Bhagavatapurana 4.26

English (machine translation) 4.26

Language: English

4.26.1

Nārada said:
Once that great archer [mounted] a chariot with five horses that moved swiftly,
with two yokes, two wheels, one axle, three flagstaffs, and five fastenings,

4.26.2

With one rein, one charioteer, one seat, two poles,
five weapons, seven fenders, and five kinds of motion,

4.26.3

Mounted on it with golden fittings, wearing golden armor, with inexhaustible quivers,
that commander of eleven armies went to the forest named Pañcaprastha.

4.26.4

Haughty, armed with bow and arrow, he hunted there,
abandoning his wife who did not deserve it, eager for the addiction of hunting.

4.26.5

Adopting a demonic way of life, cruel-hearted and devoid of mercy,
he slaughtered the forest dwellers in the woods with sharpened arrows.

4.26.6

Only at prescribed sacred occasions may a king, if greedy,
kill sacrificial animals in the forest as needed—so it is ordained.

4.26.7

A wise man who performs prescribed action in this manner,
O king of kings, is not tainted by that action, because of knowledge.

4.26.8

Acting otherwise, inflated with pride, he is bound;
fallen into the current of the guṇas, his wisdom ruined, he sinks downward.

4.26.9

There, because their bodies were torn apart by arrows with variegated feathers,
there arose an unbearable destruction of the afflicted, [distressing] to compassionate souls.

4.26.10

Hares, wild boars, buffaloes, wild oxen, ruru deer, and porcupines,
and various other sacrificial beasts he struck down, until he became exhausted.

4.26.11

Then, weary with hunger and thirst, he returned and went home;
having bathed and taken proper food, his fatigue gone, he lay down.

4.26.12

He adorned himself with incenses, ointments, garlands, and the like;
with all his limbs well decorated, he set his mind upon the queen.

4.26.13

Satisfied, delighted, deeply proud, his mind seized by Cupid,
he did not see his fair-hipped wife, the mistress of the house.

4.26.14

Disheartened, he asked the women of the inner apartments as if sitting at an altar:
"O lovely women, is all well with you together with your mistress, as before?

The splendors of the house do not please me now as before.
If there is no mother in the house, or a wife devoted to her husband,
what wise man would sit like a wretched pauper, as if in a broken chariot?

4.26.16

Where is that lovely woman who rescues me when I am drowning
in the ocean of distress, illuminating my intellect at every step?"

4.26.17

The women said:
"O lord of men, we do not know what your beloved intends;
behold her lying upon the bare ground, O slayer of foes!"

4.26.18

Nārada said:
Purañjana, beholding his queen cast down upon the ground,
his understanding disturbed by attachment to her, was plunged into utter distress.

4.26.19

Consoling her with sweet words, with his heart aching,
he found no sign of loving passion directed toward himself from his beloved.

4.26.20

Then the hero, skilled in conciliation, coaxed her gently;
he touched both her feet and spoke to her as she was fondled on his lap.

4.26.21

Purañjana said:
"Surely those servants have accumulated no merit upon whom their masters,
O auspicious one, when offenses are committed, do not bestow chastisement as their own.

4.26.22

Punishment inflicted by a master upon servants is the highest grace;
a foolish and impatient child does not understand that it is the duty of a kin, O slender one.

4.26.23

Therefore, O sweet-toothed, lovely-browed one, show to us, who are your own,
your face adorned with a smile and glance bashfully restrained by the weight of love,
with a raised nose embellished by dark curls, O high-minded lady, and utter sweet words.

4.26.24

I shall inflict punishment on anyone who has committed an offense against you, O wife of a hero,
except from the community of brahmins;
nowhere do I see anyone fearless and joyful in the three worlds,
except indeed a servant of the foe of Mura, or elsewhere.

4.26.25

Let me not see your face without its tilaka, stained, joyless,
terrifying in anger, unwashed, and drained of color;
let me not see your shapely breasts struck by grief,
or your bimba-fruit lip bereft of red safflower paste.

4.26.26

Therefore be gracious to me, your friend who committed an offense,
gone to hunt at will, tormented by addiction.
What passionate woman would not attend to her husband, who has come under her control,
his virility melted by the force of the flower-arrowed god, when it comes to love?"

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit