Markandeyapurana 51
English (machine translation) 51
- Language
- English
Contents
- 51.121 — 2 parts
51.1
Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Duḥsaha had a wife named Nirmāṣṭi, / born to Kali's wife during her season from gazing at an outcaste.
51.2
The two had sixteen offspring who pervade the world: / eight sons and eight very terrifying daughters.
51.3
Dantākṛṣṭi, and likewise Tathokti, and another, Parivarta; / Aṅgadhruk, and Śakuni, and likewise Gaṇḍaprāntarati;
51.4
Garbhahā, and another, Sasyahā—these sons are the boys of the two; / and likewise eight other daughters—hear their names from me:
51.5
Niyojikā is the first, and likewise another is Virodhinī, / and Svayaṃhārakarī, Bhrāmaṇī, and Ṛtuhārikā;
51.6
and two other very cruel daughters of theirs are Smṛtiharā and Bījaharā; / the eighth daughter, who brings fear to the world, is named Vidveṣaṇī.
51.7
I shall tell of their deeds and the pacification of their evils, / and of the eight sons—let it be heard, O best of the twice-born!
51.8
Dantākṛṣṭi, stationed on the teeth of sleeping children, / causes gnashing of teeth, seeking to bring about Duḥsaha's arrival.
51.9
His pacification should be performed when the child is asleep with white mustard seeds / thrown over the bed and by men over the teeth,
51.10
by bathing with the plant suvārcilā, and by reciting sound scriptures, / and by wearing camel thorns, rhinoceros horn, and silken garments.
51.11
Another boy stands saying repeatedly, 'So be it!'; / Tathokti unites men with good and evil, and it does not turn out otherwise.
51.12
Therefore, the wise should always speak what is harmless and auspicious; / when what is harmful is heard or spoken, Janārdana must be commemorated,
51.13
or Brahmā, the guru of the moving and unmoving, or whatever deity belongs to one's family. / Another, constantly swapping other embryos into a different womb,
51.14
finds pleasure, and causes a speaker to say something quite different from what was intended; / he is named Parivartaka—against him too, with white mustard seeds
51.15
and recitations of demon-destroying mantras, one who knows the truth should make protection. / Another, like the wind, causes the twitching in men's limbs
51.16
that foretells good or evil; his limbs should be struck with kuśa grass. / Another boy, Śakuni, residing in birds such as crows or residing in the body of a dog and the like,
51.17
declares good and evil; / there too, if it is evil, diversion and abandonment of the undertaking should occur,
51.18
but if good, it must be performed more swiftly—so said Prajāpati. / Another, standing on the gaṇḍānta points for half a muhūrta, O best of the twice-born,
51.19
a boy who consumes all undertakings, praised virtues, and freedom from malice, / [is pacified] by the speech of brahmins, praise of the deity, and uprooting [harmful influences], O twice-born,
51.20
by bathings with cow urine and mustard, by worshipping that asterism and planet, / and further, by observing the sacred teachings of dharma and studying the scriptures;
51.21
and by not recognizing the birth [moment], Gaṇḍavān goes to peace. / Another, very fierce, destroys the fruit in women's wombs;
51.22
protection against him must always be made by constant practice of cleanliness, / by writing well-known mantras, by wearing auspicious garlands and the like,
51.23
by a purified household dwelling, and by lack of overexertion, O twice-born. / Likewise, there is another, Sasyahā, who destroys the prosperity of crops.
51.24
Protection against him should be made by wearing worn-out shoes, / and by counter-clockwise circumambulation, and by having an outcaste enter,
51.25
and by offering oblations outside, and by chanting praises of moon-water. / That daughter who urges men toward another's wife,
51.26
the theft of property, and so forth, is Niyojikā. / Through the recitation of purifying verses against her, through the abandonment of anger, greed, and the like,
51.27
one avoids her, thinking, 'She is urging me toward what opposes the desirable.' / Abused or struck by another, one should think, 'Niyojikā
51.28
is urging him,' and the wise person should not fall under her sway. / In association with another's wife and the like, when the mind and the self [stray],
51.29
the wise person should reflect: 'She is impelling me here.' / Another causes discord between an affectionate husband and wife,
51.30
between relatives, friends, parents and sons, and caste peers; / she is Virodhinī—one should make protection against her through offering rites,
51.31
and by enduring harsh speech, and by following scripture and custom. / Another girl takes away grain from the threshing floor and home, milk and clarified butter from cows,
51.32
and prosperity from wealthy goods; / she is called Svayaṃhārikā, always intent upon invisibility.
51.33
She eats half-cooked food from the kitchen, food situated in the pantry, / and food being served, always eating together with those who eat.
51.34
Unmanageable, she steals the leftovers of men and food; / she steals prepared wealth from workshops and halls, O twice-born.
51.35
A stealer of milk, she constantly steals milk from the udders of cows and breasts of women, / clarified butter from yogurt, oil from sesame, and liquor from a tavern,
51.36
color from safflower and the like, and thread from cotton; / she, named Svayaṃhārikā, steals without ceasing, O twice-born.
51.37
For protection, one should make a pair of peacocks and an artificial woman; / protective [marks] should be drawn in the house, and leftover food avoided.
51.38
And purification of pots for milk and other [substances] must be performed / with the ashes of sacrificial fire, deity worship, and incense; thus is their protection taught.
51.39
Another causes agitation to a man who resides in one place; / that maiden is called Bhrāmaṇī.
51.40
Then one should make protection against her with scattered white mustard seeds / upon the seat, on the bed, and on the ground where that man sits.
51.41
And the man should think: 'This wicked-minded, evil female is causing me to wander'; / he should repeatedly recite with concentration the hymn to Bhū.
51.42
Another maiden steals the menses of women when they have begun; / she is known as the unbearable Ṛtuhārikā when they have not begun.
51.43
Bathing should be performed at holy shrines, temples, sacred trees, mountain peaks, / and confluences of rivers in excavated basins; then it is pacified.
51.44
[This should be done] at the junctions of phases and at dawn, O twice-born, by one who knows the mantras and understands the rituals, / and by a physician skilled in medicine with the finest herbs applied.
51.45
And another steals women's memory; she is Smṛtihārikā. / Her pacification comes from frequenting a solitary place.
51.46
And another, most terrifying, steals the semen and ovum of men and women; / her pacification comes from baths and eating pure food.
51.47
The eighth is a maiden named Dveṣaṇī, bringing fear to the world, / who makes a man or a woman hated by people.
51.48
For pacification, one should offer sesame seeds smeared with honey, milk, and ghee into the fire; / and one should perform the Mitravindā sacrifice; then it is pacified.
51.49
Of these boys and girls, O best of the twice-born, / there are thirty-eight offspring; hear their names from me.
51.50
From Dantākṛṣṭi came a daughter, Vijalpā, and also Kalahā. / Contempt, falsehood, and malicious speech are Vijalpā; for her pacification,
51.51
the wise householder should contemplate her and remain restrained. / Kalahā constantly causes strife in the house among men;
51.52
she is the cause of the destruction of the family. Hear the pacification for her: / sprouts of dūrvā grass smeared with honey, ghee, and milk, in the rite of offering,
51.53
one should scatter and offer into fire, and recite [praise to] Mitra, / together with the mothers of the spirits, for the pacification of children:
51.54
'Of sciences and austerities, of restraint and control, / in agriculture and in the acquisition of trade, may they always grant me peace!
51.55
And worshipped according to rule, may they completely attain contentment: / the kuṣmāṇḍas, yātudhānas, and whatever others are called gaṇas!
51.56
By the grace of Mahādeva and by the approval of Maheśvara, / may all these quickly attain everlasting satisfaction with men!
51.57
Being satisfied, may they cast away all evil deeds and ill-performed actions, / all that arises from great sins, and whatever else is a cause of obstacles!
51.58
By their grace alone, may obstacles perish everywhere: / in all marriages, and in rites of prosperity,
51.59
in conjunctions of meritorious rituals, in worship of gurus and gods, / in rites of recitation and sacrifice, and on the fourteen journeys,
51.60
in bodily health and enjoyments, in wealth that gives happiness, / and among the aged, children, and the sick, may they always grant me peace!'
51.61
Of Somāmbupa, Ambhodhi, Savitṛ, Anila, and Anala / so spoken, Kālajihva, whose abode is the palm tree, was the son.
51.62
Residing on the tongue of those men who are wicked, he torments them. / The two sons of Parivarta, O twice-born, are deformed and distorted.
51.63
Dwelling on treetops, in ditches, on ramparts, and in the ocean, / they cause twisting in the feet and hands of a pregnant woman.
51.64
O Krauṣṭuki, a turning of the embryo from the womb into another belly may occur; / therefore, neither a tree nor a mountain, neither a rampart nor the great ocean,
51.65
nor a ditch should a weak, pregnant woman cross. / Aṅgadhruk obtained a son, Piśuna by name;
51.66
entered into the bone and marrow of men of unrestrained mind, he consumes their strength. / And Śakuni had five sons: hawk, crow, and dove,
51.67
and vulture and owl; gods and demons seized them. / Mṛtyu seized the hawk, and Kāla seized the crow;
51.68
Nirṛti seized the most terrifying owl; / Vyādhi, the lord thereof, seized the vulture, and Yama himself seized the dove.
51.69
These indeed are said to be beings produced for evil. / Therefore, on whose head a hawk or others should alight,
51.70
he must perform a rite of pacification sufficient for self-protection, O best of the twice-born. / Their giving birth in a house, and likewise their building of a nest,
51.71
[are inauspicious]; a man should abandon that house whose roof is occupied by a dove. / When a hawk, a dove, a vulture, a crow, or an owl, O twice-born,
51.72
has entered a house, it portends the end for those living in that dwelling; / a wise man should abandon such a house and perform a rite of pacification.
51.73
Even in a dream, the sight of a dove is not praised. / Six offspring are spoken of from Gaṇḍaprāntarati;
51.74
they abide in the menses of women; hear their times from me: / the first four days, and likewise another on the thirteenth,
51.75
and likewise another offspring on the eleventh day; / another upon intercourse by day, and others at the giving of a śrāddha,
51.76
and another on the moon-phases; therefore these are to be avoided by the wise. / Garbhahantṛ's son is Nighna, and Mohanī is his maiden daughter.
51.77
Entering the womb, the one devours [it]; having eaten, the other deludes. / Through her delusion are born snakes, frogs, turtles,
51.78
and other reptiles, or else excrement. / Entering a pregnant woman who for six months eats meat and is unrestrained,
51.79
or who resorts to the shade of a tree at night, or at a junction of three or four roads, / or standing on the ground of a cremation pyre, stripped of her upper garment,
51.80
or weeping at midnight, he enters that woman. / Likewise, the son of Śasyahantṛ is one named Kṣudraka;
51.81
he constantly destroys the prosperity of crops upon finding an opening; hear that: / when, at the beginning of an inauspicious day, an unsatisfied man sows,
51.82
he indeed enters the fields that border on boundaries. / Therefore, at a very auspicious time, having worshipped the moon,
51_2
one should begin sowing, joyful, contented, and accompanied by assistants. / The maiden who was mentioned by me as Niyojikā, daughter of Duḥsaha—
51.84
four daughters called the Pracodikās were born to her; / intoxicated, mad, and negligent, they constantly [delude] men and women.
51.85
They possess [them] for their destruction, impelling here dread / adharma under the form of dharma, and desire under the form of freedom from desire,
51.86
and misfortune under the form of wealth, and non-liberation under the form of liberation. / Ill-behaved, devoid of purity, they make these appear to various men.
51.87
Possessed by these, various men fall away from the aims of human life. / Their entrance into a house occurs when the sky is red at twilight,
51.88
and at the time when no offering is made to Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ, / or when men eat or drink while touched by drops of water from companions.
51.89
Their transition into newly married women happens swiftly. / Virodhinī has three sons: Codaka and Grāhaka,
51.90
and the other is Tamaḥpracchādaka; hear their true nature from me. / In a threshing-floor defiled by contact with lamp oil and trampled upon,
51.91
where a pestle, a mortar, sandals, and women's garments [lie], / where a winnowing basket, a sickle, and other things, as well as a seat, are dragged with the foot,
51.92
where sport is made in a smeared house without worshiping [the deities], / where fire taken with the mouth of a ladle is carried elsewhere,
51.93
there the sons of Virodhinī, urged on, burst forth: / one resides on the tip of the tongue of men and women, speaking falsehoods as truth.
51.94
He is called Codaka; he creates calumny in the home. / Another, extremely wicked-minded, enters their attention and rests in the ear;
51.95
he lays hold of those words, and he is Grāhaka. / Another, evil-minded, attacking the minds of men and veiling them with darkness,
51.96
generates anger; he indeed is Tamaḥpracchādaka. / From Svayaṃhāryā, through theft, three sons were born:
51.97
Sarvahārin, Ardhahārin, and likewise Vīryahārin. / In houses where sipping water has not been performed and in houses of lax conduct,
51.98
when people enter the kitchen with unwashed feet, / on threshing floors, in cow-pens, and in houses where there is malice,
51.99
in these they all stroll and take delight according to their custom. / But the son of Bhrāmaṇī is known as Kākajaṅgha;
51.100
possessed by him, no one finds pleasure at all in the city. / The one who sings while eating, who sings and laughs during friendship,
51.101
and the man who engages in sexual intercourse at twilight, he enters, O twice-born. / That maiden who was Ṛtuhāriṇī gave birth to three daughters:
51.102
one is the maiden Kucaharā, another is Vyañjanahārikā, / and the third maiden is declared to be Jātahāriṇī.
51.103
The maiden for whom the entire marriage rite is not properly performed, / or whose time has passed, of her one [daughter] takes away both breasts.
51.104
And when a maiden is married without properly giving a śrāddha and without honoring her mother, / [the other] takes away her marks [of womanhood].
51.105
And in a lying-in chamber devoid of fire and water, without incense, / devoid of lamps, weapons, and pestles, and lacking ashes and mustard,
51.106
having entered, she abducts the newborn child, and [in its place], O twice-born, / having given birth in an instant, leaves her own newborn child right there.
51.107
She is named Jātahāriṇī, most dreadful, a feeder on raw flesh. / Therefore, protection must be maintained with effort in the lying-in chamber.
51.108
Her son, Pracaṇḍa by name, destroys the memory / of negligent people through their frequenting empty rooms.
51.109
From his grandsons arose lice by hundreds of thousands, / and eight classes of outcasts, most terrifying with rods and nooses.
51.110
Overcome by hunger, the lice and the classes of outcasts / then rushed upon one another, desiring to devour each other.
51.111
Having restrained them, Pracaṇḍa established those outcasts / in an agreement of such a kind; hear what it is:
51.112
"From this day forth, whoever gives shelter to lice, / on him I shall inflict an incomparable punishment; there is no doubt.
51.113
And whatever louse brings forth offspring in the dwelling of the classes of outcasts, / her previous peace and she herself shall instantly perish."
51.114
Two daughters were born who rob men and women of their seed: / Vātarūpā and Arūpā; they are his weapon.
51.115
Upon whomever Vātarūpā hurls her son at the end of insemination, / that man or that woman incurs wind-afflicted semen.
51.116
Likewise, through Arūpā, seedlessness comes immediately to one who copulates, / to a man who eats without bathing, and likewise to a feeder on raw flesh.
51.117
As for the maiden Vidveṣiṇī, whose face is bent with a frown, / her two sons reveal the injuries done by men.
51.118
A man or a woman devoid of purity becomes seedless. / Devoted to calumny, fickle, serving bad people,
51.119
and hating men—these two stand having overwhelmed such a man. / By his mother, by his brother, as well as by his friends, loved ones, kin, and strangers,
51.120
hated, a man goes to ruin in terms of dharma and wealth. / One [son], an evildoer, manifests his own virtues in the world;
51.121
the second diminishes the virtues and friendship found in people. / Thus all these wicked-acting descendants of Duḥsaha and Yakṣman / have been described, by whom the entire universe is pervaded.
51.121.p1
Thus ends the fifty-first chapter in the glorious Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, named "The Conclusion of the Progeny of Duḥsaha".
51.121.p2
Fifty-second chapter — 52
Translations (1)
- The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English
Linked texts (1)
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit