Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 2

English (machine translation) 2

Language: English

2.59 — 2 parts

2.2

Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana spoke the glorification of the Narmadā; / That I shall proclaim to you as you have inquired.

2.3

Regarding the extensive account of the pilgrimage places of the Narmadā, O best of sages, / Who else indeed is capable of speaking, except Brahmā and Īśvara?

2.4

Formerly, Janamejaya asked this very same question / To the disciple of Dvaipāyana named Vaiśaṃpāyana.

2.5

I shall tell you that sacred [account] regarding the pilgrimage places of the Revā, O Śaunaka. / Formerly, King [Janamejaya], the son of Parīkṣit, was consecrated in the rites of sacrifice.

2.6

When the sacrificial materials were gathered and the rituals were underway, / While the foremost twice-born were seated and the sacrificial fire was being offered into,

2.7

While discourses on dharma were taking place everywhere, / And when the words spoken day and night by people were heard

2.8

On the sacrificial ground: “Let [food] be given! Let it be eaten!”, O head of the hermitage, / And while entertainers were performing various amusements—

2.9

While such a sacrifice, equal to the assembly of heaven, was underway, / Janamejaya questioned the seated Vaiśaṃpāyana.

2.10

Janamejaya said: / By the grace of Dvaipāyana, you are considered by me to possess knowledge; / Therefore, O Vaiśaṃpāyana, I ask you in the presence of the sages:

2.11

Tell me the past events regarding the pilgrimage places visited by my ancestors; / I have heard that they endured various kinds of hardships for a long time.

2.12

How did the sons of Pṛthā, my forefathers defeated at dice, / Wander the earth up to the ocean, O brāhmaṇa, eager for pilgrimage places?

2.13

With whom were they accompanied, my dear sir, as they traveled through many regions of the earth? / Tell me all that, for I consider you omniscient.

2.15

I shall relate, O lord of the earth, what has been asked by you, O sinless one, / Having bowed to the uneven-eyed [Śiva] and to Vedavyāsa, the great seer.

2.16

Your forefathers, the five Pāṇḍavas, together with Kṛṣṇā, / Having resided along with brāhmaṇas in the excellent Kāmyaka forest,

2.17

Where Uddālaka was foremost, and there the noble-minded Kaśyapa, / And Vibhāṇḍaka, O king of kings, and Muru, the great sage,

2.18

Pulastya, and Lomaśa, as well as others with their sons and grandsons, / Having bathed in all the pilgrimage places without exception, went to the Vindhya mountain.

2.19

And there they [beheld] a sacred hermitage filled with all kinds of trees: / With campakas, karṇikāras, punnāgas, and nāgakesaras,

2.20

Adorned with bakulas, kovidāras, and pomegranates, / And with flowering arjunas, bilvas, pāṭalas, and ketakis,

2.21

With kadambas, mangos, madhūkas, nimba, jambīra, and tinduka trees, / With coconuts, wood-apples, dates, and jackfruits,

2.22

Crowded with diverse trees and creepers, covered with various climbing plants, / Bearing flowers and fruit, lovely, like the Caitraratha forest;

2.23

Adorned with large expanses of water filled with lotus beds, / And covered with white water-lilies, and blue, yellow, white, and red ones,

2.24

Crowded with geese and kāraṇḍava ducks, adorned with cakravāka birds, / Frequented by water-crows, egrets, cuckoos, and others,

2.25

With lions, tigers, boars, and fiercely haughty elephants, / With large-bodied buffaloes, antelopes, leopards, and hares,

2.26

With rhinoceroses and musk deer, with jackals and cattle, / With spotted deer and mallakas, and bipeds and quadrupeds;

2.27

Likewise crowded with cuckoos, pleasing to the mind, very beautiful, / With flocks of jīvañjīvaka birds, and accompanied by diverse fowl;

2.28

Free from sorrow and grief, delightful with noble creatures, / Free from hunger and thirst, charming, and devoid of all diseases.

2.29

There antelopes drink from the lioness's teats with affection, / And cat and mouse both lick each other, looking up eagerly;

2.30

Lions [befriend] elephant calves, and serpents [befriend] peacocks. / Seeing that delightful forest, the sons of Pāṇḍu entered.

2.31

[There Yudhiṣṭhira] beheld Mārkaṇḍeya, resembling the morning sun, / Being served by sages skilled in various scriptures,

2.32

Of noble birth, endowed with goodness, possessing purity and proper conduct, / United with wisdom, filled with forbearance, intent on recitation at the three twilights,

2.33

Devoted to offering oblations with mantras prescribed in the Ṛg, Yajur, and Sāmaveda; / Some standing in the midst of five fires, some dwelling in solitude,

2.34

With upraised arms without support, others following the course of the sun; / Others eating only in the evening and morning, and others eating once a day,

2.35

And others eating once in twelve days, others eating once a fortnight, / And others eating only on each new moon, others eating moss,

2.36

Others ate oil-cake, some ate pālāśa leaves; / Others were of restricted diet, subsisting on wind and consuming [only] water.

2.37

Surrounded by such elders, the best of sages was being served. / Then the glorious son of Dharma, having entered that hermitage,

2.38

Having seen the excellent sage, tranquil and meditating on the supreme state, / he circumambulated [him] and immediately fell prostrate before [him] like a staff.

2.39

Seeing him fallen [at his feet] with devotion, [the sage] opened his eyes after a long time; / the wise one said, “Who are you?” and questioned him about righteousness.

2.40

Hearing those words of his, a youth standing near him / said, “This is the king of righteousness, who has arrived to see you.”

2.41

Hearing that speech spoken by the youth, the sage, full of respect, said, / “Come, come, child, child!” moving slightly from his seat; / smelling his head with affection, he had him sit upon a seat.

2.42

When he was seated in the assembly, having performed the worship according to rule / with forest grains, fruits, roots, and various kinds of juices,

2.43

the Pāṇḍavas, together with the brahmins, were properly honored. / Then, having rested for a moment, Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Dharma,

2.44

filled with curiosity, questioned the best of sages: / “O venerable one, you are considered by me to be the longest-lived of all beings in the worlds.

2.45

Tell me completely about the seven aeons, O sinless one. / Even when the world—both the immovable and the other—is destroyed at the end of an aeon,

2.46

you did not perish, O chief of brahmins! How, or by what cause? / All the rivers, beginning with the Gaṅgā, and those ending at the ocean, O sage—

2.47

among them, which remained, and which indeed met with dissolution? / Which river indeed has eternally holy waters, and which did not suffer destruction?

2.48

Tell this to me, dear one, with a favorable inner self; / I wish to hear it completely, along with the sages and [my] kinsmen.”

2.49

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / “Well done, well done, O greatly wise Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Dharma! / I will relate, in proper order, that which you ask of me, O sinless one.

2.50

Hear the fruit of religious merit for the person who hears with devotion / this holy purāṇa spoken by Rudra, which removes all sins:

2.51

He attains that fruit [which is gained] by a thousand horse sacrifices / and a hundred vājapeya sacrifices, O king; there is no doubt in this.

2.52

A slayer of a brahmin, a drinker of liquor, a thief, and a person who is a slayer of a cow / is freed from all sins, according to the word of Rudra.

2.53

The Gaṅgā is the foremost of rivers, and likewise Sarasvatī, / Kāverī, Devikā, Sindhu, and Sālakuṭī;

2.54

Sarayū, Śatarudrā, Mahī along with Carmilā, / and the holy Godāvarī, and likewise the river Yamunā;

2.55

Payoṣṇī, Śatadru, and the auspicious river Dharmanadī; / these and other rivers are traditionally remembered as removing all sins.

2.56

However, I shall tell you the reason, dear one, O best of kings: / in every aeon, all the oceans and rivers have met with destruction.

2.57

Even when the destruction of seven aeons had ended, the Narmadā did not perish thereby. / The Narmadā alone, O king of kings, the foremost of rivers, will endure beyond.

2.58

Filled with water, O fortunate one, praised by hosts of sages, / whereas the other rivers, beginning with the Gaṅgā, have met with destruction in every aeon.

2.59

This goddess was seen by me long ago; therefore I shall declare [her] to you, O sinless one.”

|| Thus ends the second chapter, named 'Description of the Glorification of the Revā', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.

2.59.p2

RKV Chapter 3

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Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit

Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 2

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