Ramayana According to the
Ramayana, when Vishnu takes his seventh avatar
Rama, as the son of
Ayodhya's king
Dasharatha, Panchajanya accompanies him (along with
Shesha and
Sudarshana) and takes the avatar of
Bharata, Rama's younger brother. Bharata marries
Mandavi, who is an avatar of
Lakshmi's
shankha.
Mahabharata According to the
Mahabharata, Vishnu is said to have slain a
daitya (a member of a clan of
asuras) named Panchajana on a mountain named Chakravan, which was constructed by
Vishvakarma, and to have seized the conch shell in which Panchajana had lived. The conch is named after the daitya.
Bhagavad Gita In the
Bhagavad Gita, the Panchajanya is mentioned:
Harivamsha As per the
Harivamsha, Krishna is described as possessing a conch shell called Panchajanya, one of his four attributes, along with the mace
Kaumodaki, the disc-like weapon
Sudarshana Chakra, and a
lotus. The conch was used during the
Kurukshetra War and, in popular tradition, is believed to have signaled both its beginning and end.
Skanda Purana The
Skanda Purana features two origin legends for the conch. The Panchajanya is mentioned to be among the various substances and beings that emerged during the
Samudra Manthana: In another legend,
Sandipani, the guru of
Krishna,
Balarama,
Sudama, and
Uddhava, states that his son was swallowed by a whale at Prabhasa while on a pilgrimage, and seeks his return as his
dakshina (honorarium). The Ocean is said to have informed Krishna of a great daitya of the name Panchajana dwelling in its depths, who had indeed swallowed the boy. Krishna slew the daitya who was in the form of a whale, and seized from within him the Panchajanya, a conch that had previously belonged to
Varuna. Not finding his guru's son, Krishna descended to
Naraka with Balarama and demanded his return.
Yama and
Chitragupta battled the deities until
Brahma intervened and urged Yama to restore the boy back to life. His desire fulfilled, Brahma eulogised Krishna, prompting him to blow his conch: Krishna and Balarama then returned the son back to his father, who rejoiced in surprise and hailed their names. ==References==