Paumacariya 10
English (machine translation) 10
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10.1
“This has been related to you, O lord of Magadha, which took place in the past. / Listen with single-minded focus; I shall narrate another episode.”
10.2
In Jyotīpura, the wife of the Vidyādhara Jvalanaśikhā, Queen Śrīmatī, / had an excellent maiden named Tārā, whose face resembled the moon.
10.3
Once while wandering, the Vidyādhara son of Cakrāṅka, / named Sāhasagati, a wicked man, saw her and longed to marry her.
10.4
His limbs pierced by the arrows of the god of love, pondering the means to see her, / he sent his messengers repeatedly to ask for her.
10.5
Sugrīva, best among monkeys, also began to ask for that maiden. / With a conflicted heart, Jvalanaśikhā pondered: “To whom shall I give her?”
10.6
Having paid homage, Jvalanaśikhā asked an eminent sage: “O Venerable One! / To whom shall this excellent maiden belong as wife? Tell me!”
10.7
Then the lord among sages said: “The son of Cakrāṅka does not have a long life. / But Sugrīva, the lord of the Vānaras, will be long-lived.”
10.8
Having arranged supreme auspicious omens—an island, a bull, and an elephant— / the fair-bodied maiden was given to Sugrīva, with auspicious rites performed.
10.9
Having married the fair Tārā, Sugrīva, with a joyful heart, / enjoyed the highest sensual pleasure, like Indra in heaven.
10.10
In due course sons endowed with beauty and charm were born to her: / the first was warrior Aṅgada, and the second was Jayānanda.
10.11
Yet Sāhasagati did not abandon his obsession on her account; / deviser of hundreds of stratagems, sorrowful at heart and shameless,
10.12
[he thought:] “When, fulfilled, shall I kiss her lotus-like face / with its quivering bimba-lips, like a bee upon a trumpet-flower?”
10.13
Thus engrossed in reflection, he remembered a very powerful spell / that transforms forms, and he mastered it in a cave of the Himālayas.
10.14
Meanwhile, the Ten-faced One, intoxicated with strength, set out from the city; / then he conquered all the Vidyādharas residing on other continents.
10.15
Sandhyākāra, Suvela, Kāñcanapūrṇa, and Ayodhana, / and those of the Prahlāda and Haṁsa islands—all were subdued under his power.
10.16
Thus the Ten-faced One, with his army of many vassal kings, / took up residence in great joy near the excellent city of Pātāla-alaṅkāra.
10.17
Meanwhile Khara and Dūṣaṇa, hearing of the Ten-faced One from the excellent city, / went out hastily and beheld him, offering jewels.
10.18
He too, with agitation, deeply honored and showed affection / through gifts and honors, along with Candraṇakhā.
10.19
Fourteen thousand warriors skilled in forms assumed at will, / he immediately presented, well-pleased, to the lord of the Rākṣasas.
10.20
The Vidyādhara Hiḍimba, Haihaya, Ḍimba, Vikaṭa, Trijaṭa, / Haya, Mārkoṭa, Sujaṭa, Uka, and the one named Kiṣkindhin,
10.21
Tripurāmukha, Hema, Bāla, and Kolāvasundara— / these and many other brave Vidyādhara kings,
10.22
produced a thousand akṣauhiṇīs of well-born champions, / proud and arrogant in strength, harboring a thirst for battle.
10.23
Kumbhakarṇa, Nikumbha, Vibhīṣaṇa, Indrajit, and Meghavāhana, / and all the allied warriors, never left his side.
10.24
Excellent divine jewels arose, endowed with multitudes of virtues, / each one guarded individually by a thousand gods.
10.25
With white umbrellas, raised chowries, flags, victory pennants, and banners, / mounted on the Puṣpaka celestial car, he then set out against Indra.
10.26
With elephants, chariots, flying cars, mounts, leaping horses, and agile foot-soldiers, / the army of the Ten-faced One marched, covering the path of the sky.
10.27
As he proceeded step by step, the sun sank into setting; / he set up camp on the excellent peak of Mount Vindhyagiri.
10.28
Created by the power of magic spells, with beds, seats, and various retinue quarters, / having passed the night there, he was awakened by auspicious drums.
10.29
With his limbs adorned with ornaments, he then flew once more through the sky; / as he proceeded, he saw the broad, clear-watered Narmadā.
10.30
Here flowing gracefully, there rushing with uniform speed like an excellent arrow, / here full of fierce whirlpools, its mass of water surging up with large waves,
10.31
here with fish thrashing and leaping far away when struck by the trunks of makaras, / here with its body swollen with frothing foam dancing upon the waves,
10.32
here its ripples stained yellowish by tree flowers tossed by the wind and falling, / here echoing with the calls of sārasa cranes and kalahaṁsas on both its banks—
10.33
the Ten-faced One descended to the excellent river endowed with such qualities; / then, in an exquisite sport, he began to bathe in the pure water.
10.34
Meanwhile, on the northern bank of the river, in the great city of Māhiṣmatī, / King Sahasrakiraṇa, having arrived earlier and fond of water sports,
10.35
was sporting with a thousand maidens in the middle of the river’s waters, / while victory shouts were raised by his armies and feudatories standing on both banks.
10.36
At the banks where the waters were dammed and held by various mechanical water devices, / the women of Sahasrakiraṇa shone as they played.
10.37
There, one fair-bodied maiden, covering her pair of breasts with a cloth, / when her upper garment was snatched away, suddenly plunged into the water.
10.38
Feigning anger out of jealousy, taking water in her tender hands, / with delighted heart she splashed it over the broad chest of her beloved.
10.39
One woman with eyes like blue-lotus petals took a blue lotus and struck another; / she too was struck in return quickly with thousand-petaled lotuses.
10.40
Another [woman], having seen on her breast a nail scratch resembling a crescent moon, / pulled down her upper garment and covered her breast with the palm of her hand.
10.41
Here an excellent young woman, angered for a moment, took to silence; / but she was brought to delight again by her lover bowing his head.
10.42
While one beloved was being appeased, another flew into a rage; / with great difficulty was the young women's anger broken by the king.
10.43
Splashing water with strikes, pulling, pushing, and the hollows of their hands, / the young women sported through hundreds of deceits, turnings, and immersions.
10.44
Touched by the enjoyments of their bodies, washed with safflower, and turned yellowish-red, / the water was transformed in an instant by the young women playing therein.
10.45
Having thus sported when the water was released by the water-engine, the king, / upon the broad riverbank, playfully performed the wearing of ornaments.
10.46
Just then the Ten-faced One, having bathed and wearing white garments, / set up the images of the supreme Jinas on a golden seat.
10.47
On the excellent sandy beach, made charming with erected canopies and banners, / having performed a great pūjā, he praised the images of the Jinendras.
10.48
Then, as he was praising them, the pūjā was submerged and destroyed by the river's flood; / enraged, the lord of Laṅkā said: "How did such a thing happen here?
10.49
"Search for [the cause of] this untimely flood!" he said, and men were dispatched; / having gone and returned, they reported what they had seen:
10.50
"O lord, some man together with a multitude of young women, situated on the riverbank, / stays playfully sporting, like a god in the waters of the Mandākinī.
10.51
"By him this river water was dammed up through the use of a water-engine; / having played, it was released again, and it flows, O lord, with violent whirlpools."
10.52
Hearing the sound of many musical instruments and cries of victory, highly enraged, / he dispatched warriors with a complete army for his slaying.
10.53
Then, having dispatched the warriors, performing worship once more to the images, / the Ten-faced One praised them with a single mind through hundreds of auspicious verses.
10.54
Seeing the Vidyādhara lords on the path of the sky, armed and clad in armor, / Sahasrakiraṇa descended from the riverbank.
10.55
Hearing the clamorous uproar, the warriors belonging to the city of Māhiṣmatī, / quickly putting on armor, gathered around Sahasrakiraṇa.
10.56
Then the night-roamers began to fight together with the earth-dwellers, / unleashing a multitude of discuses, swords, spears, javelins, and clubs.
10.57
Proud with chariots, elephants, and horses, the swift foot-soldiers rushing against one another / fought face to face, announcing their name and lineage.
10.58
Seeing his own army broken in battle by the Rākṣasa warriors, / the enraged Sahasrakiraṇa blazed up with a multitude of weapons.
10.59
He drove his excellent chariot swiftly against the Rākṣasa army, / unleashing a rain of arrows like a fresh cloud [discharging] streams of water.
10.60
Struck by heavy blows, their great elephants, horses, and foot-soldiers falling, / the army of Vidyādharas retreated for the distance of a yojana.
10.61
Informed by the doorkeeper, with his body tormented by the battle of his own army, / the Ten-faced One mounted the rutting elephant Bhuvanālaṅkāra.
10.62
Seeing the Ten-faced One in battle thus discharging weapons, / Sahasrakiraṇa, who had won victory in many battles, stood before him.
10.63
As a duel took place between the two, an onslaught of blows from many weapons, / Sahasrakiraṇa was rendered chariotless in the battle within half a moment.
10.64
Leaving his excellent chariot, he mounted a splendid elephant resembling a mountain, / and unleashed very sharp arrows that pierced the armor of the Ten-faced One.
10.65
"Learn the science of archery first, O Rāvaṇa, having gone to your own excellent city! / Then, becoming attentive, fight together with me!"
10.66
All his limbs reddish-red [with fury], the Ten-faced One, drawing a multitude of arrows, / with swiftly moving hands discharged them into the body of Sahasrakiraṇa.
10.67
And while Sahasrakiraṇa was agitated and rendered senseless under the power of the blows, / right then he was captured in the midst of the battle by the lord of Rākṣasas.
10.68
Then, having bound him, he was led to his own abode; with agitated minds, / Sahasrakiraṇa, of great courage, was seen by the Vidyādharas.
10.69
Just then the sun set, its mass of rays vanished; / suddenly thick darkness increased, enveloping the sky.
10.70
In [the moonlight] white with the rays of the moon, after the fatigue born of the enthusiasm of battle was broken, / the night passed pleasantly in sleep for those whose bodies were uninjured.
10.71
Then, when the sun rose, the lord of Laṅkā remained / in the midst of the assembly of feudatories; just then an excellent sage arrived.
10.72
[Seeing] the lion among ascetics, he quickly arose, made an obeisance, / and offered a seat to the pious ascetic endowed with the glory of penance.
10.73
Bowing his head, the lord of Laṅkā asked the lord of sages: / "O venerable one, for what reason have you come here?"
10.74
Then the bull among sages, having narrated his family, strength, prowess, and the rest, said: / "I was King Śatabāhu, the lord of the city of Māhiṣmatī.
10.75
"Having placed my son Sahasrakiraṇa in the kingdom, filled with spiritual urgency, / with my mind devoted to the dharma of the supreme Jinas, I renounced [the world] for the sake of liberation.
10.76
"Hearing that Sahasrakiraṇa was bound, I have come here to your presence; / release this son of mine, O Rāvaṇa! Do not cause obstruction!"
10.77
Then the lord of Rākṣasas said: "A great pūjā was performed to the images; / that was destroyed by the river's flood, due to the nature of his deeds.
10.78
"On account of the destruction of the pūjā, this warrior was bound and humiliated; / by your word, O holy ascetic, he is released, there is no doubt about this."
10.79
Then, by the command of the Ten-faced One, Sahasrakiraṇa was released in an instant; / then he beheld the bull among sages, circumambulated him, and bowed.
10.80
And he was told by Rāvaṇa: "From this day forward you are my brother; / I offer you Mandodarī's sister, Svayaṁprabhā."
10.81
Then Sahasrakiraṇa said: "No mortal knows discernment; / like the form of a cloud in autumn, the body perishes, there is no doubt.
10.82
"If indeed there were any essence in these sensory pleasures that end so badly, / then renunciation would not have been taken up by my father."
10.83
Having placed his son in his own kingdom and taken leave of the Ten-faced One, / free from attachment, Sahasrakiraṇa renounced [the world] near his father.
10.84
That very word was remembered which was spoken in the presence of his friend Anaraṇya / in time past; thus it became completely clear:
10.85
"Whenever I first receive the initiation of the supreme Jinas, / then, O king of men, I will send you word certainly."
10.86
And a messenger was dispatched; having gone to the lord of the city of Sāketa, / he related the renunciation of Sahasrakiraṇa performed according to the supreme Jinas.
10.87
Having heard of the excellent renunciation of Sahasrakiraṇa, spiritual urgency was born [in him]; / having installed his son on the throne, Anaraṇya renounced the world.
10.88
Those who hear thus the deeds of Sahasrakiraṇa, and second, of King Anaraṇya, / deeply immersed in bliss in the best heavenly abodes, become gods possessed of the splendour of pure bellies.
10.89
Thus ends the tenth chapter, titled “The March of the Ten-faced One and Sugrīva, and the Renunciation of Sahasrakiraṇa and Anaraṇya,” in the Paümacariya.
Linked texts (1)
- Paümacariya — Vimalasūri, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit