Harivamsha 97

English (machine translation) 97

Language: English

97.1

Nārada said: / “The nooses of Mura have been destroyed; Nisunda and Naraka have been slain; / the path to the city of Prāgjyotiṣa has been made secure again.

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Furthermore, I shall speak; listen, O best of the Yādavas,

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To what Śauri has done fittingly, out of desire for the welfare of the worlds.

97.2

The rival rulers of the earth were terrified in battle by Śauri, / both by the twang of his bow and by the blast of the Pāñcajanya.

97.3

Having conquered in battle Rukmin of great strength and prowess / who was protected by southerners with cloud-like armies, / Keśava, the bull of the Vṛṣṇis, swiftly carried off Rukmiṇī.

97.4

Then, on a chariot with the rumble of a thundercloud and the splendour of the sun, / he who bears the conch, discus, mace, and sword carried off his Bhoja queen.

97.5

In Jārūthī, Āhvṛti, Krātha, and Śiśupāla were vanquished, / and Vaktra along with his army, and the hard-to-conquer Śatadhanvan.

97.6

Indradyumna was slain in anger, and the Yavana Kaśerumān; / Sālva, the lord of Saubha, and Śaubha were destroyed by him of firm bow.

97.7

Scattering a thousand mountains with his discus, / the supreme Puruṣa, the lotus-eyed one, crushed Dyumatsena.

97.8

And on the peak of Mahendra, that tiger among men slew the two who move in the twinkling of an eye, / who wandered around Rāvaṇa.

97.9

On the Irāvatī, Gopati and Tālaketu, the two great Bhojas equal to fire and the sun in battle, / were struck down by him who bears the Śārṅga bow.

97.10

And at Akṣaprapatana, both the Dānavas Nimi and Haṃsa / were overthrown along with their kingdoms by Kṛṣṇa.

97.11

And Vārāṇasī was burned down by the great-souled Keśava; / the king of Kāśi was slain along with his kin and kingdom.

97.12

Having defeated Yama in combat with his straight-jointed arrows, / the son of Indrasena was then brought back by Kṛṣṇa of wondrous deeds.

97.13

Accompanied by all the aquatic creatures in the oceans, the mighty Varuṇa, / having reached the Lohitakūṭa mountains, was vanquished by Kṛṣṇa.

97.14

The Pārijāta tree, which grew in the dwelling of Mahendra and was protected by the great-souled gods, / was carried off without regard for the lord of the gods.

97.15

The Pāṇḍya, the Pauṇḍra, the Matsya, and the Kaliṅga—Janārdana / slew all of them gathered together, and likewise the king of Vaṅga.

97.16

And having slain one hundred and one great-souled kings in battle, / the wise one married the beautiful queen Gāndhārī.

97.17

Likewise, the all-pervading Madhusūdana, playing, vanquished / the wielder of the Gāṇḍīva bow, the best of the Bharatas, in front of Kuntī.

97.18

Droṇa, the son of Droṇa, Kṛpa, Karṇa, Bhīmasena, and Suyodhana— / the supreme Puruṣa vanquished them all united, followed by his discus.

97.19

And seeking to please Babhru, the lord who bears the conch, discus, mace, and sword / carried off by force the daughter of the king of Sauvīra.

97.20

The supreme Puruṣa, through his effort for the sake of the Veṇudāri, / conquered the entire earth that was in turmoil, along with its horses, chariots, and elephants.

97.21

Attaining the potency, power, and vigour born of ascetic heat, / this Mādhava, Hari, in a previous body took away the three worlds from Bali.

97.22

He whose death had not been reached against the city of Prāgjyotiṣa / by the Dānavas who terrify with the points of their thunderbolts and maces,

97.23

He too was overcome by Kṛṣṇa along with his host: the exceedingly wealthy / and mighty Bāṇa of great valour, the son of Bali.

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Jarāsaṃdha of great heroism, great zeal, and great power,

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Kṛṣṇa, the supreme Puruṣa, defeated repeatedly in play.

97.24

Likewise, the long-armed Janārdana, great in power, / struck down Pīṭha, the minister of Kaṃsa, as well as Paiṭhika and Asiloman.

97.25

And the illustrious tiger among men, slayer of foes, / killed Jambha, Airāvata, Virūpa, and Śambara.

97.26

Likewise, having vanquished the lord of serpents Kāliya of great majesty in the water, / the lotus-eyed one dispatched him to the ocean.

97.27

So too, having vanquished Yama Vaivasvata, / Hari, the tiger among men, restored Sāṃdīpani's dead son to life.

97.28

Thus is he the long-armed punisher of all evil-minded beings,

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and of those who ever hate the gods and the brahmins, O king,

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among Daityas, Dānavas, and Rākṣasas, Janārdana.

97.29

Having slain the earth-born Naraka and brought back the jewelled earrings, / he gave them to the mother of the gods, for the pleasure of the wielder of the thunderbolt.

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And great renown was attained by Keśava in heaven among the gods.

97.30

Thus he, bringing fear and fearlessness to Daityas and the gods, / is the illustrious Kṛṣṇa, all-powerful lord of all the worlds.

97.31

Having established the dharmas among mortals and performed sacrifices with abundant priestly fees, / having accomplished immeasurable service for the gods, he will return to his own abode.

97.32

Having made lovely Dvārakā, delight of seers, rich in pleasures, / his own, illustrious Kṛṣṇa will cause it to enter the ocean.

97.33

Teeming with many jewels and marked with hundreds of sacrificial posts and shrines, / Dvārakā, together with its groves, will enter the abode of Varuṇa.

97.34

Resembling the palace of the sun, released by Vāsudeva, / the ocean, knowing the intention of the bow-wielding Śārṅgin, will flood it.

97.35

Among gods, asuras, and humans, there was no one, nor will there ever be anyone, / who could dwell in it, other than Madhusūdana.

97.36

Thus, having duly ordered the destiny of the Daśārhas, / this Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, will himself become Soma and Sūrya.

97.37

Immeasurable and uncontrollable, moving wherever he desires, self-controlled, / he ever rejoices with created beings as a child with toys.

This long-armed Madhusūdana cannot be measured, / for here means of knowledge fails, though it is the measure across all things; / because he is the lord of the god of gods, no knowledge exists by means of proof; / for there is nothing higher or lower than this universal-formed one.

Linked texts (1)

Harivaṃśa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit