Bhagavatapurana 9.14

English (machine translation) 9.14

Language: English

9.14.1

Śrī Śuka said: / Now therefore, O king, hear the purifying dynasty of the Moon, / in which kings such as Ila’s son are celebrated, whose fame is holy.

9.14.2

From the lake-like lotus navel of the thousand-headed Person, / the Creator was born, whose son was Atri, equal to his father in virtues.

9.14.3

From his eyes was born a son, the Moon, made of nectar; / he was appointed by Brahmā as the lord of brāhmaṇas, medicinal herbs, and stars.

9.14.4

Having conquered the three worlds, he performed the Rājasūya sacrifice; / out of arrogance he seized by force Tārā, the wife of Bṛhaspati.

9.14.5

Though repeatedly begged by the teacher of the gods, out of intoxication / he would not release her; on her account, a war arose between the gods and the dānavas.

9.14.6

Śukra, out of hatred for Bṛhaspati, sided with the Moon along with the asuras; / Hara, out of affection for the preceptor's son, surrounded by hosts of all spirits, [took his side].

9.14.7

Mahendra, accompanied by all the hosts of gods, followed the teacher; / there occurred a battle involving Tārā that caused the destruction of gods and asuras.

9.14.8

Then, informed by Aṅgiras, the creator of the universe rebuked the Moon / and gave Tārā back to her husband; her husband discovered that she was pregnant.

9.14.9

“Discard, discard at once, evil woman, the seed implanted in my field by another! / I shall not reduce you to ashes, unfaithful woman, desirous as you are of offspring!”

9.14.10

Shamed, Tārā cast off a boy of golden radiance. / Both the descendant of Aṅgiras and the Moon developed a longing for the boy.

9.14.11

As the two argued loudly, 'This is mine, not yours,' / the sages and the gods asked her, but she said nothing, bashful as she was.

9.14.12

Angered by her false shame, the boy said to his mother: / 'Why do you not speak, unchaste woman? Speak my paternity at once!'

9.14.13

Brahmā called her aside and asked her, comforting her. / She whispered slowly, 'Soma’s.' Thereupon Soma took him.

9.14.14

The Self-born named him Budha, O King. / By this son of profound intellect, the King of the Stars attained great joy.

9.14.15

From him was born Purūravas, who was described [earlier as born] of Ilā. / Having heard of his beauty, virtues, generosity, / good character, wealth, and valor,

9.14.16

sung by the divine sage in Indra’s abode, / the goddess Urvaśī, tormented by the arrows of love, approached him.

Subject to human status by the curse of Mitra and Varuṇa, / and having heard of that best of men, who was like the god of love incarnate, / the lovely woman restrained her modesty and stood before him.

9.14.18

Seeing her, the king's eyes blossomed with delight; / his bodily hairs standing on end with joy, he spoke to the goddess in smooth words.

9.14.19

The king said: / Welcome to you, O fair-hipped lady! Be seated. What may we do [for you]? / Take your pleasure with me, and let our loving union last for eternal years.

9.14.20

Urvaśī said: / Whose mind and sight would not be bound to you, O handsome one, / upon reaching your limbs, falling under the desire to love?

9.14.21

These two lambs, O King, are placed as a pledge; protect them, O giver of honor. / I will take my delight with you; [such] an excellent husband is praised for women.

9.14.22

Clarified butter alone shall be my food, O hero; and I must not see you without clothes, except in sexual union. / 'So be it,' agreed the noble-minded king.

9.14.23

Ah, what beauty, ah, what grace, enchanting to the mortal world! / What man would not enjoy you, a goddess who have come of your own accord?

9.14.24

Delighting with her as she brought him pleasure fittingly, / that best of men enjoyed to his desire in the gardens of the gods, such as Caitraratha.

9.14.25

Sporting with that goddess, who bore the fragrance of lotus filaments, / captivated by the sweet scent of her mouth, he rejoiced for many a day.

9.14.26

Indra, missing Urvaśī, urged the Gandharvas: / 'Without Urvaśī, my assembly hall does not shine brightly.'

9.14.27

Approaching in the dead of night when darkness fell, / they stole Urvaśī's two lambs, which the wife had entrusted to the king.

9.14.28

Hearing the cries of her two sons as they were carried off, the goddess [wailed]: / 'I am undone by a wretched master—an impotent man who imagines himself a hero!

9.14.29

Trusting in him, I am ruined and robbed of my children by thieves; / he lies asleep terrified by night, like a woman, though a man by day!'

9.14.30

Pierced by these arrow-like words as an elephant by goads, / he took up his sword in the night and, unclothed, rushed forth in rage.

9.14.31

Releasing the two lambs there, the [Gandharvas] flashed like lightning; / and she saw her husband returning naked, bearing the two rams.

9.14.32

The son of Ilā, not seeing his wife upon the bed, became as one disheartened; / bewildered, his mind fixed on her, he wandered weeping over the earth like a madman.

9.14.33

Seeing her and her five companions at Kurukṣetra on the Sarasvatī, / Purūravas, his face beaming with joy, addressed her in well-spoken verse:

9.14.34

'O wife, stay, stay, O cruel one! You ought not to abandon me / without even speaking a word today, when we have not yet found fulfillment; let us speak words together!

9.14.35

This fair body, carried far away by you, O goddess, falls here; / wolves and vultures will devour it, as it has failed to win your favor.'

9.14.36

Urvaśī said: / 'Do not die; you are a man; let not these wolves devour you. / Truly, there is no friendship with women; their hearts are like those of wolves.

9.14.37

For women are pitiless, cruel, intolerant, and fond of rash deeds; / for the sake of a trifle they kill even a trusting husband or brother.

9.14.38

Inspiring false trust in fools, they abandon love; / seeking ever someone new, unchaste women act according to their own whim.

9.14.39

At the end of a year, my lord, you shall take your pleasure / with me for one night, and you will have other offspring, sir.'

9.14.40

Perceiving that the goddess was pregnant, he returned to his capital; / going there again at the end of the year, and finding Urvaśī, the mother of a hero,

9.14.41

he, filled with joy, spent the night with her. / Then Urvaśī spoke to him, who was wretched and afflicted with separation:

9.14.42

'Pray to these Gandharvas; they will give me to you.' / Pleased by his praise, O King, they gave him a fire-pan; / thinking it to be Urvaśī, he wandered in the forest until he came to his senses.

9.14.43

Placing the pan in the forest, he went home and meditated during the night. / As the Tretā age set in, the threefold Veda manifested in his mind.

9.14.44

Going to the place of the pan, he saw an aśvattha tree born within a śamī tree; / making two churning-sticks from it, with the desire for the realm of Urvaśī,

9.14.45

meditating through mantra on Urvaśī as the lower churning-stick and the upper one, / and on himself between the two as the son who is engendered, the master [churned].

9.14.46

From his churning, Jātavedas, the glowing fire, was born; / through the threefold knowledge, he was conceived by the king in the form of a son as the threefold fire.

9.14.47

With it, seeking the realm of Urvaśī, he worshipped the Lord of sacrifice, / the Lord Adhokṣaja, Hari, who comprises all the gods.

9.14.48

Formerly there was only one Veda, the sacred syllable, comprising all speech; / there was only one god, Nārāyaṇa, and no other; one fire, and only one caste.

9.14.49

The threefold Veda arose from Purūravas alone at the beginning of the Tretā age, O King. / By means of that fire as his son, the king attained the Gandharva realm.

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit