Harivamsha 47

English (machine translation) 47

Language: English

47.1

Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / Full of agitation, he ordered his ministers who sought his welfare: / "Be all on your guard for the destruction of Devakī's embryos!

47.2

All those embryos must be killed from the very first; / for an impending misfortune about which there is doubt should be destroyed at the very root.

47.3

Let Devakī, hidden in the house and protected by disguised guards, / move about freely and trustingly, watched closely by my forces making effort.

47.4

Let my women count the months starting from the month of her menses; / and when the pregnancy matures, we shall know what remains to be done.

47.5

And Vasudeva must be guarded where women dwell, / day and night by attentive men devoted to my welfare, / and by women and eunuchs, and the reason must not be spoken.

47.6

This is human effort, accomplished by humans alone. / Hear how fate is thwarted by men like me!"

47.7

With well-recited arrays of mantras, properly prepared medicines, / and well-directed effort, even fate is made to conform.

47.8

Making such efforts to destroy Devakī’s embryos, / Kaṃsa took counsel out of fear, having heard the truth from Nārada.

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Then Nārada, the son of Brahmā and foremost of sages,

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related everything to Viṣṇu just as Kaṃsa had devised it.

47.9

Having thus heard of Kaṃsa's scheme called Ariṣṭa, / and having heard of the actions of King Kaṃsa, the Lord of the world, / the heroic Viṣṇu, vanished from sight and reflected:

47.10

"The son of the Bhoja king will kill these seven embryos of Devakī; / and in the eighth embryo, I myself must enter.

47.11

While he was thus reflecting, his mind went to Pātāla, / where the Dānavas named the Ṣaḍgarbhas lie sleeping as embryos.

47.12

Possessing valiant forms and radiant, like drinkers of amṛta, / matching the immortals in battle, they were indeed the sons of Kālanemi.

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Having formerly abandoned their grandfather Hiraṇyakaśipu,

47.13

the Daityas formerly worshiped the Grandfather of the worlds, / performing severe ascetic heat, wearing matted locks,

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for ten thousand years, subsisting on water and wind.

Brahmā was pleased with them and granted a boon to the Ṣaḍgarbhas: / 'O tigers among Dānavas, I am well pleased by your ascetic heat. / Speak, whatever desire each of you has; what boon should be granted to you?'

47.15

All having a common purpose, the Daityas said to Brahmā: / 'If the Blessed One is pleased with us, let him hear our supreme boon.

47.16

May we be unslayable, O Blessed One, by the gods along with the great serpents, / and by the disciplined supreme seers whose weapons are curses,

47.17

by the lords of Yakṣas and Gandharvas, by Siddhas, Cāraṇas, and mortal men; / let there be no death for us, O Blessed One, if you grant us a boon!'

47.18

Then Brahmā said to them with an inner self well pleased: / 'All this that you have spoken will come to pass.'

47.19

Having granted the boon to the Ṣaḍgarbhas, the Self-born went to heaven. / Then Hiraṇyakaśipu spoke these words in anger:

47.20

'Since you abandoned me and chose a boon from the lotus-born [Brahmā], / I have cast off my affection for you; I abandon you as my enemies.

47.21

That name "Ṣaḍgarbhas" which was bestowed upon you by your father— / that very father will kill all of you when you have entered the womb.

47.22

The six embryos of Devakī shall indeed be the Ṣaḍgarbha great asuras; / then Kaṃsa shall slay you as you lie within the womb.'

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Having thus cursed the Daityas, the lord of the Daityas, overcome with rage,

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of immeasurable prowess, placed them in Pātāla, resting in the womb of the waters.

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Hari, knowing that curse and the resolve of Kaṃsa,

47.23

Viṣṇu then went to Pātāla where those heroes, / the Ṣaḍgarbhas, were kept restrained, lying in a chamber within the waters.

47.24

He saw the Ṣaḍgarbhas asleep in the water, positioned as embryos, / all concealed, as it were, by Sleep in the form of Time.

47.25

In the form of a dream, Viṣṇu entered their bodies, / and drawing forth their life-forces, he gave them to Sleep.

47.26

Then Viṣṇu of true prowess said to Sleep: / 'Go, O Sleep, dispatched by me, to the vicinity of Devakī’s palace.

47.27

Taking these life-forces of the embodied beings called the Ṣaḍgarbhas, / the Ṣaḍgarbha best of Dānavas, / and you, the ruler of all life-forces, / unite them with the six embryos of Devakī in proper order.

47.28

When these embryos are born and carried to the abode of Yama, / Kaṃsa's effort having failed and Devakī's labor having borne fruit,

47.29

I will grant you a favor equal to my own favor on earth, / by which, O goddess, you will become the Goddess of the entire world.

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Likewise, my weapons will be in your hands:

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the bow Śārṅga, conch, mace, discus, pestle, and spear.

47.30

The seventh embryo of Devakī, a gentle portion of me who is my elder brother, / must be transferred by you into Rohiṇī in the seventh month.

47.31

Because of the extraction of the embryo, that youth will be Saṃkarṣaṇa, / my elder brother, whose appearance is like the cool-rayed moon.

47.32

[Saying:] "This seventh embryo of Devakī fell out of fear," / Kaṃsa will make his effort when I have entered as the eighth embryo.

47.33

The beloved wife of the cowherd Nanda, the cowherd chief under Kaṃsa, / named Yaśodā, bless you, who sustains the line of cowherds—

47.34

you shall become the ninth embryo in our family through her, / born on the ninth lunar day of the dark fortnight.

47.35

Under the asterism Abhijit, when the prime of the night has passed, / at midnight I shall accomplish my birth from the womb at ease.

47.36

Both born simultaneously in the eighth month, / we will effect an exchange of embryos when Kaṃsa’s command arrives.

47.37

I will go to Yaśodā; you, O goddess, go to Devakī. / By the exchange of our two embryos, let Kaṃsa be confounded.

47.38

Then, seizing you by the feet, he will dash you against a stone; / then, slipping from his hands by my power, you will become auspicious; / hurled into the sky, you will attain an eternal station.

47.39

Dark-complexioned, resembling my splendor, with a face like Saṃkarṣaṇa's, / possessing wide arms resembling my arms on earth,

47.40

holding aloft a three-pointed spear and a sword with a golden hilt, / a vessel full of wine, and a spotless lotus,

47.41

clothed in dark silk with a yellow upper garment, / shining with a necklace on your chest radiant as the moon's rays,

47.42

adorned with ears bearing divine earrings, / resplendent with a face that rivals the moon,

47.43

beautified with a three-crested diadem and braided hair, / with arms resembling iron bars roaring with the coils of serpents,

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adorning the ten directions with fearsome arms resembling serpents,

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beautifying [them] with eight fierce arms bearing the bow Śārṅga, discus, and sword,

47.44

with a raised banner of peacock feathers beside you, / with [garlands] born of the body of peacocks, and a gleaming armlet,

47.45

surrounded by terrifying hordes of spirits, obedient to my command, / adopting the vow of maidenhood, you will go to heaven.

47.46

There Śakra of a hundred eyes, by the ritual appointed by me, / will invest you along with the gods with a divine consecration.'

47.47

There indeed Indra will accept you as his sister; / and through the lineage of Kuśika you will become Kauśikī.

47.48

He will grant you an eternal dwelling on the Vindhya, best of mountains; / and thence with thousands of shrines you will adorn the earth.

47.49

Then the two Dānavas Śumbha and Niśumbha, rovers of the mountains— / keeping me in your mind, you will destroy them along with their followers.

47.50

Roaming the three worlds, receiving true prayers on earth, / you, O blessed one, will grant boons and assume forms at will.

47.51

Attended by spirits, ever fond of meat offerings, / on the ninth lunar day you will receive worship with animal sacrifice.

47.52

And whatever mortals, knowing my glory, bow down to you, / nothing will be hard for them to obtain, whether sons or wealth.

47.53

For men who are stranded in wildernesses or sunken in the great ocean, / or beset by robbers, you are the supreme refuge.

47.54

You are Siddhi, Śrī, Dhṛti, Kīrti, Hrī, Vidyā, Saṃnati, Mati, / Dawn twilight, Lakṣmī, Form, Medhā, Kānti, Śraddhā, Kriyā, Gati; / dawn twilight, night, radiance, sleep, and likewise Kālarātri.

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Those who praise you with devotion by this hymn, O auspicious one—

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I am not lost to them, and they are not lost to me.

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Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / I shall declare the praise of Āryā as it was spoken by the seers of old.

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I bow to the goddess Nārāyaṇī, mistress of the three worlds.

47.55

Dreadful imprisonment, execution, loss of sons, loss of wealth, / and fear of disease and death among men—when worshipped, you will dispel these.

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You will be a granter of boons, assuming forms at will, O blessed one.

47.56

And having bewildered Kaṃsa, you alone will enjoy the world; / I too shall establish my livelihood among the cows like a cowherd, / and for my own growth I shall slay Kaṃsa.

47.57

Having thus instructed her, the Lord disappeared, / and she too, having bowed to him and said 'So be it', went forth.

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Whoever recites this hymn or listens to it constantly,

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that man attains the fulfillment of all goals; of this there is no doubt.

Linked texts (1)

Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit