Word

Nahusa

Sanskrit

नाहुष

IAST

nāhuṣa

In General

Nahusa was a famous King of the Lunar dynasty. Ayus, the son of Pururavas, married the princess named Indumati (Svarbhanukumari) to them were born Nahusa, who achieved the position of Indra. Nahusa married Asokasundari, the daughter of Siva and Parvati

Genealogy: Descended from Visnu in the following order : Brahma - Atri - Candra – Budha – Pururavas – Ayus – Nahusa

Veda

The Rig veda verse (1.7.31) is the root idea in Veda that was developed into the story of Nahusa's becoming Indra.

Purana

Once Parvati requested Siva to show her the best garden ever created on earth. Siva took her to Nandanavana, where she saw the Kalpa tree, which was beautiful all over, and she asked Siva about its special features. Siva replied that anything asked of it would be granted by the Kalpa tree. Parvati made a request to the Kalpa tree for a girl. Instantly a very beautiful girl was born from the tree. Parvati named her Asokasundari and brought her up as her daughter. Parvati gave her a boon that she would become the wife of King Nahusa.

Attracted by the beauty of Asokasundari an Asura named Hunda proposed to marry her. Asokasundari turned down the request and waited for Nahusha who is yet to take birth. Meanwhile with the divine blessing from Dattatreya, Ayus’s wife Indumati got pregnant. Hunda still thinking of Asokasundari planned to destroy the child in the womb of the mother or steal the child. Hudna was successful in stealing the child but the child escaped death by a servent in Hunda’s palace who felt sympathy for the child. Hunda thought the child Nahusa is dead, but the child was actually growing in the hermit of sage Vasistha. When Nahusa came to know about his story from Vasistha he killed Hunda and joined with his parents and married Asokasundari.

Once, Indra hid himself in a cluster lotus flower plants in the Manasa lake to get remission from the sin of Brahmahatya, incurred by killing Vrtrasura. The Devas who were worried due to the absence of Indra, elected Nahusa as Indra temporarily. Reigned from the seat of Indra Nahusa demanded Indrani, wife of Indra. For this, Agastya cursed Nahusa and changed him to a python. As a python he lived for a very long time. At the sight of Pandavas he regained his original form and went back to svarga.