Dilīpa Khatwang is a legendary emperor of Suryavamsh Kshatriya Ikshvaku dynasty of Ramayana, said to have been one of the most righteous and chivalrous emperors. Stories about the life and deeds of emperors of Ikshvaku dynasty are recounted in ancient poetic work of Kalidasa called Raghuvaṃśa. There was another Dilipa in the same Dynasty,the son of Amshuman, and father of the famous Rajarshi Bhagiratha.
Family
Dilīpa's father was Khatvanga, an Emperor, who often helped Indra in vanquising Asuras. Lord Rama and his brothers were born in his dynasty
Legend of Dilīpa
On his way back to earth after fighting a war on the side of the gods, Dilīpa failed to notice the divine cow Kamadhenu on his way and passed without paying his respects to her. Thereby he incurred the anger of the cow, who cursed the kingto go childless. To negate the ill-effects of the curse, the king was advised to worship the divine cow Nandini who was the daughter of Kamadhenu, and thereby to earn her goodwill. The king faithfully served Nandini for twenty-one days. He slept where the cow slept, ate when the cow ate and washed the cow and took very good care of it. On the twenty-second day, when the cow was grazing in the field, a lion appeared suddenly and pounced to eat Nandini. The king tried to kill the lion but could not, because the lion happened to be a servant of Lord Shiva, and cast a spell on King Dilīpa that made him motionless. The king wanted to protect the cow but could not do anything but speak. He begged the lion to remove the curse of her mother and the king very soon begat a son, who came to be called as Raghu meaning "one who was learned in the shastras and who vanquished the enemies in war". Dilīpa was a very pious king known to be by his another name as Khatwang, literallykhat + wang, as he had performed as many as 100 yajnas. Until he did so, only Indra, king of the gods, had earned that distinction. In a bid to prevent Dilīpa from equalling his record, Indra placed many hurdles in the path of the successful completion of the 100th yajna, but Raghu, son of Dilīpa Khatwang, was able to prevail over the forces of Indra, and the yajna was completed successfully.
