According to the Puranas, Pracetas was a descendant of Druhyu; he was the son of Duryaman who was the son of Dhrita, the great-great-great grandson of Druhyu. Pracetas had one hundred sons who were the princes of the Mlechchhas, the barbarians of the north. Pracetas is one of the Prajapatis, and an ancient sage and law-giver. It is also said that there were ten Pracetas who were the sons of Prāchinabarhis and great grandsons of Prithu; according to Vishnu Purana they had passed ten thousand years in the great ocean deep in meditation upon Vishnu who made them the progenitors of mankind.