Matsyapurana 126

English (machine translation) 126

Language: English

126.1

Sūta said: / That chariot is presided over by gods month by month in due order; / then it carries the sun along with many sages,

126.2

with Gandharvas and Apsarases, serpents, troop-leaders, and Rākṣasas; / these dwell in the sun for two months each in succession:

126.3

Dhātṛ and Aryaman, and Pulastya and Pulaha, the two Prajāpatis, / and the two serpents Vāsuki and Saṃkīrṇa,

126.4

Tumburu and Nārada, the two Gandharvas best among singers, / and the Apsaras Kṛtasthalā and she who is Puñjikasthalā,

126.5

the two troop-leaders Rathakṛt and Rathaujas, / and the Rākṣasas Heti and Praheti, both Yātudhānas in the season.

126.6

This group dwells in the sun during the months of Madhu and Mādhava. / Dwelling there for two months in the hot season are Mitra and Varuṇa,

126.7

the two sages Atri and Vasiṣṭha, the two snakes Takṣaka and Rambhaka, / Menakā and Sahajanyā, and the two singers Hāhā and Hūhū,

126.8

and the two troop-leaders Rathaṃtara and Rathakṛt, / and Puruṣāda and Vadha, who are known as two Yātudhānas.

126.9

These dwell in the sun during the two months Śuci and Śukra; / after that, other deities dwell in the sun:

126.10

Indra and Vivasvant, Aṅgiras and Bhṛgu, / the serpent Elāpattra and the snake Śaṅkhapāla,

126.11

Viśvāvasu and Suṣeṇa, and Prātaḥ and Ratha, / and the two Apsarases Pramlocā and Nimrocantī,

126.12

and the Yātudhānas Heti and Vyāghra, both of them; / these dwell in the sun during Nabhas and Nabhasya.

126.13

During the autumn season deities dwell in the sun for two months: / Parjanya and Pūṣan, Bharadvāja together with Gautama,

126.14

and the Gandharva Citrasena, and also Suruci, / and Viśvācī and Ghṛtācī, both possessing auspicious marks.

126.15

And the nāga Airāvata and the renowned Dhanañjaya, / and Senajit and Suṣeṇa, the army general and the troop-leader;

126.16

and Cāra and Vāta, both considered Yātudhānas— / these dwell in the sun during the two months of Iṣa and Ūrja.

126.17

And during the two winter months they reside in the sun: / both Aṃśa and Bhaga, and both Kaśyapa and Kratu;

126.18

and the serpent Mahāpadma, and likewise the snake Karkoṭaka; / and Citrasena the Gandharva and Pūrṇāyu, the two singers;

126.19

and the Apsaras Pūrvacitti, and indeed the Gandharvī Urvaśī; / and Tārkṣya and Ariṣṭanemi, the army general and the troop-leader;

126.20

and Vidyut and Sūrya, considered the two fierce Yātudhānas— / these dwell in the sun during Saha and Sahasya.

126.21

Then during the two months of the cool season, these reside: / Tvaṣṭṛ, Viṣṇu, Jamadagni, and likewise Viśvāmitra;

126.22

likewise the two nāgas born of Kadrū, both Kambala and Aśvatara; / the two Gandharvas Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Sūryavarcas;

126.23

and the celestial nymph Tilottamā and the lovely goddess Rambhā; / the troop-leader Ṛtajit and the mighty Satyajit;

126.24

and the Rakṣas Brahmopeta, and likewise Yajñopeta— / thus these used to reside in the sun two months at a time.

126.25

These twelve groups of seven, presiding deities of the stations, / enhance the sun with their splendour to the highest brilliance.

126.26

The sages praise the sun with composed verses, / and the Gandharvas and celestial nymphs wait upon him with song and dance.

126.27

The Yakṣas, masters of knowledge, gather the reins, / the serpents glide with the sun, and the Yātudhānas follow after.

126.28

The Vālakhilyas, surrounding the sun from dawn, escort him to his setting; / according to the prowess and ascetic power of each of these gods,

126.29

according to their spiritual union, righteousness, true nature, and strength, / so blazes that sun, kindled by their brilliance.

126.30

He removes all evil from living beings with his own radiance, / and by these auspicious [beings], the sin of mortals is indeed dispelled.

126.31

From time to time they dispel the sin of those who act righteously; / accompanied by their followers, they wander in the sky along with the sun,

126.32

burning, murmuring prayers, and gladdening creatures; / they protect beings and act out of compassion.

126.33

This is indeed the station of those presiding deities across cosmic epochs of Manu, / past, future, and those who exist at present.

126.34

Thus those fourteen heptads dwell in the sun; / these groups exist through the fourteen cosmic epochs of Manu,

126.35

emitting in order heat, cold, and rain / in summer, winter, and the rains, in regular succession day and night.

126.36

Turning his rays, he moves day after day, fully satisfying gods, ancestors, and men; / and in the bright and dark fortnights, in that daily order, at the end of the period, the Suras drink.

126.37

That pure nectar of his, preserved in his rays during the month for good rain, / all the ancestors drink—that nectar—as do the Saumya and Kāvya deities.

126.38

By the waters raised up and multiplied by the sun with his rays, / and by the herbs showered down by rain, mortals then overcome hunger with food.

And thereby is satisfaction for half a month for the Suras, and for a month for the ancestors by means of nectar and funerary offerings; / humans live continuously by food; indeed the sun sustains all that rests upon him with his rays.

126.40

Thus this sun moves swiftly on a single wheel; / there, by those untiring horses, he moves at the close of day.

126.41

The golden one is drawn by tawny steeds; then he drinks the waters in a thousand ways with tawny rays; / then that golden one releases them again, borne swiftly by tawny steeds.

126.42

Wandering day and night in his chariot on a single wheel, / quickly across the seven continents and oceans with the seven horses,

126.43

yoked with those steeds in the form of Vedic metres, the wheel then stays its course; / by those horses changing form at will, yoked once for all, going where they wish, swift as thought,

126.44

tawny, tireless, reddish-brown, mighty, proclaiming the Veda, / [he traverses] the outer and the contiguous circles according to the order of days.

126.45

Yoked at the beginning of the cosmic cycle, they draw it until the dissolution of beings; / and surrounded by the Vālakhilyas, he circles night and day,

126.46

praised by great sages with their composed verses, / and waited upon with songs and dances by hosts of Gandharvas and celestial nymphs.

126.47

Being borne along by flying, bird-like horses, the lord of the day / traverses the lunar mansions situated in the orbital paths, and so does the moon.

126.48

Likewise, his waning and waxing and his rays are considered like the sun's; / the moon's chariot is known to have three wheels and horses on both sides.

126.49

The chariot, born from the womb of the waters, with horses and charioteer, / is fitted with those three wheeled circles with spokes and yoked with excellent white horses—

126.50

ten celestial horses, unhindered and swift as thought, / yoked once for all to that chariot, drawing it until the end of the cosmic age.

126.51

Restrained on that chariot, white and hearing with their eyes, / those horses of a single color draw it, gleaming like conch shells:

126.52

Aja, Tripatha, Vṛṣa, Vājin, Nara, Haya, / Aṃśumant, Saptadhātu, Haṃsa, and Vyomamṛga.

126.53

These ten by name are the horses of the moon; / thus they draw the divine moon until the end of the cosmic age.

126.54

Surrounded by the gods, Soma moves along with the ancestors; / at the beginning of Soma's bright fortnight, when the sun stands opposite,

126.55

the other part of Soma fills up, day by day in order; / then the sun, reaching it, fills Soma who had waned by drinking.

126.56

Drunk for fifteen days, the sun filled him with a single ray, / bestowing it part by part in the order of days.

126.57

When he is nourished by Suṣumṇa, his digits increase in the bright fortnight; / therefore they decrease in the dark fortnight, and increase in the bright.

126.58

In this way the body of the moon is replenished by the power of the sun; / on the full moon day, he appears bright with a complete disc.

126.59

Thus Soma increases day by day in the bright fortnights; / then from the second day onward until the fourteenth of the dark fortnight,

126.60

the gods drink the watery, sweet, and moon-born nectar / of the moon, which consists of the essence of water and is made of pure fluid.

126.61

The nectar accumulated over a fortnight by the splendour of the sun / gathers in Soma for food, whom they attend upon the full moon day.

126.62

For one night the gods, together with the ancestors and the sages, [attend him], / at the beginning of the dark fortnight, facing the sun.

126.63

Then his body diminishes successively as the digits are drunk. / Three and thirty, together with three and thirty hundred,

126.64

and three and thirty thousand gods drink Soma. / As he is drunk in this manner, those digits increase in the dark [fortnight],

126.65

and those bright [digits] wane, and the dark ones replenish [them]. / When the maker of the night has thus been drunk day by day by the gods,

126.66

having drunk for half a month, those gods depart on the new moon day. / Then the ancestors attend upon the maker of the night on the new moon day.

126.67

When only a small remainder is left of the maker of the night in the fifteenth part, / then, in the afternoon on the final day, the ancestors

126.68

drink for the duration of two digits whatever remaining digits there are. / That nectar released from the rays on the new moon day—

126.69

having drunk that nectar at the conclusion of the fortnight, they depart: / the Saumyas, the Barhiṣads, and those known as the Agniṣvāttas,

126.70

and those called the Kāvyas—they are all the ancestors. / The Kāvyas are the years; the five-year [cycles] are known as the twice-born.

126.71

The Saumyas are known as those of great asceticism; the Saumyas, Barhiṣads, / and the three Agniṣvāttas are the twice-born established in the creation of the ancestors.

126.72

While the fifteenth digit is being drunk by the ancestors, / as much as wanes from it, that is the fifteenth part.

126.73

On the new moon day, the other [half] is filled in between. / The increase and decrease at the beginning of the fortnights occur in the sixteenth [digit] of the moon; / thus the waning and waxing in the maker of the night are caused by the sun.

Translations (1)

The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English

Linked texts (1)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit