Markandeyapurana 71
English (machine translation) 71
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Contents
71.1
Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Having sent that woman to her husband's home, the king also, / sighing, reflected: "What good deed can there be in this situation?
71.2
Alas, that high-minded [sage] spoke to me of priceless fitness, / pointing to the deficiency regarding the brahmin; so too spoke this night-wanderer.
71.3
Such as I am, what shall I do? For that wife was abandoned by me. / Or rather, I shall ask that best of sages endowed with the eye of knowledge."
71.4
Reflecting thus, that ruler of the earth, having mounted his chariot, / went to where that righteous great sage, knower of the three divisions of time, was.
71.5
Then, having descended from his chariot, having approached and bowed to him, / he recounted exactly what happened: his meeting with the rākṣasa,
71.6
the sighting of the brahmin woman, the departure of her bad character, / her sending to her husband's home, and the purpose of his coming.
71.7
The ṛṣi said: / "All this was known by me beforehand—what was done by you, O king, / and the whole purpose of your coming into my presence.
71.8
Agitated in mind, you ask me here: 'What is to be done by me?' / Now that you have come, O ruler of the earth, hear what must be done by you.
71.9
A wife is the powerful cause of dharma, wealth, and desire for men, / and especially of dharma; for by one who abandons her, [dharma] is abandoned.
71.10
A man without a wife, O king, is not fit for his own rituals, / whether he be a brahmin, a kṣatriya, a vaiśya, or a śūdra, O king.
71.11
By abandoning your wife, you have not acted well; / for just as a husband is not to be abandoned by women, so is a wife by men."
71.11.p1
The king said:
71.12
"O venerable one, what shall I do? This is the ripening of my deeds. / Because she was not accommodating to one who was accommodating, she was abandoned by me.
71.13
Whatever she did was forgiven with an aching heart, / O venerable one, with my inner soul terrified by the suffering of separation from her.
71.14
Now, having been abandoned in the forest, I do not know where she has gone, / or whether she has been eaten in the wild by lions, tigers, and night-wanderers."
71.15
The ṛṣi said: / "She has not been eaten, O ruler of the earth, by lions, tigers, and night-wanderers; / but she, uncorrupted in conduct, is now in Rasātala."
71.15.p1
The king said:
71.16
"By whom was she taken to Pātāla? How does she remain undefiled? / This is very wonderful, O brahmin; please tell me accurately."
71.17
The ṛṣi said: / "In Pātāla there is a king of the nāgas named the renowned Kapotaka; / by him she was seen wandering in the great forest, abandoned by you.
71.18
Endowed with beauty, that young woman was taken at that time to Pātāla / by him, filled with passion, though her situation was known to him, O king.
71.19
Then, O ruler of the earth, that wise nāga king has a daughter with lovely brows, / named Nandā, and a wife named Manoramā.
71.20
She was seen by [Nandā] who thought, 'This lovely woman will become a co-wife to my mother'; / she was led to her own dwelling and kept hidden in the inner quarters, auspicious one.
71.21
When, though asked, Nandā gave no answer to the king, / the father then said to that daughter: 'You will become dumb!'
71.22
Thus cursed by him, his daughter remains there, O ruler of the earth; / she was brought by that lord of serpents, and the virtuous wife is kept by his daughter."
71.23
Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then the king, having attained supreme joy, asked that / best of the twice-born the cause of his misfortune regarding his beloved.
71.23.p1
The king said:
71.24
"O venerable one, everyone has unsurpassed love for me; / what then is the reason why my own wife is not very affectionate?
71.25
And she is dearer to me even than life, O great sage; / yet she is ill-disposed toward me; tell me the reason for that, O twice-born."
71.26
The ṛṣi said: / "At the time of taking hands, you were aspected by the Sun, Mars, and Saturn, / and your wife by Venus and Jupiter.
71.27
At that moment, the Moon was hers, and Mercury yours; / they are mutual adversaries; hence, O king, she was exceedingly [ill-disposed] toward you.
71.28
Therefore go, protect the earth in accordance with your own duty; / and with your wife as companion, perform all the rites possessed of dharma."
71.29
Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Having been spoken to thus, bowing to him, and then mounting his chariot, / King Uttama went to his own city.
71.29.p1
Thus ends the seventy-first chapter in the holy Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, in the Auttama manvantara.
71.29.p2
Chapter seventy-two.
Translations (1)
- The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English
Linked texts (1)
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit