Harivamsha 48
English (machine translation) 48
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48.1
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / When the conception had been arranged, Devakī, resembling a goddess, / received those seven embryos as they had been described.
48.2
Kaṃsa dashed against a rock the six embryos that had emerged; / then she brought the seventh embryo, which had conceived, to Rohiṇī.
48.3
At midnight, casting off the embryo that stood [within her], she who was in her courses, / suddenly overcome by sleep, fell down upon the ground.
48.4
Having seen as if in a dream that her embryo had emerged, / and not seeing the embryo, she was distraught for a moment.
48.5
Nidrā spoke to Rohiṇī, Vasudeva's [wife], who was anxious in the night darkness, / like Rohiṇī belonging to the Moon:
48.6
'By the dragging away of this embryo and its placement in your womb, / your son, O fair one, will indeed be named Saṃkarṣaṇa.'
48.7
Having obtained that son, glad yet with face slightly downcast, / Rohiṇī entered the dwelling, like the radiant asterism Rohiṇī.
48.8
By the path of that embryo Devakī conceived the embryo / for the sake of which those seven embryos were cast down by Kaṃsa.
48.9
His guards protected that embryo with great effort, / all watchful, restrained, counting the months, bearing weapons; / Hari resided there in the womb by his own will.
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On the day that Devakī received the lord of the gods as an embryo,
48.10
on that very day Yaśodā also conceived an embryo— / Nidrā born of Viṣṇu's body, who carries out Viṣṇu's command.
48.11
When the full term of gestation had not elapsed, in the eighth month, / those two women, Devakī and Yaśodā, gave birth at the same time.
48.12
On the very night that the lord Kṛṣṇa was born in the Vṛṣṇi lineage, / on that very night Yaśodā also gave birth to a daughter— / she who was the wife of the cowherd Nanda, esteemed by Kaṃsa's cowherds.
48.13
For at the same time Yaśodā and Devakī were pregnant: / on the eighth lunar day in the month of Śrāvaṇa, on the great lunar day in the dark fortnight, / under the asterism Rohiṇī, at midnight, at the rising of the moon, / Devakī gave birth to Viṣṇu, and Yaśodā to that girl, / when the Abhijit hour had arrived, midnight being adorned.
48.14
The oceans trembled, the mountains shook, / and the extinguished fires blazed up as Janārdana was being born.
48.15
Auspicious breezes blew, the dust was settled, / and the heavenly lights shone forth as Janārdana was being born.
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The lunar mansion was named Abhijit, the night Jayantī,
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and the hour Vijaya, wherein Janārdana was born.
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The unmanifest, eternal, subtle lord Hari Nārāyaṇa,
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the Blessed Lord is born there, bewitching the world with his eyes.
48.16
Unbeaten kettledrums of the gods sounded in heaven, / and the lord of the triple heaven showered a rain of flowers from the sky.
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All the silent seers of sharpened vows, remaining invisible,
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praised at night the lord of the gods, Janārdana, as he was being born:
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'This very master of the universe, in the house of Vasudeva,
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has assumed a child's body and sits silently; behold him!
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Behold him with full trust, the visible Lord, master of the worlds,
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who has taken a human body and rests in Devakī's arms!
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He will manifest himself to slay the evil-minded Kaṃsa!
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Homage to him, the supporter of the universe, Viṣṇu in the form of Kṛṣṇa!
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To him of inconceivable majesty, the creator of all, homage, homage!'
48.17
Praising Madhusūdana with auspicious words, / with meaningful words praising Janārdana as he was being born, / the great seers together with the Gandharvas and Apsarases attended him.
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As Hṛṣīkeśa was being born, the universe rejoiced;
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and Indra along with the thirty gods praised Madhusūdana.
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And Vasudeva, seeing that son Adhokṣaja born in the night,
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marked with the śrīvatsa and endowed with divine signs,
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and Devakī then, sorrowful, of pure smiles, said to him:
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'Withdraw this divine form into yourself in every respect, O Hari!
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Let not this Kaṃsa know your incarnation, O slayer of Diti's offspring!'
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Vasudeva said to him: 'Withdraw your form, O Lord!
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I am afraid of Kaṃsa, O God; therefore I speak thus.'
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My sons have been killed by him, your elder brothers, O lotus-eyed one!"
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Hearing the words of Vasudeva, Acyuta withdrew his form.
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Having taken leave of him as a father, [he said,] "Take me to the house of cowherd Nanda."
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Abiding by the counsel of Ugrasena, he then gave him to Yaśodā.
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At that very time of turmoil, the guards fell asleep.
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Not only were the armed guards deluded,
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the entire city of Mathurā fell asleep by the power of Hari's māyā,
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except for Vasudeva, O king, and Devakī.
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Then Vasudeva, going to that birth-chamber of Devakī,
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saw Adhokṣaja, the lord of the god of gods, born at night,
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with dark curly hair and a face like a blossoming lotus,
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resembling a dark cloud, beautiful, a mass of radiance beyond the human,
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lying on a lotus leaf as formerly upon a banyan leaf,
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Kṛṣṇa, with his head toward the east and his feet laid toward the west.
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No afterbirth was seen there, nor any pain of childbirth.
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Having seen him, lovely-faced Devakī, sitting and gazing at her son,
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became filled with extreme wonder, together with Vasudeva.
48.18
Quickly taking up the boy / lying on Devakī's lap at night, the Yādava, / loving his son, entered the house of Yaśodā in fear.
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When all their functions had been robbed of awareness by that [sleep],
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and the gatekeepers and citizens were asleep,
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the gates, all closed and impassable
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with great panels, iron bolts, and chains,
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when Vasudeva carrying Kṛṣṇa arrived,
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fell open of themselves, like darkness before the sun.
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The rain-cloud poured down with soft rumbles;
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Śeṣa followed behind, keeping off the water with his hoods.
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While the cloud rained heavily again and again, the younger sister of Yama,
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foaming with the swift surge of deep waters,
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a river agitated by hundreds of terrifying whirlpools,
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made way, like the ocean before the lord of Śrī.
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Śauri, having arrived at Nanda's cowpen,
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and finding the cowherds there fast asleep in slumber,
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laid his son upon the bed of Yaśodā,
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and taking up her daughter, went back to his own home.
48.19
Placing the boy there without Yaśodā's knowledge, / and taking that girl, he laid her upon Devakī's bed.
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All the guards were still asleep then through the power of Viṣṇu's māyā.
48.20
When the exchange of the two infants had been made, / Vasudeva, distressed with fear yet having accomplished his goal, went out of the dwelling.
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The gates of the inner and outer city were all closed as before.
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Then, hearing the sound of the infant, the house guards arose.
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Going swiftly, they
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reported that birth from Devakī's womb to the Bhoja king, who was waiting in anxiety.
48.21
Then Ānakadundubhi reported to Kaṃsa, the son of Ugrasena, / that fair-complexioned girl.
48.21x609
Afraid, he reported: "A daughter has been born to us!"
48.22
Hearing that, powerful Kaṃsa, accompanied by his guards, / came swiftly and in haste to the door of Vasudeva's house.
48.23
Hasty at the door, he said, "What was born? / Let it be given at once!"—thus menacing them with words.
48.24
Then all the women cried out in distress, with Devakī at their head. / Distressed, Devakī spoke with a voice choked by tears; / Devakī said to Kaṃsa: "O son, a girl is born!
48.25
My seven glorious male children have been slain by you, O lord! / This one is a daughter, as good as dead already; look upon her if you wish!"
48.26
Seeing that girl, Kaṃsa rejoiced, filled with joy, / saying, "Since a girl is born, she is as good as dead!"—foolish in mind.
48.27
Distressed in her birth-bed, her hair wet with amniotic fluid, / like the earth itself, she was placed before Kaṃsa on the ground.
48.28
Seizing her by the foot, that man swung her round and shook her, / and raising her up, violently dashed her against a rock; / thrown down upon the surface of the rock, unbroken, she sprang up into the sky.
48.29
Abandoning her infant form, with hair suddenly unloosed, / she entered the sky, adorned with celestial garlands and unguents, / all her limbs beautified by necklaces, ornamented with a gleaming diadem, / and she became ever an eternal maiden, celestial, praised by the gods,
48.30
wearing blue and yellow garments, with breasts like an elephant's frontal globes, / with hips broad as a chariot, moon-faced, and four-armed,
48.31
resplendent like clear lightning, with eyes like the morning sun, / sounding like a thundercloud, like the dawn twilight accompanied by clouds.
48.32
In the night seized by darkness, crowded with hosts of spirits, / she shone forth, dancing and laughing, blazing in an inverted manner.
48.33
Standing in the sky, fierce, she drank an incomparable drink, / laughed a great laugh, and spoke angrily to Kaṃsa:
48.34
"Kaṃsa, Kaṃsa! Because I was struck by you for your own destruction, / and suddenly lifted up and cast down upon a rock,
48.35
therefore at the time of your death, as you are dragged by your enemy, / I will tear open your body with my hands and drink your warm blood!"
48.36
Having spoken these terrible words, the goddess, along with her attendants, / traversed the sky, the abode of the gods, along whatever path she pleased.
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That maiden grew up, worshipped in the house of the Vṛṣṇis,
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reared like a son, the goddess, by the command of the god.
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And know that this goddess was born from a portion of Prajāpati,
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Ekānaṃśā, the girl of yoga, for the protection of Keśava.
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All the pleased Yādavas worship her,
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possessing a divine form like a god, by whom Kṛṣṇa was protected,
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whom mortals on earth call Ekānaṃśā born [among them].
48.37
When she was gone, Kaṃsa considered her to be his death, / and, ashamed, spoke to Devakī in private:
48.38
“Father's sister, an effort was made: your embryos were slain by me, / yet my death has arisen from another quarter, in quite another way, O queen!
48.39
The effort was made out of despair; I struck at my own kin. / Yet I have not overcome destiny by human effort.
48.40
Cast off this anxiety caused by the embryos, which produces grief! / For I was merely an instrument regarding them, when the turn of Time had arrived.
48.41
Time alone is the enemy of men, and Time brings about change; / Time leads all away indeed, and one such as I is merely the instrument.
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Calamities will surely arrive according to each one’s share, O queen!
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This, however, is the sorrowful thing: that a creature thinks, ‘I am the doer.’
48.42
Do not indulge in anxiety born of your sons; renounce wailing born of grief! / Such is the nature of origin for men; there is no staying of Time.
48.43
I fall at your feet with my head, like a son, Devakī! / Let anger directed at me be relinquished; I acknowledge the wrong I myself have done.”
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To Kaṃsa, who had spoken thus, Devakī said these words,
48.44
her face filled with tears, wretched, looking at her husband, / speaking like a mother to Kaṃsa: “Rise, rise, my child!”
48.45
Devakī said: / “The embryos that were slain before my eyes by you, who took the form of Time— / you were not the cause, my son; Destiny indeed is the cause here.
48.46
This destruction of my embryos done by you must be forgiven, / as you fall at my feet with your head and abhor your own deed.
48.47
Even in the womb death is fixed; it does not turn back even in childhood; / the youth also falls under the sway of death, and the old man is already dead.
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All this is rooted in Time; you were indeed merely the instrument.
48.48
Of the unborn there is no sight; as he does not exist, so he is; / even the born returns to being unborn where he is taken by the Ordainer.
48.49
Therefore go, my son! Let there be no cause for wrath directed at me! / When one is already carried away by death, the remaining cause comes into play.
48.50
By the ordinance previously ordained, through the creation of beings in truth, / it occurs through birth by means of the work of father and mother.”
48.51
Hearing Devakī’s words, Kaṃsa entered his dwelling / agitated, with a burning mind; / thwarted in his task, dejected, he went away deeply troubled,
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pondering his own death and recalling the words of the maiden.
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit