Harivamsha 35
English (machine translation) 35
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35.1
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / Between those two armies a tumultuous conflict then arose, / between the gods and the asuras, who were eager to conquer one another.
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He who comprises all the gods, who comprises all dharma,
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by the splendor of that Viṣṇu, lord of the gods, the gods were sustained.
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With their forces and attendants, the Thirty, wild with combat-frenzy,
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marched forward with swift speed to strike the Dānava army.
35.2
The Dānavas, with various weapons raised, engaged the deities in battle, / fighting indeed like mountains against mountains.
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That battle joined between the gods and asuras shone exceedingly marvelous, / combining dharma and adharma, pride and discipline.
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Then with flaming chariots, driven mounts, / and warriors sword in hand soaring on all sides into the sky,
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with flying bludgeons, discharging arrows, / twanging bows, and falling mallets,
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that battle became dreadful, crowded with gods and Dānavas, / causing terror to the world, resembling the dissolution of a yuga.
35.7
With iron clubs hurled from their own hands and swiftly thrown mountains, / the Dānavas struck the gods led by Indra in the battle.
35.8
Being slaughtered by the powerful Dānavas, who were looking victorious, / the crestfallen gods fell into distress in the great fight.
35.9
Crushed by networks of missiles, their heads shattered by iron clubs, / their chests smashed by the sons of Diti, they vomited copious blood from their wounds.
35.10
Bound by snares and rendered powerless by arrows, / enveloped in Dānava sorcery, they were unable to move.
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The army of the gods seemed paralyzed, resembling lifeless figures, / their weapons rendered completely useless by the asuras.
35.12
Pulling apart the magical snares and cutting through those arrows with his thunderbolt, / the many-eyed Śakra entered the dreadful army of the Daityas.
35.13
Having slain the Daityas in the front ranks, he then enveloped that vast army / of Dānavas in darkness with a network of missiles of darkness.
35.14
They could not recognize each other, nor the gods, nor the vehicles, / overwhelmed by terrible darkness through the splendor of Puruhūta.
35.15
Freed from the magical snares and making effort, the best of the gods / struck down the bodies of the Daitya hosts that had been enveloped in darkness.
35.16
Crushed, rendered unconscious, dark-hued from the gloom, / those hosts of Dānavas fell like mountains whose wings were severed.
35.17
With the Daitya lords densely packed like an ocean of darkness, / that abode of the gods [held by] the Dānavas appeared as if turned into shadow.
35.18
Then Maya created a great magical illusion, dispelling that gloom, / producing a glare like the end of a yuga, brought forth by the fire of Aurva.
35.19
That magical illusion devised by Maya burned away all the darkness, / and the Daityas, blazing like suns, instantly rose up in battle.
35.20
Encountering the illusion of Aurva, the sky-dwellers, being scorched, / fled to the realm of the moon, a lake of cool-rayed waters.
35.21
Scorched by the splendor of Aurva, their own splendor lost, / the afflicted gods seeking refuge reported [it] to the wielder of the thunderbolt.
35.22
When the army was torched by the illusion and being burned by the Dānavas, / Varuṇa, prompted by the king of the gods, spoke these words:
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"Formerly, Śakra, the son of a brahmin seer practiced frightful ascetic heat; / the radiant Aurva was formerly equal to Brahmā in virtues.
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As he was blazing like the sun through ascetic heat, the hosts of sages, / and the gods along with divine seers approached that imperishable one.
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And Hiraṇyakaśipu, the Dānava, lord of the Dānavas, / made a request in former times of that seer of supreme splendor.
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The brahmin seers spoke to him words conformable to dharma: / 'O holy one, among the lineages of seers, this family has had its root severed.
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You are alone and childless, and no offspring of the clan exists. / Devoting yourself to the vow of a youth, you pursue only hardship.
35.28
Many clans of seers of cultivated self, O brahmin, / remain as single bodies, solitary without offspring.
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While they endure, when they are extinguished there will be no motive [to perpetuate them]; / but you are pre-eminent in ascetic heat, equal in radiance to Prajāpati.
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Therefore proceed toward lineage: expand yourself by yourself; / implanting your own powerful splendor, create indeed a second body!'
35.31
Addressed thus by the sages, the sage was wounded in his heart; / he rebuked those hosts of seers and spoke these words:
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'Since this eternal dharma was ordained of old for sages, / for those observing the practice of seers and eating wild roots and fruits,
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for a brahmin born from the womb of brahman and walking in the Self, / chaste studentship, well-practiced, could move even Brahmā.'
35.34
There are three modes of livelihood for twice-born men who dwell in the householder stage of life; / but our livelihood is the forest, for we dwell in the forest hermitage.
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Those who live on water, those who live on air, those who use their teeth as a mortar, / those who crush food with stones, those who practice ten ascetic fires, and those who practice five or seven ascetic fires—
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abiding in ascetic heat with vows difficult to perform, / placing chaste studentship foremost, they seek the highest goal.
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A brahmin's brahminhood is established through chaste studentship; / thus do people who know chaste studentship proclaim in the highest world.
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Steadfastness rests in chaste studentship; ascetic heat rests in chaste studentship; / the brahmins who abide in chaste studentship abide in heaven.
35.39
Without yoga there is no success; without success there is no fame; / there is no ascetic heat in the world higher than chaste studentship, which is the root of fame.
35.40
One who, having subdued the assembly of senses and the collection of five elements, / concentrates on chaste studentship—what ascetic heat is higher than this?
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Wearing matted hair without yoga, performing vows without resolve, / and [false] chaste studentship and religious practice: these three are known as hypocrisy.
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Where are wives? Where is union? And where is the alteration of feeling, / when this mind-born offspring was created by Brahmā through the mind?
35.43
If you of boundless self possess the power of ascetic heat— / by altering facial expression and eyes, by touching, and by speaking, / and remembering beautiful women, the mind was agitated formerly; / who, having obtained birth in her, would deposit seed in her? / 'A sinful soul, disordered and foolish, is like you,' so runs the scripture; / remembering, saddened from the state of brahman, seeing, he discharges semen; / creating, the self makes it flow; who would place seed in her? / If there is certainty when chaste studentship is accomplished, / why do living beings take delight / in the disgusting, impure body of women? / Being firmly resolved on the other chaste studentship, / we shall do what is desired in the heart: / create mind-born sons through the rite of Prajāpati!
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A womb fashioned by the mind must be entered by an ascetic; / union with a wife or seed released from a vow is not for ascetics.
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This matter devoid of dharma, spoken here by you who are fearless— / good men though you are, spoken exceedingly like non-virtuous ones—is what I think.
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Having made this body of the radiant inner self consist of mind, / without union with a wife I shall emit a son sprung from my own body.
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In this way my self will produce a second self / by this forest rite, as if wishing to burn up the creatures.
35.48
Filled with ascetic heat, having placed his thigh in the fire, / Ūrva churned with a single blade of darbha grass the fire-stick for the origin of his son.
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Suddenly breaking through his thigh, garlanded with flames, requiring no fuel, / a son arose as fire, longing to burn the world.
35.50
Having burst forth from the thigh of Ūrva, the fire named Aurva, the bringer of the end, / extremely wrathful, was born as if wishing to burn the three worlds.
35.51
As soon as he was born, he spoke to his father in a fiery voice: / 'Hunger oppresses me, father! I will burn the world; release me!'
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Yawning in the ten directions with flames ascending to heaven, / burning all creatures, that fire, the bringer of the end, grew.
35.53
At that moment, Brahmā, the lord of all worlds, the master, / came to honor the sage Ūrva where the sage had emitted his excellent son. / He saw the thigh of Ūrva blazing with the son as fire, / and the worlds scorched along with the seers by the fire of Aurva's wrath. / Then Brahmā said to him: / 'Son, let this splendor be restrained; have mercy on the worlds!'
35.54
I will provide excellent assistance to this child of yours, O brahmin; / I will give him a dwelling and food like nectar. / Listen to this true word of mine, best of speakers!
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And I will give him food by which he will be satisfied.
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Ūrva said: / 'I am blessed, I am favored, that the Lord today gives / this thought regarding my child here, truly for his supreme favor.
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When morning comes, at the desired meeting, / O Lord, satisfied by which offerings will my son obtain happiness?
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Where would his dwelling be, and of what nature the food / which you will prescribe for him of mighty vigor, equal to his strength?'
35.58
Brahmā said: / 'His dwelling will indeed be in the mouth of the mare in the ocean. / Water is my womb, O brahmin, and that mouth of mine drinks the water.
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There I sit intently, drinking the watery offerings; / that offering and that abode I assign to your son.
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Then, at the end of the yuga, he and I together, O faithful one, / will wander about here bringing about the death of creatures.
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This fire of the time of the end has been made by me to consume water, / burning all creatures together with the gods, asuras, and rakṣasas.'
35.62
Saying, 'So be it,' that fire, drawing in its circle of flames / and depositing its glow in his father, entered the mouth of the ocean.
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Then Brahmā departed, and all those great seers, / knowing the power of Aurva's fire, went to their respective courses.
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Seeing that wonder, Hiraṇyakaśipu revered it, / and bowing with all his limbs to Aurva, he spoke these words:
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'O Lord, this wonder has occurred with the world as witness; / the Grandfather was pleased by your ascetic heat, best of sages!
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I, however, should be regarded as the servant of your son and of you yourself, O you of great vows, / if I am praiseworthy through my deeds.
35.67
Look upon me who have approached, intent on worshiping you alone; / if I should sink down, best of sages, that would be your own defeat.
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I am your disciple, best in ascetic heat; dispel my fear of the gods!'
35.68
Ūrva said: / 'I am blessed, I am favored, to whom you consider me a teacher; / today you have no fear of them, O you of good vows, because of this ascetic heat.
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And accept this illusion created by my son, / fuel-less, fiery, untouchable even by fires.
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Subject to your own lineage for the restraint of enemies, / it will protect your own side and burn up your foes.'
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Saying, 'So be it,' accepting it and bowing to the best of sages, / the lord of the dānavas went to heaven, delighted and having achieved his goal.
35.72
This is that unbearable illusion, unassailable even by the gods, / created formerly by Aurva, the fire who was Ūrva's son.
35.73
"Now that this Daitya has risen [in rebellion], she is powerless, without a doubt; / for a curse was laid upon her long ago by the very fiery energy that created her."
35.74
"If she is to be repelled, and the Lord is to be made happy, / let Śakra give me as my ally the night-maker, whose origin is in the waters. / Joined with him, and accompanied by the aquatic monsters, / I shall destroy this illusive magic by your favor, without a doubt."
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit