Harivamsha 115
English (machine translation) 115
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115.1
Śaunaka said:
This Harivaṃśa and all its sections have been related by you / just as they were previously recited by the wise pupil of Vyāsa.
115.2
That [story] being told, accompanied by ancient lore, nectar-like, / delights us like the nectar of immortality, destroying all sins.
115.2x1557
Being delightful to hear, O wise one, it as it were gladdens our mind.
115.3
Having heard this unsurpassed narrative, / what did King Janamejaya do next, O Sūta, after the snake sacrifice?
115.3x1558
Tell me, O man of good vows, what the son of Parīkṣit undertook.
115.4
The Sūta said:
What King Janamejaya undertook after hearing the unsurpassed narrative, / immediately following the snake sacrifice, that I shall relate.
115.5
When that sacrifice was concluded, King Janamejaya, son of Parīkṣit, / then began preparations to sacrifice with the horse sacrifice.
115.6
Having summoned the officiating priests, the family priest, and the preceptors, he said: / "I shall sacrifice with the horse sacrifice; let the horse be released!"
115.7
Then, knowing what he wished to do, the great-souled Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, / who knew all higher and lower truths, came suddenly to see the undaunted son of Parīkṣit.
115.8
Seeing that seer arrive, the king, the son of Parīkṣit, / offered water for honor, water for feet, and a seat, and honored him according to the scriptures.
115.9
Both sat down with the members of his assembly around them, O Śaunaka; / and when they were seated together with the members of the assembly, O Śaunaka, / they engaged in diverse, wondrous conversations connected with the Vedic collections.
115.10
Then at the end of the conversation the king questioned that silent sage, / the grandfather of the Pāṇḍavas and his own great-grandfather:
115.11
"The narrative of the Mahābhārata, rich in meaning and very extensive, / has passed like a mere twinkling of an eye because of its delightful listenability.
115.12
The account detailing the divine manifestations, which confers renown on all, / has been delivered by you, O brahmin, like milk poured into a conch shell.
115.13
Just as there can be no satiety even with nectar or with the bliss of heaven, / so I find no satiety after hearing this narrative of the Bhāratas.
115.14
Having paid reverence to the omniscient one, I ask, O venerable one: / the Rājasūya sacrifice is considered by me to have been the cause of the destruction of the Kurus.
115.15
Just as it brought ruin and affliction to intolerable warriors, / so I consider the Rājasūya sacrifice to have been designed for war.
115.16
For it is heard that the Rājasūya was performed by Soma in the past; / at its conclusion there was the tremendous Tārakāmaya war.
115.17
It was performed by Varuṇa too, and at the end of that great sacrifice / there was a war between gods and asuras that brought destruction to all creatures.
115.18
And the royal seer Hariścandra attained this sacrifice; / there too occurred the Āḍībaka war, which destroyed the kṣatriyas.
115.19
Immediately after that, by the noble Pāṇḍava too, the sacrifice was undertaken like a fire, / hard to traverse, which brought about the annihilation of the Mahābhārata [war].
115.20
Why was that great sacrifice, the Rājasūya, / which was the very root of that war that brought destruction to the world, not prevented?
115.21
For when the Rājasūya cannot be properly maintained and its sacrificial parts are difficult to perform, / if a part of the sacrifice is wrongly conducted, the destruction of subjects is certain.
115.22
You are indeed the grandfather of all our ancestors, / the knower of past and future, our protector, and our progenitor.
115.23
How then, O venerable one, did those wise leaders fall away from right conduct? / For mortals who are without a protector and have bad leaders fall into error."
115.24
Vyāsa said:
O child, overtaken by time today, your grandfathers
did not ask me about the future, nor do I speak unasked.
115.25
And I see the pointlessness of foretelling the future,
for I will not be able to avert that course which is fixed by time.
115.26
But since you have asked me this, I will speak of what is yet to come;
and Time is stronger than this: even having heard, you will not act.
115.27
Neither by fury nor by undertakings will you stand firm in manly strength,
for the lines written by Time cannot be transgressed, like the ocean shore.
115.28
The horse sacrifice is celebrated as the foremost sacrifice of the kṣatriyas;
with that intention, Vāsava will violate your sacrifice.
115.29
O king, if that can somehow be averted—
fate by human effort—then do not perform that sacrifice!
115.30
Nor is it the fault of Śakra, nor of your assembly of preceptors,
nor of you, the sacrificer: Time is the supreme lord here.
115.31
This order of things is subject to Time's control;
know that the three worlds, with moving and unmoving beings, are guided by it.
115.32
As a king who sacrifices will go to heaven at the destruction of the yuga,
so twice-born men will become sellers of the fruits of sacrifices.
115.33
Janamejaya said:
What will be the cause for the cessation of the horse sacrifice?
Having heard it, I will avert it, O lord, if it is possible.
115.34
Vyāsa said:
The cause in that matter will be born of a brahmin's anger, O lord;
strive to avert it; may good betide you!
115.35
When the horse sacrifice has been undertaken by you, O scorcher of foes,
kṣatriyas will not perform it as long as the earth endures.
115.36
Janamejaya said:
If I am the cause of the cessation of the horse sacrifice
through the fiery splendor of a brahmin's curse, severe fear arises in me.
115.37
For how can a virtuous man like me, joined with ill fame,
venture to go to the [higher] worlds, like a bird in a snare [to the] sky?
115.38
Just as this future destruction of the sacrifice has been seen here,
if there is a return [of it], reassure me!
115.39
Vyāsa said:
The sacrifice taken from the gods will abide among brahmins;
this sacrifice was ordained here by both gods and brahmins.
Splendor brought by splendor abides in splendor alone.
115.40
There will be a certain Kāśyapa twice-born general, sprung up from the plant world,
who will revive the horse sacrifice in the Kali Yuga.
115.41
And in that yuga, one born in his lineage will perform even the rājasūya sacrifice,
O foremost of kings, as Antaka seizes Śvetagraha.
115.42
Fruit will be given to men who act according to their strength;
the gateway to the end of the yuga, closed by the seers, will be passed through.
115.43
From that time forth, men's lifespans will abandon their past forms;
conduct will decline in the world, even among those who possess livelihood.
115.44
Then subtle, of great future consequence, hard to traverse, based on gift-giving,
loosened from the four stages of life, dharma will waver.
115.45
For then men will attain perfection with little ascetic heat;
fortunate men will practice dharma at the end of the yuga, O Janamejaya.
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit