Markandeyapurana 2

English (machine translation) 2

Language: English

2.65 — 2 parts

2.1

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / The king of birds named Garuḍa was the son of Ariṣṭanemi; / Garuḍa had a renowned son named Sampāti.

2.2

He too had a valiant son, Supārśva, who was swift as the wind; / Supārśva's son was Kunti, and Kunti's son was Pralolupa.

2.3

He too had two sons: Kaṅka and Kandhara.

2.4

On the peak of Kailāsa, Kaṅka saw a lotus-leaf-eyed rākṣasa, / an attendant of Kubera, renowned by the name of Vidyudrūpa,

2.5

intent on drinking wine, wearing spotless garlands and garments, / seated with his wife on a spotless, auspicious slab of stone.

2.6

As soon as he was seen by Kaṅka, the rākṣasa, filled with anger, / said: 'Why have you come here, lowest of birds?

2.7

Why do you approach me while I am in the company of a woman? / This is not the proper conduct of the wise regarding affairs that should be conducted in private.'

2.8

Kaṅka said: / 'This king of mountains is common to you as well as to me, / and to other creatures too. What possessiveness do you have here?'

2.9

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / As he was speaking thus, the rākṣasa cut down Kaṅka with his sword— / repulsive with flowing blood, quivering, unconscious.

2.10

Hearing that Kaṅka was slain, Kandhara was overcome with rage; / the lord of birds immediately set his mind on killing Vidyudrūpa.

2.11

Going to the mountain peak where Kaṅka lay slain, / that bird gathered the remains of his elder brother, / his eyes wide open with rage and indignation, hissing like a lord of serpents.

2.12

Then he went to where the rākṣasa who slew his brother was staying, / shaking the great mountains with the mighty wind of his wings.

2.13

Swiftly scattering masses of clouds, with blood-red eyes, / that destroyer of enemies within an instant bestrode the mountain with his wings.

2.14

There he saw that night-roamer, his mind absorbed in drinking, / his face and eyes reddish, resting on a golden couch,

2.15

his crest filled with garlands, adorned with yellow sandalwood, / his face most terrifying with teeth like the petals of a ketakī blossom.

2.16

And he saw resting on his left thigh his large-eyed / wife named Madanikā, sweet-voiced like a male cuckoo.

2.17

Then Kandhara, his soul seized by fury, said to him / who was sitting in the cave: 'Come, O very wicked soul, fight with me!

2.18

Because my elder brother was slain by you when he was unsuspecting, / therefore, intoxicated as you are, I shall send you to the abode of Yama.

2.19

Whatever worlds exist for those who kill the trusting, and for those who kill women and children— / into all those hells you will go today, slain by me!'

2.20

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / When spoken to thus by the lord of birds in the presence of his woman, / the rākṣasa, overcome with wrath, replied to the bird:

2.21

'If your brother was slain, prowess was indeed displayed; / you too I will slay today with this sword, O sky-wanderer!

2.22

Stay a moment; you shall not leave here alive, lowest of birds!' / Having spoken thus, he took up a spotless sword shining like a heap of collyrium.

2.23

Then an incomparable battle took place between the king of birds / and the warrior of the lord of yakṣas, like that between Garuḍa and Śakra.

2.24

Then the rākṣasa in his fury, brandishing the sword with great speed, / threw it at the lord of birds; it had the luster of extinguished coals.

2.25

Leaping slightly up from the ground, the lord of birds / then caught that sword with his beak, as Garuḍa catches a snake.

2.26

Breaking it with the blows of his beak and feet, he caused extraordinary commotion; / when that sword was broken, a hand-to-hand fight ensued.

2.27

Then the rākṣasa was trampled on the chest by the king of birds, / and swiftly severed of his arms, feet, hands, and head.

2.28

When he was slain, the woman sought refuge with the bird; / somewhat terrified, she said: 'I will become your wife.'

2.29

Taking her, the best of birds returned to his own home, / having achieved retribution for his brother by striking down Vidyudrūpa.

2.30

Having reached the house of Kandhara, that daughter of Menakā, / able to assume any form at will and fair-browed, assumed the form of an eagle.

2.31

Upon her he then begot a daughter named Tārkṣī, / who was Vapuṣ, the best of apsarases, scorched by the fire of the sage's curse; / the bird then gave her the name Tārkṣī.

2.32

And there were four sons of Mandapāla, of boundless intellect, / the best among the twice-born, beginning with Jaritāri and ending with Droṇa.

2.33

The youngest of them, righteous and master of the Vedas and auxiliary sciences, / married that auspicious Tārkṣī with the consent of Kandhara.

2.34

Now, after some time, the bird Tārkṣī conceived an embryo; / when seven fortnights had elapsed since the embryo was planted, she went to Kurukṣetra.

2.35

While the exceedingly dreadful battle between the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas was taking place, / by the inevitability of what was destined to happen, she entered the midst of the battlefield.

2.36

There she then beheld the battle between Bhagadatta and the Diademed One [Arjuna]; / the sky was entirely covered with arrows as if with locusts.

2.37

Released from the bow of Pṛthā's son [Arjuna], swift and close at hand, / a crescent-headed shaft, dark as a snake, cut through the skin of her belly.

2.38

Her belly ruptured, the cluster of four eggs, shining like the moon, / fell to the ground as if onto a heap of cotton, because their lifespan was not yet exhausted.

2.39

And at the same time as their fall, from the noble elephant Supratīka, / a great bell fell, its fastening severed by an arrow.

2.40

Falling level all around, striking the surface of the earth, / it covered the birds' eggs that lay upon the flesh.

2.41

And when that king Bhagadatta, lord of men, was slain, / the battle between the Kuru and Pāṇḍava armies continued for many days.

2.42

When the battle had ended and the son of Dharma [Yudhiṣṭhira] had gone to the presence of Śāntanu's son [Bhīṣma], / to hear all the dharmas as spoken by the great-souled Bhīṣma,

2.43

there where the eggs remained covered beneath the bell, O best of brahmins, / an ascetic named Śamīka arrived at that spot.

2.44

There he heard the sound of them chirping, "cicī, kucī," / their speech indistinct because of youth, although possessing higher knowledge.

2.45

Then the sage, accompanied by his disciples, lifted the bell in astonishment / and beheld the fledglings, devoid of mother, father, or wings.

2.46

Seeing them thus upon the ground there, the venerable sage Śamīka, / seized with amazement, spoke to the brahmins who followed him:

2.47

"It was rightly said by the foremost of the twice-born, Śukra Uśanas himself, / seeing the Daitya army, afflicted by the gods, intent on flight:

2.48

'You must not flee! Turn back! Why do you run away, faint-hearted ones? / Having abandoned valour and fame, where can you go that you will not die?

2.49

Whether one flees or fights, life lasts only as long / as the Creator ordained before, not as long as the mind desires.

2.50

Some die in their own homes, other people while fleeing; / some have met death while eating food, or even while drinking water.

2.51

Likewise others, living in luxury, pursuing desires, free from disease, / their bodies unwounded by weapons, have come under the power of the King of the Dead.

2.52

Others, devoted to austerity, have been led away by the attendants of the King of the Dead; / and others, engaged in the practice of yoga, have never attained deathlessness.

2.53

Long ago, the thunderbolt was hurled at Śambara by the thunderbolt-handed [Indra]; / struck by it in the chest, the asura nevertheless did not die.

2.54

Yet by that very same thunderbolt, by that same Indra, the Dānavas / and Daityas, when their time came, were slain and perished in that instant.

2.55

Knowing this, one must not feel fear; turn back!' / Thereupon those Daityas turned back, abandoning the fear born of death.

2.56

Thus the word of Śukra has been proven true by these foremost of birds, / who, even in a superhuman battle, have not met their dissolution.

2.57

Where is the falling of the eggs, O brahmins, and where the simultaneous falling of the bell? / And where is the covering of the ground with flesh, fat, and blood?

2.58

In every way these are extraordinary beings, O brahmins; these are no ordinary birds. / The favour of fate in this world is an indicator of great fortune.

2.59

Having spoken thus and looked at them, he spoke again: / 'Return, go to the hermitage, taking the fledgling birds.

2.60

Where these egg-born creatures have no fear from cats or mice, / or from a hawk or a mongoose, let the birds be placed there.

2.61

O brahmins, what is the use of extreme effort? All living beings are slain by their own deeds / and preserved by them, just like these fledgling birds.

2.62

Nevertheless, human effort must be exerted by men in all undertakings; / for one who exerts human effort does not incur the reproach of the virtuous.'"

2.63

Thus instructed by the noble sage, the sons of the sage / took those birds and went to their own hermitage, delightful to ascetics, / where swarms of bees rested on the boughs of trees.

And he too, taking wild roots, flowers, fruits, and kuśa grass / desired by his mind, performed various pious rites prescribed by the scriptures / for the Discus-Wielding One [Viṣṇu], Rudra, and Vedhas [Brahmā], / for the Lord of the Gods [Indra], Vaivasvata [Yama], and Fire [Agni],

Translations (1)

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English

Linked texts (1)

Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit

Markandeyapurana 2

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Translations (1)

Linked texts (1)