Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 167

English (machine translation) 167

Language: English

167.31 — 2 parts

167.1

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / On the southern bank of the Narmadā is [a place] marked by your emblem; / tell me about this pilgrimage place and its origin, O great sage.

167.2

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Formerly, at the beginning of the Kṛta age, on the excellent mountain in the south, / the Vindhya endowed with all virtues, restrained and on a restricted diet,

167.3

received hospitably by hosts of sages, I lived for a long time in Daṇḍaka; / having dwelt happily for a very long time, for ten thousand years,

167.4

taking leave of those sages, followed by disciples, / I then returned, O highly fortunate one, and came to the bank of the Narmadā.

167.5

Having made my dwelling there, which is holy, delightful, and destroying all sins, / accompanied by a community of twice-born,

167.6

crowded with celibate students, those firmly established in householdership, / forest dwellers, and ascetics of controlled diet and self-restraint,

167.7

and high-souled ascetics free from desire and anger— / having performed severe austerities there for ten thousand years,

167.8

I worshipped Vāsudeva, the master, the creator, the Lord, / reciting [mantras] with austerities and observances, resorting to the bank of the Narmadā.

167.9

Then those two boon-granting gods arrived, O Yudhiṣṭhira, / visibly manifest, like two suns, O king, adorned by Umā and Śrī.

167.10

Bowing to the two gods, I then spoke words filled with devotion: / 'I pray to you both, worthy of boons, granters of boons, auspicious ones,

for steadfastness in dharma, O illustrious ones, and for unexcelled devotion to you both; / [and that I may remain] free of old age and disease, like one twenty-five years of age, / and that you should always abide in this place together with the gods, without a doubt.'

167.12

Spoken to thus by me, O Pārtha, those two gods, Kṛṣṇa and Śaṅkara, / greatly pleased, spoke to me regarding their residence, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

167.13

The two gods said: / 'Know us to be established in this place together with the gods and Indra.' / Having spoken thus, the two gods then vanished right there.

167.14

And I, having established those two, Śaṅkara and the imperishable Kṛṣṇa, / became one who had achieved his purpose, having worshipped them with complete concentration.

167.15

Having bathed at that pilgrimage place, a person should worship the supreme Lord / by the name of Mārkaṇḍeśvara, and Viṣṇu, the lord of the three worlds.

167.16

He will go to the supreme abode of Viṣṇu and of Śiva.
With ghee, or with milk, and with curd, and likewise with honey,

167.17

or with the water of the Narmadā, with very pleasing perfumes and incenses,
and likewise with offerings of flowers and food offerings, self-controlled,

167.18

thus one intent on devotion should keep a vigil for Viṣṇu,
and likewise sacred baths and other rites, O king, restrained and pure in mind.

167.19

In the month of Jyeṣṭha, during the bright fortnight, having fasted on the fourteenth day,
a Vaiṣṇava man should arrange the worship of the deity on the twelfth day.

167.20

Having done this on the fourteenth [and] on the eleventh day, O best of men,
a man attains the realm of Viṣṇu and becomes equal to Viṣṇu.

167.21

And he rejoices in the city of Maheśvara, O king of kings, accompanied by the Gaṇas.
And resolute, he performs a śrāddha there for the ancestors;

167.22

they surely obtain inexhaustible satisfaction, without doubt.
A twice-born man, having bathed in the Narmadā, silent and restrained in mind,

167.23

having attended to the sandhyā there, having performed auspicious recitation,
having offered libations according to rule to ancestors, gods, and humans,

167.24

standing in front of Kṛṣṇa or Mārkaṇḍeśa,
should carefully recite verses from the Ṛg, Yajus, and Sāma Vedas here.

167.25

Whoever recites a single ṛc obtains the fruit of the Ṛgveda;
by a yajus, [the fruit] of the Yajurveda; by a sāman, he obtains the fruit of the Sāmaveda.

167.26

When one brāhmaṇa is fed, ten million are fed.
And a woman whose children die, or who is barren, or who bears only daughters—

167.27

a brāhmaṇa who knows the reality of the Veda, having recited the Rudra [hymns] according to rule,
should place an auspicious water-jar on the right side of the liṅga.

167.28

He should bathe [her] with the water of the jar with the eleven Rudra mantras;
O best of kings, she obtains a long-lived, sinless son.

167.29

Whoever sees the trees of Mārkaṇḍeśvara even from afar
is freed from sins such as the killing of a brāhmaṇa; Śaṅkara has said [this].

167.30

Whoever listens to this with devotion or recites it, O best of kings,
becomes purified of all sin, there is no doubt in this.

167.31

This brings fame, confers longevity, is auspicious, and destroys sorrow;
for those who recite or listen to it, it frees from all sins.

167.31.p1

|| Thus ends the one hundred and sixty-seventh chapter, called 'The Description of the Glorification of the Mārkaṇḍeśvara Pilgrimage Place', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa

167.31.p2

RKV chapter 168

Linked texts (1)

Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit