Lunar Dynasty (Chandra Vamsha)

Chandra (also called as Soma) was one of the sons of Sage Atri. Lord Brahma made him the lord of the Oshadhis (medicinal herbs) and of stars. Soma conquered the three worlds and performed the Rajasuya. He was very handsome. In course of time he became proud and arrogant.

 Soma stole Tara, the wife of Brihaspati and refused to give her back. In the end Lord Brahma intervened and restored Tara back to Brihaspati. Tara had a son through Chandra. He was named as Budha. Budha married Ila and they had a son named Pururavas and he becomes the first king in the Lunar dynasty – Chandravamsha.

In the line of Pururavas was born a king named Gadhi. His daughter named Satyavati married Ruchika, a Brahmin. Gadhi had a son by the name of Kaushika. In later years Kaushika, after performing great tapas, came to be known as Vishvamitra.

 In course of time Satyavati had a son and he was named Jamadagni. He married Renuka and five sons were born to them: Vasuman, Vasu, Vasushena, Rumanvan and Rama. Rama was Kshatriya by nature. He came to be known as Parashurama. It was he who nearly exterminated the entire Kshatriya clan.

 Nahusha and his personal heaven

Pururavas had six sons, the eldest of whom was Ayu. His descendants were Nahusha, Yayati and Puru.

 Nahusha was a very good king, performed many yajnas and was fit enough to be Indra. As it happened, the Devatas came to Nahusha with a request to officiate as Indra during a period when Indra was in hiding. Nahusha did that for a while and started becoming arrogant with the power and wealth at his disposal. He misbehaved with the Rishis and was cursed to spend his time as a python. He begs forgiveness and was told that he will be released from the curse by the Pandavas in Dvapara Yuga.

 Nahusha’s son was Yayati. Yayati had two wives: Devayani, daughter of Shukracharya and Sharmishta. King Yayati had five sons – two from Devayani and three from Sharmishta. The sons of Devayani were Yadu and Turvasu. Sons of Sharmishata were Druhyu, Anu and Puru.

 Kuru Vamsha and Kurukshetra

Puru was considered as one of the foremost kings of the Lunar dynasty. Kuru was another. So the vamsha  was called Paurava vamsha or Kuru vamsha. In this vamsha was born King Dushyanta. Dushyanta married Shakuntala.

Shakuntala  was born to the apsara Menaka when she lived with Sage Vishvamitra. The son of Shakuntala was Bharata. One of the descendants of Bharata was Kuru. Kuru performed tapas in a spot named Kurujangala. This spot came to be named as Kurukshetra. The descendant in this line was king Shantanu who was the grandfather of kauravas and Pandavas.

 Yayati’s son Yadu was not interested in ruling a kingdom and he was made to rule one of the smaller kingdoms. He had three other sons- Kroshtu, Nala and Ripu.

 Sri Krishna and Balarama

In the line of Kroshtu was born Andhaka and Vrishni. A descendant of Andhaka was Aahuka whose sons were Devaka and Ugrasena. Devaka had a daughter by the name of Devaki. She was given in marriage to Vasudeva, son of Shura. The son of Devaki and Vasudeva was Lord Krishna.

Vasudeva had seven wives – Pauravi, Rohini, Bhadra, Madira, Rochana, Ila and Devaki. Through Rohini, Vasudeva had Balarama as his son. Vasudeva had five sisters – Pritha, Shrutadevi, Shrutakirti, Shrutashravas and Rajadhidevi. Kunti Bhoja was a friend of Shura and did not have any children.

King Shura gave his daughter Pritha to his friend. Pritha, from then on, was better known as Kunti. She was the mother of three of the Pandavas- Dharmaraja, Bhima and Arjuna.