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Matsyapurana 21

English (machine translation) 21

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21.1

The ṛṣis said: / How did Brahmadatta on the earth come to know the speech of living beings, / and in whose family were those four cakravāka birds born? / The ṛṣis said: / How did Brahmadatta on the earth come to know the speech of living beings, / and in whose family were those four cakravāka birds born?

21.2

Sūta said: / In that very city they, known as the cakras, were born then / as the sons of an old twice-born man, [themselves] brāhmaṇas who remembered their past births.

21.3

Dhṛtimant, Tattvadarśin, Vidyācaṇḍa, and Tapotsuka— / these were the sons of that very poor man, [named thus] according to their names and deeds.

21.4

Then the thought occurred to those twice-born ones to practise asceticism. / Those best of twice-borns said: "We shall attain the supreme perfection."

21.5

Then, hearing their words, the very poor man of great asceticism / spoke in a sorrowful voice: "What is this, my sons?"

21.6

"This is unrighteousness for you!" said the father, forbidding them, / who were going to dwell in the forest, abandoning their aged, impoverished father.

21.7

"What righteousness will come of this, or what destiny [shall be yours] from abandoning me?" / They said: "A livelihood has been arranged for you, father; speak this:

21.8

This is wealth: before the king, when you recite it at dawn, / he will give you abundant wealth and a thousand villages:

21.9

'Those who were eminent brāhmaṇas in the Kurujāṅgala lands, likewise fishermen, and deer in Dāśapura, / seven cakravākas on Mount Kālañjara, and swans in Lake Mānasa—we are those same [beings], perfected here.'"

21.10

Having said this to their father, they went back to the forest for ascetic penance; / and the old man went to the royal palace to accomplish his own aim.

21.11

Formerly, a king of the Pāñcālas named Anagha, of the Vibhrāja lineage, / desiring a son, to Hari, Lord Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of the lords of gods,

21.12

worshipped that omnipresent lord, devoted to severe vows. / Then, after a long time, Janārdana was pleased with him.

21.13

"Choose a boon, may good betide you, O king, that is desired by your heart!" / Thus addressed by the God, he chose the supreme boon:

21.14

"Give me a son, O Lord of the gods, possessed of great strength and valour, / a master of all scriptures, righteous, and supreme among yogins!

21.15

Give me a son, a yogin, who knows the speech of all living beings!" / "So be it," the Supreme Lord, the soul of the universe, said to him.

21.16

While all the gods were watching, he vanished right there. / Then that son of his was born, Brahmadatta, full of splendour,

21.17

compassionate to all living beings, surpassing the strength of all creatures, / knowing the speech of all creatures, a lord of the lords of all beings.

21.18

Therefore that yogic soul laughed at the passion of the ants, / where that pair of insects was resting and making love.

21.19

Then Saṃnati, seeing him laugh, was exceedingly astonished; / suspecting something in her mind, she questioned the lord of men:

21.20

Saṃnati said: / "Why was there such great laughter from you all of a sudden, O king? / I do not understand the cause of laughter, which you made at an untimely moment."

21.21

Sūta said: / The prince too spoke of the conversation of the ants: / "This laughter arose from words of passionate love, O fair-faced one!

21.22

And there is no other reason for the cause of the laughter, O woman of radiant smile." / The queen did not believe it then, and said: "This statement is false!

21.23

It was I alone who was laughed at today; I will not live with you now! / How could a mortal, without being a god, understand the conversation of ants?

21.24

Therefore it was only me whom you mocked here; what else is there?" / Thereupon the king was left without an answer; desiring to know, in front of Hari,

21.25

undertaking a vow, he remained for seven nights, sinless. / In a dream Hṛṣīkeśa said: "Roistering through the city in the morning,

21.26

there will be an aged twice-born; from his words you will know everything completely." / Having spoken thus, Viṣṇu vanished. Then in the morning, the king, from the city,

21.27

going forth accompanied by his ministers and together with his wife, saw an old man in front— / that old brāhmaṇa coming and reciting.

21.28

The brāhmaṇa said: / "Those who were eminent brāhmaṇas in the Kurujāṅgala lands, likewise fishermen, and deer in Dāśapura, / seven cakravākas on Mount Kālañjara, and swans in Lake Mānasa—we are those same [beings], perfected here."

21.29

Sūta said: / Hearing these words from the two of them, he then collapsed with sorrow; / and both of those excellent ministers gained remembrance of their previous births.

21.30

The author of the Kāmaśāstra, Bābhravya Subālaka, / renowned across the worlds as Pāñcāla, skilled in all scriptures,

21.31

and the righteous Kaṇḍarīka, the promoter of Vedic scriptures— / both having remembered their past births, collapsed in front of him out of grief:

21.32

"Alas! We have fallen from yoga, bound by deeds through desire!" / Having lamented thus many times, those three masters of yoga,

21.33

out of wonder praised the glory of the funeral offerings again and again. / Then, giving wealth to him along with numerous villages,

21.34

and dismissing that aged brāhmaṇa who was rejoiced with wealth, / the king consecrated his own son, endowed with the marks of a king,

21.35

bearing the name Viṣvaksena, onto the royal throne. / Then all of those best of yogins met together at Lake Mānasa,

21.36

Brahmadatta and the others in that place, devoted to the ancestors and free of envy. / And Saṃnati became downcast, [saying]: "Indeed, this was caused by me!

21.37

All this reward from relinquishing the kingdom, which is longed for [is due to me]." / "So be it," the king spoke, praising her again:

21.38

"Through your grace, all this fruit is being attained by me." / Then all those forest-dwellers, having resorted to yoga,

21.39

reached the supreme abode through the aperture of the crown of the head by the power of penance. / In this way, the grandfathers, when pleased, bestow life, wealth, knowledge, heaven, liberation, joys,

21.40

sons, and sovereignty upon men. / O twice-borns, whoever causes this majesty of the ancestors and of Brahmadatta

21.41

to be heard by twice-borns, or who hears it, or who recites it, / is honoured in the world of Brahmā for a full thousand million cosmic ages.

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