Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 21
English (machine translation) 21
- Language
- English
Contents
- 21.78 — 2 parts
21.1
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
"Manifold wonders have been heard by me by your grace, O best of the twice-born; / and I wish to hear more; tell that to me, O you of noble vows!
21.2
How is this river holy, the best among all rivers, / and renowned by the name Narmadā? Tell me again, O sinless one!"
21.3
Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / The Narmadā is the best of rivers, the destroyer of all sins; / she carries across all beings, moving and unmoving.
21.4
The glorification of the Narmadā that was heard by me of old, / that I shall declare to you; listen with a focused mind, O king.
21.5
The Gaṅgā is holy at Kanakhala, the Sarasvatī at Kurukṣetra; / whether in a village or in a forest, the Narmadā is holy everywhere.
21.6
The water of the Sarasvatī purifies in three days, but that of the Yamunā in a week; / that of the Gaṅgā purifies immediately, but that of the Narmadā merely by seeing it.
21.7
To the west of the Kaliṅga country, on the mountain Amarakaṇṭaka, / she is holy in the three worlds, delightful at every step.
21.8
There gods, gandharvas, and sages rich in asceticism, / having performed austerities, O great king, attained supreme perfection.
21.9
Bathing there, O king, observant of vows and with senses conquered, / having fasted for one night, a man delivers a hundred families.
21.10
Mount Amarakaṇṭaka, my dear, is indeed a supreme field of perfection, / because it is resorted to by all gods and attended by sages.
21.11
Siddhas, vidyādharas, spirits, and gandharvas, / visible and invisible, O lord of kings, attend this excellent place, desiring perfection.
21.12
And I too have resorted to this supreme place ever since; / here in this place the husband of Umā indeed abides in the form of the praṇava,
21.13
Śrīkaṇṭha, with his troop, attended by hosts of all beings. / From this best of mountains, O king, I shall speak of the extent of the pilgrimage place.
21.14
Whatever holy pilgrimage places there are here, O best of kings, / all the pilgrimage places that are here on both banks of the Narmadā,
21.15
even Brahmā is not able to tell their full extent, O king. / The best of rivers is heard to be more than a hundred yojanas [long],
21.16
and half a yojana wide in extent, O best of kings. / Sixty thousand pilgrimage places and likewise sixty crores,
21.17
from the mountain to the ocean on both banks, without a doubt.
21.18
Sixty-seven thousand, sixty-seven hundred, / and sixty-seven crores of pilgrimage places, Vāyu has declared.
21.19
In the Kṛtayuga, O king, they become directly visible; / all mortals whose minds are set on dharma see them constantly.
21.20
As the dreadful and fierce Kali age proceeds, O king, / to that extent they diminish, because men have diminished vital power.
21.21
Pilgrimage places such as Jāleśvara on this mountain, O lord of men, / are said to bestow satisfaction to the ancestors and to grant heaven and liberation.
21.22
There is the excellent Dāruvana; there is the auspicious Carukā confluence; / on the northern [bank] of the Narmadā is the excellent Carukeśvara,
21.23
and the pilgrimage place Dārukeśvara, and Vyatīpāteśvara, / and the pilgrimage place Pātāleśvara, and likewise Koṭiyajña.
21.24
These are on the northern bank of the Revā, O best of kings. / Near Amareśvara are a hundred and eight liṅgas,
21.25
chief of which is Varuṇeśvara, destroying all sins.
21.26
And near Māndhātṛpura are Siddheśvara and Yameśvara; / to the east of Oṅkāra is the excellent pilgrimage place Kedāra.
21.27
Near it, O great king, is Svargadvāra, which destroys sin; / in front is the holy [pilgrimage place] named Brahmeśvara, and Saptasārasvata,
21.28
and Rudrāṣṭaka, Sāvitra, and likewise Somatīrtha; / these are on the southern bank of the Revā, O bull of the Bharatas.
21.29
On this mountain, my dear, crores of Rudras abide; / their satisfaction comes through sacred baths, perfumes, garlands, and ointments.
21.30
They too, the Rudras, become pleased here, O king, without a doubt; / through recitation of prayers comes purification of sin; through meditation one attains eternity.
21.31
Through giving gifts one obtains enjoyments; thus Śaṅkara has spoken. / In the region west of the mountain, the god Maheśvara himself / abides in the form of the praṇava, the eternal source of the universe.
21.32
Having bathed there, purified, chaste, with senses conquered, / one should perform the ancestral rites according to prescribed ritual rule.
21.33
Right there one should gratify the ancestors with water containing sesame seeds; / up to the seventh generation his family rejoices in heaven, O Pāṇḍava.
21.34
Together with himself, happy, he attains various enjoyments; / for sixty thousand years he sports, worshipped by the gods.
21.35
He rejoices for a very long time, enriched by the fruit of ancestral worship; / then, having fallen from heaven, he is born in a spotless family,
21.36
wealthy, generous, free from disease, and honored by the world; / again he remembers that pilgrimage place, and again makes the journey.
21.37
In a second birth he becomes an ardent attendant of the pool; / likewise through celibacy, fasting, and subdued senses,
21.38
abstaining from all harm, he obtains the highest fruit. / Whoever, conducting himself thus in accordance with dharma, casts off his life,
21.39
learn the religious merit and fruit that is his, O lord of men: / for a hundred thousand years he rejoices in heaven, O Pāṇḍava,
21.40
thronged with crowds of apsarases, resounded with celestial sounds, / his limbs smeared with celestial perfume, adorned with celestial ornaments.
21.41
He sports together with the deities, praised by siddhas and gandharvas; / then, having fallen from heaven, he becomes a mighty king,
21.42
with chariots and carriages drawn by elephants and horses, knowing dharma, devoted to sacred lore. / In a palace filled with hundreds of pillars, golden and adorned with silver,
21.43
with seven or eight stories and beautiful gates, crowded with female and male servants, / resounded with the breathing of rutting elephants and the neighing of horses,
21.44
his gate stirs like the abode of Indra; / a glorious king of kings, beloved of all women,
21.45
dwelling in that house, endowed with sports and enjoyments, / he lives for more than a hundred years, freed from all disease.
21.46
Thus all this belongs to those who die at Amareśvara; / whoever enters fire with devotion at Amarakaṇṭaka,
21.47
he, upon dying, attains heaven and will go to the supreme state. / Sacred bath, gift, prayer recitation, burnt offering, whether auspicious or inauspicious,
21.48
it is heard in the purāṇa, O king, that everything becomes multiplied ten-millionfold. / And the trees on its bank that fall in the course of time,
21.49
touched by the waters of the Narmadā, go to the supreme state; / their course is without return, like the wind in the sky.
21.50
Whoever throws himself down at that pilgrimage place, O lord of men, / three thousand maidens become sharers in his pleasures in the underworld.
21.51
They stay in his palace and petition to be sent on errands; / richly endowed with divine pleasures, he plays away his time.
21.52
On earth as far as the ocean, there is no other mountain / like this mountain Amarakaṇṭaka, best of men.
21.53
A pilgrimage place is to be known there, to the west of the mountain: / a pool named Jāleśvara, renowned throughout the three worlds.
21.54
By offering rice balls there and by performing the twilight worship, / the ancestors indeed remain satisfied for twelve years.
21.55
On the southern bank of the Narmadā is the great river Kapilā, / covered with sarala and arjuna trees, adorned with khadiras,
21.56
and decorated with mādhavī and sallakī creepers, / with roaring beasts of prey, jackals, monkeys, and other animals,
21.57
and ever joyful with various kinds of birds, O king. / We have heard that more than a hundred million sages were there,
21.58
who, having practiced asceticism, attained liberation, from which there is neither rebirth nor return. / Because the noble-minded Kapila practiced asceticism there,
21.59
it became a sacred pilgrimage place frequented by the perfected. / Because it was formerly frequented by the sages following Kapila, dear friend,
21.60
it was sung by the name Kapilā, destroying sins. / There, at Amareśvara, are more than a hundred million pilgrimage places.
21.61
Having fasted for a day and a night, one is freed from all sins, / and by giving a gift to an excellent twice-born according to rule, in accordance with one's means,
21.62
by the grace of Īśvara everything there becomes multiplied ten-millionfold. / Since the form of the Praṇava here is beyond syllables, O Bhārata,
21.63
therefore, of Śiva's essential nature, it consists of syllables that are merely formed. / Animals, beasts, trees, shrubs, creepers, and the like,
21.64
even they, meeting their end there, go to heaven without doubt. / There too is the great river that is spoken of as Viśalyā;
21.65
having bathed and given [gifts] there according to rule, one also becomes a doer of good deeds. / There all the hosts of gods, together with kinnaras and great serpents,
21.66
yakṣas, rākṣasas, gandharvas, and sages rich in asceticism, / all assembled, indeed behold her at Amareśvara.
21.67
All of them came together and praised those two auspicious slopes. / Formerly, in a terrible age that terrified all the worlds,
21.68
the son of Narmadā, pierced with a dart, was freed of the dart there / by all the gods and sages; therefore she is remembered as Viśalyā.
21.69
Yudhiṣṭhira said: / How did Viśalyā arise, and how did Kapilā, dear friend? / Or how did the son of Narmadā come to have a dart, O sage?
21.70
I wish to hear this wonder of the world, O one of good vows.
21.71
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Formerly the daughter of Dakṣa, accompanied by the wielder of the trident, / sported with great joy in the waters of the Narmadā, O king.
21.72
Emerging swiftly from the water, she took another garment; / and that bathing cloth of the goddess was wrung out in play, O king,
21.73
by her female attendants, greatly resembling Indra's rainbow. / As it was being wrung out, the water that flowed forth then,
21.74
from that this river was born, the great river called Kapilā. / Because of contact with the body unguent, the tawny water rising from the cloth
21.75
dripped down; thus she became Kapilā by color and by name, / likewise endowed with fragrant essences and perfumed with various flowers.
21.76
Variegated, reddish, and bright was the water that flowed from the cloth, / wrung by their bright hands as tender as young sprouts.
21.77
Mixed with tawny water, this best of rivers / is therefore called Kapilā by those who know the facts, skilled in the meaning of the purāṇas.
21.78
This Kapilā, best of rivers, born of the cloth / and originating from the waters of the Narmadā, is to be known as exceedingly sacred.
21.78.p1
|| Thus ends the twenty-first chapter, named 'The Description of the Origin of the River Kapilā,' in the glorification of the Narmadā in the Revākhaṇḍa in the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, the fifth part in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.
21.78.p2
RKV Chapter 22
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit