Bhagavatapurana 9.6
English (machine translation) 9.6
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Contents
9.6.1
Śrī Śuka said: / Virūpa, Ketumant, and Śambhu were the three sons of Ambarīṣa; / from Virūpa was born Pṛṣadaśva, and his son was Rathītara.
9.6.2
When Rathītara was childless, Aṅgiras, requested to produce offspring upon his wife, / fathered sons possessed of the brilliance of Brahman.
9.6.3
Born of the wife's field, they were also traditionally regarded as descendants of Aṅgiras; / they are the foremost of the Rathītaras, twice-born endowed with the qualities of both fields.
9.6.4
From Manu's sneeze, through his nostril, was born his son Ikṣvāku; / his hundred sons had Vikukṣi, Nimi, and Daṇḍaka as the eldest.
9.6.5
Twenty-five of them became kings in the eastern part of Āryāvarta, O king, / twenty-five in the west, three in the center, and the others elsewhere.
9.6.6
Once, for the Aṣṭakā-śrāddha, Ikṣvāku instructed his son: / "Fetch sacrificial meat, Vikukṣi; go without delay!"
9.6.7
Saying "So be it," he went to the forest, killed deer fit for the rite, / and, exhausted and hungry, the hero ate a hare, heedless [of the injunction].
9.6.8
He offered the remainder to his father; and urged by him to consecrate it with water, / the preceptor said, "This is defiled and unfit for ritual use."
9.6.9
Learning of his son's deed told by the preceptor, the king / in anger banished from the country the son who had abandoned the rule.
9.6.10
Having engaged in discourse with a wise brāhmaṇa, / that yogin cast off his body and attained the supreme state through it.
9.6.11
When his father passed away, Vikukṣi returned and ruled this earth, / worshiping Hari with sacrifices, renowned as Śaśāda, the hare-eater.
9.6.12
His son was Purañjaya, called Indravāha, / and also named Kakutstha; hear his names according to his deeds.
9.6.13
There was a fatal battle between the gods and the Dānavas; / defeated by the Daityas, the gods chose the hero as their rear-guard.
9.6.14
By the word of the Lord, the God of gods, Viṣṇu, the soul of the universe, / Indra became a great bull, chosen as his mount.
9.6.15
Armed, taking a divine bow and sharp arrows, / praised by all, he mounted it desiring to fight, standing upon the hump.
9.6.16
Strengthened by the splendor of Viṣṇu, the exalted Person, / he blockaded the city of the Daityas in the western quarter along with the gods.
9.6.17
Between him and them took place a fierce battle that made the hair stand on end; / with broad-headed arrows he dispatched to Yama the Daityas who advanced against him in fight.
9.6.18
Unable to face his barrage of arrows, which was dreadful like the fire at the end of the cosmic age, / the Daityas fled, being struck down, leaving for their abode.
9.6.19
Having conquered all the superior wealth along with the women, he delivered it / back to the wielder of the thunderbolt; thus that royal sage is addressed by these names.
9.6.20
Purañjaya's son was Anenas; his son was Pṛthu; / from him came Viśvagandhi, then Candra, and his son was Yuvanāśva.
9.6.21
Śrāvasta was his son, by whom the city of Śrāvastī was built; / Bṛhadaśva was the son of Śrāvasta, and from him came Kuvalayāśva,
9.6.22
who, mighty and surrounded by twenty-one thousand of his sons, / killed the asura named Dhundhu for the sake of pleasing Utaṅka.
9.6.23
He became famous as Dhundhumāra; and those sons of his burned / all in the fire of Dhundhu's mouth, only three remaining.
9.6.24
[They were] Dṛḍhāśva, Kapilāśva, and Bhadrāśva, O descendant of Bharata. / Dṛḍhāśva's son was Haryaśva, and Nikumbha is remembered as his son.
9.6.25
Bahulāśva was Nikumbha's son, Kṛśāśva was his, and then his Senajit. / Senajit's [son] was Yuvanāśva; childless, he went to the forest.
9.6.26
Dejected despite a hundred wives, the compassionate ṛṣis / performed a sacrifice for Indra on his behalf with great concentration.
9.6.27
Thirsty at night, the king entered the sacrificial arena; / seeing the brāhmaṇas asleep, he drank the consecrated water himself.
9.6.28
When they arose, O lord, and saw the pitcher empty of water, / they asked: “Whose deed is this? Who drank the water that begets a male child?”
9.6.29
Understanding that it was drunk by the king, impelled indeed by the Lord, / they bowed to the Lord: “Ah, the power of destiny is power indeed!”
9.6.30
Then, when the time came, tearing through the right side of the belly, / a son was born to Yuvanāśva who would become a universal monarch.
9.6.31
“Whom will this child suckle? He cries bitterly for breast-milk!” / “He will suckle me, child, do not weep!”—saying thus, Indra offered his forefinger.
9.6.32
His father did not die, by the grace of the brāhmaṇas and the gods; / then Yuvanāśva attained perfection right there through ascetic penance.
9.6.33
Indra gave him the name Trasaddasyu, my dear, / because from him robbers such as Rāvaṇa fled in terror.
9.6.34
Then Yuvanāśva’s son Māndhātā, the universal emperor, a master, / alone ruled the earth consisting of the seven continents through the potency of Acyuta.
9.6.35
And he who knew the Self worshipped with sacrificial rites accompanied by abundant gifts / the God who comprises all gods, who is the Self of all, beyond the senses,
9.6.36
for of whose very nature is all this: the substance, the mantra, the rite, / the sacrifice, the sacrificer, and the priests, the dharma, the place, and the time.
9.6.37
As far as the sun rises, and as far as it sets, / all that is called the domain of Yuvanāśva's son Māndhātā.
9.6.38
In Bindumatī, the daughter of Śaśabindu, the king fathered / Purukutsa, Ambarīṣa, and the yogi Mucukunda; / their fifty sisters chose Saubhari as their husband.
9.6.39
Submerged in the waters of the Yamunā performing supreme austerity, / he observed the delight of the king of fish engaged in copulation.
9.6.40
Desire aroused, the brāhmaṇa asked the king for a single maiden; / he too replied: “Accept her at will, O brāhmaṇa, in a maiden's self-choice.”
9.6.41
He reflected: “Unpleasing to women, I am old, disesteemed, / with wrinkles, gray hair, and trembling head; thus have I been turned away.
9.6.42
I will make myself desirable even to celestial women, / what to speak of the daughters of rulers of men!” thus the master resolved.
9.6.43
The sage was escorted by the attendant into the opulent inner quarters of the princesses; / that single groom was chosen by all fifty of the king's daughters.
9.6.44
A great quarrel arose among them over him, casting away sisterly love, / their minds captivated by him: “He is suitable for me, not for you!”
9.6.45
That Ṛgvedic sage, through the inexhaustible splendor of his penance, / in houses filled with priceless furnishings, in diverse gardens, lakes of pure water, and fragrant groves,
9.6.46
with costly beds, seats, garments, ornaments, / baths, unguents, dishes, and garlands, / among well-adorned women and men, constantly took delight / while birds, bees, and bards sang along.
9.6.47
Beholding his householder's life, the sovereign of the seven continents / was astonished and cast away his pride in possessing the glory of an emperor.
9.6.48
Thus delighting in the household, enjoying sense objects / with diverse pleasures, he was never satisfied, like fire with drops of clarified butter.
9.6.49
Once, sitting quietly, that master of the Ṛgveda saw / the loss of his selfhood arising from attachment to the fish:
9.6.50
“Alas! Behold this downfall of mine, an ascetic who observed the vow of good conduct; / submerged in the water, from contact with an aquatic creature, that Brahman long maintained has fallen away!
9.6.50.p1
One who desires liberation should completely abandon association with those committed to copulation, / and never send the senses outward.
9.6.51
Wandering alone in solitude, one should fix the mind on the infinite Lord; / if there must be association, it should be with saintly devotees devoted to Him.
9.6.51.p1
[…]
9.6.51.p2
I was a solitary ascetic in the water; then, through attachment to a fish, / I became fifty, and then produced five thousand offspring.
9.6.51.p3
I was a solitary ascetic in the water; then, through attachment to a fish, / I became fifty, and then produced five thousand offspring.
9.6.52
My intellect captivated by the qualities of material nature, regarding sense objects as reality, / I reach no end to the desires for deeds in both worlds.”
9.6.52.p1
[…]
9.6.53
Living thus at home for some time, he became dispassionate, adopted renunciation, / and went to the forest; his wives, to whom their husband was their deity, followed him.
9.6.54
Practicing intense austerities there, achieving self-realization, self-controlled, / he merged his self, along with his sacred fires, into the Supreme Self.
9.6.55
Seeing the spiritual attainment of their husband, O great king, / they followed him by his power, as flames follow a fire that has been extinguished.
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit