A brahmin devotee of Mahāviṣṇu who lived in the Tretā yuga. Once, in winter, when for want of proper clothing he could bear the biting cold no longer, he broke some twigs of the Aśvattha tree (poplar leafed fig tree) and made fire to warm him. When Dhanañjaya broke the twigs it gave reflective pain on the body of Mahāviṣṇu. But Mahāviṣṇu who was aware of the unflinching devotion of Dhanañjaya to himself was not displeased but appeared before Dhanañjaya with wounds all over the body. The Brahmin enquired how Viṣṇu got the wounds and on knowing that it was the consequence of his breaking the twigs of Aśvattha Dhanañjaya in utter grief started to cut his own head off. Greatly pleased Viṣṇu stopped him from his attempt and asked him to name a boon. Very modestly he replied that he would be satisfied if he was given the strength to continue as a devotee of Viṣṇu.
[Padma Purāṇa, Kriyā Kāṇḍa] .
DHANAÑJAYA I A famous serpent. This serpent was born to Kaśyapaprajāpati of his wife Kadrū.
[Śloka 5, Chapter 35, Ādi Parva] . This serpent served as a rope to bind the horses to the chariot of Śiva during the time of burning to death the Tripuras.
[Śloka 29, Chapter 34, Karṇa Parva] . This serpent sits in the court of Varuṇa and worships him.
[Śloka 9, Chapter 9, Sabhā parva] .
DHANAÑJAYA II Another name for Arjuna. (See under Arjuna).
DHANAÑJAYA III The army given to Subrahmaṇya by Śiva.
[Śloka 17, Chapter 46, Śalya Parva] .
DHANAÑJAYA IV A Sanskrit critic who lived during the period between 11th and 12th century A.D. He was a member of the court of King Muñja. His important work is ‘Daśarūpaka’. This work contains three hundred ślokas divided in four separate divisions. After the death of Muñja, Dhanika, brother of Dhanañjaya, wrote a commentary on this work. The treatise is named ‘Daśarūpāvaloka’. There are several quotations in this from the Sanskrit dramas ‘Veṇīsaṁhāra’ and ‘Ratnāvalī’. He has in this work discussed Drama and Poetry in general giving prominence to the emotional side of it. The critical work, Daśarūpāvaloka, contains quotations from a book ‘Kāvyanirṇaya’ by Dhanika himself. But the work ‘Kāvyanirṇaya’ has not yet been made available. Even in composing poetry Dhanañjaya was well versed. He is the author of the well-known epic ‘Rāghavapāṇḍavīya’. It is known as ‘Dvisandhāna Kāvya’ also. This is based on the lives of Pāṇḍavas and Śrī Rāma. Dhanañjaya bears the name of Śrutakīrti also. It is stated by scholars that Rāghavapāṇḍavīya was written during the period 1123 to 1140 A.D. (History of classical Sanskrit Literature).
DHANAÑJAYA V There was once a brahmin ascetic called Dhanañjaya in the gotra of Vasiṣṭha. This hermit had hundred wives and got hundred sons, one by each of his wives. The son born of his wife Śābhāka (Śalāka) was named Karuṇa. The father divided his assets equally among his sons and yet they quarrelled with each other. Once Karuṇamuni went to the shores of Bhavanāśinī along with a few other munis to worship Narasiṁha. There a brahmin had brought a lovely lime as an offering to the deity. Karuṇa took the lime from him and smelt it. At this the brahmin got angry and cursed him. “Sinner, may you live as a fly for a hundred years. Then Mahātmā Dadhīca will give you back your original form.” Karuṇa instantly became a fly and he pleaded to his wife thus “Beloved, I have become a fly. Please do protect me.” Karuṇa started flying hither and thither and his cruel brothers made the fly fall in oil and killed it. Śucismitā, wife of Karuṇa, started weeping laying the dead fly in her lap. Arundhatīdevī passing that way saw her and consoled her thus: ‘Śucismitā, stop lamenting. I shall bring it to life this instant by sacred ashes.’ So saying the Devī took some ashes from the fire-pit and reciting the powerful Mṛtyuñjaya mantra sprinkled it on the dead body of the fly. Śucismitā fanned the fly. The potency of the ashes brought the fly back to life. After a hundred years one of his relatives killed it again. Śucismitā grief-stricken, took the dead fly to the Maharṣi, Dadhīca. The sage told her thus: “It was bhasma (sacred ashes) that gave life three times to Jamadagni, Kaśyapa, the devas and myself. I will, therefore, give life to thy husband by bhasma itself.” Dadhīca took some ashes and meditating on Maheśvara recited a mantra and sprinkled it on the dead fly and brought it back to life. By the touch of Dadhīca, the fly, husband of Śucismitā, became Karuṇa again and both of them went back to their hermitage.
[Chapter 101, Padma Purāṇa] .