Harivamsha 77

English (machine translation) 77

Language: English

77.1

Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / Seeing their husband fallen like a planet whose merit is spent, / Kaṃsa's wives surrounded the slain Kaṃsa on all sides.

77.2

Seeing that lord of the earth sleeping upon the bed of the ground, his life departed, / his wives lamented, as do does at the slaughter of a deer:

77.3

"Alas, we are ruined, O strong-armed one! Ruined are our hopes, ruined are our kin, / we wives of a hero, now that our hero is slain, you who loved the hero's vow!

77.4

Beholding this final, irrevocable condition of yours, / we lament piteously along with our kinsmen, O tiger among kings!

77.5

We are uprooted, we are abandoned by all auspicious things, / now that you, our lord of mighty strength, have met your end.

77.6

With our limbs covered in dust, longing for loving union, / writhing like creepers, who will lead us to the bedchambers?

77.7

This charming face of yours, always with a pleasant breath of wind, gentle one, / the sun now scorches, like a lotus stripped of water.

77.8

These two ears of yours, bare and without earrings, do not look handsome, / sunk into your neck, O you who ever loved earrings!

77.9

Where is that crown of yours, O hero, adorned with all jewels, / which, radiant as the sun, forever bore the splendour of your head?

77.10

What is to be done by these wives of yours, who once adorned your inner quarters, / now destitute, when you have gone to the other world?

77.11

Surely virtuous women, not cheated of their lover's pleasures, / are not to be abandoned by their husbands; yet you depart, abandoning us!

77.12

Ah, mighty is Time, by whose unfolding action / you are suddenly snatched away and led off while we watch! / You who were like Death to your rivals, are swiftly led away!

77.13

We, unaccustomed to sorrow and matched only with joys— / how shall we live as widows, O protector, reduced to misery?

77.14

For women devoted to good conduct, the husband alone is the supreme refuge; / indeed, that refuge of ours has been severed by all-powerful Fate.

77.15

We are overcome by widowhood, our minds scorched with grief; / alas, all living beings must go under the sway of Fate! / Plunged into inevitable weeping, where shall we go without you?

77.16

The time spent with you is gone; the sporting in your lap is gone; / and in an instant we are bereft, for impermanent is the fate of mortals.

77.17

Alas, we are ruined, now that you are ruined, O giver of honour, / all of us bearing the marks of widowhood, as if guilty of a single misdeed!

77.18

Cherished by you with pleasures resembling heaven, delighting in love, / we were all subject to desire for you; abandoning us, where do you go?

77.18x857

For you were the protector of us who are now protectorless, O you equal to a god!

77.19

To these women lamenting like ospreys, O lord, / you ought to give an answer, O master of the world, O giver of honour!"

77.20

"With your wife in sorrow and your kinsmen wearying themselves thus, / your departure, O great king, seems dreadful to us.

77.21

Surely in that world, my beloved, the excellent women are more lovely, / since you have departed, hero, leaving these people in your home!

77.22

Why do you feel no pity, hero, toward these wives of yours, king of the earth, / weeping with cries of distress, that you do not take notice now?

77.23

Ah, pitiless is the journey after death of men, / who abandon their wives and go away with no regard!

77.24

Husbandlessness is better for a woman, not a hero for a woman's husband: / heroes are dear to the women of heaven, and they too are dear to them.

77.25

Ah, quickly by the invisible one, taking you who loved battle, / a blow has been struck by Death to the innermost souls of us all!

Having struck down Jarāsaṃdha's army and conquered the yakṣas in battle, / having conquered Jarāsaṃdha's army and slain kings in battle, / having conquered the host of gods in combat, and the yakṣas too in battle, / how were you slain, lord of the earth, by a mere mortal?

77.27

Having fought with Indra in a conflict of arrows, / unconquered in battle by immortals, how have you been slain by a mortal?

77.28

By you, agitating the unagitable ocean with showers of arrows, / all the treasure was seized after conquering the wielder of the noose.

77.29

By you, when Vāsava rained sparingly, for the sake of the citizens / rain was forced to fall by piercing the clouds with arrows.

77.30

Bowed by your majesty, all kings stood [before you], / sending precious gems and garments worthy of the best.

77.31

To you who were like a god, whose valor was witnessed by enemies, / how did such terrible, life-ending danger arrive?

77.32

We have incurred the name of widows, now that you, our lord, have been struck down; / whether heedless or vigilant, we have been cast down by Death.

77.33

If you must go thus, lord, or if we have been forgotten, / you should take accept us with a mere word, saying: 'Go!'

77.34

Be gracious, lord, we are terrified; we touch your feet with our heads! / Enough of staying far abroad—turn back, lord of Mathurā!

77.35

Ah, hero, why do you lie seated on grass and dust? / For does your mind not shudder as you lie on the ground?

77.36

Who has delivered this unforeseen strike on us while we slept? / By whom has such a terrible blow been struck against all these women?

77.37

A woman's lamentation is a sorrow accompanied by weeping while living; / why do we weep when we ought to go along with our husband?

77.38

In the meantime Kaṃsa's miserable mother, trembling all over, / wept aloud intensely, crying: 'Where is my boy? Where is my son?'

77.39

She saw her slain son like the moon swallowed up, / fainting again and again with a shattered heart.

77.40

Looking upon her son, crying out: 'Alas, I am undone!', / crying out: 'Alas, I am undone!', she fell to the earth, afflicted with grief; / at the cry of distress from her daughters-in-law she wailed and wept.

77.41

Placing his sorrowful face in her lap, longing for her son, / she lamented with an afflicted voice, crying piteously: 'O son!'

77.42

'Son, devoted to the vow of heroes, increaser of the joy of your kinsmen, / why have you made this hasty departure, child?

77.43

And you have fallen asleep in the open air; why, son, without a bed? / Child, men endowed with auspicious marks do not lie on the ground in such a manner.

77.44

Formerly a verse accepted by the wise was sung by Rāvaṇa, / the eldest in strength among the worlds, in an assembly of rākṣasas:

77.45

Though my strength is fierce, for me, the slayer of the godlike [Kaṃsa], / a terrible, unavoidable fear will arise among my kinsmen.

77.46

Likewise, for my wise son who was greedy toward his kinsmen, / great danger bringing an end to the body arose from his kinsmen.

77.46x861-1

For to one humble and homeless (?), a speaker who incurs conflict,

77.46x861-2

to one who has become a cause of kinship strife, death will surely come.'

77.47

Weeping like a cow deprived of her calf, / she spoke these words to her husband, the old king Ugrasena, who was distraught:

77.48

'Come, come, righteous king! Behold your son, the lord of men, / lying on a hero's bed like a mountain struck by a thunderbolt!

77.49

Let us perform for him, great king, the rites befitting his departure, / who has reached the state of a ghost and gone to the abode of Yama.

77.50

Kingdoms are enjoyed by heroes, and we too have been defeated; / go, let Kṛṣṇa be informed for the sake of Kaṃsa's funeral rites.

77.51

Enmities end with death; when peace has come, peace will prevail. / The rites for the deceased must be performed; what offense can a dead man commit?'

77.52

Having spoken thus to her Bhoja husband, tearing her hair in sorrow / and looking upon her son's face, she wailed bitterly:

77.53

'What will these wives of yours do, O king, accustomed to pleasure, / who, having obtained you as their noble husband, now have their desires thwarted?

77.54

How shall I behold this aged father of yours, subject to Kṛṣṇa's power, / drying up like the water of a pond?

77.55

I am your mother, son; why do you not speak to me, / having departed on the long road, abandoning your beloved people?

77.56

Ah, hero, from me of little fortune, unlucky as I am, / you are snatched away and led off by relentless Death, O master of policy!

77.57

Held by your gifts and honors, satisfied by your virtues, / and having their names properly remembered by those virtues, / the families of your servants weep, O leader of our clan!

77.58

Arise, tiger among men, long-armed and of great might! / Protect all these wretched people, the city, and the inner quarters!'

77.59

While the wives of Kaṃsa were thus lamenting at great length in intense grief, / the sun, tinged with the red of twilight, set.

Linked texts (1)

Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit