Bhagavatapurana 9.9: atha navamo'dhyāyaḥ

9.9.1

/0 śrīśuka uvāca
aṃśumāṃśca tapastepe gaṅgānayanakāmyayā /
kālaṃ mahāntaṃ nāśaknot tataḥ kālena saṃsthitaḥ //

Śrī Śuka said: / And Aṃśumat performed austerities, desiring to bring down the Gaṅgā, / for a long time, but was unable; then in the course of time he passed away.

1. Sri Suka said:—Amsuman also performed tapas for a long time [intent on bringing down Ganga], but he was not able to do so and in course of time he passed away.

9.9.2

dilīpastatsutastadvadaśaktaḥ kālameyivān /
bhagīrathastasya sutastepe sa sumahat tapaḥ //

His son Dilīpa likewise was unable and met his end in time. / His son Bhagīratha performed very great austerities.

2. His son Dileepa was similarly unable to do it and ended his life (in the attempt); his son Bhagiratha performed very great tapas.

9.9.3

darśayāmāsa taṃ devī prasannā varadāsmi te /
ityuktaḥ svamabhiprāyaṃ śaśaṃsāvanato nṛpaḥ //

The goddess revealed herself to him, pleased, saying: "I will grant you a boon." / Thus addressed, the king bowed low and stated his intention.

3. To him the Goddess Ganga revealed herself and said, "I am pleased, I shall confer the boon on thee"; being thus told the king (very) submissively acquainted her with his wish (object).

9.9.4

ko 'pi dhārayitā vegaṃ patantyā me mahītale /
anyathā bhūtalaṃ bhittvā nṛpa yāsye rasātalam //

[The goddess said:] "Who will sustain my momentum as I fall upon the surface of the earth? / Otherwise, piercing through the earth's surface, O king, I shall go down to the netherworld.

4. She further said, "would any one bear my force in my descent on the surface of the earth? Otherwise I shall be going down to Rasatala piercing the earth".

9.9.5

kiṃ cāhaṃ na bhuvaṃ yāsye narā mayyāmṛjantyagham /
mṛjāmi tadaghaṃ kvāhaṃ rājaṃstatra vicintyatām //

Moreover, I do not wish to go to earth; humans will wash off their sins in me. / Where shall I wash off that sin? O king, consider that matter."

5. "Further, I would not go to the earth; for men will wash their sin into me; where could I wash off that sin myself, O king? Consider over this point".

9.9.6

/0 śrībhagīratha uvāca
sādhavo nyāsinaḥ śāntā brahmiṣṭhā lokapāvanāḥ /
harantyaghaṃ te 'ṅgasaṅgāt teṣv āste hyaghabhiddhariḥ //

Śrī Bhagīratha said: / "Virtuous devotees, renunciates, peaceful, established in Brahman, purifiers of the worlds / will remove your sin through physical contact, for Hari, the destroyer of sin, resides in them.

6. Bhagiratha said:— "The righteous, the ascetics, those who have renounced the world, those wholly devoted to Brahman—all

those able to purify the worlds can remove that sin (by their ablutions) the waters; for Hari, destroyer of sin, is present in them.

9.9.7

dhārayiṣyati te vegaṃ rudrastv ātmā śarīriṇām /
yasminnotamidaṃ protaṃ viśvaṃ śāṭīva tantuṣu //

Rudra will sustain your momentum—he who is the self of embodied beings, / in whom this universe is woven warp and woof, like a cloth in threads."

7. "Rudra will bear thy force; he is the supporter of all creatures; for into him this Universe is woven, warp and woof, like a cloth in its threads.

9.9.8

ityuktvā sa nṛpo devaṃ tapasātoṣayac chivam /
kālenālpīyasā rājaṃstasyeśaścāśv atuṣyata //

Having spoken thus, that king pleased the god Śiva through austerities. / In a very short time, O king, the Lord was swiftly pleased with him.

8. Having replied thus, the king propitiated God Siva by his tapas; O king, God Siva was soon pleased with him.

9.9.9

tatheti rājñābhihitaṃ sarvalokahitaḥ śivaḥ /
dadhārāvahito gaṅgāṃ pādapūtajalāṃ hareḥ //

Saying 'So be it' to what was spoken by the king, Śiva, who is beneficial to all the worlds, / attentively sustained the Gaṅgā, whose waters are purified by the foot of Hari.

9. Agreeing to do what the king requested, Siva, kind to all (the whole world), and mindful of his request supported on his head Ganga whose waters are hallowed with Hari's feet.

9.9.10

bhagīrathaḥ sa rājarṣirninye bhuvanapāvanīm /
yatra svapit-ṇāṃ dehā bhasmībhūtāḥ sma śerate //

Bhagīratha, that royal sage, led the purifier of the universe / to where the bodies of his ancestors lay reduced to ashes.

10. The great king Bhagiratha led Ganga who purifies the whole world, to the spot where the bodies of his forefathers lay reduced to ashes.

9.9.11

rathena vāyuvegena prayāntamanudhāvatī /
deśān punantī nirdagdhān āsiñcat sagarātmajān //

Running after him as he advanced in a chariot swift as the wind, / purifying the lands, she washed over the burned sons of Sagara.

11. After the king who rode in advance in a chariot swift as the wind, she flowed on, purifying on her way the countries and she bathed the burnt-up sons of Sagara.

9.9.12

yajjalasparśamātreṇa brahmadaṇḍahatā api /
sagarātmajā divaṃ jagmuḥ kevalaṃ dehabhasmabhiḥ //

Merely through the contact of whose water, though struck down by the curse of a brāhmaṇa, / the sons of Sagara went to heaven solely through the ashes of their bodies.

12. By the very contact of that water with their ashes Sagara's sons, though struck down by their sin against Brahman, were translated to celestial regions.

9.9.13

bhasmībhūtāṅgasaṅgena svaryātāḥ sagarātmajāḥ /
kiṃ punaḥ śraddhayā devīṃ sevante ye dhṛtavratāḥ //

If the sons of Sagara went to heaven by contact with their ashen bodies, / what more [can be said] of those who, resolute in vows, serve the goddess with faith?

13. When by the contact of their body in ashes with her waters, Sagara's sons attained to Swarga, what then need be said that those, who, with faith and attentive to proper observances, worship her (bathe in her flood), go to heaven?

9.9.14

na hyetat paramāścaryaṃ svardhunyā yadihoditam /
anantacaraṇāmbhoja prasūtāyā bhavacchidaḥ //

Indeed, this is no supreme wonder which has been told here of the celestial river, / born from the lotus feet of Ananta, which severs cyclic existence.

14. What is said here of (This virtue of) the celestial river is no great wonder; for, she is born of the lotus-like feet of Hari, and cuts off Samsara.

9.9.15

sanniveśya mano yasmiñ chraddhayā munayo 'malāḥ /
traiguṇyaṃ dustyajaṃ hitvā sadyo yātāstadātmatām //

By fixing their minds upon Him with faith, taintless sages / abandon the triple qualities of material nature, so difficult to relinquish, and immediately attain oneness of nature with Him.

15. Having devoted in faith their mind to that Hari sages become purified, shake off the attachment to the body (the product of the three gunas) hardly otherwise possible and soon attain to the

state of being Brahman.

9.9.16

śruto bhagīrathāj jajñe tasya nābho 'paro 'bhavat /
sindhudvīpastatastasmādayutāyustato 'bhavat //

From Bhagīratha, Śruta was born; his [son] was Nābha, distinct [from the earlier one]; / from him was Sindhudvīpa; from him was Ayutāyus; from him arose

16. Sruta was born of Bhagiratha; his son was Nabha and his son was Sindhudwipa of whom Ayutayu was born.

9.9.17

ṛtūparṇo nalasakho yo 'śvavidyāmayān nalāt /
dattvākṣahṛdayaṃ cāsmai sarvakāmastu tatsutam //

Ṛtūparṇa, the friend of Nala, who obtained the secret of horsemanship from Nala / after giving him the secret of dice; and Sarvakāma was his son.

17. & 18. And of this last was born Rituparna who, the friend of Nala, learnt from him Aswavidya (the secret of managing the horse) having given him in exchange the secret of dice (gambling); and Rituparna's son was Sarvakama; his son was Sudasa; his son (Saudasa) was the husband of Madayanti, O king, and he was sometimes called Mitrasaha, and sometimes Kalmashapada. Through Vasishta's curse he became a demon and was childless in consequence of his own Karma.

9.9.18

tataḥ sudāsastatputro damayantīpatirnṛpaḥ /
āhurmitrasahaṃ yaṃ vai kalmāṣāṅghrimuta kvacit /
vasiṣṭhaśāpādrakṣo 'bhūdanapatyaḥ svakarmaṇā //

Then his son was King Sudās, the husband of Damayantī, / whom indeed they call Mitrasaha, and somewhere Kalmāṣāṅghri. / Due to the curse of Vasiṣṭha, he became a demon and was childless through his own deed.

9.9.19

/0 śrīrājovāca
kiṃ nimitto guroḥ śāpaḥ saudāsasya mahātmanaḥ /
etadveditumicchāmaḥ kathyatāṃ na raho yadi //

The king said: / What was the reason for the spiritual teacher's curse upon the high-souled Saudāsa? / We wish to know this; let it be spoken, if it is not a secret.

19. The king said:—What is the cause of the preceptor's curse on the high-souled Saudasa? We are eager to know this; may it be told us if not secret!

9.9.20

/0 śrīśuka uvāca
saudāso mṛgayāṃ kiñcic caran rakṣo jaghāna ha /
mumoca bhrātaraṃ so 'tha gataḥ praticikīrṣayā //

Śrī Śuka said: / Saudāsa, roaming while on a hunt, killed a demon. / He released the demon's brother, who then departed wishing for retaliation.

20. & 21. Sri Suka said:— (Once) when he went ahunting Saudasa killed a demon, and left his brother to escape alive: he went away harbouring a desire to take revenge; keeping in mind the offence from the king, he in the guise of a cook got into the king's palace, dressed and served human flesh to the king's preceptor who came there to take his meals.

9.9.21

sañcintayannaghaṃ rājñaḥ sūdarūpadharo gṛhe /
gurave bhoktukāmāya paktvā ninye narāmiṣam //

Plotting harm against the king, assuming the form of a cook in his house, / he cooked human flesh and brought it to the spiritual teacher who was desiring to eat.

9.9.22

parivekṣyamāṇaṃ bhagavān vilokyābhakṣyamañjasā /
rājānamaśapat kruddho rakṣo hyevaṃ bhaviṣyasi //

The venerable [Vasiṣṭha], seeing directly that what was to be served was unfit to be eaten, / cursed the king in anger: "You shall indeed become a demon for this!"

22. The venerable preceptor saw clearly that it was a prohibited thing, when about to be served, and offended at it, cursed the king, "thou wilt also be thus a demon".

9.9.23

rakṣaḥkṛtaṃ tadviditvā cakre dvādaśavārṣikam /
so 'pyapo 'ñjalimādāya guruṃ śaptuṃ samudyataḥ //

Learning that it was the doing of a demon, he made it last twelve years. / He too, taking water in his palms, was prepared to curse the spiritual teacher.

23. Having then understood that it was the work of a demon, the preceptor limited his curse to twelve years; the king too took water in his hand and prepared to pronounce a curse on the preceptor.

9.9.24

vārito madayantyāpo ruśatīḥ pādayorjahau /
diśaḥ khamavanīṃ sarvaṃ paśyan jīvamayaṃ nṛpaḥ //

Dissuaded by Madayantī, the king poured out the terrifying water upon his own feet, / seeing the quarters, the sky, the earth—everything as full of living beings.

24. But prevented by his wife Madayanti he let the water charged with mantras fall on his own feet. For he saw the cardinal points, the sky, the earth and every thing, instinct with life (and would not injure any creature).

9.9.25

rākṣasaṃ bhāvamāpannaḥ pāde kalmāṣatāṃ gataḥ /
vyavāyakāle dadṛśe vanaukodampatī dvijau //

Having fallen into demonic nature, his foot attained black-spottedness. / At the time of sexual union, he saw a brāhmaṇa couple living in the forest.

25. He became a Rakshasa and had his feet turned black (as if scorched by fire); he once saw a brahmin couple living in the forest in the act of their intercourse.

9.9.26

kṣudhārto jagṛhe vipraṃ tatpatnyāhākṛtārthavat /
na bhavān rākṣasaḥ sākṣādikṣvākūṇāṃ mahārathaḥ //

Afflicted by hunger, he seized the brāhmaṇa. His wife said, as one unfulfilled: / "You are not actually a demon; you are a great car-warrior of the Ikṣvākus,

26. Pinched by hunger he seized the brahmin; the brahmin's wife helplessly pleaded, "thou art not a regular devil, but thou art a great hero born directly of Ikshvaku race.

9.9.27

madayantyāḥ patirvīra nādharmaṃ kartumarhasi /
dehi me 'patyakāmāyā akṛtārthaṃ patiṃ dvijam //

the husband of Madayantī, O hero! You ought not to commit adharma. / Grant to me, who desire offspring, my unfulfilled husband, the brāhmaṇa.

27. “Thou art the husband of Madayanti, O warrior; thou oughtest not to do what is unrighteous; be pleased to restore to me eager to have an issue the brahmin my husband, who had not the fill of pleasure.

9.9.28

deho 'yaṃ mānuṣo rājan puruṣasyākhilārthadaḥ /
tasmādasya vadho vīra sarvārthavadha ucyate //

This human body, O king, grants all ends to a person; / therefore, O hero, its killing is spoken of as the destruction of all ends.

28. “This human body, O king, is capable of yielding all purposes of man; therefore, O warrior, its destruction is the destruction of every purpose.

9.9.29

eṣa hi brāhmaṇo vidvāṃstapaḥśīlaguṇānvitaḥ /
ārirādhayiṣurbrahma mahāpuruṣasaṃjñitam /
sarvabhūtātmabhāvena bhūteṣv antarhitaṃ guṇaiḥ //

For this learned brāhmaṇa, endowed with asceticism, good conduct, and virtue, / is desirous of worshipping Brahman, known as the Supreme Person, / hidden among beings by their qualities, through the state of being the self of all beings.

29. “This is indeed a brahmin, learned and possessed of tapas, piety and other virtues, and seeking to worship Brahman called *Mahapurusha* (Vishnu) who lies hidden in all beings on account of the gunas,though he is present as Antaryamin in all beings.

9.9.30

so 'yaṃ brahmarṣivaryaste rājarṣipravarādvibho /
kathamarhati dharmajña vadhaṃ piturivātmajaḥ //

How does he, this best among brāhmaṇa sages, O all-powerful one, / deserve death from you, the foremost of royal sages, knower of dharma, as a son from a father?

30. “Such a great brahmin sage as he is, he does not deserve death at the hands of a great saintly king like thyself, O protector of Dharma, even as a son does not at the hands of his father.

9.9.31

tasya sādhorapāpasya bhrūṇasya brahmavādinaḥ /
kathaṃ vadhaṃ yathā babhrormanyate sanmato bhavān //

How can you, esteemed by the virtuous, consider the death of him—a virtuous devotee, sinless, / learned in the Vedas, an expounder of Brahman—as though of a cow?

31. “How dost thou think it right to kill that righteous sinless brahmin versed in the Vedas, (innocent like) a child in the womb, like unto a kapila cow, as esteemed indeed thou art of the righteous?

9.9.32

yadyayaṃ kriyate bhakṣyastarhi māṃ khāda pūrvataḥ /
na jīviṣye vinā yena kṣaṇaṃ ca mṛtakaṃ yathā //

If he is to be made food, then devour me first! / Without him I shall not live for even a moment, like a corpse."

32. “If he is to be made a victim, be pleased to eat me first; I cannot live for a moment without him, so eat me as one already killed.”

9.9.33

evaṃ karuṇabhāṣiṇyā vilapantyā anāthavat /
vyāghraḥ paśumivākhādat saudāsaḥ śāpamohitaḥ //

As she was speaking thus piteously, lamenting like one without a protector, / Saudāsa, deluded by the curse, ate him as a tiger eats an animal.

33. While the brahmin woman helplessly and pitiably cried and spoke, Saudasa, deluded by the curse, preyed upon the brahmin just as a tiger preys upon a beast.

9.9.34

brāhmaṇī vīkṣya didhiṣuṃ puruṣādena bhakṣitam /
śocantyātmānamurvīśamaśapat kupitā satī //

Seeing her husband being eaten by the man-eater, / the brāhmaṇa woman, grieving for herself, cursed the king in anger, faithful wife that she was:

34. The woman saw her husband in that condition eaten up by a cannibal, lamented herself and in rage the chaste woman cursed the king.

9.9.35

yasmān me bhakṣitaḥ pāpa kāmārtāyāḥ patistvayā /
tavāpi mṛtyurādhānādakṛtaprajña darśitaḥ //

"Because my husband was eaten by you, O wicked one, while I was stricken with desire, / for you too, O thoughtless fool, death is foreordained upon attempting intercourse!"

35. Since my husband is eaten by thee, O sinful one, while I was love-stricken, O foolish one, know that thy death also is indicated while in the act of sexual intercourse.

9.9.36

evaṃ mitrasahaṃ śaptvā patilokaparāyaṇā /
tadasthīni samiddhe 'gnau prāsya bharturgatiṃ gatā //

Having cursed Mitrasaha in this manner, devoted to the realm of her husband, / casting his bones into a kindled fire, she attained the destination of her husband.

36. Having thus cursed Mitrasaha and bent on attaining to the world of her husband, she gathered his bones and put them in a flaming fire and followed the course of her husband.

9.9.37

viśāpo dvādaśābdānte maithunāya samudyataḥ /
vijñāpya brāhmaṇīśāpaṃ mahiṣyā sa nivāritaḥ //

Free from the curse at the end of twelve years, he prepared for sexual intercourse; / being informed of the brāhmaṇa woman's curse, he was prevented by his queen.

37. Freed from the preceptor’s curse at the end of twelve years, he proceeded to enjoy his wife’s company; but Madayanti

remembered the curse of the brahmin woman and requested him not to approach her.

9.9.38

ata ūrdhvaṃ sa tatyāja strīsukhaṃ karmaṇāprajāḥ /
vasiṣṭhastadanujñāto madayantyāṃ prajāmadhāt //

From then on, childless due to his karma, he abandoned the pleasure of women. / Permitted by him, Vasiṣṭha engendered offspring in Madayantī.

38. Thereafter he gave up the hope of sexual pleasure and thus by his own act he became childless; with his assent, Vasishta begot then an issue on Madayanti.

9.9.39

sā vai sapta samā garbhamabibhran na vyajāyata /
jaghne 'śmanodaraṃ tasyāḥ so 'śmakastena kathyate //

She indeed carried the fetus for seven years and did not deliver. / He struck her belly with a stone; on that account, he is called Aśmaka.

39. She grew seven years in pregnancy, but was not delivered: so he (Vasishta) hit her stomach with a stone and the son (so born) was thereby called Asmaka.

9.9.40

aśmakādbāliko jajñe yaḥ strībhiḥ parirakṣitaḥ /
nārīkavaca ityukto niḥkṣatre mūlako 'bhavat //

From Aśmaka was born Bālika, who was protected by women; / called Nārīkavaca, he became Mūlaka when the kṣatriyas were eradicated.

40. Of Asmaka Mulaka was born; he was protected by women; therefore he was called Nareekavacha. He became the first of the Kshatriya race when it was destroyed by Parasurama and was hence called Mulaka.

9.9.41

tato daśarathastasmāt putra aiḍaviḍistataḥ /
rājā viśvasaho yasya khaṭvāṅgaścakravartyabhūt //

From him came Daśaratha, from him his son Aiḍaviḍi, / from him King Viśvasaha, whose [son] Khaṭvāṅga became a sovereign emperor,

41. From him was descended Dasaratha, of whom was born Aidavida; his son was Visvasaha whose son Khatvanga became an emperor.

9.9.42

yo devairarthito daityān avadhīdyudhi durjayaḥ /
muhūrtamāyurjñātvaitya svapuraṃ sandadhe manaḥ //

who, requested by the gods, slew the Daityas in battle, invincible; / knowing his life to be only forty-eight minutes remaining, returning to his city, he concentrated his mind:

42. Requested by the gods the invincible Khatvanga slew Daityas in battle; when told that he had but an hour's life left, he came back to his city and concentrated his mind on the Supreme Being.

9.9.43

na me brahmakulāt prāṇāḥ kuladaivān na cātmajāḥ /
na śriyo na mahī rājyaṃ na dārāścātivallabhāḥ //

"Neither my life-breaths are dearer to me than the brāhmaṇa order and the deity of the clan, nor my sons, / nor riches, nor the earth, nor the kingdom, nor my wife, exceedingly dear though they be.

43. "My life is not dear to me more than the family Deity, namely, the Brahmin race; and my sons are not dear to me; nor wealth, nor the earth, nor my empire, nor wives are dearer to me.

9.9.44

na bālye 'pi matirmahyamadharme ramate kvacit /
nāpaśyamuttamaślokādanyat kiñcana vastv aham //

Even in my childhood, my mind never took pleasure in adharma, / nor did I see any reality other than He of highest renown."

44. "Even as a boy my mind found no delight in unrighteousness in any respect; I did not deem to be a really absolute thing anything other than the glorious Lord.

9.9.45

devaiḥ kāmavaro datto mahyaṃ tribhuvaneśvaraiḥ /
na vṛṇe tamahaṃ kāmaṃ bhūtabhāvanabhāvanaḥ //

The gods, the lords of the three worlds, offered me a wish of my choice. / Meditating on the creator of all beings, I do not choose that desire.

45. "By the gods, the rulers of the three worlds, every desired boon has been conferred upon me; but I do not welcome any object of desire, (as) I am ever thinking of the Maker of all creatures.

9.9.46

ye vikṣiptendriyadhiyo devāste svahṛdi sthitam /
na vindanti priyaṃ śaśvadātmānaṃ kimutāpare //

The gods themselves, their intellects distracted by the senses, / do not constantly find the beloved self dwelling in their own hearts—how much less others?

46. "Even the gods that may allow their senses and mind to be distracted (by other objects) do not realise the Lord who is enthroned in their own heart and who is the most beloved and the eternal supporter. What then need be said of others?

9.9.47

atheśamāyāraciteṣu saṅgaṃ guṇeṣu gandharvapuropameṣu /
rūḍhaṃ prakṛtyātmani viśvakartur bhāvena hitvā tamahaṃ prapadye //

Therefore, abandoning attachment to the qualities produced by the Lord's creative power—which are like a city in the clouds— / rooted naturally in my self, by devotion to the Maker of the universe I take refuge in Him.

47. "Therefore I shall, by the force of contemplating the Maker

of the Universe, rid myself of the attachment strongly rooted by nature in the objects, creations of the Lord's Maya, and like unto Gandharvanagara (fanciful forms), and I resort to Him alone”.

9.9.48

iti vyavasito buddhyā nārāyaṇagṛhītayā /
hitvānyabhāvamajñānaṃ tataḥ svaṃ bhāvamāsthitaḥ //

Having thus resolved with an intellect seized by Nārāyaṇa, / casting aside the ignorance of other thoughts, he then became established in his own true nature.

48. & 49. Having thus resolved by power of his Reason, with his mind taken up with Narayana, he shunned every other thought as a wrong notion, and attained to his essential state, which is Parabrahman, very subtle, something positive, thought of as nothing and which the gods sing under the names of Bhagavan and Vasudeva.

9.9.49

yat tadbrahma paraṃ sūkṣmamaśūnyaṃ śūnyakalpitam /
bhagavān vāsudeveti yaṃ gṛṇanti hi sātvatāḥ //

That which is the supreme Brahman, subtle, not void though imagined as void, / which the Sātvatas indeed glorify as the Lord Vāsudeva.