Matsyapurana 115
English (machine translation) 115
- Language
- English
115.1
Manu said: / The story of the son of Budha has been heard by me, O Janārdana, / and the holy rite of ancestor offerings, destroying all sins, has been heard.
115.2
The fruit of gifting a cow while she is giving birth has been heard by me, / as well as the gift of a black antelope skin and the release of a bull.
115.3
Having heard of the beauty of that king, the son of Budha, O Keśava, / curiosity has arisen [in me]. Therefore, tell me who asks:
115.4
Through the ripening of what deed did King Purūravas / attain such beauty and also supreme charm,
115.5
so that Urvaśī, leaving behind the gods, the foremost of the three worlds, and the handsome Gandharvas, / was devoted to that king with her whole heart?
115.6
Matsya said: / Hear through the ripening of what deed King Purūravas / attained such beauty and also supreme charm.
115.7
In a past birth, long ago, he who is this King Purūravas, / renowned as Purūravas, was indeed the ruler of the Madra country.
115.8
A king in the lineage of Cākṣuṣa during the epoch of Manu Cākṣuṣa, / he was endowed with the virtues of a king, but bereft of beauty.
115.9
The sages said: / By what deed did Purūravas become the king, the ruler of Madra? / And by what deed, O son of Sūta, did he become beautiful?
115.10
Sūta said: / In a village of twice-borns, there was a foremost twice-born named Purūravas / on the bank of a river, O great king, who was the king in a previous birth.
115.11
He who was the ruler of Madra, the king named Purūravas, / in that birth, O sinless one, that brāhmaṇa always on the twelfth [lunar day],
115.12
fasting, worshipped Janārdana, desiring kingship; / and while fasting, he took a bath preceded by an oil massage.
115.13
From the fruit of the fast, an undisputed kingdom among the Madras was obtained; / but from the oil massage while fasting, he was born bereft of beauty.
115.14
Therefore, by men who are fasting, a bath preceded by an oil massage / must be avoided with care; it is extremely destructive of beauty, O king.
115.15
All this has been told to you, what happened in his previous birth. / Hear of the conduct of that lord of the earth during his sovereignty over Madra.
115.16
Although that king was endowed with all royal virtues, / there was no affection among the people for him who lacked beauty.
115.17
Desiring beauty, the lord of Madra, having resolved upon austerities, / entrusted the kingdom to his ministers and went to the Snow Mountain.
115.18
Accompanied only by his resolve, that greatly renowned one [went] on foot / to see a river that was a dwelling of sacred fords at the border of his territory.
115.19
He beheld [the river] renowned as Airāvatī, exceedingly delightful,
115.20
arising from the Snow Mountain, possessing the speed of a great flood, with waters as cool as the rays of the moon,
115.21
possessing heaps of golden colour resembling snow; the king, possessing snowy renown, beheld the river.
Translations (1)
- The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English
Linked texts (1)
- Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit