Yavanashva and Mandatha

Have you heard the story of Mandatha the king of the solar dynasty?

His parents were childless for long.

The father Yavanashva had requested his guru to some austerities for begetting.the heir to the throne.

Once the king yavanadhva visited his guru in the forest.

He was extremely thirsty and could not find anyone in the hermitage.

He saw a pitcher filled with water and drank the whole of it.

The guru came in later and informed that the water was consecrated with manthras so that the queen would get pregnant once she drank the holy water.

Now that the king had consumed the water he would become pregnant.

Indeed the king became pregnant and rekained so for hundred years.

Finally a child came out and started crying for food.

There was no mother.

The king was miserable but Indra intervened. Indra thrust his thumb on the mouth of the child and all nourishment flowed from the god to the child.

The child grew up into manhood immediately and became one of the greatest monarchs of solar dynasty.

While feeding the child Indra remarked maam dhaasyati..मां धास्यति the child is eating me..

So the child was called -Maandhaata मान्धाता

When you talk of a man feeding the child this story came to my mind..

The father of mandatha is yavanaswa.. the son of mandhata is muchukunda.

There are minor variations in the storyline as found in Mahabharatham and some other pursnas.

But basically the child was fed through Indra's thumb and not from the mother's breast.