Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.752

c4.752

ARĀ (ARAJAS). Daughter of Śukra maharṣi. Ikṣvāku begot three sons, Daṇḍa, Vikukṣi and Nimi. After his father's death Daṇḍa became king of the country between the Vindhya and the Himālayas. In the course of a hunting expedition once Daṇḍa saw and was immediately attracted by the charms of Arā, daughter of Śukra maharṣi. He committed rape on her and she told her father about the attack by Daṇḍa. The Maharṣi asked her to do tapas, and further told her that he would burn Daṇḍa's kingdom by a rain of fire. Arā did tapas, and at the behest of the Maharṣi Indra destroyed Daṇḍa's kingdom by a downpour of a rain of fire. Afterwards this place became a terrible forest where neither birds nor animals lived, and came to be known as Daṇḍakāraṇya. (Uttara Rāmāyaṇa).