Bhagavatapurana 4.16

English (machine translation) 4.16

Language: English

4.16.1

Maitreya said: / As the king spoke thus, the singers, urged on by the sages, / their minds delighted by the nectar of his words, praised him.

[The singers said:] / “We are not capable of describing your greatness, you who are the foremost of gods descended by your creative power; / even the minds of the masters of speech wander in bewilderment regarding the heroic deeds of you born from Vena’s body.

4.16.3

Even so, longing for the nectar of the stories of Pṛthu of generous renown, an incarnation of a portion of Hari, / urged on by the sages according to their instruction, we unfold your laudable deeds.

4.16.4

He is the best of upholders of dharma, guiding the world to follow dharma, / the guardian of the embankments of dharma, and the chastiser of its adversaries.

4.16.5

He alone bears the forms of the guardians of the world in his body, / at the proper time dispensing portions for the welfare of both worlds.

4.16.6

He collects wealth at the proper time and at the proper time dispenses it, / impartial toward all beings, blazing all around like the sun, all-pervading.

4.16.7

Son of Vena, he tolerates trespass even by those stepping on him, / always compassionate to suffering creatures, having the nature of the earth.

4.16.8

When the rain-god does not rain, this divine lord, Hari in human-king form, / will readily protect his subjects who are in mortal agony, just as Indra does.

4.16.9

He gladdens the world with his moonlike, nectarous countenance, / with an affectionate gaze, beautiful with a clear smile.

4.16.10

His path was unmanifest, his undertakings hidden, his insight profound, his resources concealed;
the sole abode of boundless greatness and virtue, Pṛthu was restrained in self like Varuṇa.

4.16.11

Hard to approach, hard to endure, though near he seemed far away;
none could overpower this fire arisen from the kindling-stick that was Vena.

4.16.12

Observing the deeds of beings within and without through spies,
he was like an impartial overseer, like the breath of life, the self of embodied beings.

4.16.13

He did not punish one undeserving of punishment, even the son of his enemies;
he punished even his own son if deserving of punishment, steadfast on the path of dharma.

4.16.14

The wheel of this Pṛthu rolled unobstructed as far as Mount Mānasa,
just as far as the divine sun warms with his rays.

4.16.15

Because he delighted the world through his own deeds,
the subjects therefore called him “King”, the delighter of minds.

4.16.16

Firm in vows, true to his promise, devoted to the brāhmaṇas, serving the elders, / a refuge for all beings, conferring honor, affectionate toward the wretched;

4.16.17

Devoted to other men's wives as to his mother, treating his wife as half of himself, / loving toward his subjects as a father, a servant of those who discourse on Brahman;

4.16.18

Dear to embodied beings as their own self, increasing the joy of his friends, / keeping company with those free from attachment, staff in hand against the wicked;

4.16.19

Yet he is directly the Lord, ruler of the three [worlds], the unchanging self descended by a portion, / in whom people see the manifold [creation] fashioned by ignorance to be meaningless, even while it appears.

4.16.20

He alone is the heroic protector of the circle of the earth up to the Mountain of Sunrise, the lord of kings; / mounting his victorious chariot, bow in hand, he will traverse the south like the sun.

4.16.21

To him kings, together with the guardians of the worlds, will indeed bring tribute everywhere; / their women, proclaiming his glory, will honor him as the original king, his weapon the discus.

4.16.22

This sovereign lord, a progenitor who provides sustenance for his subjects, milked the earth as a cow; / he who, effortlessly shattering mountains with the tip of his bow like Indra, made the earth level.

4.16.23

When, twanging his bow Ājagava, he roams the earth irresistible in battle, / the wicked will hide in every direction, just as [beasts do] when a lion raises its tail.

4.16.24

He performed a hundred horse sacrifices where the Sarasvatī appeared; / during the final one, Purandara of a hundred sacrifices stole his horse.

4.16.25

In the garden of his residence he met the one Lord Sanatkumāra, / and worshipping him with devotion, obtained that pure knowledge by which they know the supreme Brahman.

4.16.26

Here and there, celebrated for his valor, / Pṛthu of immense might will hear these various songs recounting his own deeds.

4.16.27

Having conquered the quarters, his discus unobstructed, having removed the thorn of the world by his own splendor, / his immense glory praised by the lords of gods and demons, he will be the master of the earth.

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit