Harivamsha 22
English (machine translation) 22
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22.1
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / Nahuṣa's heirs, six in number, equal in splendor to Indra, / Yati, Yayāti, Saṃyāti, Āyāti, Yāti, and Uddhava, / of great splendor, were born to the daughter of the ancestors, Virajā. / These six were Nahuṣa's, like the senses of an embodied soul; / Suyāti was the sixth among them, and Yayāti became the king. / Yati was the eldest among them, and Yayāti after him.
22.2
At that time, Yati did not win the daughter of Kakutstha named Gā; / knowing the consequence of it, Yati did not desire the kingship given by his father, / entering which a man loses awareness of his self. / Resorting to liberation on that account, the silent sage became one with brahman.
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When their father was cast down from his position by the twice-born on account of his assault on Indrāṇī,
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and was turned into a python, Yayāti became king.
22.3
Conquering this earth from the five of them, Yayāti / won as his wife Devayānī, the daughter of Uśanas, / and the asura woman Śarmiṣṭhā, the daughter of Vṛṣaparvan.
22.4
Devayānī gave birth to Yadu and Turvasu, / and Śarmiṣṭhā, daughter of Vṛṣaparvan, to Druhyu, Anu, and Pūru.
22.5
Pleased, Śakra gave him an exceedingly radiant chariot, / unhindered, golden, divine, yoked with divine, supreme horses / that were white and swift as thought, in which he carried off his wife.
22.6
With that foremost of chariots, Yayāti, invincible in battle, / conquered the earth in six nights, and likewise the gods together with Vāsava.
22.7
That chariot belonged to all the Pauravas then, / until your namesake, the Paurava Janamejaya.
22.8
During the reign of Kuru's grandson, King [Janamejaya] son of Parīkṣit, / Indra, angered, took away the chariot when [the king] was tainted by the sin of murdering a brahmin. / That chariot perished by the curse of wise Garga.
22.9
For King Janamejaya killed Garga's young son / who had spoken harshly, and incurred [the sin of] murdering a brahmin.
22.10
Smelling of iron, that royal seer rushed here and there; / abandoned by the citizens and countrymen, he found no peace anywhere.
22.11
Tormented by sorrow, he found no peace of mind anywhere; / then the king sought refuge with Indrota Śaunaka.
22.12
And Indrota Śaunaka, best among the twice-born, performed a sacrifice / for the king with a horse sacrifice to purify him, O Janamejaya; / when he reached its concluding bath, that smell of iron vanished.
22.13
And that divine chariot, O king, was then given by pleased Śakra / to Vasu, king of Cedi; from him Bṛhadratha obtained it.
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From Bṛhadratha it passed in due succession to the king, Bṛhadratha's son [Jarāsaṃdha].
22.14
Then, having slain Jarāsaṃdha, Bhīma gave that excellent chariot / with affection to Vāsudeva, O delight of the Kurus.
22.15
Having conquered the earth with its seven continents and oceans, / Yayāti, son of Nahuṣa, then divided the kingdom fivefold among his sons.
22.16
The wise king, son of Nahuṣa, assigned Turvasu to the southeastern quarter, / and Druhyu and Anu to the west and the north.
22.17
And the son of Nahuṣa assigned the eldest, Yadu, to the northeastern quarter, / and anointed Pūru as king in the center.
22.18
By them this whole earth of seven continents and cities / is protected with righteousness according to their regions even today; / I shall speak of their offspring hereafter, O best of kings.
22.19
Laying down his bow and arrows along with those five bulls among men, / the king had conquered the entire earth with its seven continents; / having placed the burden on his kinsmen, the king was at ease.
22.20
Setting aside his weapons and surveying the earth, / the lord of the earth, the undefeated King Yayāti, was filled with joy.
22.21
Having thus divided the earth, Yayāti said to Yadu: / 'Take my old age, son, for the sake of another task!
22.22
Youthful in your form, I would wander this earth, / having placed my old age upon you.' To him Yadu replied:
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'I cannot bear to endure your old age coming upon me in the meantime.
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Without knowing sensual pleasure, a man does not attain detachment.
22.23
I have promised an unspecified gift of alms to a brahmin; / without fulfilling that, O king, I will not take your old age.
22.24
Old age has many faults caused by [troubles with] drinking and eating; / therefore, O king, I am not able to take your old age.
22.25
You have many sons dearer than me, O king; / O knower of dharma, choose indeed another son to take it.'
22.26
Addressed thus by Yadu, the king, filled with anger, / the best among speakers, Yayāti, spoke, rebuking his son:
22.27
'What other stage of life is yours, or what duty is prescribed for you / disregarding me, foolish one, since I am your teacher?'
22.28
Having spoken thus to Yadu, my dear, the enraged lord of men cursed him: / 'Fool, your offspring shall have no kingdom!'
22.29
To Turvasu, to Druhyu, and to Anu, O bull of the Bharatas, / the king spoke in the very same way, and he was rejected by them too.
22.30
Enraged, the undefeated Yayāti cursed them as well, / just as I told you before, O best of royal seers.
22.31
Having thus cursed all four sons who were elder brothers of Pūru, / the king spoke the very same words to Pūru as well, O Bhārata:
22.32
'Youthful in your form, I would wander this earth, / having placed my old age upon you, Pūru, if you agree.'
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Pūru said: / 'What man in the world, O lord of men, born of a father,
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is capable of repaying him by whose favor he attains the supreme?
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The base son would do his father's bidding without faith; the worst would not do it; [the best obeys willingly.]
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He [Yayāti] too, with his [Pūru's] youth, enjoyed desires with unimpaired senses.
22.33
That glorious Pūru took on the old age of his father; / and Yayāti, with the form of Pūru, wandered the earth.
22.34
Seeking the end of desires, O best of the Bharatas, / the lord disported with Viśvācī in the Caitraratha forest.
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When the lord of men was still not satiated with desires and pleasures,
22.35
when the king saw that desires were ever increasing, / he then took back his own old age from Pūru.
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Pleased, the lord granted him a boon: an extensive lineage.
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'As long as there are moon, sun, and planets, this earth shall be yours, such is my mind.
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The earth shall never be without a Paurava.'
22.36
Hear, O great king, the verses sung there by Yayāti, / by which one should withdraw desires from all sides like a tortoise its limbs:
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'Such a one is happy, steadfast, fortunate, and rejoices here and in the hereafter.
22.37
Never is desire quenched by the enjoyment of desires; / like a fire [fed] with clarified butter, it only increases all the more.
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When one harbors no ill will toward any being,
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then for the man of even vision, all directions are full of joy.
22.38
Whatever rice, barley, gold, beasts, and women are on earth, / all that is not enough for one [man]—thinking thus, one should attain calm.
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As a ruru-deer grows, the born horn grows along with it; [so desire grows with gain].
22.39
When one harbors no sinful thought toward all beings / in deed, mind, or speech, then one attains brahman.
22.40
When one fears none and when none fear him, / when one neither desires nor hates, then one attains brahman.
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That which is hard to cast off by the foolish, which does not age when a person ages,
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that disease which ends only with life—he who abandons that craving is happy.
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The hair ages as a person ages; the teeth age as a person ages;
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the hope for wealth and the hope for life do not age even as one ages.
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Whatever sensual pleasure there is in the world, and whatever great divine bliss,
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these are not worth a sixteenth part of the bliss of ending thirst.
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One who desires peace should swiftly cast off that craving, the source of sorrows.
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The eyes and ears grow old, but craving alone remains ever youthful.'
22.41
Having spoken thus, that royal seer entered the forest with his wife, / and for a very long time practiced immense ascetic heat.
22.42
Having practiced ascetic heat on Bhṛgutuṅga, at the end of his asceticism the highly renowned one / abandoned his body by fasting, and attained heaven with his wife.
22.43
In his lineage, O great king, were five foremost royal seers, / by whom the entire earth was pervaded, as by the rays of the sun.
22.44
Hear now the lineage of Yadu, O royal seer, honored by royal seers, / in which Nārāyaṇa was born—Hari, the uplifter of the Vṛṣṇi dynasty.
22.45
A man would become healthy, possessed of offspring, long-lived, and renowned / by constantly hearing this righteous account of the fortunate, great, splendid, and wise / Yayāti, O ruler of men.
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And he is freed from sins, and he shall never be without sons.
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit