Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Markandeyapurana 74

English (machine translation) 74

Language
English

Contents

74.1

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / There was a renowned king, heroic, named Svarāṣṭra, / a performer of many sacrifices, wise, undefeated in battles.

74.2

When propitiated by his minister, the sun granted him an exceedingly long lifespan, / and he had one hundred fortunate wives, O twice-born.

74.3

While he had a long lifespan, his wives did not have very long lives, O sage; / in time they met their death, as did his servants and ministers.

74.4

Bereft of his wives, his servants, and his kinsmen, / he, agitated in mind, suffered a loss of vigor day and night.

74.5

Lacking vigor, abandoned by his secret attendants, and deeply sorrowful, / he was then deposed from his kingdom by a near relative named Vimarda.

74.6

Deposed from his kingdom, he went to the forest with a dejected mind, / and stayed on the sandbank of the Vitastā, practicing austerities, O highly fortunate one.

74.7

Undergoing the five fires in summer, exposed to the open sky in the rainy season, / lying in water during the cold season, he was foodless and strictly observed his vows.

74.8

Then, as he was performing austerities, a great flood occurred in the rainy season, / day after day, through clouds raining incessantly.

74.9

Neither the east, nor the south, nor the west was discernible, / nor the north; everything seemed smeared over with darkness.

74.10

Then, driven toward the bank by the immense flood of the river, / the king, carried away, did not reach it, though desiring it.

74.11

Then, as the king was being swept far away by the torrent of water, / he came upon a doe in the water and grasped her by the tail.

74.12

Carried along by that float upon the surface of the earth, / tossed here and there in the darkness, he eventually reached a bank.

74.13

Crossing extensive, impassable mud, / the king, still being pulled along, reached another, delightful forest.

74.14

There in the darkness that doe dragged along the lord of the earth, / the illustrious king clinging to her tail, emaciated so that his network of veins showed.

74.15

From her touch he felt the highest joy; / wandering repeatedly in the darkness, his mind was captivated by desire.

74.16

Perceiving that the king was full of passion and intent on touching her back, / the doe spoke to him within that forest:

74.17

“Why do you touch my back with a trembling hand? / The course of this affair has turned out quite otherwise, O king.

74.18

Your mind has gone to a place not unfitting, nor am I unapproachable to you, O lord, / but this restless one causes an obstacle to my union with you.”

74.19

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Hearing these words of the doe, the lord of the earth / was filled with wonder and spoke these words to the female deer:

74.20

“Who are you? Tell me, how can a doe speak words like a human? / And who is this restless one who makes an obstacle to my union with you?”

74.21

The doe said: / “O king, I was formerly your beloved wife Utpalāvatī, / the chief queen among a hundred, the daughter of Dṛḍhadhanvan.”

74.21.p1

The king said:

74.22

“What deed was done by which you came to this womb, / you who were devoted to your husband and committed to dharma, that you have become such an animal?”

74.23

The doe said: / “When I was a young girl in my father's house, I went with my female friends to the forest / to play, and I saw a buck united with a doe.

74.24

Then, being nearby, I struck that doe; / frightened by me, she fled elsewhere, and thereupon the angry buck said:

74.25

‘Foolish girl, why are you so insolent? Fie on such wickedness of character! / Because of which this time of conception was rendered futile for me by you.’

74.26

Then, hearing his speech as he spoke like a human, / I, terrified, said to him: ‘Who are you that have entered this womb?’

74.27

Then he said: ‘I am the son of the sage Nirvṛticakṣus, / Sutapas by name; feeling desire for a doe, I became a buck.

74.28

I followed her with love, and was desired by her in the forest; / she has been separated [from me] by you, wicked girl, therefore I give you a curse.’

74.29

And I said: ‘Through ignorance an offense was committed against you, O sage; / show favor; you ought not to grant me a curse.’

74.30

Thus addressed, that sage spoke to me in this manner, O king: / ‘I will not grant you a curse if you surrender yourself to me.’

74.31

And I said: ‘I am not a doe assuming an animal form in the forest; / you will find another doe; turn your affection away from me.’

74.32

Thus addressed, his eyes red with anger, his lips trembling, he said: / ‘You said to me, “I am not a doe”; you shall become a doe, foolish girl!’

74.33

Then, exceedingly distressed, bowing down, I spoke to the sage / who had returned to his true form, enraged, again and again: ‘Be gracious!’

74.34

A young girl unlearned in words, I then said this: / ‘Indeed, only when a father is absent is a husband chosen by women themselves.

74.35

While my father is living, how could I choose [you], O best of sages? / Or if I am guilty of an offense, be gracious, O lord, I bow to your feet.’

74.36

To me who had bowed down saying ‘Be gracious! Be gracious!’, O broad-minded one, / and thus lamenting, that foremost of sages said:

74.37

‘A word uttered by me never becomes otherwise; / you shall become a doe, having died in this forest in this very birth.’

74.38

"And in the form of a doe, a mighty-armed son shall enter your womb; / he is named Lola, the son of a sage of proven prowess, O radiant lady.

74.39

You shall remember your former lives when he enters your womb; / having attained memory, you shall likewise speak human speech.

74.40

When he is born, you, released from being a doe and honored by your husband, / will attain the worlds that cannot be reached by evil-doers.

74.41

He too, the very powerful Lola, having struck down his father's enemies / and conquered the entire earth, will then become a Manu."

74.42

"Having thus received the curse and died, I arrived at animal form; / and through your touch, this embryo has come to be in my womb.

74.43

Therefore I say, your mind was not directed toward me in an improper place, / nor is it illicit; [yet] this Lola residing in the womb creates an obstacle."

74.44

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Thus addressed, that king experienced supreme joy, / [thinking,] "My son, having conquered the enemies, will become a Manu on earth."

74.45

Then that doe gave birth to a son endowed with auspicious marks; / and when he was born, all beings rejoiced.

74.46

And particularly that king [rejoiced] when the mighty-armed son was born; / released from the curse, that doe attained the highest worlds.

74.47

Then, O best of sages, all the ṛṣis gathered together, / and beholding the future prosperity of that great-souled one, gave him a name:

74.48

"He was born while his mother possessed a dark nature (tāmasī), / and when the world was enveloped in darkness (tamas); this [boy] will be Tāmasa."

74.49

Then that Tāmasa, raised in the forest by that father, / having attained understanding, said this to his father, O best of sages:

74.50

"Who are you, father, and how am I your son? And who is my mother? / And for what purpose did you come [here]? Tell me this in truth."

74.51

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then the father, the mighty-armed lord of the earth, / related to his son what had happened, beginning with his expulsion from his own kingdom.

74.52

Having heard all that, he too, having propitiated the Sun, / received divine weapons in their entirety along with their recalls.

74.53

Skilled in weapons, he conquered those enemies, brought them before his father, / and then released them when permitted by him, abiding in his own dharma.

74.54

Having seen the face of his son with happiness, his father also, having cast off his body, / reached his own worlds acquired through asceticism and sacrifice.

74.55

Having conquered the entire earth, that king named Tāmasa / became the Manu named Tāmasa; listen to his manvantara:

74.56

which gods, what lord, which Indra, which ṛṣis, / and which sons of that Manu were the protectors of the earth.

74.57

The Satyas, the Sudhis, the Surūpas, and the Haris: / these were the classes of gods there, O sage, twenty-seven in number.

74.58

Mighty, very powerful, and distinguished by a hundred sacrifices, / Śikhi was the Indra and lord of those gods.

74.59

Jyotirdharman, Pṛthu, Kāvya, Caitra, Agni, Valaka, / and Pīvara, O brahmin, were the seven ṛṣis.

74.60

Nara, Kṣānti, Śānta, Dānta, Jānujaṅgha, and others / were the very mighty sons and kings of Tāmasa.

74.61

Thus, O brahmin, has the Tāmasa manvantara been declared; / whoever reads it or hears it is not afflicted by darkness.

74.61.p1

Thus ends the seventy-fourth chapter, on the Tāmasa Manvantara, in the glorious Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa.

74.61.p2

Seventy-fifth chapter - 75

Translations (1)

Linked texts (1)