[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Epic, Poetry, Drama & Narrative](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit) › [The Mahābhārata and its versions](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata) › [Harivaṃśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt) › 13 # Harivamsha 13 English (machine translation) 13 - **Language:** English ### [13.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.1) Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Having been addressed thus by the blessed radiant god of gods, / by Sanatkumāra, I again questioned the imperishable god ### [13.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.2) concerning a doubt, the highest of the immortals, the blessed one, O tamer of enemies. / Learn that in full from me, from the beginning, O son of Gaṅgā: ### [13.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.3) “How many groups of ancestors are there, and in which world do those groups exist, / the foremost among gods, who nourish Soma for the gods?” ### [13.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.4) Sanatkumāra said: / Seven are these groups of ancestors in heaven remembered as, O best of reciters: / four possessing form, and three of them formless. ### [13.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.5) I shall declare their world and origin; hear that, / as well as their power and greatness in detail, O rich in ascetic heat. ### [13.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.6) The three supreme groups among them that bear the form of dharma— / I shall declare their names and worlds; hear that. ### [13.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.7) The worlds named Sanātana, where the radiant formless / groups of ancestors abide—they are the sons of the Prajāpati ### [13.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.8) Virāj, O best of the twice-born, known as the Vairājas; / the groups of gods sacrifice to them with rituals prescribed by the rules. ### [13.8x242-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.8x242-1) Swift as thought, consumers of svadhā, endowed with all desires, ### [13.8x242-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.8x242-2) these great-souled ones, abandoning yoga, exist. ### [13.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.9) Having fallen from yoga and reached the Sanātana worlds, / they are born again at the end of a thousand yugas as expounders of the veda. ### [13.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.10) Regaining that memory and the supreme Sāṃkhya-yoga, / these perfected ones attain the course of yoga from which return is hard to find. ### [13.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.11) These, dear friend, are the ancestors who increase yoga for yogins, / who formerly nourished Soma by the power of yoga. ### [13.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.12) Therefore, ancestral offerings should be given to yogins, O best of the twice-born; / this is the supreme, first rule concerning the Soma-drinkers. ### [13.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.13) Their mind-born daughter was named Menā, the excellent wife / of the great mountain Himavat, whose son is said to be Maināka. ### [13.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.14) Maināka's son is the glorious great mountain named Krauñca, / the foremost among mountains, white, covered with various jewels. ### [13.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.15) And on Menā, the king of mountains begot three daughters: / Aparṇā, Ekaparṇā, and the third, Ekapāṭalā. ### [13.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.16) Practicing immense ascetic heat hard even for gods and Danavas to perform, those three \[daughters\] tormented the worlds of the stationary and the moving. ### [13.16x243-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.16x243-1) Ekaparṇā resorted to a banyan tree, and Ekapāṭalā to a pāṭalā tree; ### [13.16x243-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.16x243-2) the two having resorted \[to them\], Aparṇā, homeless, practiced ascetic heat, ### [13.16x243-3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.16x243-3) for ten thousand years, difficult even for gods and Danavas to perform. ### [13.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.17) Ekaparṇā took food consisting of a single leaf, and Ekapāṭalā took a single pāṭalā flower. ### [13.17x244](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.17x244) Only when a full thousand \[years\] had elapsed did the two take food. ### [13.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.18) One among them was without food; her mother forbade her, saying, 'U mā' ('O, do not!'), forbidding her in distress out of motherly affection. ### [13.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.19) Addressed thus by her mother, that goddess practicing severe austerities, that beautiful maiden became renowned in the three worlds simply as 'Umā'. ### [13.19x245-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.19x245-1) By that very name she became famous here, steadfast in the duties of yoga. ### [13.19x245-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.19x245-2) This world shall endure possessing these three maidens, O Bhārgava, ### [13.19x246](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.19x246) scorched by the ascetic heat of these \[maidens\], as long as the earth will hold. ### [13.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.20) All three have ascetic heat as their body, endowed with the power of yoga; all of them are highly fortunate, and all possess enduring youth; they are mothers of the worlds and chaste students, all of them speakers of the brahman, and all of them celibate. ### [13.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.21) Umā, the foremost of them, the eldest and fair-complexioned, endowed with great yogic power, attended upon Mahādeva. ### [13.21x248](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.21x248) Her adopted son was Uśanas, the descendant of Bhṛgu. ### [13.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.22) Ekaparṇā was given as wife to Asita Devala, the great-souled and wise teacher of yoga, O great brahmin. ### [13.22x249-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.22x249-1) The prosperity among those maidens, the third, Ekapāṭalā, ### [13.22x249-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.22x249-2) attended upon the son of Śataśalāka, Jaigīṣavya. ### [13.22x249-3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.22x249-3) His sons are traditionally known as Śaṅkha and Likhita, not born of a womb. ### [13.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.23) Know that Ekapāṭalā belonged to Jaigīṣavya likewise; these two highly fortunate maidens attended upon teachers of yoga. ### [13.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.24) There are realms named Somapadā where the sons of Marīci, the ancestors, dwell in heaven, and the gods revere them; they are all known as Agniṣvāttas, of boundless power. ### [13.24x250](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.24x250) The ancestors renowned there are heard of as the Agniṣvāttas. ### [13.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.25) Their mind-born daughter was the river named Acchodā, from whom arose that divine lake named Acchoda. ### [13.25x251](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.25x251) Those ancestors had never been seen before by her. ### [13.25x252](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.25x252) Then she of pure smile beheld the formless ancestors. ### [13.25x253](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.25x253) Born from their mind, she did not recognize her own ancestors. ### [13.25x254](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.25x254) Ashamed by that distress, she, fair-complexioned, ### [13.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.26) beholding Vasu, moving through the sky, chose him as father, the renowned son of Āyu, famous by the name Vasu, ### [13.26x255](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.26x255) accompanied by the apsaras Adrikā, standing in a celestial chariot in heaven. ### [13.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.27) Through that transgression of the mind, acting at her desire, having solicited another father, she fell, fallen from yoga. ### [13.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.28) Falling, dropped from heaven, she saw three celestial chariots; in them she saw those ancestors, the size of a speck of dust. ### [13.28x256-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.28x256-1) Falling, she saw the three celestial chariots nearby; ### [13.28x256-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.28x256-2) there she saw her own ancestors, the size of a speck of dust, ### [13.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.29) extremely subtle, indistinct, like fires placed within fires. Afflicted, falling head downwards, she said to them: 'Protect \[me\]!' ### [13.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.30) Addressed by them, 'Do not fear,' remaining in the sky, she then propitiated her own ancestors with a humble voice. ### [13.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.31) Those ancestors said to the maiden who had fallen from her power through transgression: 'Deprived of your divine power through your own fault, you are falling, O you of pure smile! ### [13.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.32) For deities reap the fruit of actions right here with those very bodies by which the actions are performed in heaven. ### [13.32x257](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.32x257) A human, however, \[reaps\] the good and bad in another body; such is the rule. ### [13.33](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.33) Actions bear fruit immediately in divinity, \[and\] after death in humanity; those actions done in divinity indeed exist in humanity; therefore, daughter, you will reap here after death the fruit of your ascetic heat.' ### [13.34](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.34) Spoken to thus by the ancestors, she propitiated her own ancestors; having reflected, they all bestowed grace upon her out of compassion. ### [13.35](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.35) Knowing the inevitable matter, they then said to her: 'You will become the daughter, the offspring of that King Vasu when he is born on earth among humans, the great-souled one; becoming his daughter, you will regain your own worlds, difficult to attain. ### [13.35x260](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.35x260) Born in the womb of a fish, you will become the daughter of the king. ### [13.36](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.36) You will bring forth a brahmin, the heir of Parāśara; that brahmin seer will divide the single Veda into four.' ### [13.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.37) and the two sons of Mahābhiṣa and Śaṃtanu, who enhance fame: / Vicitravīrya who knows dharma, and the lord Citrāṅgada; ### [13.37x261](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.37x261) and the elder Vicitravīrya, and Citrāṅgada after him. ### [13.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.38) Having brought forth these sons, you shall attain the worlds again. / Reaching this, O very fortunate lady, through your own contemptible deed / and from an offense against the ancestors, you will obtain a contemptible birth. ### [13.39](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.39) You shall become a daughter of that very king in Adrikā; / you will be born from the womb of a fish in the twenty-eighth Dvāpara \[Yuga\]. ### [13.40](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.40) Thus addressed, the daughter of the fisherman, Satyavatī, incomparable, / was then born in the womb of a fish as the daughter of that king Vasu. ### [13.40x263-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.40x263-1) Adrikā had become a fish at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā. ### [13.40x263-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.40x263-2) In her that maiden was born by the semen of the king. ### [13.41](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.41) Those worlds named Baibhrāja shine in heaven, fair to behold, / where the ancestors renowned in heaven are called the Barhiṣads. ### [13.42](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.42) All the hosts of Dānavas, Yakṣas, Gandharvas, and Rākṣasas, / Nāgas, Sarpas, and Suparṇas of boundless might, revere them. ### [13.43](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.43) These are the great-souled sons of the Prajāpati Pulastya— / great-souled, very fortunate, endowed with splendor, practicing ascetic heat. ### [13.43x264](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.43x264) These three auspicious hosts, embodied forms of dharma, have been proclaimed. ### [13.44](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.44) Their mind-born daughter, renowned by the name Pīvarī, / is yoga, the wife of yoga, and likewise the mother of yoga; / having reached the Dvāpara Yuga, she will be the foremost of the upholders of dharma. ### [13.45](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.45) Born in the lineage of Parāśara, Śuka by name, of great ascetic heat, / a great yogin, the best of the twice-born, will exist in that yuga, / produced from Vyāsa upon the fire-drill, blazing like a smokeless fire. ### [13.46](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.46) In that daughter of the ancestors, Pīvarī, he will father / a daughter and four sons, masters of yoga, possessing great strength. ### [13.46x265](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.46x265) and four sons, masters of yoga, skilled in the Vedas: ### [13.47](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.47) Kṛṣṇa, Gaura, Prabhu, Śaṃbhu, and likewise a daughter Kṛtvī; / a sixth \[child\], a daughter Kīrtimatī, mother of yoga and a female yogin; / the daughter Kṛtvī, Kīrtimatī, yoga, the mother of yoga, / who was the queen of Aṇuha and the mother of Brahmadatta. ### [13.48](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.48) Having fathered these masters of yoga of great vows, the righteous one, / of boundless intellect, having heard the teachings on dharma from Janaka and Vyāsa, / the great yogin will then attain the state from which there is no return; ### [13.48x269](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.48x269) resorting to the path endowed with the rays of the sun, from which there is no return; ### [13.48x270](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.48x270) drunk in by the sun's rays, he will not come again; ### [13.48x271](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.48x271) which is that untroubled, imperishable, eternal brahman abode. ### [13.49](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.49) The formless ancestors are the embodied forms of dharma, O sage, / where the tale concerning the lineage of the Vṛṣṇi and Andhaka families arose. ### [13.50](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.50) These three have been told by me; learn of four others from me, / whom I shall declare, O best of the twice-born; for they are considered embodied, / arisen in Svadhā from Kāvya fire, the sons of Kavi. ### [13.51](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.51) The ancestors named Sukālas, \[descendants\] of the Prajāpati Vasiṣṭha, / devoted in the worlds of the gods shining with radiance, O Bhārgava, / replete with all desires—twice-born men revere them. ### [13.52](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.52) Their mind-born daughter, renowned in heaven by the name Gauḥ, / was given in your own lineage, O twice-born, as the queen of Śuka. ### [13.53](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.53) Renowned as Ekaśṛṅgā, the enhancer of the fame of the Sādhyas, / she stands enveloping the worlds that contain Marīci. ### [13.54](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.54) Those sons of Aṅgiras who were formerly reared by the Sādhyas / are called the Upahūtas, radiant ancestors in heaven; / the hosts of kṣatriyas, desiring fruits, revere them, my dear. ### [13.55](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.55) Their mind-born daughter is renowned by the name Yaśodā, / who was the wife of Viśvamahat and the daughter-in-law of Vṛddhaśarman, / the mother, my dear, of the great-souled royal seer Dilīpa. ### [13.56](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.56) Gāthās were sung formerly at his sacrifice by delighted great seers, / then in the age of the gods, my dear, at that great rite, the horse sacrifice: ### [13.57](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.57) Having thus heard of the birth of the fire of the great-souled Śāṇḍilya, / those men who, well-composed, behold Dilīpa the sacrificer, / the truthful, great-souled one, also conquer heaven. ### [13.57x273](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.57x273) Dilīpa the sacrificer was then seen by the wise, ### [13.57x274](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.57x274) at whose concluding ablution of the horse sacrifice they went to heaven along with him. ### [13.58](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.58) The ancestors named Susvadhās, \[descendants\] of the Prajāpati Kardama / born from Pulaha, are great-souled bulls among the twice-born. ### [13.59](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.59) They dwell as birds moving at will in worlds in heaven; / the hosts of vaiśyas, desiring fruits, revere them, my dear. ### [13.60](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.60) Their mind-born daughter is renowned by the name Virajā, / the mother of Yayāti, O brahmin, and the queen of Nahuṣa. ### [13.60x275-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.60x275-1) By ascetic heat or with effort they are seen with one's own eye. ### [13.60x275-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.60x275-2) Thus these ancestors are gods, and the gods are again ancestors. ### [13.61](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.61) These three hosts have been spoken of; learn from me the fourth, / who were born in Svadhā, the Somapas, sons of Kavi. ### [13.62](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.62) The śūdras revere them, the sons of Hiraṇyagarbha; / Mānasas are the names of those worlds in heaven where they dwell. ### [13.63](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.63) Their mind-born daughter is Narmadā, the best of rivers, / who sustains creatures, flowing toward the southern region, / who was the wife of Purukutsa and also the mother of Trasaddasyu; ### [13.63x276](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.63x276) the mother of Trasadasyu and the wife of Purukutsa; ### [13.63x277](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.63x277) she was the wife of Purukutsa, and Trasaddasyu was her son. ### [13.64](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.64) Following their approach, my dear, the Prajāpati Manu, / in yuga after yuga, institutes śrāddha rites when dharma is lost, ### [13.65](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.65) by the primal creation of all the ancestors, O best of the twice-born; / therefore, according to his own duty, they call him Śrāddhadeva. ### [13.66](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.66) A silver vessel, or one adorned with silver, / offered for all, placing svadhā foremost, pleases the ancestors in a śrāddha. ### [13.67](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.67) Having nourished Soma, Agni, and the son of Vivasvat, / also in the fire during the northern course of the sun, or, in the absence of fire, in water; ### [13.67x278-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.67x278-1) or upon copper-colored he-goats, or brown cows, ### [13.67x278-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.67x278-2) upon those sprinkled with horn-water, upon lovely daughters-in-law, ### [13.67x278-3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.67x278-3) upon childless cows or those with calves, pure balls of food must be given. ### [13.68](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.68) He who pleases the ancestors with devotion, the ancestors please him; / the ancestors bestow nourishment and abundant offspring, / as well as heaven, health, and whatever else is desired. ### [13.68x279-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.68x279-1) The ancestors, for one desiring nourishment or desiring offspring, ### [13.68x279-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.68x279-2) the grandfathers bestow nourishment, offspring, and heaven, ### [13.68x280-1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.68x280-1) lifespan, wealth, happiness, heaven, and health. ### [13.68x280-2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.68x280-2) The ancestors would bestow with love whatever else is desired. ### [13.69](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.69) Even beyond the rites for the gods, O sage, the rites for the ancestors are superior; / for the ancestors are remembered as the prior nourishment of the gods. ### [13.70](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.70) They are swift to be pleased and free from anger, the supreme nourishment of the world, / and always steadfast in grace; bow down to them, O Bhārgava. ### [13.71](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.71) You are devoted to the ancestors, O seer among brahmins, and devoted to the good, without doubt. / I shall ordain your highest good today; see it yourself directly. ### [13.72](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.72) I grant you divine sight endowed with discernment, O sinless one; / heedful, O Mārkaṇḍeya, behold this destiny. ### [13.73](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.73) For neither the divine path of yoga nor the supreme state of the ancestors / can be seen with the physical eye, even by an accomplished one such as you. ### [13.74](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.74) Having spoken thus to me standing before him, the lord of gods, / having bestowed sight endowed with discernment rare even for the gods, / went to his desired abode, blazing like a second fire. ### [13.75](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13.75) Learn that, O best of Kurus, which was witnessed by me / through the grace of that god, which is hard for mortals on earth to comprehend. ## Linked texts (1) - [Harivaṃśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa.13.1) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.harivamsa~en-mt.13) · Pramāṇa