Markandeyapurana 15
English (machine translation) 15
- Language
- English
Contents
15.1
The attendant of Yama said:
Accepting wealth from an outcaste, a twice-born goes to the womb of an ass; / but freed from hell, a priest who sacrifices for an outcaste becomes a worm.
15.2
Having caused pain to his teacher, desiring his wife in his mind, / and also his property, a twice-born doubtlessly becomes a dog.
15.3
A creature who disrespects his parents is born a donkey; / reviling mother and father, he is born a myna.
15.4
He who disrespects a brother's wife attains the state of a pigeon; / but having tormented her, he attains the state of a turtle.
15.5
He who, eating his master's food, does not serve his master's wishes, / falls into delusion and, upon dying, is born a monkey.
15.6
One who steals a deposit, released from hell, is born a worm; / and a malicious slanderer, freed from hell, becomes a rākṣasa.
15.7
A man who betrays trust is born in the womb of a fish. / Stealing grain, barley, sesame, black gram, horse gram, mustard, chickpeas,
15.8
peas, winter rice, mung beans, wheat, or linseed, / or other crops, the senseless creature through delusion
15.9
is born a large-mouthed mouse resembling an ichneumon. / But from violating another's wife he is born a terrible wolf;
15.10
then in succession a dog, a jackal, a heron, a vulture, a serpent, and a crane. / The wicked evil-doer who violates a brother's wife,
15.11
having fallen from hell, attains the state of a male cuckoo. / The lustful evil-doer who violates a friend's wife,
15.12
the teacher's wife, or a king's wife, is born a pig. / A disruptor of sacrifices, gifts, and marriages becomes a worm.
15.13
One who gives a maiden [in marriage] twice is likewise born a worm. / He who eats food without having offered it to gods, ancestors, and brahmins,
15.14
released from hell, is born a crow. / He who disrespects an elder brother who is like a father,
15.15
cast down from hell, is born in the womb of a curlew. / And a śūdra having approached a brahmin woman is born in the womb of a worm;
15.16
having begotten offspring upon her, he becomes an insect inside wood; / he is [then] born a pig, a worm, a diver-bird, and a caṇḍāla.
15.17
The ungrateful man, lowest of men, released from hell, / ungrateful, becomes a worm, an insect, a moth, then a scorpion,
15.18
then a fish, a crow, a turtle, and then a pukhasa. / Having killed an unarmed man, a man is born an ass.
15.19
A slayer of women and a killer of children is born a worm. / Having stolen cooked food, a man is born a fly.
15.20
Even there, there is a distinction according to the food; hear that: / stealing boiled rice, he is born a cat upon falling from hell;
15.21
stealing food mixed with sesame-cake, a mouse; / stealing clarified butter, a mongoose; stealing goat's meat, a crow or a diver-bird;
15.22
a stealer of fish-flesh becomes a crow; a stealer of venison, a hawk; / a reef-crow when salt is stolen; a worm in curd;
15.23
having stolen milk, he is born a crane; / he who steals oil is born a cockroach;
15.24
stealing honey, a man becomes a gadfly; stealing a cake, an ant; / and having stolen flat beans, he is born a house gecko;
15.25
stealing liquor, he attains the state of a francolin partridge; / and having stolen iron, the evil-minded one is born a crow;
15.26
when bell-metal is stolen, a green pigeon; a dove when a silver vessel [is stolen]; / and having stolen a golden vessel, he is born in the womb of a worm.
15.27
By stealing woven bark cloth one becomes a krakara partridge; / and by stealing silk clothing, one is born as a silkworm.
15.28
Stealing fine cloth, a wicked person becomes a śārṅgaka bird, and stealing fine muslin, a parrot; / likewise, having stolen cloth made of sheep's or goat's wool, or linen, one is born [as such an animal].
15.29
By stealing cotton cloth, one becomes a curlew; a stealer of bark garments becomes a heron; / and by stealing dyed cloth or a green leaf, one is born as a peacock.
15.30
A man who steals red cloth becomes a jīvañjīvaka bird; / [a stealer of] fragrant perfumes becomes a muskrat; by stealing clothing one becomes a hare.
15.31
[One becomes] a eunuch by stealing fruit; a wood-boring insect by stealing wood; / a poor man by stealing flowers; and a lame man by stealing a vehicle.
15.32
A stealer of vegetables becomes a green pigeon; a stealer of water, a cātaka bird; / and a stealer of land, having gone to the most terrible hells, Raurava and others,
15.33
successively becomes grass, shrubs, creepers, vines, and bamboo; / then, his sins diminished and reduced, that man indeed becomes
15.34
a worm, an insect, a moth, then a bird, an aquatic animal, a deer, / and, having attained the state of cattle, a despised caṇḍāla, pukkasa, and so forth.
15.35
He is afflicted with being lame, blind, deaf, leprous, and afflicted with pulmonary consumption, / and is tormented by diseases of the mouth, diseases of the eye, and diseases of the anus.
15.36
He becomes epileptic, and he attains the state of a śūdra. / Just this sequence is seen for those who steal cows or gold,
15.37
and for the fierce stealers of learning, and those who fail to pay the teacher his fee. / A man who, while designating another man's wife as his own,
15.38
having fallen from the torments [of hell], that fool becomes a eunuch. / A man who makes an oblation into fire that is not kindled,
15.39
is born suffering the misery of chronic indigestion, having weak digestive fire. / Reviling others, ingratitude, striking at others' vital spots,
15.40
cruelty, ruthlessness, intercourse with another's wife, / stealing others' property, impurity, reviling the gods,
15.41
swindling people out of gold, miserliness, the slaughter of men, / and continuous engagement in whatever things are forbidden —
15.42
one should know these as the characteristics of those released from hell. / Compassion toward living beings, pleasant conversation, concern for the other world,
15.43
truth, speaking words for the welfare of beings, adherence to the authority of the Vedas, / worship of teachers, divine seers, and perfected seers, company with the virtuous,
15.44
habitual practice of good deeds, and friendship: [these] a wise man recognizes, / as well as other [virtues] that consist in the practice of true dharma,
15.45
as the marks of sinless men fallen from heaven. / This has been told to you in summary by me, O king,
15.46
concerning the enjoyers of the fruits of their own actions, both meritorious and sinful. / Therefore come, let us go elsewhere; everything has now been seen by you. / For hell has been seen by you; therefore come, let us depart elsewhere!
15.47
The son said: / Then, having placed him in front, that king prepared to go; / and thereupon an outcry was made by all the men abiding in torments:
15.48
“Show favor, O king! Stay just for a moment! / The wind touching your body gladdens our minds,
15.49
and removes entirely the burning heat from our limbs and the pain and suffering. / O best among men! Bestow your favor, O lord of the earth!”
15.50
Hearing this speech of theirs, the king asked that servant of Yama: / “Why does their gladness abide in me?
15.51
What great meritorious deed was done by me in the mortal world, / by which this result giving joy has arisen? Tell me that!”
15.52
The servant of Yama said: / “Because your body attained nourishment from food remaining after [offerings to] the ancestors, gods, guests, and servants, / and because your mind was devoted to that,
15.53
therefore the wind contacting your limbs brings gladness, / [and] the torments produced by evil deeds do not afflict them, O king.
15.54
Because horse sacrifices and other rites were performed by you according to rule, / therefore, by the sight of you, the instruments, weapons, fires, and crows of Yama,
15.55
the causes of great misery such as torturing, cutting, and burning, / have become soft, O king, struck down by your splendor.”
15.55.p1
The king said:
15.56
“Neither in heaven nor in the world of Brahmā do men attain that happiness / which arises from the giving of relief to distressed creatures — this is my thought.
15.57
If these [beings] are not afflicted by torments in my presence, / then, O gentle-faced one, I will stay right here, immovable like a post.”
15.58
The servant of Yama said: / “Come, O king, let us go! Enjoy the pleasures earned by your own merits, / casting aside here the torments of evil-doers.”
15.58.p1
The king said:
15.59
“Therefore I will not go so long as these deeply distressed / inhabitants of hell become happy from my presence.
15.60
Cursed is the life of that man who does not show grace to an afflicted person seeking refuge, / even if, indeed, he belongs to the enemy side!
15.61
Sacrifices, gifts, and austerities here do not lead to prosperity in the next world / for him whose mind is not set on the rescue of the afflicted.
15.62
A man whose heart is hard toward children, the sick, / and the aged — him I do not consider human; he is indeed a rākṣasa.
15.63
If, from the proximity to these [souls], the misery born of hell, arising from the burning heat of fire, / or from pungent odors,
15.64
the misery arising from hunger and thirst, and the great misery that produces fainting [afflicts me], / yet I consider the gift of relief to these [souls] superior to the bliss of heaven.
15.65
If many afflicted ones will attain happiness while I am in misery, / what indeed would not be gained by me? Therefore go without delay!”
15.66
The servant of Yama said: / “Here Dharma and Śakra have both arrived to lead you; / you must certainly go from here, therefore, O ruler of the earth, let us depart!”
15.67
Dharma said: / “I lead you to heaven, since I have been properly honored by you. / Having mounted this celestial chariot, do not delay, let us go!”
15.67.p1
The king said:
15.68
“In hell, human beings are tortured here by the thousands, O Dharma, / and crying out in distress, ‘Save us!’ Therefore I will not go.”
15.69
Indra said: / “The attainment of hell is for these evildoers by their own deeds; / heaven must be gone to by you also, O king, by your meritorious deed.”
15.69.p1
The king said:
15.70
“If you know, O Dharma, or you, O Śakra, lord of Śacī, / you ought to declare just what the measure of my good deed is.”
15.71
Dharma said: / “Just as the drops of water in the ocean, or the stars in the sky, / or the streams of rain, or the grains of sand in the Gaṅgā,
15.72
just as drops of water and the like are indeed countless, O great king, / so no reckoning of your merit is possible at all.
15.73
By showing this compassion here today toward the dwellers in hell, / that [merit] of yours has reached a hundred thousand times its measure.
15.74
Therefore go, O best of kings, to enjoy that abode of the immortals; / let these [souls] also exhaust in hell the sin born of their own deeds.”
15.74.p1
The king said:
15.75
“How will men desire contact with me / if no elevation arises for them in the presence of the virtuous?
15.76
Therefore, O lord of the thirty [gods], whatever good deed I possess, / let the sinners who have undergone torment be released from hell by means of it!"
15.77
Indra said: / "Thus a higher place has been attained by you, O lord of the earth; / and behold these evil-doers freed from hell!"
15.78
The son said: / Then a shower of flowers fell upon that king, / and placing him on a celestial chariot, Hari took him to heaven.
15.79
And I, and the others there who were released from their torments, / entered other wombs as appointed by the fruit of our own actions.
15.80
Thus these hells have been recounted, O best of brahmins, / and through which sin one enters into which particular womb.
15.81
All that has been recounted exactly as seen by me in the past. / Having acquired true knowledge born of past experience, / what else, O fortunate one, shall I tell you beyond this?
15.81.p1
Thus ends the fifteenth chapter, named 'The Dialogue between Father and Son', in the venerable Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa.
15.81.p2
Chapter Sixteen
15.81.p3
The father said:
Translations (1)
- The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English
Linked texts (1)
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit