The story of Prithivi

The "Vishnu Purāna"9 gives the following account of her birth. There was a king named Venā, notorious for his wickedness and general neglect of religious duties. When the Rishis of that age could not bear with his wickedness and immorality any longer, they slew him. Now there was no king. But now a worse evil happened; chaos and lawlessness prevailed. The people felt that a bad king was better than none at all. Upon this they rubbed the thigh of Venā, and then there came out a black dwarf, resembling a negro in appearance.

Immediately after his birth the dwarf asked, "What am I to do?" He is told, "Nisīda" (sit down), and from this his descendants are called "Nisidis" up to this day. The corpse was now pure, as all sin had left it in the body of this black dwarf. The right arm was then rubbed, and from it there came a beautiful shining prince, who was named Prithu, and reigned in the place of his father. Now during his reign there was a terrible famine. As the Earth would not yield her fruits, great danger occurred. Prithu said, "I will slay the Earth, and make her yield her fruits." Terrified at this threat, the Earth assumed the form of a cow, and was pursued by Prithu, even to the heaven of Brahma. At length, weary with the chase, she turned to him and said, "Know you not the sin of killing a female, that you thus try to slay me?"

The king replied that "when the happiness of many is secured by the destruction of one evil being, the slaughter of that being is an act of goodness." "But," said the Earth, "if, in order to promote the welfare of your subjects, you put an end to me, whence, best of monarchs, will thy people derive their support?" Overcome at length, the Earth declared that all vegetable products were old, and destroyed by her, but that at the king's command she would restore them "as developed from her milk." "Do you, therefore, for the benefit of mankind, give me that calf by which I may be able to secrete milk. Make also all places level, so that I may cause my milk, the seed of all vegetation, to flow everywhere around."

Prithu acted upon this advice. "Before his time there was no cultivation, no pasture, no agriculture, no highways for merchants; all these things (or all civilization) originated in the reign of Prithu. Where the ground was made level, the king induced his subjects to take up their abode. . . . He therefore having made Swayambhuva Manu the calf, milked the Earth, and received the milk into his own hand, for the benefit of mankind. Thence proceeded all kinds of corn and vegetables upon which people now subsist.

By granting life to the Earth, Prithu was as her father, and she thence derived the patronymic nickname Prithivi."

Ref:

·       Muir, O. S. T., v. 18, v. 23.

·       "Vishnu Purāna," (9)