Dhruva
DHRUVA.
[Source:
Dowson's Classical Dictionary
of Hindu Mythology] The polar
star. According to the Vishnu Purana, the sons of Manu Swayambhuva were Priyavrata
and Uttanapada. The latter had two wives; the favourite, Suruchi, was proud and
haughty; the second, Suniti or Sunrita, was humble and gentle. Suruchi had a
son named Uttama, and Suniti gave birth to Dhruva. While quite a child Dhruva
was contemptuously treated by Suruchi, and she told him that her own son Uttama
would alone succeed to the throne. Dhruva and his mother submitted, and he declared
that he wished for no other honours than such as his own actions should acquire.
He was a Kshatriya, but he joined a society of Rishis, and becoming a Rishi himself,
he went through a rigid course of austerities, notwithstanding the efforts
of Indra to distract him. At the end he obtained the favour of Vishnu, who
raised him to the skies as the pole star. He has the patronymic Auttanapadi,
and he is called Grahadhara, `the stay or pivot of the planets.'
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Modern
Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D.
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October 16, 2007 12:22 PM
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