Prithu

Prithu
Prithu chasing Prithvi, who is in the form of a cow
Devanagariपृथु
AffiliationVaishnavism, Chakravarti sovereign
WeaponBow and arrow
Genealogy
ParentsVena (father)
ConsortArchi
ChildrenVijitsatva

Prithu (Sanskrit: पृथु, IAST: Pṛthu, lit. "large, great, important, abundant"),[1] also called Pruthu, Prithi and Prithu Vainya ("Prithu — the son of Vena"), is a sovereign (chakravarti) in Hinduism. He is an avatar of the god Vishnu.

Prithu is "celebrated as the first consecrated king, from whom the earth received her (Sanskrit) name, Prithvi."[2] He is mainly associated with the legend of his chasing the earth goddess, Prithvi, who fled in the form of a cow and eventually agreed to yield her milk as the world's grain and vegetation. The epic Mahabharata and the Vishnu Purana describe him as a part-avatar of Vishnu.[3]