Harivamsha 58
English (machine translation) 58
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58.1
Vaiśaṃpāyana said:
Then both those sons of Vasudeva, filled with joy,
left that palm grove and returned again to Bhāṇḍīra,
58.2
pasturing the thriving herds of cattle, their faces auspicious,
and gazing upon the forests overgrown with abundant crops,
58.3
shouting with joy, singing loudly, picking [blossoms from] the trees,
and calling out by name to the cows with their calves, those two tormentors of foes,
58.4
equipped with tethers bound across their shoulders, marked with auspicious signs,
their chests adorned with forest garlands, like young-horned bulls,
58.5
resembling the hues of gold and collyrium, wearing clothes like each other's,
like a white cloud and a dark cloud touched by the bow of great Indra,
58.6
wearing charming ear-ornaments of kuśa-grass tips and flowers,
wandering through the forest paths, both dressed in forest attire.
58.7
Following Govardhana and accompanied by their followers in the forest,
those two invincible ones roamed about, engaging in worldly games.
58.8
Assuming this human initiation, worshipped by the gods,
they roamed the forest in games suited to their age and kind.
58.9
At the proper time, indulging in their play, they arrived at Bhāṇḍīra,
the banyan tree rich in great branches, the best among trees.
58.10
There, equipped for swings and combat maneuvers,
and with throwable stones, they practiced their exercises.
58.11
Together with the cowherds in various forms of wrestling,
joyful and possessing the prowess of lions, the two roamed about at will.
58.12
As they were thus taking their pleasure, desiring [to seize] them, the foremost of Asuras,
Pralamba, came among them at that time, seeking an opening against the two.
58.13
Assuming the guise of a cowherd, adorned with wild flowers,
he lured those two heroes with laughter and playful games.
58.14
Free from fear, that non-human plunged into their midst,
having taken a human form, Pralamba, the foremost of Dānavas.
58.15
And all of them played together with that enemy of the gods,
the cowherds believing the one in a cowherd's form to be their own kin.
58.16
Seeking an opening and an opportunity, Pralamba, having become a cowherd,
cast a fierce glance upon Kṛṣṇa and the son of Rohiṇī.
58.17
Then, deeming Kṛṣṇa of wondrous prowess to be unassailable,
that foremost of Dānavas made his effort toward the slaying of Rohiṇī's son.
58.18
Then they all engaged in a children's game
called 'deer-play', jumping up two by two at once.
58.19
Kṛṣṇa leaped together with Śrīdāman, the son of a cowherd,
while the sinless Saṃkarṣaṇa leaped with Pralamba.
58.20
The other cowherds paired off, rushing and leaping
against one another with swift strides.
58.21
Kṛṣṇa defeated Śrīdāman, and the son of Rohiṇī defeated Pralamba;
and the other cowherds were defeated by the cowherds on Kṛṣṇa's side.
58.22
Carrying each other [on their backs] in excitement, swiftly running,
they came again to the boundary marker in the direction of the trunk of the Bhāṇḍīra tree.
58.23
Lifting Saṃkarṣaṇa quickly onto his shoulder, the Dānava
turned away and fled rapidly, like a raincloud carrying the moon.
58.23x685-1
Deeming Kṛṣṇa to be unassailable, that bull among Dānavas,
58.23x685-2
carrying [him], rushed away ever more swiftly beyond the place of dismounting.
58.24
Unable to bear the weight of that wise son of Rohiṇī,
he expanded into a colossal body, like a cloud overcome by the moon.
58.25
Resembling the Bhāṇḍīra banyan tree, shining like a mountain of burnt collyrium,
Pralamba, the foremost of Dānavas, revealed his true form.
58.26
With a diadem of five crests endowed with the brilliance of the sun,
the Daitya's face blazed forth like a cloud invaded by the sun.
58.27
Huge of face and huge of neck, exceedingly immense, resembling the End-Maker,
fierce, his eyes like cart-wheels, bending down the earth with his feet,
58.28
with pendant ornaments of garland wreaths, adorned with hanging garments,
the firm Pralamba advanced like a cloud dripping with water.
58.29
With great speed that mighty Asura carried off the son of Rohiṇī,
as the End-Maker carries away the entire world in a flood of the ocean.
58.30
Carried away by Pralamba, the youthful Saṃkarṣaṇa
[looked] like the moon borne along by a single dark rain-cloud.
58.31
Saṃkarṣaṇa then felt doubtful of himself;
situated on the Daitya's shoulder, the glorious one spoke to Kṛṣṇa:
58.32
"I am being carried off, Kṛṣṇa, by a Daitya possessed of lofty splendour like a mountain,
after he displayed a great delusion in human form.
58.33
How should I accomplish the punishment of this evil-minded
Pralamba, who has grown huge and whose splendour is doubled through pride?"
58.34
To him spoke Kṛṣṇa with a smile, in soothing tones soft with joy,
knowing the conduct and strength of Rohiṇī's son:
58.35
"Ah! This human condition is clearly being assumed [by you],
you who have attained the universe-pervading secret, more secret than the secret!
58.36
Remember your body, noble one, your self at the destruction of the worlds;
know yourself by yourself at the meeting of the oceans!
58.37
Remember your self-manifested deeds and your primeval body
[which preceded those] of the ancient gods, of Brahmā, and of the water!
58.38
The sky is your head, the water your form, the earth your patience, fire your mouth,
the wind, the breath of life of the world, your exhalation, and Manu the creator of your mind.
58.39
Thousand-faced, thousand-limbed, thousand-footed and -eyed,
thousand-headed, universal self, hundred-tongued, hundred-bellied,
you have a thousand-petalled navel, you bear a thousand rays, slayer of foes!
58.40
Whatever has been shown by you in the world, that the sky-dwellers see;
what has not been told before by you, indeed, who can search out that?
58.41
Whatever should be known in this world has been declared by you;
what is known to you alone, even the gods do not know.
58.42
The self-born body of yours in the sky, they do not see as born of the self;
but that artificial form which is yours, the sky-dwellers worship.
58.42x687
And whose form of such a kind the dwellers of heaven see—
58.43
your end was not seen by the gods, therefore you are recalled as Ananta;
for you are subtle, great, single, difficult to approach even for subtle ones.
58.44
In you alone rests the eternal earth, whose pillars are mountains;
unshaken, womb of living beings, she sustains the entire world.
58.45
You are the expanse of the four oceans, knowing the division of the four classes,
lord of the four yugas of the worlds, consumer of the fruit of the four hotṛ priests' rites.
58.46
As you are to the worlds, so am I, and that is my belief;
we both are one single body divided in two for the sake of the world.
58.46x688
Either I am the eternal Kṛṣṇa, or you are the ancient Śeṣa.
58.47
You are the eternal god of the worlds, indeed the ancient Śeṣa;
by the mere bodies of the two of us, this world is sustained twofold.
58.48
Who I am, that is you; who you are, that is eternal I;
we two are appointed indeed with a single body, endowed with great strength.
58.49
Why do you sit there like a fool? Slay this Dānava at once,
the enemy of the gods, O god, on his head with your fist like a thunderbolt!"
58.50
Reminded by Kṛṣṇa of his ancient nature,
Rohiṇī's son was then filled with a strength traversing the interior of the three worlds.
58.50x689
The radiant one was then united with another, great strength.
58.51
Then the hero of mighty arms struck the wicked Pralamba
on the head with his firmly clenched fist like a thunderbolt.
58.52
His head entered into his own body with its skull shattered;
by that blow of the fist the skull was split in two;
and deprived of life, he fell upon his knees to the earth.
58.53
The appearance of him scattered on the earth was then
like that of Pralamba, a cloud standing in the sky, being torn apart.
58.54
From the body of him whose head was broken, blood flowed,
mingled with much red chalk, like water from a mountain peak.
58.55
Having slain Pralamba and withdrawn his own strength,
the radiant son of Rohiṇī embraced Kṛṣṇa.
58.56
Kṛṣṇa, the cowherds, and the sky-dwellers situated in heaven
praised the mighty one with blessings of victory when the Daitya was slain.
58.57
"This Daitya was slain by strength, by a boy unwearied in deeds!"
Bodiless voices uttered by the gods rang out,
and the name "Baladeva" was given to him by the gods standing in the sky.
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit