Matsyapurana 92
English (machine translation) 92
- Language
- English
92.1
The Lord said: / Now I shall explain the excellent sugar mountain, / through whose gift Viṣṇu, the Sun, and Rudra are forever pleased.
92.2
The highest great mountain is made of eight bhāras of sugar, / the medium is said to be four, and the lowest is considered two bhāras.
92.3
One who possesses little wealth may make it with one bhāra or half a bhāra; / a man should make the buttress mountains of one-fourth that size.
92.4
Having arranged everything accompanied by the immortals just as for the grain mountain, / a triad of golden trees is likewise to be placed on top of Meru:
92.5
The mandāra, the pārijāta, and the third, the wishing tree; / on the summit of all [mountains] one should place these three trees.
92.6
The yellow sandalwood and the saṃtāna trees / are to be placed in the east and west quarters on all mountains, especially on the sugar mountain.
92.7
On Mandara Kāmadeva should always face west; / on the peak of Gandhamādana the giver of wealth should face north.
92.8
On Vipulācala, the swan, the embodiment of the Veda, should face east; / on Supārśva, the golden Surabhi cow should face south.
92.9
Having performed all the rites of invocation just as for the grain mountain, / he should give the central, excellent mountain to the guru, / and the four mountains to the priests, reciting these mantras:
92.10
"This mountain made of sugar is the essence of nectar and auspicious fortune; / therefore, O king of mountains, be you a maker of joy at all times!
92.11
You who arose from the droplets that fell to earth / as the gods were drinking nectar, protect us, O mountain of sugar!
92.12
Since sugar arose from the center of Kāmadeva's bow, / you are made of that, O great mountain: protect [us] from the ocean of worldly existence!"
92.13
The person who gives the sugar mountain according to this rite, / freed from all sins, goes to the supreme state.
92.14
Mounting a vehicle that resembles the moon, stars, and sun, / he abides there together with his attendants, impelled by Viṣṇu.
92.15
Then, at the end of a hundred kalpas, he shall become the ruler of the seven continents, / endowed with long life and health for three hundred million births.
92.16
Free from envy, he should feed [people] according to his means on [the donation of] all mountains; / everywhere he should eat without pungent salt with their permission, / and convey all the mountain utensils to the house of a brāhmaṇa.
92.17
The Lord said: / Long ago, in the Bṛhatkalpa, there was a king who was the embodiment of dharma, / a friend of Śakra, by whom thousands of Daityas were slain.
92.18
By whose splendor Soma, the Sun, and others were robbed of their light, / by whom enemies were unconquered in hundreds, / who took any form at will, and, though mortal, was undefeated.
92.19
He had a wife named Bhānumatī, the beauty of the three worlds, / who surpassed the beauties of the immortals with her celestial beauty like Lakṣmī.
92.20
The chief queen of that king was dearer to him than his own breaths of life; / among ten thousand women she shone like Śrī.
92.21
He was never abandoned by ten million kings. / Once, seated in the assembly hall, the king, filled with wonder, / questioned the family priest, the best of ṛṣis, Vasiṣṭha:
92.22
The king said: / "O venerable one, through what religious virtue do I have this unsurpassed fortune? / And whence is this vast, supreme splendor ever in my body?"
92.23
Vasiṣṭha said: / Long ago, there was a courtesan named Līlāvatī, devoted to Śiva; / by her on the fourteenth lunar day a mountain of salt was given to her guru / together with golden trees and other furnishings, properly according to the rules.
92.24
There was then a Śūdra goldsmith named Śauṇḍa, / a servant in Līlāvatī's house; by him, filled with faith, O king, / were fashioned out of gold
92.25
the trees and the chief gods, endowed with exquisite form; / having forged them without wages, knowing it was an act of dharma, he took nothing whatsoever.
92.26
The golden trees of the gods were polished by his wife; / and Līlāvatī [performed] service at the side of the mountain, O king.
92.27
Having performed service to the guru and the rest without deceit, both of them— / and also that courtesan Līlāvatī—in the course of vast time...
92.28
having met the law of time through the conjunction of her past deeds, O Nārada, / freed from all sins, she went to the abode of Śiva.
92.29
That goldsmith who, though poor, was exceedingly noble-hearted / and took no payment from the courtesan—he is now you here [in this life].
92.30
You have become the ruler of the seven continents, radiant as ten thousand suns. / And that wife of the goldsmith by whom the trees made of gold / were properly polished is now this Bhānumatī of yours.
92.31
From that polishing, she obtained radiant beauty, and you obtained sovereignty over this world, / because that service to the mountain of salt was performed at night by both of you without pride.
92.32
And from that comes your invincibility in all worlds, and fortune endowed with health and auspiciousness. / Therefore, you too should now perform, according to rule, the gifts of the ten mountains beginning with the mountain of grain.
92.33
Agreeing with 'So be it,' that embodiment of righteousness honored the word of Vasiṣṭha and gave all / the mountains beginning with grain by the hundreds, and, praised by the immortals, went to the world of Murāri.
92.34
Even if a poor man should look upon these [gifts] with great devotion, or touch them as they are being given by men, / or hear [of them] with devotion, or approve of them, he too, cleansed of blemish, goes to heaven.
92.35
Nightmares come to an end when the principal mountains that destroy the fear of existence are recited by men; / what need be said, O best of sages, of one who, peaceful of mind, performs here properly the full gift of all the principal mountains?
Translations (1)
- The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English
Linked texts (1)
- Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit