Matsyapurana 170

English (machine translation) 170

Language: English

170.1

Matsya said: / An obstacle arose to the austerity, a great Asura named Madhu, / and together with him was born the Asura named Kaiṭabha.

170.2

Those two, passion and darkness, were born from Viṣṇu as two dark hosts, / agitating the entire world in the primordial cosmic ocean, exceedingly strong;

170.3

wearing celestial red garments, with white, blazing, fierce fangs, / towering with crowns and earrings, radiant with armlets and bracelets;

170.4

with great, wide-open, copper-red eyes, broad chests, and mighty arms, / possessing the frame of a great mountain, like two moving mountains;

170.5

resembling fresh storm clouds, with faces like the sun, / gleaming like lightning at the tips of their maces, most terrifying with their hands.

170.6

By the planting of their feet, as if casting up the ocean, / as if shaking Hari, Madhusūdana, as he slept;

170.7

wandering there upon the lotus, approaching the foremost of yogins / facing all directions, they then saw him blazing [with lustre],

170.8

commanded by Nārāyaṇa, creating all creatures, / all the deities, mind-born Asuras, and ṛṣis.

170.9

Then those two foremost Asuras spoke to Brahmā there, / fiery, eager to die, enraged, their eyes agitated with wrath:

170.10

"Who are you, seated in the center of the lotus, with a white turban and four arms, / who, having undertaken an observance out of delusion, sit free from distress?

170.11

Come! Come and give battle to the two of us, you lotus-born! / You are powerless against us, the two supreme masters here in the ocean.

170.12

From where is your origin, and by whom are you not employed? / Who is your creator, and who is your protector? By what name are you known?"

170.13

Brahmā said: / "He is called 'the One' by the worlds, inconceivable, thousand-eyed; / through connection with him, know your own actions and name!"

170.14

Madhu and Kaiṭabha said: / "There is nothing supreme to us two in the world, O wise one! / The universe is covered by us two through darkness and passion.

170.15

We consist of passion and darkness; we are transgressed by the ṛṣis; / we veil those of virtuous conduct, impassable to all embodied beings.

170.16

The world is carried away by us, who are hard to overcome, age after age; / we are wealth, desire, sacrifice, and the attainment of heaven.

170.17

Where there is pleasure combined with joy, where there is prosperity and fame, / and whatever is desired by anyone—consider us to be all that!"

170.18

Brahmā said: / "With effort, through the vision of one endowed with yoga, yoga was previously acquired by me; / having concentrated upon that, I have taken refuge in quality-bearing sattva.

170.19

He who is supreme, endowed with yoga, designated as Yoga, and sattva itself, / who is the creator of passion and darkness, the source of the universe—

170.20

from him beings are born, sattvic and otherwise; / that very self-controlled God will destroy you two, without a doubt."

170.21

Then, while still asleep, the glorious Nārāyaṇa, [who is] Brahmā, / produced an arm extending over many leagues by his own illusory power.

170.22

Then, being dragged by the arm of that strong-armed one, / those two wandered, exhausted, like two plump birds.

170.23

Then the two of them went and spoke to the eternal God, / the lotus-navelled Hṛṣīkeśa, both standing having bowed down.

170.24

“We know you as the source of the universe, the sole Puruṣottama.
Protect both of us for our purpose; this is the object of our intelligence.

170.25

Your sight is never in vain; since we know you to be eternal,
we have therefore approached you to behold you completely.

170.26

Therefore we desire a wondrous boon from you, O Lord, tamer of foes!
Your sight is never in vain; reverence to you, victorious in battle!”

170.27

The Blessed Lord said:
“Quickly state the boon for which [you ask], O best of Asuras!
Having been granted your life, do you desire to live together in secret once again?”

170.28

Madhu and Kaiṭabha said:
“O Lord, we desire our death where no one has ever died,
and let our death be at your hands, O you of great vows!”

170.29

The Blessed Lord said:
“Certainly! You two shall be foremost in a future creation that is to come;
you will indeed be so, there is no doubt: this truth I speak to you.”

Having granted the boon to the two great Asuras, the eternal, best of the universe, the highest of Suras,
the Lord crushed those twins, the sources arising from the categories of passion and darkness, with the flat of his thighs.

Translations (1)

The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English

Linked texts (1)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit