Harivamsha 20

English (machine translation) 20

Language: English

20.1

Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / The father of Soma, O king, was the blessed seer Atri. / Now then, O king, listen to the purifying lineage of Soma, / in which the kings headed by Aila, whose fame is sacred, are celebrated; / where Hari himself was born as Kṛṣṇa, the purifier of the three worlds. / The creator, who was born from the navel-lake lotus / of the thousand-headed Puruṣa, had a son, Atri, equal to his father in qualities. / Born from the mind of Brahmā earlier, when he wished to create creatures, / there Atri stood amidst all the worlds, endowed with his own discipline; / by deed, thought, and speech he practiced only auspicious things.

20.2

Harmless toward all beings, virtuous, firm in his vows, / like wood, a wall, or a stone, with arms raised up, of great splendor,

20.3

by whom was performed in ancient times a great ascetic heat called Unexcelled, / for three thousand celestial years, as we have heard.

20.4

Then, as that chaste seer stood motionless, / the body of that great-minded one attained the nature of Soma, O descendant of Bharata.

20.5

The nature of Soma surged upward in that purified soul; / from his eyes water flowed in ten directions, illumining the quarters.

20.6

Seeing that embryo in ten parts, the ten goddesses then received it; / having united, they held it, but they were not able [to keep it].

20.7

Then that radiant embryo suddenly fell from those quarters, / the cool-rayed one, illuminer of the worlds, bringer of life to all.

20.8

When those directions were not able to hold his embryo, / it fell swiftly upon the earth together with them.

20.9

Seeing Soma fallen, Brahmā, the Grandfather of the worlds, / placed him on a chariot, desiring the welfare of the worlds.

20.10

For that [chariot] was made of the Vedas, dear child, righteous, of true promise, / yoked to a thousand white steeds, as we have heard.

20.11

When that supreme soul, the son of Atri, had fallen, / the gods, the seven mind-born sons of Brahmā of whom we hear, praised him.

20.12

Likewise the descendants of Aṅgiras along with the sons of Bhṛgu praised him there, / with the verses of the Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda, and the Atharvāṅgirasa hymns.

20.13

As he was being praised, the radiant splendor of Soma, / swelling forth, gave life to the three worlds on all sides.

20.14

With that foremost chariot, the highly renowned one / circumambulated the earth up to the edge of the oceans three times seven times.

20.15

The splendor shed from him which descended upon the earth / became those medicinal plants that blaze forth with radiance.

20.16

By them this world and the four kinds of creatures are sustained, / for the lord Soma is the nourisher of the world, O lord of the earth.

20.17

Having obtained his splendor through praises and his own deeds, / the fortunate lord performed ascetic heat for ten times ten padmas [of years].

20.18

The golden-colored goddesses who sustain the world by their essence— / that god became their treasury, renowned by his own deed.

20.19

Then Brahmā, best of knowers of brahman, granted him dominion / over seeds, medicinal plants, brahmins, and the waters, O Janamejaya.

20.20

Consecrated as king of kings with royal dominion, of great splendor, / the best of luminous beings gave life to the three worlds with his own radiance.

20.21

Dakṣa, the son of Pracetas, gave to Indu twenty-seven / daughters of Dakṣa, steadfast in great vows, who are known as the constellations.

20.22

Having obtained that great sovereignty, Soma, the best of the soma-possessors, / performed the Rājasūya sacrifice, with dakṣiṇā of hundreds of thousands.

20.23

The venerable Atri was his hotṛ priest, the venerable Bhṛgu was his adhvaryu, / Hiraṇyagarbha was the udgātṛ, and Brahmā acted as the brahman priest.

20.24

The venerable Hari Nārāyaṇa, the Lord, was the supervisor of the assembly there, / surrounded by the primeval seer-brahmins headed by Sanatkumāra.

20.25

Soma gave the three worlds as dakṣiṇā, so we have heard, / to those foremost seer-brahmins and members of the assembly, O descendant of Bharata.

20.26

Sinīvālī, Kuhū, Dyuti, Puṣṭi, Prabhā, Vasu, / Kīrti, Dhṛti, and Lakṣmī—these nine goddesses attended upon him.

20.27

Having attained the purificatory bath, undisturbed, worshipped by all the god-seers, / then Soma, the creator and Prajāpati, shone forth exceedingly, the king of kings, / illuminating the directions tenfold.

20.28

Having attained that sovereignty honored by the sages, which is difficult to attain, / his mind went astray, my dear, carried away from proper conduct by improper conduct.

20.29

He indeed carried off by force the renowned wife of Bṛhaspati, named Tārā, / holding all the sons of Aṅgiras in contempt.

20.30

Though being pleaded with by the gods and likewise along with the god-seers, / he did not at all give Tārā back to that descendant of Aṅgiras then.

20.30x316

Then Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the gods, became enraged at him.

20.31

Uśanas then attacked the rear of that descendant of Aṅgiras; / for he of great fiery energy had formerly been the pupil of Bṛhaspati's father.

20.32

Out of that affection for Bṛhaspati, the lord, the divine Rudra, / took up the bow Ājagava and attacked from the rear.

20.33

By that great-souled one, the supreme weapon named Brahmaśiras / was released aimed at the gods, by which their glory was destroyed.

20.34

There took place that great, celebrated war over Tārakā / between the gods and the dānavas, which brought destruction to the worlds.

20.35

The gods who remained there and the Tuṣitas, O descendant of Bharata, / went for refuge to Brahmā, the primal god, the Grandfather.

20.36

Then, having restrained Uśanas and indeed that Rudra, Śaṃkara, / the Grandfather himself gave Tārā back to the descendant of Aṅgiras.

20.37

Seeing that she was pregnant, the brahmin Bṛhaspati said: / “In no way must a child conceived by another be carried in my wife!”

20.37x317-1

“Tell me the truth, O fair-browed one: whose child is in your womb?”

20.37x317-2

“Cast out, cast out immediately, O foolish woman, what has been placed in my field by others!”

20.37x317-3

“I would not burn you, a woman, to ashes, when offspring are concerned.”

20.37x317-4

Hearing Bṛhaspati’s words, she became distraught with anger.

20.38

Reaching a clump of reeds, she released the boy, the supreme slayer of enemies, / outside the womb, blazing like fire.

20.39

As soon as he was born, the lord eclipsed the radiance of the gods; / then, filled with doubt, the gods said to Tārā:

20.40

“Speak the truth: whose son is he, Soma’s or Bṛhaspati’s?” / When being questioned by the gods, she said neither good nor bad. / The boy, enraged at her false shame, said to his mother: / “Why do you not speak, O wicked woman? Tell my reproach at once!” / Then the boy, the supreme slayer of enemies, began to curse her.

Linked texts (1)

Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit