mandhata conquered Patala loka, Bhuloka, and half of Swargaloka and became lord of the three worlds. Mandhata fought and vanquished Indra in the Naimisha forest.

It is mentioned in the Mahabharata that Mandhata, the King of Ayodhya, gave away colossal statues of Rohita fish, entirely made up of pure gold and spanning several kilometers to the Brahmanas as a charity. He also gave away 10,000 Padmas (10 quintillion) of cows of the best breed to the Brahmanas during his sacrifices. Mandhata performed a hundred Ashwamedha Yagnas and a hundred Rajasuya Yagnas. He built 1000 magnificent palaces for the Goddess Shakti and was a devotee of Shiva.

Mandhata was also known as Yauvanashwin (son of Yuvanashwa) and Trassadasyu (one who was feared by the wicked). He once fought Ravana, King of Lanka in a duel, but it ended in a stalemate. Even Ravana who was feared by everyone was fearful of Mandhata. Ravana was later defeated and slain by Rama, a descendant of Mandhata.

Mandhata married Chandravanshi princess, Bindumati, daughter of Shashabindu, King of the Yadavas. The couple had three sons and fifty daughters. His sons Purukutsa, Ambarisha, and Muchukunda were equally illustrious. [3] Mandhata's daughter (who is like 50 moon joined and made up like earth godess) fell in love with the handsome ascetic saubhari and married him. Mandhata's eldest son, Susandhi, or purukutsa succeeded in his family.

As Mandhata grew old, he was having pride of his strength and desired to entirely conquer Swarga, the heavenly regions ruled by Indra. Indra was perturbed by this and told Mandhata that he had not completely conquered the earth. Indra told Mandhata that the Asura Lavana, the son of Madhu and Ravana, the king of Lanka were not a subject to his rule. As he knows he cannot pardon Indra's request as his son, he goes to Madhupuri.

Even knowing everything Mandhata was ashamed and invaded Madhupuri, the city of Lavanasura. Lavana possessed a divine trident given to his father by Lord Shiva. As long as he had the trident, nobody could vanquish Lavana in battle. Lavana wielded the trident and burnt Mandhata and his forces, reducing them to ashes in an instant. Lavana was later slain by Shatrughna, a descendant of Mandhata. Shatrughna made sure that Lavana did not possess the trident at that time and killed him.

• Pargiter, F.E. (1972) [1922], Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass