Harivamsha 2
English (machine translation) 2
- Language
- English
2.1
Vaiśaṃpāyana said:
When creatures were thus created, that Prajāpati Āpava,
the Puruṣa, took Śatarūpā, not born of a womb, as his wife.
2.2
Through the power of Āpava, who stood encompassing the sky,
Śatarūpā was born by dharma alone, O great king.
2.3
Having performed supreme, most difficult ascetic heat for ten thousand years,
she obtained the Puruṣa of blazing ascetic heat as her husband.
2.4
That Puruṣa, my dear, is called Svāyambhuva Manu;
his manvantara is said here to last seventy-one yugas.
2.5
From the Vairāja Puruṣa, Śatarūpā bore the hero [Vīra];
from Vīra, Kāmyā bore Priyavrata and Uttānapāda.
2.6
Kāmyā was the daughter of Prajāpati Kardama, O mighty-armed one,
endowed with great ascetic heat, exalted, upholder of the world;
and the four sons of Kāmyā were Samrāj, Kukṣi, Virāj, and Prabhu.
2.6x38
Having obtained Priyavrata as her husband, she bore sons.
2.7
Prajāpati Atri adopted Uttānapāda as his son;
from Uttānapāda, Sūnṛtā gave birth to four sons.
2.8
The daughter of Dharma was fair-hipped, famed by the name Sūnṛtā,
born in speech through dharma, the auspicious mother of Dhruva.
2.9
Prajāpati Uttānapāda begot on Sūnṛtā
Dhruva, Kīrtimant, Ayasmant, and Ayaspati.
2.10
Dhruva performed ascetic heat for three divine thousand years,
seeking very great fame, O descendant of Bharata, O great king.
2.11
Pleased, the lord Prajāpati Brahmā gave him a station equal to his own,
immovable, and in front of the seven seers.
2.12
Beholding his pride, prosperity, and greatness,
Uśanas, the teacher of the gods and asuras, sang this verse:
2.13
"Ah, the power of his ascetic heat! Ah, his sacred learning! Ah, his vows!
Having placed which Dhruva in front of them today, the seven seers stand!"
2.14
From him were born Śliṣṭa and Mānya; and from Dhruva, Śambhu was born.
Succhāyā bore to Śliṣṭi five sinless sons:
Prācīnagarbha, Vṛkati, Vṛkala, and Vṛkatejas.
The wife of Prācīnagarbha, Sūnṛtā, gave birth, O king,
to a son named Udāradhī, who was Indra in a previous birth.
Bhadrā bore to Udāradhī a son, Divaṃjaya;
from Divaṃjaya that fair-limbed woman bore Ripu and Ripuṃjaya;
Ripu and Ripuṃjaya, the inspired poet, Vṛkala, and Vṛkatejas.
2.15
Bṛhatī bore to Ripu the all-radiant Cākṣuṣa;
Cākṣuṣa begot Manu upon Puṣkariṇī, the daughter of Vīraṇa.
2.16
On the daughter of the high-souled Prajāpati Vīraṇa,
Naḍvalā, the daughter of Prajāpati Vairāja,
ten sons of immense power were born to Manu, O best of the Bharatas:
2.17
Ūru, Pūru, Śatadyumna, Tapasvin, Satyavit, Kavi,
Agniṣṭut, Atirātra, and Sudyumna—these were nine;
and Abhimanyu was the tenth, of immense power, born to Naḍvalā.
2.18
Āgneyī bore to Ūru six sons of great radiance:
Aṅga, Sumanas, Svāti, Kratu, Āṅgirasa, and Śiva.
2.19
From Aṅga, Sunīthā's only offspring was born, Vena.
Due to the transgression of Vena, a very great anger arose.
2.20
Then, for the sake of offspring, the seers churned his right arm;
when the hand of Vena was churned, a great seer came into being.
2.21
Seeing him, the sages said: "He indeed, of great splendor,
will gladden the subjects and attain great renown!"
2.22
He was born armed with bow and armor, as if burning with brilliance,
wearing bracers of monitor lizard skin and finger-guards,
zealous in protecting his subjects;
and then Pṛthu, son of Vena, the first ancestor of kṣatriyas, protected this earth.
2.23
He was the first ruler of the earth among those consecrated by the rājasūya;
and from him were born the skilled bard and panegyrist.
2.24
By him, desiring subsistence for his subjects, this earth was milked
of crops, O great king, O descendant of Bharata, together with the gods and the hosts of seers,
2.25
and by serpents, virtuous folk, plants, and mountains.
2.26
Milked into various vessels, the earth
gave her milk according to desire, and with that they sustained their vital breaths.
2.27
The two sons of Pṛthu, who knew dharma, were born: Antardhi and Pālin.
Śikhaṇḍinī bore Havirdhāna from Antardhāna.
2.28
To Havirdhāna, Dhiṣaṇā, daughter of Agni, bore six sons:
Prācīnabarhis, Śukra, Gaya, Kṛṣṇa, Vraja, and Ajina.
2.29
The venerable Prācīnabarhis was a great Prajāpati,
son of Havirdhāna, O great king, by whom creatures were multiplied.
2.30
His kuśa grasses, with their tips pointing eastward, O Janamejaya,
covered the face of the earth, whence he was Prācīnabarhis.
2.31
That lord, the king of the earth, took a wife in Savarṇā,
the daughter of the Ocean, after completing great ascetic heat.
2.32
Savarṇā, daughter of the Ocean, bore to Prācīnabarhis
ten sons revered by all the worlds,
all named the Pracetases, masters of the science of archery.
2.33
Acting with undivided duty, they performed great ascetic heat
for ten thousand years, lying in the waters of the ocean.
2.34
While the Pracetases were practicing ascetic heat, trees covered
the unprotected earth, and a destruction of creatures took place.
2.34x42
All creatures were withdrawn in the interval of Cākṣuṣa Manu.
2.35
The wind could not blow; the sky was covered with trees;
for ten thousand years creatures were unable to move.
2.36
Hearing of that, all the Pracetases endowed with ascetic heat,
standing on their ascetic heat with all the mountains,
released wind and fire from their mouths in arising wrath.
2.37
Then the wind uprooted those trees and dried them up;
the fierce fire consumed them; thus occurred the destruction of the trees.
2.38
Aware of the destruction of the trees, when only a few branches remained,
the glorious king Soma approached and spoke to them:
2.39
"Restrain your anger, O kings, all sons of Prācīnabarhis!
The earth has been emptied of trees; let the fire and the wind be appeased!
2.40
This fair-complexioned maiden, a jewel among the trees,
knowing the future, my dear ones, has been carried in my womb.
2.41
She is named Māriṣā, produced in this way from the trees.
Let her be your illustrious wife, increaser of the lineage of Soma.
2.42
From half of your fiery energy and half of my fiery energy,
the wise Prajāpati named Dakṣa will be born in her."
2.43
Equal to fire, he will once again multiply creatures
with the fire made of your fiery energy on this [earth] that is mostly burnt down.
2.44
Then, at the word of Soma, those Pracetases withdrew
their anger from the trees and took Māriṣā as their wife in accordance with dharma.
2.44x44
Then, with the mind, they deposited an embryo in Māriṣā.
2.45
From the ten Pracetases, upon Māriṣā, the Prajāpati
Dakṣa of great fiery energy was born through a portion of Soma, O Bhārata.
2.46
He fathered sons who advanced the lineage of Soma:
the immobile and the mobile, the two-footed and the four-footed.
2.47
Having created with the mind, Dakṣa later created women,
the Prajāpati of great fiery energy, in order to multiply creatures.
He gave ten to Dharma, thirteen to Kaśyapa,
and the lord gave the rest, known as the Nakṣatras, to King Soma.
2.48
In them the gods, birds, cows, serpents, sons of Diti, and Dānavas,
the gandharvas and apsarases, and other species were born.
2.49
From then on, O best of kings, creatures were produced through sexual union;
creation for the earlier ones is said to have been by intention, sight, and touch.
2.50
Janamejaya said:
The origin of the gods, Dānavas, gandharvas, serpents, and rākṣasas,
and of the great-souled Dakṣa, was recounted earlier.
2.51
Dakṣa was born from the thumb of Brahmā, as was told by you, O sinless one,
and likewise from his left thumb his wife was born.
How did he of great ascetic heat again attain sonship to the Pracetases?
2.52
You ought to explain this doubt of mine here, O brahmin:
how did he, being the daughter's son of Soma, become his father-in-law?
2.53
Vaiśaṃpāyana said:
Arising and passing away are constant among beings, O Bhārata;
the seers and those who possess knowledge are not bewildered in this matter.
2.54
In every yuga these [beings], all of them beginning with Dakṣa, come to be, O king,
and again they pass away; the wise person is not bewildered by that.
2.55
Even seniority and juniority among them did not exist previously, O ruler of people;
ascetic heat alone was weightier, and divine power was the cause.
2.56
He who knows this creation of Dakṣa with the mobile and immobile beings
becomes endowed with offspring, completes his lifespan, and is honoured in the world of heaven.
2.56x47
Surrounded by celestial women beginning with Rambhā, he attains divine pleasures.
Other recensions (1)
- Vulgate — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit