Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1513

c7.1513

JĪMŪTAVĀHANA. A Vidyādhara. (demi-god). He was the son of Jīmūtaketu, who was the ruler of a city named Kāñcanapura in a valley of the Himālayas. Being childless he had been sad for a long time. At last he approached the divine tree Kalpaka (a heavenly tree that yields every wish) that stood in his garden and requested it to bless him with a child. Thus a son was born to him. The famous Jīmūtavāhana was that son. When Jīmūtavāhana came to know of the divine powers of the Kalpaka tree, from the ministers, with the permission of his father he went to the Kalpaka tree, bowed before it and said to it, “Oh noble tree! You have granted all the wishes of my forefathers. But I have one wish. No body should be miserable in the world. So I wish to give you to the world with that purpose in view”. Instantly an ethereal voice said from the tree. “If you are forsaking me I am going away. But I will fulfil your wish.” Thus according to the wish of Jīmūtavāhana the Kalpaka tree shed gold everywhere in the world and then went to heaven and disappeared. The earth became wealthy and prosperous. The fame of Jīmūtavāhana spread throughout the three worlds, and all the Vidyādharas grew jealous of him. As the heavenly tree Kalpaka, which yielded all the wishes, had returned to heaven, they thought it the most propitious time and arrayed their army against Jīmūtavāhana. His father Jīmūtaketu had completed all preparations to meet the enemy. But Jīmūtavāhana approached his father and said, “Father ! I am perfectly sure that no body could defeat you in battle. But see how mean it is to destroy so many lives and win the country merely for the pleasures of this fragile body. So let us go away from here. Leave the kingdom to them.”