Diti told Kashyapa, “Please grant me a son who will kill Indra.”

This put Kashyapa in a dilemma. He was married to not only Diti, but Aditi as well, and you probably remember that Aditi was the mother of the gods.

However, Kashyapa told Diti, “You will have to observe religious rites in a clean state of the body for a period of one thousand years. If you can do this successfully, you will give birth to a son who will kill Indra, But if you are unsuccessful, the son will become a friend and companion of Indra’s.”

Diti agreed to the condition and started to observed the religious rite.

But Indra had got to know about Kashyapa’s boon and was desperate to ensure that the religious rite was not successfully completed. When Kashyapa was away, he came to the hermitage and requested that he might be allowed to serve Diti during her hardship. Diti failed to see through Indra’s deception and agreed. Indra brought her firewood and performed various other chores, biding his time for an appropriate opportunity. Ten years passed.

One particular day, Diti was tired. She had just had her bath and her hair was still wet. Nevertheless, she fell asleep, with her wet hair touching her feet. This was an act of uncleanliness and Indra grabbed the chance. He entered Diti’s body through her nostrils. Inside Diti’s stomach he discovered a baby, which he then proceeded to hack up into seven parts with his vajra. These seven parts started to cry and Indra said, “Ma ruda,” which means, “don’t cry”. He also subdivided each of the parts into seven more parts so that there were forty-nine parts in all.

These parts become the Maruts, so called because of the words Indra had used in addressing them, Since Diti had not been able to complete the rite successfully, the Maruts became friends and companions of Indra.

The word gotra means lineage and bhid is to divide. Since Indra had divided someone who was of his own lineage, he came to be known as Gotrabhit.

Dhundhu

One of Vishnu’s names is Trivikrama.

“Why is Vishnu call Trivikrama?” asked Narada.

“I will have to tell you Dhundhu’s story,” replied Pulastya.

Many years ago, during Hiranyakashipu’s days, there used to be a demon named Dhundhu. He performed very difficult tapasya and pleased Brahma, Brahma thereupon granted him the boon that the gods, including Indra, would not be able to kill him.

Thus fortified, Dhundhu became invincible. He conquered heaven and appropriated the title of Indra. He ganged up with Hirnyakashipu and conquered the three worlds. The demons roamed everywhere freely and the gods had no place to live Brahmaloka.

Dhundhu got to know about this and decided that the would invade Brahmaloka. It was however pointed out to him it was impossible for the demons to travel to Brahmaloka.

The only way to do this was to acquire the punya (store of merit) that came from performing one hundred ashvamedha yajnas at the same time. The moment he got to know this. Dhundhu decided that he would perform one hundred such horse sacrifices. The arrangements were made on the banks of the holy river Devika.

The gods got to know what was happening were worried about their future. They went to Vishnu for a solution and Vishnu promised the gods that he would find a way out. Vishnu however knew that Dhandhu could not be killed. The only solution therefore was to tie Dhundhu up.

Vishnu adopted the form of a dwarf and began to float in the waters of the river Devika. This attracted the attention of the demons and they rescued the dwarf from the water.