Chapter 4: Vishnu killed Jalodbhava as Kashyapa arranged Naga-Manava cooperation

In course of time, there appeared a Daitya Chief called Sangraha, a warroir of great prowess who got infatuated with Devi Sachi, the wife of Indra; he was unable to control and dropped his virility in a big waterbody. Eventually, Indra killed the Asura and from the latter’s semen there emerged a demon that the Nagas nurtured and named him as Jalodbhava. The Asura prayed to Brahma Deva who granted him invincibility in water with exceptional might. But he harassed and killed human beings of various regions around the the Huge Lake like Darvabhisara, Gandhara, Juhundara, Bahirgiri, Antargiri as also Sakas, Khasas, Tanganas and Mandavas. There was an exodus of people (‘Maadraas’) from these and surrounding Places to far off Regions which had nearly got vacated. As the above tragedy took place when ‘Maadraas’ fled away due to their fright of Demon Jadodbhava, Prajapati Kashyapa undertook a long Tirtha Yatra to several Places in Bharata Varsha to Pushkara, Prayaga, Kurukshetra, Naimisa, Hayasirsha (Pitra desha), Karantaka, Panchanda, Kalanjana, Gokarna, Kedara, Shaligrama, Prabhasa, Varanasi, Godavari, Kaveri, and so on. The highly virtuous King Nila of Nagas of serpent origin then met Kashyapa at the holy Place of Kanakhala and requested him that since he had already toured many Tirthas in the West and Southern Parts of Bharata Varsha, he might please consider to visit the holy Places in the Northern parts too like Vipasa, River Devahrada, Harahariswara, Kaalika -ashrama; Iravati around which there were as many as six thousand Holy Tirthas like Revati, Kumbhavasunda, River Devika, River Vishwamitra and so on.. Also Kashyapa Muni might please give the honour to Madraas as also pay reverences to Devi Uma popular in the area as Devika, especially at Rudra Tirtha, Durga Dwara, Koti Tirtha, Kaamaakhya, Ambujaanana, Suvarnabindu to visit the Temples of Hara and Skanda. Also there was the most Sacred River Chandrabhaga and Shankhamardala Tirtha, besides the Temples of Guhyeshwara, Shatamukha, Istikapatha, and Kadambesha. Chandrabhaga was considered as Sacred as Varanasi and was worshipped especially on Magha Shuddha Trayodashi. Prajapati Kashyapa consented to visit all these Places in the company of King Nila; he crossed Rivers Yamuna and Saraswati, visited Sanniti, performed Shraaddha at the time of Solar Eclipse at Chakra Tirtha and visited Vishnupaada and Amaraparvata. Subsequently the Prajapati toured the Region of Maadraas and found those places deserted when the King Nila narrated the havoc created by Jalodhbhava who killed innumerable residents of Maadra Desha. The Prajapati felt extremely hurt at the mayhem that Jalodhbhava created; he recalled Brahma mentally and entered the Brahma Sabha along with King Nila to convey the problems created by the Demon. Brahma agreed that all the Deities would meet at the Naubandhana Mountain peak to face the difficulties faced by Nagas and as Keshava heard this he alighted Garuda at once, while Rudra arrived there by his bull, Brahma by his Hamsa (Swan) Vahana, Kashyapa by his yogic power; King Nila and Sage Brihadashwa by clouds, all other Deities too assembled including Indra, Yama, Agni, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera, Nirruti, Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Vishvadevas, Maruts, Maharshis, Gandharvas, Vidyadharas, Yakshas, all the Devis concerned. All the Oceans and Rivers too arrived at the Naubandhana Peak: Ganga by crocodile, Yamuna by tortoise, Shataadru by bull, Sarasvati by buffalo, River Vipasa by horse, Iravati by elephant, Chandrabhaga and Sinshu by lions, Sarayu on deer, Narmada by peacock, Godavari by sheep, Gandaki by crane, Kaveri by camel, Krishnaveni by clouds etc. All the Deities reached on the Naubandhana peaks-Rudra on the top peak, Vishnu on the Southern peak, Brahma on the Northen peak and the rest of Devas on the last peak. Vishnu commanded Ananta to break open Himalayas with his plough (Ananta being Balarama in Dwapara Yuga) and absorbed the entire water in the Lake where the Asuras were residing along with Jalodbhava. The Asura King plunged the Universe into pitch darkness but Rudra held Surya and Chandrama in his hands and brought back light to the Universe. Then Vishnu had a fierce battle with the Asura who with varying ‘Rupas’(forms) fought with his full force by throwing huge trees and mountains with all the magical Shaktis that Brahma endowed him with. After all the powers of Jalodbhava’s Maya was no match against Vishnu Maya and the demon was felled like a crumbling tree and the greatest menace that faced the Nagas was vanquished for ever! The respective peaks of Naubandana Mountain were named after Tri Murtis where their own Ashrams / Cottages were constructed in ther own names. Other Devas too constructed likewise.

It was at that time as the celebrations of Jalodbhava’s death, there was a big Conference convened by Prajapati Kashyapa where Tri Murtis, Devas, Gandharvas, Apsaras, Sages, Nagas, Piscachas etc.were all present. Kashyapa proposed that the Land be allotted to human beings and Nagas and both should co-exist. There was a severe protest from some quarters of Nagas that human beings should not be awarded the land under reference either on share basis or otherwise. As his formula of sharing was not passed through, Kashyapa was visibly angry and retorted that Nagas might as well share then the land with Piscachas if human beings were not acceptable to Nagas! As Kashyapa’s formula was not acceptable to some of Nagas, he explained that there was a piece of five-yojana wide Land in the Region freed from Jalodbhava’s death and there was a huge concentration of some five crore Piscachas in that area, where Nikumbha was appointed as their King by Kubera of Yakshas. Normally, Nikumbha who was good and brave King would visit the area once in six months every Chaitra Month and destroy several of the evil Piscachas and thus there would be some peace to Nagas. Meanwhile, Nagas would have to share their stay with ‘Manavas’ (human beings) during that period only. In other words, Manavas would shift to Kashmira Plains to take up to farming during the Summer Season to raise crops and earn their livelihood for the year and like Gypsies return to Kashmira valley during the next six months of Winter Season again. More over, Kashyapa decided that Nikumbha should stay in the area year-long along with his army-support instead of six months a year to ensure safety of Nagas. Further, Vishnu assured that this stipulation would be for a period of four Yugas and there would not be any sharing with piscachas later on as the latter would get weakened and extinct with the passage of time. Thus the virtuous King Nila countered the dissenting voices of Nagas and finally endorsed Prajapati’s formula of sharing the new Desha, since named Kashmira:

Kah Prajaapatiruddhishtah Kashyapascha Prajapatih,
Teynedam nirmitam Desham Kashmiraakyham bhavishyati/
Kam vaari halinaa yasmaddesha -adasmaadapaakruta,
Kashmiraakhyam tatopyasya lokey naama bhavishyati/

(As the word ‘Ka’ denotes Kashyapa Prajapati , as also the word water which was exhausted by Balarama, the Halayudha by his ‘hala’/plough, the new Region would be called Kashmira).