Harivamsha 18
English (machine translation) 18
- Language
- English
18.1
Devoted to the dharma of yoga, the seven roamed at Lake Mānasa: / Padmagarbha, Aravindākṣa, Kṣīragarbha, Sulocana, / Ūrubindu, Subindu, and Haimagarbha as the seventh, / great-souled ones born as swans in the waters of Mānasa. / Sumanas, Suvāk, Suśuddha, Tattvadarśin, Tattvavit, / Sunetra, and Suhotra—these were the twice-born by their names. / All those chaste students, birds roaming at will, / continually subsisting on wind and water, emaciated their bodies.
18.2
King Vibhrāja, radiant in form, / wandered through that forest, surrounded by his women's quarters, like Maghavat in Nandana.
18.3
The wise king recognized those sky-goers whose nature was the dharma of yoga; / and having meditated upon that very matter out of disillusionment, he went to his city.
18.4
He had an exceedingly righteous son named Aṇuha. / Ever delighting in the subtlest dharma, Aṇuha attained the highest state.
18.5
Śuka gave him his daughter Kṛtvī, possessed of auspicious signs, / endowed with goodness, virtue, and good qualities, and ever devoted to the dharma of yoga.
18.6
Formerly, O Bhīṣma, that splendid daughter of the ancestors was pointed out / by the wise Sanatkumāra in my presence:
18.7
"She is the best of upholders of true dharma, hard to be known by the unrefined, / yoga itself, the wife of yoga, and likewise the mother of yoga," / just as was told to you formerly by me in the creations of the ancestors.
18.8
Having installed Aṇuha on the throne, the ruler of men, Vibhrāja, / having taken leave of the citizens with a glad mind and having had the brahmins pronounce blessings, / went to the lake to perform ascetic heat, where those companions were.
18.9
There, without food, feeding on air, great in ascetic heat, / having abandoned desires, he performed ascetic heat beside that lake.
18.10
His resolve was: "Having attained sonship / to one of them, may I be united through yoga, O descendant of Bharata!"
18.11
Having made this resolution, endowed with great ascetic heat, / that Vibhrāja of great ascetic heat shone like the sun.
18.12
Then, illumined by him, that forest was called Vaibhrāja, / and that lake, O best of the Kurus, was called Vaibhrāja.
18.13
Where those birds, O king, four practicing the way of yoga, / and three who had fallen from yoga, abandoned their bodies.
18.14
In the city of Kāmpilya, however, headed by Brahmadatta, / the seven great-souled ones were born, all freed from stain; / four of them were endowed with memory, but three were utterly deluded.
18.15
Independent and of great renown, Brahmadatta was born from Aṇuha, / just as his resolution had been previously conceived in the bird state.
18.15x305
Purified by knowledge, meditation, and ascetic heat, mastering the Vedas and their auxiliary sciences,
18.16
Chidradarśin and Sunetra were likewise born to Bābhravya and Vatsa, / heirs of Vedic reciters, having mastered the Vedas and their auxiliary sciences.
18.17
They were two companions of Brahmadatta, having lived together in a former birth; / the fifth there was Pāñcāla, and Kaṇḍarīka was the other.
18.18
Pāñcāla was a knower of the Ṛgveda and acted as teacher; / Kaṇḍarīka, knowing two Vedas, was a singer of the Samaveda and also an adhvaryu priest.
18.19
The son of Aṇuha was a king who knew the cries of all beings; / he then reached an understanding with Pāñcāla and Kaṇḍarīka.
18.20
Devoted to rustic ways, under the control of desire, / they were knowledgeable in dharma, desire, and worldly wealth because of what was done in previous births.
18.21
Having consecrated the spotless Brahmadatta to the kingdom, / Aṇuha, that best of kings, attained the highest state.
18.22
The wife of Brahmadatta was the daughter of Devala Asita, / invincible through yoga, named Saṃnati, O descendant of Bharata.
18.23
From Devala he obtained that unexcelled maiden endowed with single-minded devotion, / the humble Saṃnati, who practiced the way of yoga.
18.23x306
King Brahmadatta married her according to the proper rites.
18.24
The remaining cakravāka birds, who had been companions in Kāmpilya, / were born as full brothers in a very poor Vedic scholar's family.
18.25
Named Dhṛti, Mahāmanas, Vidvān, and Tattvadarśin, / they were accomplished in Vedic study, four whose vision was unbroken.
18.26
Then awareness arose in them, brought about by their previous birth; / devoted to yoga and perfected, they all set forth.
18.27
Addressing their father, O dear one, the father said to them then: / "This is adharma for you, that you will go away abandoning me,
18.28
without dispelling my poverty and the abundant purposes of a son! / Having fulfilled all my desired wishes today, O sons, / and having rendered service, how can you go?"
18.29
All those twice-born ones said to their father once again: / "We shall make an arrangement for you by which you will maintain yourself.
18.30
You should approach and recite this verse of great import / to the blameless King Brahmadatta along with his ministers.
18.31
Pleased in his heart, he will give you villages and abundant enjoyments / and all desired objects; go happily, O father."
18.32
Having said this, and having honoured that elder, they all, / attaining the dharma of yoga, went to supreme bliss,
18.32x308
yogins of supreme self, with restrained inner selves.
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit