The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 6.3.32
Mahābhārata 6.3.32
- Language
- Sanskrit
6.3.32
pratisroto'vahannadyaḥ saritaḥ śoṇitodakāḥ |
phenāyamānāḥ kūpāśca nardanti vṛṣabhā iva |
patantyulkāḥ sanirghātāḥ śuṣkāśanivimiśritāḥ || 32 ||
On the thirteenth day therefore, from the first lunation, according as it is the day of the full moon or the new moon, the moon and the sun are afflicted by Rahu. Such strange eclipses, both lunar and solar, forebode a great slaughter. All the quarters of the earth, being overwhelmed by showers of dust, look inauspicious. Fierce clouds, portentous of danger, drop bloody showers during the night. Rahu of fierce deeds is also, O monarch, afflicting the constellation Kirtika. Rough winds, portending fierce danger, are constantly blowing. All these beget a war characterised by many sad incidents. The constellations are divided into three classes. Upon one or another of each class, a planet of evil omen has shed its influence, foreboding terrible dangers. A lunar fortnight had hitherto consisted of fourteen days, or fifteen days (as usual), or sixteen days. This, however, I never knew that the day of new-moon would be on the thirteenth day from the first lunation, or the day of full-moon on the thirteenth day from the same. And yet in course of the same month both the Moon and the Sun have undergone eclipses on the thirteenth days from the day of the first lunation. The Sun and the Moon therefore, by undergoing eclipses on unusual days, will cause a great slaughter of the creatures of the earth. Indeed, Rakshasas, though drinking blood by mouthful, will yet not be satiated. The great rivers are flowing in opposite directions. The waters of rivers have become bloody.
The wells, foaming up, are bellowing like bulls. Meteors, effulgent like Indra's thunder-bolt, fall with loud hisses. When this night passeth away, evil consequences will overtake you. People, for meeting together, coming out of their houses with lighted brands, have still to encounter a thick gloom all round. Great Rishis have said that in view of such circumstances the earth drinks the blood of thousands of kings. From the mountains of Kailasa and Mandara and Himavat thousands of explosions are heard and thousands of summits are tumbling down. In consequence of the Earth's trembling, each of the four oceans having swelled greatly, seems ready to transgress its continents for afflicting the Earth. Fierce winds charged with pointed pebbles are blowing, crushing mighty trees. In villages and towns trees, ordinary and sacred, are falling down, crushed by mighty winds and struck by lightning. The (sacrificial) fire, when Brahmanas pour libations on it, becomes blue, or red, or yellow. Its flames bend towards the left, yielding a bad scent, accompanied by loud reports. Touch, smell, and taste have, O monarch, become what they were not. The standards (of warriors), repeatedly trembling are emitting smoke. Drums and cymbals are throwing off showers of coal-dust. And from the tops of tall trees all around, crows, wheeling in circles from the left, are uttering fierce cries.
Translations (1)
- The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, English
Commentaries (5)
- Bhāratabhāvadīpa — Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara 1650, Sanskrit
- Jñānadīpikā — Devabodha, Sanskrit
- Lakṣaślokālaṅkāra — Vādirāja, Sanskrit
- Mahābhārataṭīkā — Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita, Sanskrit
- Lakṣābharaṇa — Vādirāja Sūri, Sanskrit
Other recensions (2)
- Southern recension — Sanskrit
- Vulgate (Nīlakaṇṭha's text) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Adbhutasāgara — Ballālasena & Lakṣmaṇasena, Sanskrit