Dhruva (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

: ध्रुव, , lit. "''unshakeable, immovable, fixed or eternal"'') was an ascetic devotee of

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

mentioned in the

Vishnu Purana The Vishnu Purana () is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus. The manuscripts of ''Vishnu Purana'' have survived into ...

and the

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' (; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam)'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' () or simply ''Bhagavata (Bhāgavata)'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen major Puranas (''Mahapuranas'') and one ...

. The Sanskrit term ''dhruva nakshatra'' (ध्रुव नक्षत्र, "polar star") has been used for

Pole Star A pole star is a visible star that is approximately aligned with the axis of rotation of an astronomical body; that is, a star whose apparent position is close to one of the celestial poles. On Earth, a pole star would lie directly overhead when ...

in the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

, personified as son of Uttānapāda and grandson of

Manu Manu may refer to: Religion Proto Indo European Mythology * Manu (Indo European Mythology) one of the mythical duo Manu and Yemo Ancient Mesopotamia * Manu the Great, a Chaldean god of fate Hinduism *Manu (Hinduism), Hindu progenitor of mank ...

, even though

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris (Latinisation of names, Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an ...

at the likely period of the recension of the text of the Mahabharata was still several degrees away from the

celestial pole The north and south celestial poles are the two points in the sky where Earth's axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects the celestial sphere. The north and south celestial poles appear permanently directly overhead to observers at ...

Narrative

Devotion towards Vishnu

Dhruva was born as son of the King Uttānapāda (the son of

Svayambhuva Manu Svayambhuva Manu () is the first of the fourteen Manus, the first man of a Yuga in Hindu cosmogony. He is the manasaputra (mind-born son) of Brahma and husband of Shatarupa, the first woman. The king also had another son Uttama, born to his second queen Suruchi, who was the preferred object of his affection. Once, when Dhruva was five years old, he saw his younger brother, Uttama sitting on his father's lap at the King's throne. Suruchi, who was jealous of Dhruva (since he would be heir to the throne, and not Suruchi's son), cruelly scolded young Dhruva for his efforts to sit on his father's lap. When Dhruva protested and asked if he could be allowed to sit on his father's lap, Suruchi berated him saying, 'Go ask god to be born in my womb. Only then will you have the privilege'. Suniti - being of gentle nature and now the lesser favorite wife - tried to console the distraught child, but Dhruva was determined to hear of his fate from the Lord himself and set out to perform austerities in the forest. Noticing his resolve, the divine sage

Narada Narada (, ), or Narada Muni, is a sage-divinity, famous in Hinduism, Hindu traditions as a travelling musician and storyteller, who carries news and enlightening wisdom. He is one of the Manasputra, mind-created children of Brahma, the creator ...

appeared before him and tried to desist him from assuming a severe austerity upon himself at such an early age. But, Dhruva was determined and the sage guided him by teaching him the rituals and

mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

s to meditate on when seeking lord Vishnu. The one mantra which Narada taught and which was effectively used by Dhruva was

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya ''Om'' (or ''Aum''; ; , ISO 15919: ''Ōṁ'') is a polysemous symbol representing a sacred sound, seed syllable, mantra, and invocation in Hinduism. Its written form is the most important symbol in the Hindu religion. It is the esse ...

. Having been advised, Dhruva started his meditation, and went without food and water for six months. Vishnu was pleased and appeared before Dhruva. Dhruva sang a poem praising Vishnu in 12 powerful verses, also known as ''Dhruva-stuti''.

gives a slightly different account here. When Vishnu was pleased with Dhruva's ''tapasya'' (penance) and asked him for a ''varadāna'' (grant of wishes), he asked for the varadāna of knowledge of a ''stuti'' (hymn). Other persons would have asked for worldly or heavenly pleasures, or for

moksha ''Moksha'' (; , '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'', and ''mukti'', is a term in Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, liberation, '' nirvana'', or release. In its soteriological and eschatologic ...

at most, but Dhruva had no personal desire. Renunciation of all desires is regarded to be essential for eternal peace in Hinduism: this is the meaning of ''Dhruva-pada''. That was the reason why the

Saptarshi The Saptarshi ( ) are the seven seers of ancient India who are extolled in the Vedas, and other Hindu literature such as the Skanda Purana. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, although later Vedic texts such as the Brahm ...

s decided to give Dhruva the most revered seat of a star - the

. Having spent a long time in Vishnu's remembrance he even forgot the objective of his tapasya, and only asked for a life in memory of Vishnu. Pleased by his tapasya, Vishnu granted his wish and further decreed that he would attain ''Dhruva-pada'': the state where he would become a celestial body which would not even be touched by the Maha Pralaya. Dhruva returned to his kingdom, to be warmly received by his family, and attained the crown at the age of six. He ruled for many decades in a fair and just manner.

The Yaksha War

According to the Srimad Bhagavata, once, Dhruva's step-brother Uttama went to the foothills of the Himalayas to hunt. However, Uttama was killed by a

Yaksha The Yakshas (, , ) in Mythology are a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Bud ...

. Uttama's mother Suruchi went looking for him, but she too was killed. This news reached Dhruva. He was enraged and so, he declared a war against the Yakshas. He travelled to the Yaksha kingdom of Alakapuri fought valiantly, and vanquished his opponents. After defeating the Yaksha soldiers, he began killing even innocent Yakshas. Alarmed by this, Dhruva's grandfather,

Svayambhuva Manu Svayambhuva Manu () is the first of the fourteen Manus, the first man of a Yuga in Hindu cosmogony. He is the manasaputra (mind-born son) of Brahma and husband of Shatarupa, the first woman.Vaishravana. Vaishravana asked Dhruva for a boon, and Dhruva asked for being able to preserve his devotion towards Vishnu.

References

Sources

External links

Dhruva's story in the Vishnu Purana

Abridged Translation from the Vishnu Purana
{{HinduMythology Characters in the Bhagavata Purana