The story of King Ang and His son Ben, King Pruthu

Ang was a famous king in the lineage of the great king Dhruv. He was a very good ruler. The public loved him for his good governance. But he was issueless. He was married to the daughter of Mrityu (Death) whose name was  Sunitha. Once king Ang performed the Ashwamedha yajna (अश्वमेध यज्ञ). But when he offered the shares of the yajna (यज्ञ भाग) to the Devas (देवता), the Devas didn't accept the same. On being enquired by the king, the astrologers informed him that the Devas didn't accept the shares because he didn't have a son and advised him to perform a yajna to please the the Yajna Purus(यज्ञ पुरुष) for having a son and when the Yajna Purus accept his offering, the Devas would also accept the offerings. So as per their advice Ang started the Yajna. At last the Yajna Purus appeared from the fire of the oblation with a pot of pudding. He gave it to Ang and disappeared. Ang inhaled the same and gave it to his wife Sunitha who drank it. After copulation between the king and queen a son was born who was named Ben. He was sinful like his grandfather Mrutyu from his childhood. He would go to the forest and kill innocent animals unnecessarily. He would kill the children playing outside their homes without any reason. His terror grew day by day and his father king Ang couldn't control him. The conduct of his son made Ang very sad and gradually he lost interest in the material world. So one night he leaved the palace, the  renouncing the world and goes for ultimate penance to deep forest. The kingdom became kingless. The public became unruly in absence of a king. So on the advice of the ministers Sunitha appointed Ben as the king. After becoming king the terror and atrocities of Ben increased excessively.The cruelty of Ben didn't leave the earth also untouched and the earth stopped its functions.Ben harassed the Rishis also and advised them to worship him instead of Lord Narayan and other Devas. He ordered them to offer him the shares of all yajna (oblation) instead of the Yajna Purus. The order of Ben to worship him and disobey Lord Narayan infuriated the Rishis to such an extent that their fury killed Ben. The death of Ben made Sunitha grief stricken as she was very much attached to her son. She didn't let the dead body of Ben to be burned and preserved it. Now the kingdom became kingless again. The ministers requested the Rishis to find a way to have a genuine king. The Rishis with the help of religious process churned the thigh of the dead body of Ben and out of churning a dwarf male with deep black complexion appeared from the thigh. All the features of his body were severely abnormal. He asked the Rishis what he was supposed to do now. The Rishis told him to sit down (in sanskrit nisid,निषीद). From this word his name became Nisad(निषाद). He took all the sins of Ben upon himself. From that day the linage of Nisad were involved in sinful deeds. They lived in forests and hunting animals was their source of food. Then the Rishis churned both the  arms of dead body of Ben. Out of the churning a divine male and a divine female appeared. They were the partial incarnations of Lord Narayan and Goddess Laxmi. The male was called Pruthu and the female Archi. They were made the king and queen. On the occasion of their consecration all the rishis from different worlds(लोक) including Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva, Indradev and other Devas attended the ceremony. They gifted to him many divine and miraculous things and powers. Later on Pruthu became the emperor of the earth. After his name, the earth is known as Pruthwi (पृथ्वी). Pruthu had many divine pure qualities. The whole universe loved him for his good governance. 

      When Pruthu became the king, he came to know the miserable condition of the people due to lack of food. He realised that the earth had been devoid of crops. He came to know that the earth had hidden all the crops,vegetables and herbs inside herself knowingly. Knowing the reason he pulled out his bow and prepared to launch the arrow. Mother earth knew the power of Pruthu. So she ran away in the disguise of a cow out of fear which made Pruthu very angry. He followed her everywhere she tried to hide. At last she realised that it was impossible for her to escape from the king. So she surrendered before him. She prayed before him not to harm her because without her the people of the earth wouldn't survive. But Pruthu told her that he had the power of his Yog Shakti to save the people without her help. He warned her to get ready to be killed by him. Earth, now very frightened, prayed to him to forgive her. She remembered that king Pruthu was the partial incarnation of Lord Narayan. So she sang a STUTI (स्तुति, a form of prayer in praise of the Lord). She described to Pruthu how the selfish people of the earth had become greedy and how they had looted her resources,how they had made her miserably uneven by digging, how she was unable to conserve water inside herself due to lack of plains. She requested him to arrange a suitable calf, a milk pot and a milkman. So that she would release all the things he wanted from her. She also requested him to make her plain and levelled for conservation of water and fertility. Hearing the pains of Mother Earth, Pruthu forgot his anger. He requested Swayambhuv Manu to become a calf. Then he himself started milking mother earth in the form of a cow. As a king he acquired all the needs of a king and his subjects. Rishis made Brihaspati the calf and mind, speech and hearing (मन,बाणी,श्रोत्र) the pot upto milk mother earth. They acquired the Veda(वेद) from mother earth. Devatas(देवता) made Indra their calf and acquired nectar, will power and physical strength in a pot of gold. Demons (राक्षस) made Prahallad the calf and acquired liquor. Gandharvas(गन्धर्व) and Apsaras (अप्सरा) made Biswabasu the calf and lotus the pot to milk. They acquired music, pleasantness, beauty(संगीत,माधुर्य, सौंदर्य). Shraddha Devatas (पितृगण) made Aryama the calf and milked the kabya (श्राद्ध अन्न) in a soil pot. Holy men(सिद्धों) made Kapil Muni the calf and sky the pot and acquired eight miraculous powers (अष्टसिद्धियों). Bidyadhars acquired the power to move in the sky. Kimpurus(किंपुरुष) and the conjurers (मायावी) acquired the power to disappear, power to disguise and other illusory power. Yakshyas and ghosts made Bhutnath the calf and milked blood. Snakes made Takshyak the calf and milked poison in the pot of snake mouth. Animals made the calf milked grass in the pot of forest. Non vegetarian animals made the lion the calf and milked raw flesh in the pot of the animal body. Birds made Garud the calf and milked fruits and insects. Trees made banyan tree the calf and milked juices of vitamins. Mountains made Himalaya the calf and milked minerals. Pruthu being the king of earth he instructed the different human tribes to make their chiefs the calves and milk their necessities from mother earth. After all the requirements of the world were fulfilled Pruthu released Mother Earth. But by that time mother earth was very much liked by Pruthu and thereafter Mother Earth was treated like a daughter by him. Now that all problems of the world were solved, people lived happily under the rulership of Pruthu. After a long time passed, Pruthu took an oath to perform a hundred Ashwamedha yajna and initiated the ceremony. Knowing the decision of Pruthu,Indra got jealous of him and tried to hinder the yajna by stealing the horse kept for the oblation. Rishi Atri the main priest of the yajna informed the son of Pruthu about the escape of Indra. He instructed him to follow Indra and bring back the horse. Indra tried to escape disguising himself in different forms. But the son of Pruthu defeated him again and again. For this valor he was named as Vijitashwa. Indra continued his rascality till the completion of nintynine Ashwamedha yajna(यज्ञ) of Pruthu. At last being fed up with the scoundrelism of Pruthu decided to kill Indra and got ready. But the priests of the yajna prohibited him from leaving the yagyashala. Then they initiated the procedure of oblation to force Indra appear from the yagna kund to be killed by the priests. At that time Brahma appeared and advised them to stop the procedure. He explained to them the bad effects of killing Indra. Then he advised Pruthu to stop the yajna once for all. He reminded Pruthu that as the partial incarnation of Lord Narayan, he need not perform any yajna. Then Lord Narayan also appeared and advised him to rule the world till renunciation. Long after that Pruthu lost interest in the world and left for the forest with his wife Archi. There he and his wife liberated themselves after severe penance. He is remembered as one of the great kings of ancient times.

Shrimad Bhagwat Mahapuran