Devibhagavatapurana 7.10: daśamo'dhyāyaḥ | satyavratākhyānavarṇanam

Devībhāgavatapurāṇa 7.10

Language: Sanskrit

7.10.36 — 1 part
7.10.58 — 1 part

daśamo'dhyāyaḥ | satyavratākhyānavarṇanam

7.10.1

vyāsa uvāca -
babhūva cakravartī sa nṛpatiḥ satyasaṅgaraḥ |
māndhātā pṛthivīṃ sarvāmajayannṛpatīśvaraḥ ||

7.10.2

dasyavo'sya bhayatrastā yayurgiriguhāsu ca |
indreṇāsya kṛtaṃ nāma trasaddasyuriti sphuṭam ||

7.10.3

tasya bindumatī bhāryā śaśabindoḥ sutābhavat |
pativratā surūpā ca sarvalakṣaṇasaṃyutā ||

7.10.4

tasyāmutpādayāmāsa māndhātā dvau sutau nṛpa |
purukutsaṃ suvikhyātaṃ mucukundaṃ tathāparam ||

7.10.5

purukutsāttato'raṇyaḥ putraḥ paramadhārmikaḥ |
pitṛbhaktirataścābhūdbṛhadaśvastadātmajaḥ ||

7.10.6

haryaśvastasya putro'bhūddhārmikaḥ paramārthavit |
tasyātmajastridhanvābhūdaruṇastasya cātmajaḥ ||

7.10.7

aruṇasya sutaḥ śrīmānsatyavrata iti śrutaḥ |
so'bhūdicchācaraḥ kāmī mandātmā hyatilolupaḥ ||

7.10.8

sa pāpātmā viprabhāryāṃ hṛtavānkāmamohitaḥ |
vivāhe tasya vighnaṃ sa cakāra nṛpateḥ sutaḥ ||

7.10.9

militā brāhmaṇāstatra rājānamaruṇaṃ nṛpa |
ūcurbhṛśaṃ suduḥkhārtā hā hatāḥsmeti cāsakṛt ||

7.10.10

papraccha rājā tānviprānduḥkhitānpuravāsinaḥ |
kiṃ kṛtaṃ mama putreṇa bhavatāmaśubhaṃ dvijāḥ ||

7.10.11

tanniśamya dvijā vākyaṃ rājño vinayapūrvakam |
tadocustvaruṇaṃ viprāṃ kṛtāśīrvacanā bhṛśam ||

7.10.12

brāhmaṇā ūcuḥ -
rājaṃstava sutenādya vivāhe prahṛtā kila |
vivāhitā viprakanyā balena balināṃvara ||

Vyasa said:-- O King! The highly religious King hearing the words of the Brâhmins, took them to be true and said to his son:-- “O One of evil understanding! You have rendered to-day your name useless by perpetrating this evil act. O Vicious One! Get away from my house! O Sinner! You will never be able to live in my territory!” Seeing his father angry, Satyavrata repeatedly said:-- Father! Where shall I go? He said:-- “Live with the Chandalas. You have stolen a Brâhmin's wife and so has acted like a Chândala. Go and live with them happily. O Disgrace to your family! I don't like to get issues through you: you have obliterated this family's name. So, O Sinner! go wherever you like.” Hearing the the words from his angry father, Satyavrata instantly quitted the house and went to the Chândâlas. The prince, wearing his coat of armour and holding bows and arrows, began to spend away his time with the Chândâlas; but he could not get out of his breast his feeling of sympathy and mercy. When he was banished by his liberal minded angry father the Guru Vas'istha instigated the King to the above purpose. Satyavrata was therefore angry with Vas'istha, inasmuch as he, versed the Dharma S'âstras, did not dissuade the father from banishing his son. His father, then, owing to some inexplicable cause, quitted the city and, for the sake of his son, went to the forest to practise austerities. O King! Owing to that sinful act, Indra did not rain at all in his kingdom for twelve years. O King! Just then Vis'vâmitra, too, keeping his wife and children in that kingdom, began to practise severe austerities on the banks of the river Kaus'ikî. The beautiful wife of Kus'ika then fell into great trouble how she could maintain the family. All the children, pained with hunger, began to cry, begging for Nibâr rice food. The chaste wife of Kaus'ika became very much troubled seeing all this. She thought, seeing the children hungry, “Where am I to go now and from whom to beg, and what to do, inasmuch as the King was not then staying in the Kingdom. The husband is not also near; so who would protect my children? The boys are incessantly crying. Fie therefore to my life!” She thought also thus:-- “My husband left me in this penniless state; we are suffering for want of money. He does not know these, though he is quite able. Save my husband, who else will support my sons? They will all die now of starvation. I might sell one of my sons, whatever I get out of that, I can support the others; this is now my highest duty. I ought not to do otherwise and kill all my children; so I will now sell one of my sons to support the others.” Thus hardening her mind, she went out, tying the child by a rope round his neck. The Muni's wife, for the sake of the other children, fastened the middle son by a cord and got out of her house. The prince Satyavrata saw her distressed with pain and sorrow and asked:-- “O Beautiful One! What are you now going to do? Who are you? This boy is crying; Why have you tied him by a rope round his neck? O Fair One! Speak out truly to me the cause of all this.”
Swami Vijnanananda 1921, The Sri Mad Devi Bhagavatam

7.10.13

vyāsa uvāca -
śrutvā teṣāṃ vacastathyaṃ rājā paramadhārmikaḥ |
putramāha vṛthā nāma kṛtaṃ te duṣṭakarmaṇā ||

7.10.14

gaccha dūraṃ sumandātmandurācāra gṛhānmama |
na sthātavyaṃ tvayā pāpa viṣaye mama sarvathā ||

7.10.15

kupitaṃ pitaraṃ prāha kva gacchāmīti vai muhuḥ |
aruṇastamathovāca śvapākaiḥ saha vartaya ||

7.10.16

śvapacasya kṛtaṃ karma dvijadārāpahāraṇam |
tasmāttaiḥ saha saṃsargaṃ kṛtvā tiṣṭha yathāsukham ||

7.10.17

nāhaṃ putreṇa putrārthī tvayā ca kulapāṃsana |
yatheṣṭaṃ vraja duṣṭātman kīrtināśaḥ kṛtastvayā ||

7.10.18

sa niśamya piturvākyaṃ kupitasya mahātmanaḥ |
niścakrāma purāttasmāttarasā śvapacānyayau ||

7.10.19

satyavratastadā tatra śvapākaiḥ saha vartate |
dhanurbāṇadharaḥ śrīmānkavacī karuṇālayaḥ ||

7.10.20

yadā niṣkāsitaḥ pitrā kupitena mahātmanā |
guruṇātha vasiṣṭhena prerito'sau mahīpatiḥ ||

7.10.21

tasmātsatyavratastasminbabhūva krodhasaṃyutaḥ |
vasiṣṭhe dharmaśāstrajñe nivāraṇaparāṅmukhe ||

7.10.22

kenacitkāraṇenātha pitā tasya mahīpatiḥ |
putrārthe'sau tapastaptuṃ puraṃ tyaktvā vanaṃ gataḥ ||

7.10.23

na vavarṣa tadā tasminviṣaye pākaśāsanaḥ |
samā dvādaśa rājendra tenādharmeṇa sarvathā ||

7.10.24

viśvāmitrastadā dārāṃstasmiṃstu viṣaye nṛpa |
saṃnyasya kauśikītīre cacāra vipulaṃ tapaḥ ||

7.10.25

kātarā tatra sañjātā bhāryā vai kauśikasya ha |
kuṭumbabharaṇārthāya duḥkhitā varavarṇinī ||

7.10.26

bālakānkṣudhayākrāntānrudataḥ paśyatī bhṛśam |
yācamānāṃśca nīvārānkaṣṭamāpa pativratā ||

7.10.27

cintayāmāsa duḥkhārtā tokānvīkṣya kṣudhāturān |
nṛpo nāsti pure hyadya kaṃ yāce vā karomi kim ||

7.10.28

na me trātāsti putrāṇāṃ patirme nāsti sannidhau |
rudanti bālakāḥ kāmaṃ dhiṅme jīvanamadya vai ||

7.10.29

dhanahīnāṃ ca māṃ tyaktvā tapastaptuṃ gataḥ patiḥ |
na jānāti samartho'pi duḥkhitāṃ dhanavarjitām ||

7.10.30

bālānāṃ bharaṇaṃ kena karomi patinā vinā |
mariṣyanti sutāḥ sarve kṣudhayā pīḍitā bhṛśam ||

7.10.31

ekaṃ sutaṃ tu vikrīya dravyeṇa kiyatā punaḥ |
pālayāmi sutānanyāneṣa me vihito vidhiḥ ||

7.10.32

sarveṣāṃ māraṇaṃ nāddhā yuktaṃ mama viparyaye |
kālasya kalanāyāhaṃ vikrīṇāmi tathātmajam ||

7.10.33

hṛdayaṃ kaṭhinaṃ kṛtvā sañcintya manasā satī |
sā darbharajjvā baddhvātha gale putraṃ vinirgatā ||

7.10.34

munipatnī gale baddhvā madhyamaṃ putramaurasam |
śeṣasya bharaṇārthāya gṛhītvā calitā gṛhāt ||

7.10.35

dṛṣṭā satyavratenārtā tāpasī śokasaṃyutā |
papraccha nṛpatistāṃ tu kiṃ cikīrṣasi śobhane ||

7.10.36

rudantaṃ bālakaṃ kaṇṭhe baddhvā nayasi kādhunā |
kimarthaṃ cārusarvāṅgi satyaṃ brūhi mamāgrataḥ ||

7.10.36.p1

ṛṣipatnyuvāca -
viśvāmitrasya bhāryāhaṃ putro'yaṃ me nṛpātmaja |
vikretumaurasaṃ kāmaṃ gamiṣye viṣame sutam ||

7.10.38

37|
annaṃ nāsti patirmuktvā gatastaptuṃ nṛpa kvacit |
vikrīṇāmi kṣudhārtainaṃ śeṣasya bharaṇāya vai ||

7.10.39

rājovāca - pativrate rakṣa putraṃ dāsyāmi bharaṇaṃ tava |
tāvadeva patiste'tra vanāccaivāgamiṣyati ||

Satyavrata said:-- “O Chaste One! Save your children. I will bring to you your articles of food from the forest till your husband does not come here. Daily I will fasten some food on a tree close by your Âs'rama. This I speak truly.” The wife of Vis'vâmitra, hearing these words of the prince, freed the child of the fastening and took him to her Âs'rama. The child was named afterwards as Gâlaba, due to his being fastened by the neck. He became a great Risi afterwards. The Vis'vâmitra's wife then felt great pleasure in her home, surrounded by her children. Filled with regard, and mercy, Satyavrata duly performed his task and provided daily the family of Vis'vâmitra with their food. He used to hunt wild boars, deer, buffaloes, etc., and used to take their flesh to the place where used to dwell the wife of Vis'vâmitra and the children and tie that up to an adjoining tree. The Risi's wife used to give those to her children. Thus getting excellent food, she felt very happy. Now when the King Aruna went for tapasyâ to the forest, the Muni Vas'istha carefully guarded the Ayodhyâ city, and the palace and the household. Satyavrata, too, used to sustain his livelihood daily by hunting, accordig to his father's order; and abiding by Dharma, lived in the forest outside the city. Satyavrata cherished always in his heart, for some cause, a feeling of anger towards Vas'istha. When his father banished his religious son, Vas'istha did not prevent his father. This is the cause of Satyavrata's anger. Marriage does not become valid until seven footsteps are trodden (a ceremony); so the stealing away of a girl within that period is not equivalent to stealing away a Brâhmin's wife. The virtuous Vas'istha knew that; yet he did not prevent the King. One day the prince did not find anything for hunting; he saw in the forest the cow of Vas'istha giving milk. Very much distressed by hunger, the King killed the cow like a dacoit, partly out of anger and partly out of delusion. He fastened part of the flesh to that tree for the wife of Vis'vâmitra and the remainder he ate himself. O One of good vows! The Vis'vâmitra's wife did not know that to be beef and thought it to be deer's and so fed her sons with that. Now when Vas'istha came to know that his cow had been killed, he was inflamed with anger and spoke to Satyavrata “O Vicious One! What a heinous crime have you committed, like a Pis'âcha, by killing the cow? For the killing of the cow, the stealing of a Brâhmin's wife and the fiery anger of your father, for these three crimes, let there come out on your head three S'ankus or three marks of leprosy as the signs for your crimes. From this day you will be widely known by the name of Tris'anku and you will show your Pis'âcha form to all the beings.”
Swami Vijnanananda 1921, The Sri Mad Devi Bhagavatam

Vyâsa said: -- O King! The prince Satyavrata thus cursed by Vais'istha remained in that retreat and practised severe tapasyâ.
Swami Vijnanananda 1921, The Sri Mad Devi Bhagavatam

7.10.58

kasmāccinmuniputrāttu prāpya mantramanuttamam |
dhyāyanbhagavatīṃ devīṃ prakṛtiṃ paramāṃ śivām ||

But he got from a Muni's son the excellent Mantram of the Highest auspicious Devî Bhagavatî and became merged in the contemplation of that.
Here ends the Tenth Chapter of the Seventh Book on the story of Satyavrata in the Mahâpurânam S'rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses, by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
Swami Vijnanananda 1921, The Sri Mad Devi Bhagavatam

7.10.58.c1

iti śrīmaddevībhāgavate mahāpurāṇe'ṣṭādaśasāhasryāṃ saṃhitāyāṃ saptamaskandhe satyavratākhyānavarṇanaṃ nāma daśamo'dhyāyaḥ ||

Translations (1)

The Sri Mad Devi Bhagavatam — Swami Vijnanananda 1921, English

Linked texts (2)

Critical edition (BORI) — Sanskrit
Brahmapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit

Devibhagavatapurana 7.10: daśamo'dhyāyaḥ | satyavratākhyānavarṇanam

Contents

daśamo'dhyāyaḥ | satyavratākhyānavarṇanam

Translations (1)

Linked texts (2)