Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 172
English (machine translation) 172
- Language
- English
Contents
- 172.90 — 2 parts
172.1
Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then all those ṛṣis, and the gods headed by Indra, / gathered at the sacred hermitage of Māṇḍavya on the bank of the Narmadā,
172.2
with the sound of conches and kettle-drums, and the flare of torches, / with courtesans dancing to the sound of songs of the apsarases.
172.3
Others praised with narratives that [sage] impaled upon the stake; / eighty-eight thousand ascetic graduates [were present],
172.4
in the assembly together with the gods; and wishing to see him, / Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśāna arrived there with joy.
172.5
The Mothers, Mallikā and others, the guardians of the field, the Vināyakas, / the guardians of the directions, the world-protectors, and the foremost of rivers headed by Gaṅgā [came].
172.6
In that assembly of ṛṣis and gods, ever filled with joyful delight, / the king arrived there together with his citizens and countrymen.
172.7
Seeing that spectacle there, their minds were bewildered; / with terrified minds, they all stood in fear.
172.8
At that divine assembly, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Īśa said: / 'O Māṇḍavya of great courage, together with the immortals, we grant you a boon!
172.9
Through your penance of many hardships, your perfection will come about. / Ask whatever you desire, whatever pleases your mind.
172.10
Know that the world is without a sun, distressed, and without the vaṣaṭ-call, / with dharma destroyed; restore it to its natural state. / O best among the twice-born, we pray for the grace of Śāṇḍilī.
172.11
This king who caused you suffering has arrived before you; / O sage among brahmins, adorn the people, the hosts of gods and asuras!'
172.12
Māṇḍavya said: / 'If the gods who have arrived along with the immortals are pleased with me, / then [you] must abide at this pilgrimage place together with the ṛṣis at the three junctions of the day.
172.13
And by your favor, may my affliction be constantly appeased!' / While the lords of the gods were saying, 'So be it,' O Pāṇḍava,
172.14
just then a rākṣasa brought before them a maiden delightfully alluring, / and said: 'O Lord, formerly Urvaśī gave me a curse:
172.15
"When you abduct a maiden, O rākṣasa, the end of your curse will come." / Therefore, with my intellect impaired by the curse, this despicable deed was done by me.
172.16
You must forgive me!' Having said this, he vanished again. / And when he had gone, seeing that maiden whose eyes were like lotus petals,
172.17
she was given to the wise Māṇḍavya after all the gods had consulted. / Having washed that iron pike with the sacred waters of the Narmadā,
172.18
and lifted down the ṛṣi Māṇḍavya amidst auspicious cries of victory and the like, / that bull among ṛṣis, Māṇḍavya, having married that maiden,
172.19
and saluted them all with gifts, honors, and respect— / then the king standing nearby, with diverse jewels,
172.20
though condemned with shouts of 'Fie!' by all, was adorned once again by those people. / And by the king, all the brahmins, with ornaments, clothing, and food,
172.21
and with gifts of millions of gold coins, were satisfied and begged for forgiveness. / When the wedding was over, he called Śāṇḍilī and then said to her:
172.22
'Honor these brahmins; release the sun, / taking away darkness so that grace may instantly prevail!'
172.23
Hearing the words of the ṛṣis, the grieving Śāṇḍilī said: / 'When the sun rises, my husband will meet his death, O twice-born ones!
172.24
How can I release it here to accomplish my own misfortune? / And what concern of mine is the performance of rites today, O great ṛṣis?
172.25
In your opinion, I should become a woman without a husband and destitute! / Remain in darkness; I do not desire the rising of the sun!'
172.26
At those words, all those gods, asuras, and great ṛṣis / shook their heads and said: 'Excellent, excellent!
172.27
O devoted wife, O fortunate one, rich in austerities, listen to our words; / if you respect us all, then do what we say.'
172.28
Śāṇḍilī said: / 'Act quickly after reflecting upon that by which my husband will not die, / by which the sage's word remains true, and by which happiness increases!'
172.29
Hearing her words, the ṛṣi [Māṇḍavya] placed [her husband] into a dream state, / and made him invisible for a moment, while Śāṇḍilī watched on.
172.30
Taking him up again, having made his excellent body free of wounds, / and bathed him in the water of the Narmadā, they handed him over to Śāṇḍilī.
172.31
Then, seeing her radiant husband with a delighted mind, / she bowed to those ṛṣis and gods, and the world was made bright with the spotless sun.
172.32
The rites were set in motion by all the gods, gandharvas, and humans; / delighted and satisfied, they all departed to their respective great hermitage abodes.
172.33
That devoted wife stayed in the hermitage with her husband for just a month; / permitted by Māṇḍavya, having bowed, she went to her own hermitage.
172.34
When they all had departed, he installed Acyuta, / named Māṇḍavyeśvara, remembered as Nārāyaṇa.
172.35
He worshiped him for a divine thousand years, O descendant of Bharata; / then he went to the mountain of the immortals along with the hosts of ṛṣis.
172.36
Those two brothers, performing penance there even today, O descendant of Bharata, / with restrained minds, meditate upon the supreme state.
172.37
Whoever, having bathed at that pilgrimage place, offers libations to ancestors and gods, / his ancestors are satisfied for ten years from that offering of rice-balls.
172.38
And whoever applies plaster in the temple of the god at the beginning of a fortnight or the like, / whatever fruit is gained when a hundred thousand cows are given,
172.39
is doubled by smearing [the temple], quadrupled by worship; / the religious merit in lighting a lamp is declared to be eightfold.
172.40
Possessing divine sight throughout the three worlds of moving and unmoving beings, / [one should bathe] the god with curd, honey, ghee, milk, and Narmadā waters.
172.41
Those who perform bathing with flower garlands and unguents, / who worship the odd-eyed god, Nārāyaṇa, Hari,
172.42
they also sport in a divine aerial chariot for a count of kalpas. / But he who offers eight lamps on the eighth and fourteenth days,
172.43
and on the eleventh day of the dark fortnight, never sees Yama. / He who fills the liṅga with various white fruits,
172.44
they too go by aerial chariot, attended by siddhas and cāraṇas, / with bells, banners, and flower garlands on the chariot,
172.45
and musical instruments as appropriate; and in the end he attains Śiva. / But he who builds a temple, either Vaiṣṇava or Māṇḍaveśvara,
172.46
that righteous one dwells in heaven until the dissolution of all beings. / In the temple called Māṇḍavyanārāyaṇa, whoever feeds brāhmaṇas in front [of the deity]—
172.47
when one brāhmaṇa is fed, ten million have been fed. / When the month of Āśvina arrives, on the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight,
172.48
having undertaken the observance of fasting, along with a night vigil, / offering a row of lamps in the four directions and performing worship according to one's ability,
172.49
whether a woman or a man, with dances, songs, and instrumental music, / at dawn when the sun is clear, having performed the rites of bathing and the like, O king,
172.50
and then beholding such a god in silence, / freed from all sins, he is exalted in the world of Rudra.
172.51
Or in Mārgaśīrṣa, or in Caitra and Vaiśākha, / or in Śrāvaṇa, O great king, or even at any time,
172.52
the religious merit is equal to Śivarātri; so it was spoken by Śiva. / The fruit is equal to the Vājapeya and the horse sacrifice, not otherwise.
172.53
An unfortunate, sorrowful, barren, or impoverished woman, or one whose children have died, / if she bathes with Rudra-jars, will obtain all desires.
172.54
Even worms, insects, and moths that die at that pilgrimage place, / they all go to heaven, assuming divine forms, O king.
172.55
Those afflicted by disease who die through fasting, in water, or in fire, / their path is one of no return in the world of Rudra, without doubt.
172.56
He who constantly bows to both Śiva and Nārāyaṇa, O king, / obtains the fruit of the gift of a cow by the power of that pilgrimage place.
172.57
And he who circumambulates the temple, O king of kings, / by him the earth together with its oceans has been circumambulated.
172.58
There are one hundred and fifty pilgrimage places outside the abode of Mallikā; / that is the measure and extent of that pilgrimage place, O best of kings.
172.59
If one wraps the sacred precinct or the temple of Śiva with a cord, / or wraps the Śivaliṅga, hear the fruit of that religious merit:
172.60
the whole Jambūdvīpa, Śālmalī, Kuśa, Krauñca, / together with Śāka, Puṣkara, and Gomeda—the earth of seven continents,
172.61
along with its mountains, forests, and woods, has been adorned by him, O king of kings. / On the southern bank of the Revā, near the sacred precinct of Śiva,
172.62
is the highly meritorious Devakhāta, fashioned by the thirty [gods]. / He who bathes there is freed from all sins.
172.63
On a full moon, a new moon, a Vyatīpāta, or a solar transit, / if one performs a śrāddha during an eclipse, he will attain the supreme state.
172.64
At Devakhāta, the three gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara / remain together with the ṛṣis, along with the hosts of ancestors and deities.
172.65
At that pilgrimage place, especially on the fourteenth day in the month of Āśvina, / Śakra stays in the airway together with the deities.
172.66
Whatever pilgrimage places, rivers, and oceans there are on earth, / twenty [times] all of them are present at Devakhāta for two days.
172.67
Whatever religious merit is at Gayāśiras, at Prayāga, at Makarakaṇṭaka, / and at the Somatīrtha at Prayāga, that same religious merit is at Māṇḍaveśvara.
172.68
Whatever religious merit is obtained by a turban investiture at Lakuleśvara in Mātrā, / is obtained at Māṇḍaveśvara at the conjunction of Āśvina and the Aśvinī constellation.
172.69
Whatever [merit is obtained] at Mahākāla in Ujjayinī, in Vārāṇasī, at the three Puṣkaras, / or at Saṃnihitī during a solar eclipse, eternal [merit] is at that place called Māṇḍavya.
172.70
Knowing it to be the best among all pilgrimage places, O great king, / having worshipped the ancestors and gods with baths, gifts, and rites of worship,
172.71
remaining fasting on the fourteenth day and observing a pure vow, / one should worship Śiva with supreme devotion during the night vigil,
172.72
worshipping the god with various baths, flowers, and agaru unguents. / Then at dawn on the full moon day, with rituals of bathing, libations,
172.73
a śrāddha with offerings to the gods and ancestors, worship and veneration of Śiva, / and through sacrifices such as the Agniṣṭoma with proper priestly fees bestowed,
172.74
cleansed of sin, his soul purified, he bears the highest fruit; / it is as if the gift of a thousand cows has been made, O descendant of Bharata.
172.75
Having duly performed bathing and other rites there on that day in the presence of Śiva, / [giving] gold, a bull, a cow, land, a pair of cattle, a horse,
172.76
wooden clogs and shoes, an umbrella, a vessel, and two red garments, / one should give a pair of garments to a handsome man, dedicating it to Śiva.
172.77
The fire offering, muttering of prayers, and likewise gifts—all that is imperishable. / One who recites one ṛc from the Ṛgveda, likewise a yajus from the Yajurveda,
172.78
and one sāman from the Sāmaveda while standing before the god, / will surely obtain the complete fruit of the Veda; there is no doubt in this.
172.79
By merely muttering the Gāyatrī, he obtains the fruit of the three Vedas; / and from worshipping Śiva, he redeems fully a hundred crores of ancestors in his family.
172.80
By bathing, giving, as well as śrāddha, keeping vigil, and singing and instrumental music, / his departure from the world of Śiva is never to be repeated.
172.81
After a great span of time, should he enter the mortal world, / he becomes an intelligent king, free from all diseases.
172.82
He will live a full hundred years, endowed with sons, grandsons, and wealth; / and remembering that pilgrimage place again, he dissolves into Maheśvara.
172.83
He who performs the twilight worship at that pilgrimage place on a festival day / obtains the highest fruit of the four Vedas together with their primary and secondary limbs.
172.84
Everywhere there, for an arrow's flight in all directions from the sacred precinct of Śiva, / the murder of a brāhmaṇa does not wander, agitated with fear, O lord of men.
172.85
Wherever he stands, devoted to the pilgrimage place, if he gazes upon the trees, / he is released, freed from various sins; there is no doubt in this.
172.86
A chasm is seen there in the middle of the water, O great king; / a story is told in the purāṇa of a female monkey, through resorting to this pilgrimage place.
172.87
A well fashioned by the gods is located there, O great king, / to the west of Śiva; it is the unsurpassed sacred precinct of Śiva.
172.88
He who performs the ritual release of a bull at that pilgrimage place, O lord of men, / his ancestors sport at will in the heavenly world.
172.89
The sin incurred in approaching an forbidden woman, or in performing a sacrifice for one unfit to sacrifice, / and the sin arising from theft, from the murder of a brahmin or cow, and from slaying a guru— / indeed, all that sin is destroyed when a bull is set free.
172.90
Whoever listens with concentration to the glorification of Māṇḍavyatīrtha / is freed from all sins; there is no doubt about this.
172.90.p1
|| Thus ends the one hundred and seventy-second chapter, titled ‘Description of the Glorification of Māṇḍavyatīrtha’, in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Narmadāmāhātmya, in the fifth Āvantyakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skandapurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.
172.90.p2
RKV Chapter 173
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit