Kakudmi (nominative case, stem Kakudmin), sometimes also called Raivata, is a character within

Hindu Mythology Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and ...

. Kakudmi was the King of Kusasthali, son of Revata, and father of

Revati Revati (रेवती) is a goddess featured in Hindu scriptures. She is the daughter of King Kakudmi and the consort of Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna, and one of the Dashavatara. Her account is given within a number of Hindu texts su ...

, who married

Balarama Balarama ( Sanskrit: बलराम, IAST: ''Balarāma'') is a Hindu god and the elder brother of Krishna. He is particularly significant in the Jagannath tradition, as one of the triad deities. He is also known as Haladhara, Halayudha, Bala ...

. Within

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

, his account is given within a number of existing texts such as the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

, the

Harivaṃśa The ''Harivamsa'' ( , literally "the genealogy of Hari") is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,374 shlokas, mostly in the '' anustubh'' metre. The text is also known as the ''Harivamsa Purana.'' This text is believed to ...

, the Devi Bhagavatam and the

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in S ...

Lineage

Kakudmi was a descendant of

Surya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a ...

, the deity of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. Surya's son was

Vaivasvata Vaivasvata Manu (), also referred to as Shraddhadeva and Satyavrata, is the current Manu—the progenitor of the human race in Hindu mythology. He is the seventh of the 14 Manus of the current kalpa (aeon) of Hindu cosmology. Forewarned about ...

Manu Manu may refer to: Geography * Manú Province, a province of Peru, in the Madre de Dios Region **Manú National Park, Peru ** Manú River, in southeastern Peru * Manu River (Tripura), which originates in India and flows into Bangladesh *Manu Tem ...

. Vaivasvata Manu had powerful son named

Ikshvaku Ikshvaku ( Sanskrit ; Pāli: ) is a legendary king in Hindu mythology. He is described to be the first king of the Kosala kingdom, and was one of the ten sons of Shraddhadeva Manu, the first man on the earth. He was the founder and first king ...

. Ikshvaku had one hundred sons of whom Vikuksi was the eldest. Vikuksi had many sons of whom S'aryâti was one. King S'aryâti had three sons, namely Uttânabarhi, Ânarta and Bhûrishena. Ânarta's eldest son was Revata. Revata constructed the city of Kusasthali and ruled from there. Revata had one hundred sons of whom Kakudmi (also called Raivata, son of Revata) was the eldest.

Personality

Kakudmi was of pure character and a benevolent ruler. He had one very beautiful daughter named

, endowed with all auspicious qualities. Although considered human, Kakudmi seemed to have been endowed with mystic powers, not found in ordinary humans today. Kakudmi was able to take his daughter

with him and travel to Brahma-

loka Loka () is a concept in Hinduism and other Indian religions, that may be translated as a planet, the universe, a plane, or a realm of existence. In some philosophies, it may also be interpreted as a mental state that one can experience. A prim ...

(the plane of existence where

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp ...

, the Creator, resides) and to speak with Brahma at will.

Meeting with Brahma

Kakudmi's daughter

was so beautiful and so accomplished that when she reached a marriageable age, Kakudmi, thinking no one upon earth was worthy of her, went to the Creator himself, Lord

, to seek his advice about a suitable husband for his daughter. When they arrived, Brahma was listening to a musical performance by the

gandharvas A gandharva () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are ...

, so they waited patiently until the performance was finished. Then, Kakudmi bowed humbly, made his request and presented his shortlist of candidates. Brahma laughed loudly and explained that time runs differently on different planes of existence, and that during the short time they had waited in Brahma-loka to see him, 27 ''chatur''-

yugas A ''yuga'', in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time. In the ''Rigveda'', a ''yuga'' refers to generations, a long period, a very brief period, or a yoke (joining of two things). In the ''Mahabharata'', the words ''yuga'' and ...

(a cycle of four yugas, totalling 108 yugas or 466,560,000 earth years) had passed on earth. Brahma said to Kakudmi, "O King, all those whom you may have decided within the core of your heart to accept as your son-in-law has died in the course of time. Twenty-seven chatur-yugas have already passed. Those upon whom you may have already decided are now gone, and so are their sons, grandsons and other descendants. You cannot even hear about their names. You must therefore bestow this virgin gem (i.e. Revati) upon some other husband, for you are now alone, and your friends, your ministers, servants, wives, kinsmen, armies, and treasures, have long since been swept away by the hand of time."''Vishnu-Purana''
(see ''Book IV, chap I'') King Kakudmi was overcome with astonishment and alarm at hearing this news. However, Brahma comforted him and added that

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

, the preserver, was currently incarnate on earth in the forms of

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

and

, and he recommended Balarama as a worthy husband for Revati. Kakudmi and

then returned to earth which they regarded as having left only just a short while ago. They were shocked by the changes that had taken place. Not only had the landscape and environment changed, but over the intervening 27 ''chatur''-yugas, in the cycles of human spiritual and cultural evolution, mankind was at a lower level of development than in their own time (see

Ages of Man The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent Roman interpretation. Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to progress from an orig ...

). The Bhagavata Purana describes that they found the race of men had become "dwindled in stature, reduced in vigour, and enfeebled in intellect." The daughter and father found Balarama and proposed the marriage which was accepted. The marriage was then duly celebrated. This story is believed to be a possible indication of ancient Hindu knowledge of the phenomenon of

time dilation In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...

After the marriage

After the marriage had been celebrated, Kakudmi considered his fatherly duties to have been completed. Following the advice Brahma gave him during their meeting, he went north to the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

, to

Badrinath Badrinath is a town and nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. A Hindu holy place, it is one of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage and is also part of India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage circuit. ...

(the place where

Nara-Narayana Naranarayana (), also rendered Nara-Narayana, is a Hindu duo of sage-brothers. Generally regarded to be the partial-incarnation (aṃśa-avatara) of the preserver deity, Vishnu, on earth, Nara-Narayana are described to be the sons of Dharma ...

is still worshipped today) to engage in meditation and ascetic practices. The Devi Bhagavatam describes that "according to Brahma's injunction, he became engaged in severe austerities in Badrinath and, when the time of death arrived, left off his mortal coil on the banks of the river and went to the world of Gods.Devi Bhagavatam, 7.8
(see texts 44-46)"

Notes and references

External links