Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 1
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Contents
- 1.54 — 1 part
1.1
RKV chapter 1
Homage to Śrī Gaṇeśa.
1.2
Oṃ, homage to Śrī Puruṣottama.
Oṃ, homage to the auspicious Narmadā.
Oṃ, homage to Hari, Hara, and Hiraṇyagarbha; homage to Vyāsa, Vālmīki, Śuka, and Parāśara; homage to gurus, cows, and brāhmans.
Oṃ. May the waters of the Narmadā protect you—garlanded with bees intoxicated by the fragrance of the rutting-intoxicant falling from the temples of bathing elephants; tawny from contact with saffron slipping from the pair of breasts of the women of the siddhas as they bathe; its bankside trees covered morning and evening with piles of flowers of the sages; its waves possessing deep currents inhabited by sea-monsters and elephants.
1.3
Having holy pilgrimage places on both banks, washing away the mass of misfortune of all creatures,
venerated by gods, sages, and humans—may the Narmadā always remove misfortune.
1.4
May she destroy all misfortune—past, future, and present—of living beings on earth;
O purifier of all, your holy-watered Narmadā is nectar.
1.5
May the Revā, whose bank and sandbanks the gods of Śiva or even ascetics desire,
served by hosts of sages, bring about welfare for me.
1.6
Having bowed to Nārāyaṇa and also to Nara, the best of humans,
and to the goddess Sarasvatī and Vyāsa, one should then utter "Jaya".
1.7
In Naimiṣa, the abode of religious merit frequented by various ṛṣis,
Śaunaka, seated at a sacrificial session, questioned Sūta at length:
1.8
"I consider skill in dharma to be always honored in you, O Sūta;
you are indeed the speaker of stories of holy nectar, the disciple of Vyāsa.
1.9
Therefore I ask you, O wise one, about what relates to holy pilgrimage places;
many pilgrimage places exist, and many have been heard by me.
1.10
The heavenly river of Brahmā was heard by me, as well as the river of Viṣṇu;
the third, best of rivers, belonging to Rudra, has not been heard by me anywhere.
1.11
Tell me, O greatly wise one, about that famous [river] carrying the Vedas within her,
venerated by the host of gods, adorned with a multitude of pilgrimage places.
1.12
Which country does the Revā resort to? How was she born from the glorious Rudra?
Tell me what pilgrimage places are situated upon her."
1.13
Sūta said:
"Well asked, O head of the hermitage, concerning the history relating to the Narmadā,
which is marvelous, purifying, destroying faults, heard and spoken of, O best of the good!
1.14
Having arranged the Vedas, secondary Vedas, auxiliary limbs of the Veda, and others, fulfilled,
the son of Satyavatī is the proclaimer of the eighteen purāṇas.
1.15
Having bowed to him, I shall declare the purāṇas in order,
by whose recitation there is an increase of virtue and lifespan.
1.16
Revelation and tradition are declared to be the two eyes of brāhmans;
one devoid of one of them is one-eyed; devoid of both, he is proclaimed blind.
1.17
Revelation, tradition, and the purāṇas are the three eyes of the wise;
he who sees with three eyes is regarded as a portion of Maheśvara.
1.18
The knowledge of the Vedas was created from his own self by the Lord,
as well as the Śaunakīya, the Paurāṇic, and that consisting of the dharmaśāstra.
1.19
These three branches of knowledge are primary in determining all sacred teachings;
'The purāṇa is the fifth Veda'—such is Brahmā's instruction.
1.20
Indeed, he who does not know the purāṇa knows nothing here.
What dharma is there, or what knowledge of that kind,
1.21
or what else is spoken here that is not seen in the purāṇa?
The Vedas were formerly established upon the purāṇa; there is no doubt about this.
1.22
The Veda fears one of little learning: 'He will deceive me!'
And this conclusion was made anciently by means of the histories and purāṇas.
1.23
The purāṇa is the soul of the Vedas, while they are the six separate limbs;
and what is indeed seen in the Vedas is seen in the traditions.
1.24
What is seen by both is sung in the purāṇas;
the purāṇa was remembered first among all the sacred treatises by Brahmā.
1.25
And thereafter the Vedas issued forth from his mouths.
There was only a single purāṇa at the beginning of this kalpa, O sage.
1.26
The four-faced god, having recollected it—the holy means to achieve the three aims of life, / extending to one hundred crore [verses]—spoke it to the sages.
1.27
Thence arose the manifestation of all the sacred treatises from the purāṇa.
Then, seeing the lack of comprehension of the purāṇa due to time, the sage,
1.28
the all-pervading lord, having assumed the form of Vyāsa, condenses it yuga after yuga;
constantly in every Dvāpara, to a measure of eight hundred thousand [verses].
1.29
Having divided that eighteenfold, it is proclaimed in this mortal world;
even today in the world of the gods it extends to one hundred crore [verses].
1.30
Likewise, four hundred thousand [verses] have been arranged here in summary.
Now the eighteen purāṇas are stated here;
I shall tell them by name; listen, O best of ṛṣis:
1.31
Primary creation, secondary creation, genealogy, the manvantaras,
and dynastic history—such is the purāṇa with its five characteristics.
1.32
The Brāhma Purāṇa is the first among them, adorned in its compilation
with ten thousand verses, containing various holy narratives.
1.33
The Pādma is declared to be fifty-five thousand [verses];
the third by name is the Vaiṣṇava, with a count of twenty-three [thousand].
1.34
The fourth, spoken by Vāyu, is remembered as the Vāyavīya;
and through association with devotion to Śiva, it is called Śaiva by another name.
1.35
It is counted as twenty-four thousand [verses], O Śaunaka.
The Bhaviṣya is taught as fifth, with four sections;
1.36
that is fourteen thousand and five hundred [verses].
The Mārkaṇḍa, consisting of nine thousand, is celebrated as the sixth.
1.37
The Āgneya is spoken of as seventh, with sixteen thousand [verses];
and the eighth, the Nāradīya, is declared as twenty-five [thousand].
1.38
The ninth is named the Bhāgavata, adorned with two parts;
that is spoken of as eighteen thousand by text measure.
1.39
The tenth, the Brahmavaivarta, is said here to be of the same count;
the Laiṅga should be known as the eleventh, with a count of eleven [thousand].
1.40
Two parts are composed in that Liṅga, O best of ṛṣis.
They know the Vārāha, the twelfth, to be twenty-four thousand.
1.41
Divided into seven sections is the Skānda, O best of the fortunate;
that is indeed defined as eighty-one thousand in count.
1.42
Then the Vāmana by name is remembered as the fourteenth;
it was spoken anciently, O head of the hermitage, as ten thousand in number.
1.43
They declare the Kaurma as fifteenth, adorned with two parts,
seventeen thousand [verses] anciently, O master of enumeration, in the Kali age.
1.44
The Mātsya, which was spoken by the Fish to Manu, is sixteenth in order;
that is fourteen thousand in count, O best of speakers.
1.45
The Gāruḍa is remembered as the seventeenth, consisting of nineteen [thousand verses]. / The eighteenth is the Brahmāṇḍa, adorned with two parts,
1.46
And that [consists of] twelve thousand, along with eight hundred [verses]. / Likewise, the upapurāṇas that were spoken by the Creator [are as follows]:
1.47
This easily accessible, excellent Saura [purāṇa] of the Brahmapurāṇa, / Consisting of two saṃhitās, meritorious, based on tales of Śiva.
1.48
The first was spoken by Sanatkumāra; the second was uttered by Sūrya. / Indeed, it is renowned by the name of Sanatkumāra, O great sage.
1.49
And the second is the Nārasiṃha in the purāṇa known as the Pādma. / The third is indeed considered the Śaukeya in the Vaiṣṇava purāṇa.
1.50
And the fourth, the Bārhaspatya, is always accepted as belonging to the Vāyavya; / And the fifth, the Daurvāsasa, is always remembered in the Bhāgavata.
1.51
In the Bhaviṣya is that spoken by Nārada, as told by wise men of old; / Likewise the Kāpila and the Mānava, and also that uttered by Uśanas,
1.52
The Brahmāṇḍa, the Vāruṇa, and then the pair of Kālikās, / The Māheśvara, likewise the Sāmba, and the Saura, a collection of all goals of life,
1.53
The Pārāśara, the Bhāgavata, and the Kaurma as the eighteenth in sequence. / These upapurāṇas have been spoken by me in their proper order.
1.54
Whoever recites or hears this collection of purāṇas / Shall share in endless religious merit, and upon dying shall go to the city of Brahmā.
1.54.p1
|| Thus ends the first chapter, describing the collection of purāṇas, in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Skandamahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit