Bhagavatapurana 9.20: atha viṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

9.20.1

/0 śrībādarāyaṇiruvāca
pūrorvaṃśaṃ pravakṣyāmi yatra jāto 'si bhārata /
yatra rājarṣayo vaṃśyā brahmavaṃśyāśca jajñire //

Śrī Bādarāyaṇi said: / I shall declare the dynasty of Pūru, in which you were born, O Bhārata, / in which royal seers and descendants of Brahmā were born.

1. Sri Suka said:— I shall (now) give an account of Pooru’s line in which thou art born, O Bhaarata, and in which saintly kings of regular descent and also Brahmanas were born.

9.20.2

janamejayo hyabhūt pūroḥ pracinvāṃstatsutastataḥ /
pravīro 'tha manusyurvai tasmāc cārupado 'bhavat //

Janamejaya was born to Pūru, and Pracinvān was his son; / from him came Pravīra, then Manusyu, and from him was Cārupada.

2. Pooru’s son was Janmejaya whose son was Prachinvan; his son was Praveera; his son Namasyu; and his son was Charupada.

9.20.3

tasya sudyurabhūt putrastasmādbahugavastataḥ /
saṃyātistasyāhaṃyātī raudrāśvastatsutaḥ smṛtaḥ //

His son was Sudyu, and from him was Bahugava; / then Saṃyāti, his son was Ahaṃyāti, and Raudrāśva is recorded as his son.

3. His son was Sudyu of whom Bahugava was born, his son was Samyati and his son Ahamyati and his son was known as Raudrasva.

9.20.4

ṛteyustasya kakṣeyuḥ sthaṇḍileyuḥ kṛteyukaḥ /
jaleyuḥ sannateyuśca dharmasatyavrateyavaḥ //

Ṛteyu was his son, and Kakṣeyu, Sthaṇḍileyu, Kṛteyuka, / Jaleyu, Sannateyu, and Dharmasatyavrateyu;

4. Of this last were born Riteya, Kuksheyu, Sthandileyu, Kriteyuka, Jaleyu, Santateyu, Dharmeyu, Satyeyu, Vrateyu and Vaneyu the youngest.

9.20.5

daśaite 'psarasaḥ putrā vaneyuścāvamaḥ smṛtaḥ /
ghṛtācyāmindriyāṇīva mukhyasya jagadātmanaḥ //

these ten, along with Vaneyu who is recorded as the youngest, were the sons of the Apsaras / Ghṛtācī, just like the ten senses of the supreme Soul of the universe.

5. These ten were his sons by an Apsaras woman called Ghritachi and they were like the ten organs of Mukhyaprana, the soul of the world.

9.20.6

ṛteyo rantināvo 'bhūt trayastasyātmajā nṛpa /
sumatirdhruvo 'pratirathaḥ kaṇvo 'pratirathātmajaḥ //

From Ṛteyu was born Rantināva, and he had three sons, O King: / Sumati, Dhruva, and Apratiratha; Kaṇva was the son of Apratiratha.

6. Of Riteyu was born Rantibhara who had three sons, O king, namely Sumati, Dhruva and Apratiratha and Kanva was the son of Apratiratha.

9.20.7

tasya medhātithistasmāt praskannādyā dvijātayaḥ /
putro 'bhūt sumate rebhirduṣmantastatsuto mataḥ //

His son was Medhātithi; from him came Praskanna and other twice-borns. / The son of Sumati was Rebhi; Duṣmanta is known as his son.

7. Of Kanva Medhathathi was the son from whom Praskanva and other brahmin classes had their orgin; Sumati’s son was Raibhya whose son was known as Dushyanta.

9.20.8

duṣmanto mṛgayāṃ yātaḥ kaṇvāśramapadaṃ gataḥ /
tatrāsīnāṃ svaprabhayā maṇḍayantīṃ ramāmiva //

Duṣmanta, having gone on a hunt, reached the hermitage of Kaṇva. / There [he saw a maiden] seated, adorning it with her own splendor, like Ramā;

8. & 9. Going out a-hunting Dushyanta came to the hermitage of Kanva; there, having seen a young woman seated and like Rama adding beauty by her brilliancy to everything, the king, at once infatuated as if at the sight of the divine Maya, and attended only by a few servants, spoke to that beautiful damsel.

9.20.9

vilokya sadyo mumuhe devamāyāmiva striyam /
babhāṣe tāṃ varārohāṃ bhaṭaiḥ katipayairvṛtaḥ //

seeing that woman who was like the creative power of the Lord, he was instantly captivated; / surrounded by a few soldiers, he spoke to that fair-hipped maiden.

9.20.10

taddarśanapramuditaḥ sannivṛttapariśramaḥ /
papraccha kāmasantaptaḥ prahasañ ślakṣṇayā girā //

Delighted by the sight of her, his fatigue gone, / tormented by passion, he smiled and asked in gentle words:

10. Rejoiced at her sight and refreshed from all his fatigue, and urged by passion, he smilingly asked her in soft words.

9.20.11

kā tvaṃ kamalapatrākṣi kasyāsi hṛdayaṅgame /
kiṃ svic cikīrṣitaṃ tatra bhavatyā nirjane vane //

"Who are you, O lotus-petal-eyed one? Whose daughter are you, captivator of the heart? / What are you intending to do here in this deserted forest?

11. Who art thou, O beautiful one? Whose art thou, O charming one? What wouldst thou do here in this uninhabited forest?

9.20.12

vyaktaṃ rājanyatanayāṃ vedmyahaṃ tvāṃ sumadhyame /
na hi cetaḥ pauravāṇāmadharme ramate kvacit //

Clearly I know you to be a warrior's daughter, O slender-waisted one; / for never does the mind of the descendants of Pūru take delight in what is contrary to dharma."

12. Evidently I perceive thee to be a princess, O beauty! for, the heart of Pooru kings does not at any time find delight in the unrighteous course.

9.20.13

/0 śrīśakuntalovāca
viśvāmitrātmajaivāhaṃ tyaktā menakayā vane /
vedaitadbhagavān kaṇvo vīra kiṃ karavāma te //

Śrī Śakuntalā said: / "I am indeed the daughter of Viśvāmitra, abandoned in the forest by Menakā. / The venerable Kaṇva knows this, O hero. What may we do for you?

13. Sri Suka said:— I am only the daughter of Visvamitra, abandoned by Menaka in the forest; the venerable Kanva knows this; O hero, what shall we do for thee?

9.20.14

āsyatāṃ hyaravindākṣa gṛhyatāmarhaṇaṃ ca naḥ /
bhujyatāṃ santi nīvārā uṣyatāṃ yadi rocate //

Please be seated, O lotus-eyed one; accept our hospitable offering; / wild rice is available, please eat, and stay if it pleases you."

14. Take thy seat, O beautiful prince; accept our hospitality and eat of our Neevara and stay here if it pleases thee.

9.20.15

/0 śrīduṣmanta uvāca
upapannamidaṃ subhru jātāyāḥ kuśikānvaye /
svayaṃ hi vṛṇute rājñāṃ kanyakāḥ sadṛśaṃ varam //

Śrī Duṣmanta said:
This is worthy of you, O fair-browed woman, born in the lineage of Kuśika; / for daughters of kings choose for themselves a suitable groom.

15. Dushyanta said:—O beautiful one, this is but proper for thee that art born of Kusika family; maidens do of their own accord choose their suitable partners.

9.20.16

omityukte yathādharmamupayeme śakuntalām /
gāndharvavidhinā rājā deśakālavidhānavit //

When she said "Yes," the king, knowing the proper rules of place and time, / married Śakuntalā according to dharma by the Gāndharva rite.

16. When she agreed to it, he married her righteously on the Gandharva system, as the king knew what was fit to do at a given time and place.

9.20.17

amoghavīryo rājarṣirmahiṣyāṃ vīryamādadhe /
śvobhūte svapuraṃ yātaḥ kālenāsūta sā sutam //

The royal sage of unfailing virility deposited his seed in the queen; / the next day he departed for his own city, and in time she gave birth to a son.

17. The great king of fruitful strength left her imbued with his force and on the next morning he returned to his city—and she in time was delivered of a son.

9.20.18

kaṇvaḥ kumārasya vane cakre samucitāḥ kriyāḥ /
baddhvā mṛgendraṃ tarasā krīḍati sma sa bālakaḥ //

Kaṇva performed the suitable rites for the boy in the forest; / that child would bind a lion by force and play with it.

18. Kanva performed in the hermitage the appropriate religious rites in behalf of the new born prince and the daughter; the boy soon played with lions caught hold of by him with tremendous power.

9.20.19

taṃ duratyayavikrāntamādāya pramadottamā /
hareraṃśāṃśasambhūtaṃ bharturantikamāgamat //

Taking him of insurmountable valor, / born of a partial expansion of Hari, that foremost of women went into the presence of her husband.

19. That excellent woman (went to the presence of her lord) with that child of unsurpassed prowess born with a remote amsa of Hari.

9.20.20

yadā na jagṛhe rājā bhāryāputrāv aninditau /
śṛṇvatāṃ sarvabhūtānāṃ khe vāg āhāśarīriṇī //

When the king did not accept his faultless wife and son, / an unembodied voice in the sky spoke while all creatures listened:

20. When the king did not accept them, the faultless wife and the son, a voice in the heavens said in the hearing of all beings.

9.20.21

mātā bhastrā pituḥ putro yena jātaḥ sa eva saḥ /
bharasva putraṃ duṣmanta māvamaṃsthāḥ śakuntalām //

"The mother is [merely] the father's leather pouch; the son belongs to the father—he is indeed the very one who begot him. / Maintain the son, Duṣmanta; do not insult Śakuntalā.

21. Mother is a mere receptacle, the son belongs to the father of whom he is born; for, the father is the son (he is no other than himself); O Dushyanta, receive thy son; do not neglect Sakuntala.

9.20.22

retodhāḥ putro nayati naradeva yamakṣayāt /
tvaṃ cāsya dhātā garbhasya satyamāha śakuntalā //

The son who carries the seed delivers [the father] from the abode of Yama, O ruler of men; / and you are the begetter of this child; Śakuntalā spoke the truth."

22. O king, a son capable of continuing the race leads his father out of Yama's abode; thou art the author of this child; Sakuntala speaks the truth.

9.20.23

pitaryuparate so 'pi cakravartī mahāyaśāḥ /
mahimā gīyate tasya hareraṃśabhuvo bhuvi //

When his father passed away, he became a universal monarch of great fame; / his greatness, born as a part of Hari, is sung on earth.

23. When his father passed away he also became an emperor of great renown; and born with an amsa of Hari, his glory is being sung on the earth.

9.20.24

cakraṃ dakṣiṇahaste 'sya padmakośo 'sya pādayoḥ /
īje mahābhiṣekeṇa so 'bhiṣikto 'dhirāḍ vibhuḥ //

On his right hand was a discus, and on his feet the lotus-whorl; / consecrated by the Great Consecration, he, the supreme sovereign, ruled with power.

24. He had the mark of chakra in his right hand and the mark of a lotus-bud on his two feet; being installed as a supreme lord with mahabhisheka he performed sacrifices,

9.20.25

pañcapañcāśatā medhyairgaṅgāyāmanu vājibhiḥ /
māmateyaṃ purodhāya yamunāmanu ca prabhuḥ //

Along the Gaṅgā with fifty-five sacrificial horses, / and along the Yamunā, having appointed the son of Mamatā as his priest, the sovereign

25. With fifty-five horses in the regular order, on the banks of the Ganges, with Dhirgatamas for his purohita (chief priest) and also on the banks of the Yamuna.

9.20.26

aṣṭasaptatimedhyāśvān babandha pradadadvasu /
bharatasya hi dauṣmanteragniḥ sācīguṇe citaḥ /
sahasraṃ badvaśo yasmin brāhmaṇā gā vibhejire //

bound seventy-eight sacrificial horses, bestowing wealth; / for the sacred fire of Bharata, son of Duṣmanta, was piled up at Sācīguṇa, / where brāhmaṇas divided cows among themselves by the thousands.

26. He used seventy-eight sacrificial horses, distributing his wealth liberally among brahmins; the fire of Bharata, Dushyanta's son, was set up in a very hallowed place. During his sacrifice a thousand brahmins obtained each thirteen thousand eighty-four cows.

9.20.27

trayastriṃśacchataṃ hyaśvān baddhvā vismāpayan nṛpān /
dauṣmantiratyagān māyāṃ devānāṃ gurumāyayau //

Tethering one hundred and thirty-three horses, astonishing the kings, / the son of Duṣmanta surpassed the illusion of the gods and attained to the highest.

27. He tied to the sacrificial post thirty-three hundred horses and astonished the kings of the world; Dushyanta's son surpassed the gods in point of wealth, since he had Hari's amsa in him.

9.20.28

mṛgān chukladataḥ kṛṣṇān hiraṇyena parīvṛtān /
adāt karmaṇi maṣṇāre niyutāni caturdaśa //

Fourteen hundred thousand black deer with white teeth, / adorned with gold, he gave in the sacrifice at Maṣṇāra.

28. During his sacrificial course he gave fourteen lakhs of dark elephants, all having white tusks adorned with gold.

9.20.29

bharatasya mahat karma na pūrve nāpare nṛpāḥ /
naivāpurnaiva prāpsyanti bāhubhyāṃ tridivaṃ yathā //

The great deed of Bharata neither previous nor future kings / have attained or will ever attain, just as [no one can reach] heaven with their bare arms.

29. Other kings of the past did not attain to the eminence of Bharata in respect of sacrificial duties and the future kings too will never, just as one cannot climb up to heaven with his arms.

9.20.30

kirātahūṇān yavanān pauṇḍrān kaṅkān khaśān chakān /
abrahmaṇyanṛpāṃścāhan mlecchān digvijaye 'khilān //

The Kirātas, Hūṇas, Yavanas, Pauṇḍras, Kaṅkas, Khaśas, Śakas, / and kings hostile to brāhmaṇas—all the barbarians he crushed in his conquest of the quarters.

30. During his victorious marches he brought down all these different classes of people, viz. Kiratas, Hunas, Yavanas, Andhras, Kankas, Khasas, Sakas, in fine, all Mlechchas.

9.20.31

jitvā purāsurā devān ye rasaukāṃsi bhejire /
devastriyo rasāṃ nītāḥ prāṇibhiḥ punarāharat //

When formerly the asuras, having defeated the gods, inhabited the netherworlds, / he restored by force of arms the divine women who had been dragged to the netherworld.

31. Formerly certain Asuras had conquered the gods, had carried away the celestial women to Rasatala and these women were brought back along with their attendants.

9.20.32

sarvān kāmān duduhatuḥ prajānāṃ tasya rodasī /
samāstriṇavasāhasrīrdikṣu cakramavartayat //

Heaven and earth milked all desires for his subjects; / for twenty-seven thousand years he rolled his chariot wheel throughout the quarters.

32. Heaven and earth showered all the desired things on his subjects and he held the reins of government in all the directions for thrice nine thousand years.

9.20.33

sa saṃrāḍ lokapālākhyamaiśvaryamadhirāṭ śriyam /
cakraṃ cāskhalitaṃ prāṇān mṛṣetyupararāma ha //

That emperor, the supreme sovereign, considering lordship equal to that of the guardians of the directions, / imperial majesty, unhindered dominion, and life itself to be false, renounced them all.

33. That emperor felt that the lordship called the guardianship of the world and the imperial splendour and an unmolested kingdom and even life are false and withdrew himself from the world.

9.20.34

tasyāsan nṛpa vaidarbhyaḥ patnyastisraḥ susammatāḥ /
jaghnustyāgabhayāt putrān nānurūpā itīrite //

He had three highly esteemed wives from Vidarbha, O king; / they killed their own sons out of fear of abandonment when he remarked, "They do not resemble me."

34. He had, O king, three wives of Vidarbha origin, all very agreeable; these killed their own sons, through fear of being abandoned, when he said that they were not worthy of him.

9.20.35

tasyaivaṃ vitathe vaṃśe tadarthaṃ yajataḥ sutam /
marutstomena maruto bharadvājamupādaduḥ //

His lineage having thus become futile, as he performed a sacrifice for a son / with the Marutstoma rite, the Maruts gave him Bharadvāja.

35. When his line was thus cut off and he performed a sacri-

fice for the sake of children by means of Marutstoma, (a particular form of sacrifice) Maruts granted him Bharadvaja as his son.

9.20.36

antarvatnyāṃ bhrātṛpatnyāṃ maithunāya bṛhaspatiḥ /
pravṛtto vārito garbhaṃ śaptvā vīryamupāsṛjat //

When Bṛhaspati approached his pregnant sister-in-law for sexual union, / he was prevented; cursing the fetus, he discharged his seed.

36. When his brother’s wife was pregnant, Bhrihaspati approached her under the force of passion; but being prevented, he cursed the child in the womb and let go his seed.

9.20.37

taṃ tyaktukāmāṃ mamatāṃ bhartustyāgaviśaṅkitām /
nāmanirvācanaṃ tasya ślokamenaṃ surā jaguḥ //

As Mamatā, fearing abandonment by her husband, wished to cast him off, / the gods sang this verse expressing the etymology of his name:

37. Towards Mamata (the wife of Bhrihaspati’s brother) who was thinking of abandoning the new child, afraid of being divorced, the gods sang the following verse which gives the derivation of his name.

9.20.38

mūḍhe bhara dvājamimaṃ bhara dvājaṃ bṛhaspate /
yātau yaduktvā pitarau bharadvājastatastv ayam //

"O foolish woman, support the child of two! Support the child of two, Bṛhaspati!" / Because both parents went away saying this, he was therefore named Bharadvāja.

38. “O foolish one, nourish him who is born of two”; “O Brihaspati, nourish him who is born of two”; Having so said the parents went away; hence he is called Bharadvaja.

9.20.39

codyamānā surairevaṃ matvā vitathamātmajam /
vyasṛjan maruto 'bibhran datto 'yaṃ vitathe 'nvaye //

Though urged in this way by the gods, she considered the son to be illegitimate / and abandoned him; the Maruts raised him, and he was given into the lineage that was fruitless.

39. Though thus directed by the gods she thought him to be a useless son, and abandoned him. The gods called Maruts nourished him and he was given to Bharata whose line had become interrupted.