Matsyapurana 130

English (machine translation) 130

Language: English

130.1

Sūta said: / Thus filled with thought, the Daitya created the impenetrable Tripura, / born of the power of divine expedients, moving according to the passage of his mind:

130.2

'Let the rampart run along this path; here, or rather there, let there be a city gateway; / here a gateway with watchtowers, and here a gateway with an upper gallery;

130.3

let the royal highway also extend wide from this direction; / here let there be lanes and side-streets, charitable halls, and crossroads;

130.4

this is the place for the inner palace, and here the sanctuary of Rudra; / ponds accompanied by banyan trees, and here stepped wells and lakes;

130.5

and here groves and assembly halls, or likewise pleasure gardens; / delightful exits for the Dānavas shall be here.'

130.6

In this manner the knower of city-planning arranged it mentally. / That city, Tripura, was fashioned by Maya—so have we heard.

130.7

In the city made of black iron that was constructed by Maya, / the sovereign named Tāraka dwelt, established as lord of the place.

130.8

In the silver city that was built, resembling the full moon, / Vidyunmālin was lord, shining like a cloud encircled by lightning.

130.9

And in the city made predominantly of gold, fashioned by Maya, / the lord Maya himself entered, ruler of that domain.

130.10

There the distance between Tāraka's city was a hundred yojanas, / and Vidyunmālin's city was also at an interval of a hundred yojanas;

130.11

and the great city of Maya resembled Mount Meru. / Formerly that Maya, in a time marked only by the conjunction of Puṣya,

130.12

the Daitya made Tripura, just as the Three-Eyed Lord made the Puṣpaka aerial car. / Wherever Maya went, creating city after city,

130.13

praiseworthy dwellings appeared spontaneously right there in the western quarter; / and by hundreds and by thousands, made of gold, silver, and iron,

130.14

studded with jewels, shone the cities of the enemies of the gods, / filled with hundreds of mansions and prominent with peaked upper chambers.

130.15

They moved at will for all, and surpassed all the worlds, / endowed with pleasure gardens, stepped wells, and water holes, and having ponds with lotuses,

130.16

adorned with groves of aśoka trees, filled with the cries of cuckoos, / spacious with picture galleries, and distinguished by superior four-sided quadrangles,

130.17

seven, eight, and ten storeys high, richly furnished by Maya, / bearing numerous banners and flags, and adorned with garlands of flowers,

130.18

resonant with the tinkling of clusters of small bells, fragrant and immense, / well-fitted and plastered, provided with flowers and food-offerings,

130.19

darkened by sacrificial smoke, furnished with full water jars, / appearing to screen the sky, and resembling rows of swans.

130.20

Arranged in rows, the houses in the city of Tripura shone, / seeming to mock the splendour of the moon with dangling pearl garlands,

130.21

perfumed with incense and scents of jasmine and mallikā blossoms, / providing perpetual delight to the five senses, impartial like virtuous men.

130.22

Marked with gold, silver, iron, jewels, gems, and collyrium, / the ramparts in that Tripura resembled walls of mountains.

130.23

In each individual city, a hundred gateways / bearing flags and banners could be seen, like mountain peaks.

130.24

Charming with the tinkling of anklets, those cities within Tripura / possessed a splendour surpassing heaven; and the quarters of the maidens there,

130.25

with groves, pleasure parks, ponds, banyan trees, and public squares, / with lakes and rivers, and with forests and small gardens,

afforded celestial pleasures and enjoyments, enriched with diverse gems. / Charming with heaps of blossoms were the exits of Tripura, / and moats a hundred fathoms deep were made by the warders-off of illusory power.

130.27

Hearing of that supreme arrangement of the fortress made by Maya of wondrous valour and deeds, / the sons of Diti, enemies of the king of the gods and endowed with boundless prowess, assembled by the thousands.

130.28

Then Tripura became full of those Asuras, destroyers of proud enemies, / tormentors of men, resembling lordly mountain elephants, just as previously the sky was filled with water-giving clouds full of abundant water.

Translations (1)

The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English

Linked texts (1)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit