ऋक्षरजस्

{ ṛkṣarajas }

Puranic Encyclopaedia

ṚKṢARAJAS   A monkey who was the foster-father of Bāli and Sugrīva. He was the king of Kiṣkindhā. He had no issue for a long time. Bāli and Sugrīva were brought up by Ahalyā at Gautama's āśrama. Ṛksarajas, with the permission of Indra, went to the āśrama and took Bāli and Sugrīva with him to Kiṣkindhā. From that time, Bāli and Sugrīva remained with him as his foster-sons. [Uttara Rāmāyaṇa] . There is a story in Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Prakṣipta Sarga, about the origin of this monkey. Once when Brahmā was in a state of meditation on the Meru mountain, tears rolled down from his eyes and he gathered the tears in his own hands. From those tears, a monkey came into being. Ṛkṣarajas was that monkey. One day, Ṛkṣarajas went to a lake to quench his thirst. Seeing his own image reflected in the water, he thought it was some enemy and jumped into the lake, to attack him. But he soon realized his mistake and returned to the shore. As soon as he came out of the water, he felt that he had become a woman. Seeing her fascinating beauty, Indra and Sūrya were filled with lustful passion. Both of them had involuntary emission of semen. Bāli was born from Indra's semen which fell on the head and Sugrīva was born from Sūrya's semen which fell on the neck of Ṛkṣarajas. Towards the end of the night, Ṛkṣarajas lost his female form and regained his former shape as a male. At once he took the two children with him to Brahmā and told him the whole story. Brahmā sent a messenger with Ṛkṣarajas and had him anointed king of Kiṣkindhā. After the time of Ṛkṣarajas, Bāli became king of Kiṣkindhā.

प्राचीन चरित्रकोश

ऋक्षरजस् n.  एक समय मेरु पर्वत पर ब्रह्मा ध्यानमग्न थे । तब उनकी आखों से आंसू गिरे, जिन्हें उन्होंने अपने हाथों में घिस दिया तब उन अश्रु कणों में से यह ऋषरजस् वानर उत्पन्न हुआ । एकबार प्यास लगने के कारण यह सरोवर के पास गया । उसमें अपेन प्रतिबिंब को शत्रु समझ युद्ध करने के लिये इसने सरोवर में छलांग लगायी । वस्तुस्थिति ध्यान में आते ही यह बाहर आया । बाहर आते ही वह वानर न रह कर स्त्री हो गया है ऐसा उसे लगा । अंतरिक्ष से इंद्र तथा सूर्य की दृष्टि इस पर पडी तथा दोनों ही काम विव्हल हुए । उत्कट काम विकार के कारण इंद्र का वीर्य इसके सिर पर तथा सूर्य का वीर्य इसके गले पर गिरा । (वाल) केशों पर वीर्य गिरने के कारण वाली तथा (ग्रीवा) गले पर गिरने के कारण सुग्रीव उत्पन्न हुआ । रात्रि समाप्त होते ही इस स्त्री को पुनरपि पहले का वानर स्वरुप प्राप्त हुआ । तब यह अपने दोनों पुत्रों को लेकर ब्रह्मा के पास आया तथा सारी हकीकत उसे बताई । ब्रह्मदेव ने ऋक्षरजस् की अनेक प्रकार से सांत्वना की तथा एक दूत के द्वारा ऋक्षरजस् को किष्किंधा नगरी में राज्याभिषेक किया । वहॉं अनेक प्रकार के वानर थे । उनमें चातुर्वण्य व्यवस्था प्रचलित थी । कालांतर में ऋक्षरजस् की मृत्यु हुई । इसके पश्चात् राज्य वाली को मिला (वा.रा.उ. प्रक्षिप्तसर्ग) ।