A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.515

c5.515

DILĪPA. Son of Ansumat and father of Bhagīratha. He was of the Solar race and ancestor of Rāma. On one occasion he failed to pay due respect to Surabhi, the ‘cow of fortune,’ and she passed a curse upon him that he should have no offspring until he and his wife Su-dakshinā had carefully tended Surabhi’s daughter Nandini. They obediently waited on this calf Nandini, and Dilīpa once offered his own life to save hers from the lion of Siva. In due time the curse was removed, and a son, Raghu, was born to them. This story is told in the Raghu-vansa. There was another prince of the name. See Khatwānga.