King yayati family tree
Yayati | Who is Yayati as per the Vedic literature?
King Yayati is a Puranic King who is one of the ancestors of Pandavas and Yaduvanshis.
All the Asians, in one or the other way, are descendants of King Yayati.
He was the son of great Chandravanshi King Nahusha and his wife Ashokasundari, who is the daughter of Shiva and Parvati.
Yayati is a very important figure in the history of India as ‘Krishna’, the most widely revered of all the Indian divinities – who is the 8th incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, took birth in his clan.
Yayati had conquered the whole world and hence was called Chakravarti Samrat or the Emperor of Emperors.
Yayati’s five sons – Puru, Yadu, Turvasu, Anu, and Druhyu are the pioneers of all the different castes that exist in the Akhand Bharat.
These five sons were called Panchnand who established their dynasties after their names.
What is the meaning of Yayati?
Yayati is a Sanskrit word that means wanderer or traveler, a person who doesn’t live or settle at one place but wanders from one place to another. There is a word in the Hindi language also, which has a similar meaning – Yayawar, which means nomadic people who travel from place to place rather than living in one place.
As per Hinduism, Yayati was a great Chandravanshi king whose life story conveys the age-old valuable message of self-control and the realization of the ultimate truth. He was one of the ancestors of the Pandavas and the Yaduvanshis.
What was Yayati famous for?
Yayati was an ancient Chandravanshi king who was one of the ancestors of the Pandavas.
He had all the attributes of a good ruler and was famous for his devotion to the welfare of his subjects. He had never known defeat.
According to Mahabharata’s Adi Parva, King Yayati performed 100 Rajsuyas, 100 Ashwamedhas, 100 Vajapeyas, 1000 Atiratras and 1000 Pundarikas.
He donated mountains of gold and billions of cows to Brahmanas.
What is the story of Yayati?
Yayati was a great Chandravanshi king who was one of the ancestors of the Pandavas.
He became prematurely old by the curse of sage Shukracharya, the Guru of Asuras and his father-in-law, for having wronged his wife Devayani (Shukracharya’s daughter).
Then he was granted the concession of being able to transfer his old age to any of his willing sons.
Yayati suddenly became an old man but was still haunted by his sensual desires.
So, he called all his sons and expected to regain his youth by transferring his curse to any one of them. All of them except one, refused the offer.
Only Puru, the last son from Sharmishtha, agrees to give his youth to his father. As a reward, Yayati makes Puru his legitimate heir to the throne.
Puru immediately turned old but he ruled the kingdom and Yayati enjoyed his youthful life for a long time.
But after long years spent in futile efforts to quench his thirst for desires, the truth dawned on him and he returned his youth back to Puru.
He then realized the futility of these materialistic pleasures and went to the forest to perform penance. In due course he attained heaven.
Who is the son of Yayati?
Yayati had five sons. Two from Devyani; Yadu and Turvasu and three from Sharmishtha; Druhyu, Anu and Puru.