Harivamsha 93
English (machine translation) 93
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93.1
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: / Then Kṛṣṇa, mounted on Garuḍa, saw the city of Dvārakā, / resembling an abode of the gods, resounding on every side.
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When the son of Devakī had gone on the expedition to the jewel mountain, / and likewise the pleasure-houses, / the prominent gardens and groves, and the upper terraces and squares [were completed]— / but when Kṛṣṇa had arrived, / the king of the gods summoned Viśvakarman and said this:
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“If you wish to do what pleases me, O best of craftsmen, / you shall make it delightful again, for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure.
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Crowded with gardens and groves, like heaven itself, / make Dvārakā, O best of the gods, just as my city is.
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Whatever jewel-like object you see in the three worlds, / with that let the city of Dvāravatī be swiftly endowed by you.
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For Kṛṣṇa is ever engaged in all tasks of the gods, / and mighty in strength, he plunges into battles of dreadful form.”
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Going to that city at Indra's word, Viśvakarman then / adorned it on every side, just like Indra's Amarāvatī.
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The lord of the Daśārhas, whose mount is the bird, saw it / adorned with divine designs wrought by Viśvakarman.
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Seeing that city of Dvārakā, the lord Nārāyaṇa Hari, / delighted and endowed with all success, prepared to enter.
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He saw clumps of trees, delightful and pleasing to the eye, / across Dvārakā, variegated by Viśvakarman;
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and the city surrounded by moats, crowded with thickets of lotuses, / their waters frequented by geese, shining like the Gaṅgā and the Sindhu;
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with a rampart the colour of the sun, shining with gold, / set atop an embankment, like the sky surrounded by a garland of clouds;
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and with groves resembling Nandana, and like Caitraratha, / Dvārakā shone, delightfully encircled, like the sky with waters.
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The Raivataka mountain shines, with charming ridges, caves, and courtyards, / splendid in the eastern direction, with gateways of jewels and gold.
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In the south shines Latāveṣṭa of five colours, / and in the west stands the imperishable one, resembling Indra's banner;
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and [it is] delightful with wonderful groves, frequented by lions.
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Veṇumān exceedingly adorns the northern direction, / resembling Mount Mandara, white, O bull among kings.
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Of the colour of a variegated blanket, the great Pāñcajanya forest, / and the forest of all seasons, shines towards Raivataka.
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Around Latāveṣṭa lies the great Meruprabhavana forest, / and the Bhārgava forest shines, as well as the great Puṣpaka forest,
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adorned with akṣaka, bījaka, and mandāra trees, / and the Śatāvarta forest, crowded with oleanders.
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Caitraratha shines, and the great Nandana forest, / and Ramaṇa and Bhāvana, and Veṇumat on all sides.
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With water-lilies of beryl leaves, the Mandākinī river / shines, a charming lotus pond in the eastern direction, O Bhārata.
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The peaks there were adorned by many gods and gandharvas, / wishing to please Keśava, impelled by Viśvakarman.
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A great river entered Dvāravatī through fifty great mouths, / its waters pure, sanctifying it on all sides.
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He saw the city of Dvārakā, immeasurable, of great height, / possessing a fathomless moat, / furnished with excellent ramparts, whitewashed with plaster,
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adorned with sharp engines, śataghnīs, and networks of machines, / and with great wheels of iron.
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There were eight thousand chariots with tinkling bells in the city, / with banners raised aloft, just as in the city of the gods.
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He saw the city of Dvārakā, eight yojanas broad, immovable, / twelve long, and doubly populated.
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Having eight avenues as its great perimeter, with sixteen great crossroads, / encircled by a single path, built by Uśanas himself, / in which even women could fight, not to speak of the great chariot-warriors of the Vṛṣṇis.
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Excellent routes for battle-arrays and seven great thoroughfares / were arranged there directly by Viśvakarman in diverse ways, / in that best and foremost city of the glorious Dāśārhas.
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The son of Devakī rejoiced at seeing the mansions, / furnished with golden stairs inlaid with jewels, delighting men;
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with squares of excellent palaces resounding with dreadful and great roars, / with banners raised aloft, resembling fluttering banners;
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having golden, blazing pinnacles resembling the peaks of Meru, / with very white crests and golden roofs, / like wondrous mountains with charming ridges, caves, and peaks;
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and the summits of the palaces,
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and the delightful houses,
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with colours of the five hues, with lustre like a shower of flowers, / with roars equal to rain-clouds, like diverse mountains;
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resembling blazing forest-fires, fashioned by Viśvakarman, / as if scraping the sky, outshining the moon and the sun.
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With those illustrious Dāśārhas, [the city] shone with lakes of mansions, / adorned with house-clouds, with Vāsudeva as Indra, the rain-bringer.
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Dvārakā was seen, beautiful like the sky covered with clouds; / Viśvakarman fashioned the direct dwelling of the Blessed One.
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The dwelling of Vāsudeva was seen, four yojanas long / and just as broad, immeasurable, filled with great wealth,
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equipped with mountains endowed with excellent palaces on the earth, / which the illustrious Tvaṣṭṛ made, urged by Vāsava.
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And a palace shining like gold, captivating to all beings, / lofty and vast with gold, like a peak of Mount Meru, / was constructed by Viśvakarman as Rukmiṇī's supreme dwelling.
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The white dwelling that Satyabhāmā, in turn, inhabited, / with steps of diverse gems, they knew as Bhogavat, / adorned with banners radiant as the spotless sun.
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With its courtyard area clearly defined, bearing great banners in the four directions, / that foremost of palaces, adorned for Jāmbavatī, / surpassed all those others with its splendor, like the sun.
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Resembling the color of the rising sun, situated between the two, / made by Viśvakarman, divine, like a peak of Kailāsa,
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blazing like gold, resembling a flaming fire, / standing like the ocean, celebrated as Meru—
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in that, O best of the Bharatas, the noble daughter of the king of Gāndhāra, / Gāndhārī, was settled by Keśava.
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Known as Padmakūṭa, lotus-colored and immensely radiant, / the supreme summit was the dwelling of Subhīmā, most exceedingly revered.
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A palace radiant as the sun, endowed with all desirable qualities, / was designated for Lakṣmaṇā, O best of the Kurus, by the wielder of the Śārṅga bow.
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The palace shining like lapis lazuli, gleaming with green brilliance, / which all beings knew simply as Parama, O Bhārata,
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that dwelling of Mitravindā, honored by hosts of divine seers, / was an ornament among those mansions of Vāsudeva's queen.
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The foremost palace that was fashioned there by Viśvakarman / was also exceedingly pleasant, standing like a mountain.
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That dwelling of Sudattā, queen of Vāsudeva, / praised by all the gods, was celebrated as Ketumat.
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There was a principal palace that Tvaṣṭṛ made with his own hands, / a yojana long and broad, auspicious and composed of every gem.
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That glorious one named Viraja shone there with great luster, / where the audience hall of high-souled Keśava stood.
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In it, all the golden flagstaffs with banners were well arranged, / with road-clearing banners in the dwelling of Vāsudeva, / and lattices of jewels were set here and there.
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Brought by the lion of the Yadus, the great mountain Vaijayanta, / the peak of Haṃsakūṭa toward Lake Indradyumna, / sixty palmyra trees high and half a yojana long,
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abounding in kiṃnaras and great serpents, that world-renowned peak / was also brought by him of immeasurable splendor as all beings watched.
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The supreme peak of Meru that traversed the path of the sun, / made of gold, divine, renowned in the three worlds, / was also uprooted and brought by Viśvakarman for Kṛṣṇa's sake.
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Radiant, intensely formidable, and adorned with all herbs, / Tvaṣṭṛ brought it at Indra's command for the purpose at hand; / and the pārijāta tree was brought there by Keśava himself.
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For as it was being carried off, a battle was fought by Kṛṣṇa of wondrous deeds / with the gods who guarded that supreme tree, / visited by hundreds of white lotuses and golden aerial cars.
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Great trees of the realm of Brahmā were set in place for Vāsudeva's sake, / and lotus-ponds and lakes crowded with lotus-filled waters, / endowed with red water-lilies and night-blooming lotuses, / strewn with jewels and golden rafts.
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Great trees beautified their excellent banks: / sāl, palmyra, and kadamba trees, and rohiṇa trees with a hundred branches,
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and the trees of the Himālaya and those that grow on Meru / were brought and established by Viśvakarman for the lion of the Yadus.
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Trees displaying red, yellow, and dawn-red hues, bearing white blossoms / and filled with fruits in all seasons, grew along those forest tracts.
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Filled with brimming waters, with yellow gravel and sand, / were the rivers and clear-watered pools in that excellent city.
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There were other rivers, filled with flower-strewn waters, / thronged with various trees and creepers, with sands of golden gravel.
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[…] adorned with blue lotuses,
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rivers, the radiance of clusters of lotuses […].
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With flocks of intoxicated peacocks and ever-crazed cuckoos, / the trees in that city were exceptionally endowed.
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There in the city were herds of elephants, as well as cattle and buffaloes, / and a habitat was made there for boars, deer, and birds.
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In that delightful city, a golden rampart, / distinctly a hundred cubits high, was constructed by Viśvakarman.
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By it, those great mountains, rivers, and lakes, / as well as the forests and groves, were enclosed on the ground.
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And palaces were surrounded, visible across all the worlds.
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Beyond that world-renowned mansion of the lion of the Yadus himself,
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a residence superior even to that was fashioned by Viśvakarman.
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The extremely captivating [mansion] of Rāma, the lion of the Yadus, shone forth.
Linked texts (1)
- Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit