Bhagavatapurana 8.2

English (machine translation) 8.2

Language: English

8.2.1

Śrī Śuka said: / There was a best of mountains, O king, renowned as Trikūṭa, / surrounded by the Ocean of Milk, splendid, ten thousand yojanas high.

8.2.2

Equally broad all around, it stands illuminating the ocean of milk,
the directions, and the sky with its three peaks of silver, iron, and gold.

8.2.3

And with other peaks variegated with gems and minerals,
with diverse trees, creepers, and shrubs, and with the roaring sounds of cascade waters, [it illuminates] all the quarters.

8.2.4

Its base constantly washed all around by the waves of milk,
it makes the earth dark-green with emerald stones.

8.2.5

Its caves are frequented by sporting Siddhas, Cāraṇas, and Gandharvas,
by Vidyādharas, great serpents, Kinnaras, and Apsarases.

8.2.6

Where, when the caves echo with the resonant sounds of music,
lions, proud of their strength, roar aggressively in anger, suspecting a rival.

8.2.7

Adorned with valleys teeming with herds of various wild beasts,
it has celestial gardens of wondrous trees where sweet-voiced birds sing.

8.2.8

Endowed with rivers and lakes of clear water, sandbanks of jewel-like sands,
and breezes carrying the fragrant scent of waters stirred by the bathing of divine women.

8.2.9

In a valley of that mountain was a garden belonging to the glorious Varuṇa,
named Ṛtumat, a pleasure-ground for celestial women,

8.2.10

Adorned on all sides with divine trees bearing perpetual flowers and fruits:
mandāras, pārijātas, pāṭalas, aśokas, campakas,

8.2.11

Cūtas, piyālas, jackfruits, mangos, and amrātakas,
areca palms, coconuts, dates, and bījapūrakas,

8.2.12

Madhukas, śālas, palmyras, tamālas, asanas, arjunas,
ariṣṭas, uḍumbaras, plakṣas, banyans, kiṃśukas, and sandalwoods,

8.2.13

Picumardas, kovidāras, pines, devdars,
grapes, sugarcanes, plantains, jambus, jujubes, akṣas, abhayās, āmalakas,

8.2.14

Surrounded by bilvas, kapitthas, citrons, bhallātakas, and others.
In that [garden] was a vast lake with shining golden lotuses,

8.2.15

Abundant with the beauty of white water lilies, blue lotuses, red water lilies, and lotuses,
resounding with intoxicated six-legged bees and birds of sweet calls,

8.2.16

Filled with swans, kāraṇḍavas, cakravākas, and cranes,
and echoing with flocks of water-fowls, koyaṣṭis, and gallinules,

8.2.17

Its waters covered with lotus pollen stirred up by the movement of fish and turtles,
surrounded by kadambas, reeds, nalas, nīpas, and vañjulakas,

8.2.18

By kundas, kurubakas, aśokas, śirīṣas, kūṭajas, iṅgudas,
kubjakas, golden jasmine, nāgas, punnāgas, and jātīs,

8.2.19

And adorned with mallikās, lotuses, bower creepers,
and other trees growing on its banks, ever in flower and fruit throughout all seasons.

Once, dwelling in the forests of that mountain, a lord of an elephant herd wandered there with his female elephants,
breaking down trees and vast thickets filled with thorns, whispering bamboos, canebrakes, and reeds.

8.2.21

By whose mere scent lions, great elephants, and ferocious beasts like tigers and rhinoceroses flee in terror,
as do huge serpents, white and black antelopes, sarabhas, and yaks.

8.2.22

While wolves, boars, buffaloes, bears, porcupines, langurs, jackals, and monkeys,
as well as small deer, hares, and others roam elsewhere without fear, by his grace.

8.2.23

Tormented by the heat, surrounded by elephants and female elephants, followed by young calves dripping with temple secretions,
he made the mountain tremble all around by his massive weight, while attended by swarms of bees feeding on rut-juice.

8.2.24

Smelling from afar the breeze from the lake tinged with lotus pollen, his eyes bewildered with rut,
he, surrounded by his herd oppressed by thirst, quickly went near that lake.

8.2.25

Plunging into that pure, nectar-like water covered with the pollen of golden and blue lotuses,
he drank his fill using his trunk, and bathing himself with the water, his fatigue vanished.

8.2.26

Drawing up spray and water with his trunk, causing the female elephants and calves to drink and bathe, like a householder
affectionate [toward his family], intoxicated and pitiable, he did not foresee danger due to the creative power of the Unborn.

8.2.27

There, O King, impelled by fate, a powerful crocodile angrily seized him by the foot.
Having thus fallen into calamity by chance, that exceedingly strong elephant exerted all his might [to resist].

8.2.28

Seeing the leader of the herd thus afflicted, being dragged forcibly by the stronger [crocodile],
the female elephants cried out in distress, and the other elephants, seizing him from behind, were unable to pull him out.

8.2.29

As the lord of elephants and the crocodile thus fought, dragging each other back and forth inside and outside [the water],
a thousand years passed, O ruler of the earth, and the immortals marvelled at their endurance.

8.2.30

Then, over that long time, a great depletion took place in the mental energy, physical force, and vitality of the king of elephants
who was being dragged into the water and exhausted; while for the water-dweller, everything was the exact opposite.

8.2.31

Thus, when that king of elephants, an embodied soul, came into peril of his life, helpless by circumstance,
unable to free himself after so long a time, he reflected deeply and arrived at this resolve:

8.2.32

“These elephants, my kinsmen, are unable to deliver me in my distress; how then could the females?
Caught by the crocodile as if by the noose of Destiny, I shall take refuge in that supreme ultimate refuge.

8.2.33

Whoever is the Lord who protects one who is frightened and surrendered from the mighty serpent of Death running after him with terrible speed,
and through fear of whom Death himself flees away—we approach Him for protection.”

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit