Chandrahasa

Chandrahasa (Kannada: ಚ೦ದ್ರಹಾಸ/ച൦ദ്രഹാസ ) was the king of Kuntala kingdom which roughly consisted of parts of north of present day Karnataka and south of Maharashtra, India, including Gokarna region. Sometimes a overlapping region Gorashtra is mentioned to be part of Kuntala. The story of Chandrahasa is mentioned in Ashvamedhika Parva of the epic Mahabharata. He was the son of the king Sudharmika of Kerala. He married Vishaye and Champakamalini who was the princess of Kuntala. They had two sons Makaraksha and Padmaksha. Chandrahasa befriends Arjuna who was accompanied by Krishna guarding the Ashvamedha horse of Yudhishtira. Chandrahasa anoints his son Makaraksha as king and acomapnies the army of Arjuna to help Ashvamedha.

The story of Chandrahasa is also depicted in the Kannada epic Jaimini Bharatha of poet Lakshmeesha. The popular story of the prince Chandrahasa is played in popular movies and in Yakshagana.

Childhood

Chandrahasa was born under the inauspicious Mula star in Arishtamsha. Had six toes in his left foot, another inauspicious sign. It is said as a consequence of these two, the enemy army killed his father and occupied his kingdom. His mother fell into the funeral pyre of her husband as was the custom.later a maid took him to Kuntala province and started taking care of him. However, she also died after some time. This orphan was being taken care of from the citizens of that country.

Dushtabuddhi( Literally one with an evil mind), minister of king of Kuntala performed Annasantarpane, feeding of people.This boy also went there. The priests who had gathered there noticed the royal features of this boy and told the minister to take special care of the boy. But Dushtabuddhi had other evil designs as the king had no issues and the minister had plans of assuming the throne. In order to get rid of the boy he got some chandalas and ordered them to kill this boy, promising them suitable gifts. They took the boy to the forest but their heart melted and they cut off only the sixth finger, and showed it to Dushtabuddhi.( Note: the inauspicious sign of the boy was thus removed) Kulinda, king of the forestdwelling tribes saw this boy, and as he had no issues of his own,brought him home and started bringing him up. Chandrahasa learnt all the aspects of education and won over all the provinces surrounding his kingdom, also added riches to the treasury. Once, when Dushtabuddhi visited their kingdom he recognized him and, having learnt the details from Kulinda,wrote a note to his son to poison him and sent the note to his son through Chandrahasa.

Coronation

Chandrahasa came to Kuntala province and was resting in the garden in the outskirts of the town; Vishaye, daughter to Dushtabuddhi who had also come there with her maids chanced upon a sleeping chandrahasa and fell in love with him. She opened the letter addressed to her brother, recognized as her father’s note. She assumed that her father must have meant Vishaye and not visha( meaning poison), promptly changed it and put it back in Chandrahasa’s pocket. Chandrahasa delivered the note to Madana, Dushtabuddhi’s son, was honoured and the wedding took place accordingly. Dushtabuddhi who arrived now was peeved. He commissioned murderers to wait and kill the person who will come to the Kalika temple in the outskirts of the town. (This temple is located in the town of Kuknur in North Karnataka today).He also prevailed upon chandrahasa to visit the temple in the evening, alone assuring him that was their custom. He also ensured chandrahasa would go to the temple. Madana, Dushtabuddhi’s son was looking after the affairs of the Palace in the absence of his father till now; it happened this day too. When he went to the Palace, the royal priest Galava informed him that the king was on his death bed and, having seen Chandrahasa earlier had decided he is the right choice as his son-in-law and heir; Madana was asked to convey this message Madana ran into chandrahasa, asked him to rush to the palace immediately and took his place to go the temple,was propmptly assassinated there by the murderers sent by Dushtabuddhi. Chandrahasa went to the Palace, was honoured and got married to the princess Champakamalini. When this news reached Dushtabuddhi, he was heart-broken. He was devastated when he learnt of his son’s death. He decided to end his life, went to the Kali temple and beheaded himself. When chandrahasa learnt of this twin tragedy in the morning, he went to the temple and prayed to goddess Kali to restore the two to life. When Kali was not appeased proceeded to behead himself; Kali appeared, restored the two to life, granted many boons to chandrahasa.

Ashvamedha

Chandrahasa ruled this kingdom for many years having invited Kulinda to Kuntala province. He had a son by name Padmaksha from Champakamalini and Makaraksha from Vishaye, the minister’s daughter. When these two boys were walking in the outskirts of the town one day, they chanced upon the stallion of Yudhishtir’s aswamedha yagna; dismayed, they came back and informed their father about it. Chandrahasa came there, met Krishna and Arjuna, treated them in a royal manner, gave them abundant wealth and army for the Yagna. He anointed his son Makaraksha and went with Krishna and Arjuna along with the army.

References

1. Jaimini Bharata, Lakshmeesha, Shatpadi 50 59, Kannada
2. Havyakara Itihasa, Vidwan Manjappa Kalasi, 1993.
3. Mahabharatha, Ashvamedhika Parva, Sanskrit Epic.
4. [1]
5. The coins of Kuntala [2]