Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 218
English (machine translation) 218
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Contents
- 218.57 — 2 parts
218.1
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Then one should go, O lord of the earth, to the supremely auspicious pilgrimage place
known as Jamadagni, where Janārdana attained perfection.
218.2
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
How did Vāsudeva, the teacher of the universe, attain perfection, O best of the twice-born,
having assumed a human form out of a desire for the welfare of the worlds?
218.3
All this deed of the disc-bearing god of gods in its proper sequence
I wish to hear as told by you, O sinless one.
218.4
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Formerly, O great king, there was a great ruler of the Haihayas,
famed as Kārtavīrya, a king endowed with a thousand arms,
218.5
equipped with elephants, horses, and chariots, the best of all wielders of weapons,
initiated in Vedic learning and vows, granting fearlessness to all beings,
218.6
the glorious lord of Māhiṣmatī, a king commanding an akṣauhiṇī army.
Once, that mighty warrior went out to hunt deer.
218.7
After many days he reached the peerless Bhṛgukaccha,
where the ascetic Jamadagni of great fiery radiance resided,
218.8
accompanied by Reṇukā, glorious, granting fearlessness to all beings.
His son was Rāma, the Lord Nārāyaṇa manifest in person,
218.9
endowed with all the virtues of a kṣatriya, a knower of the absolute, the best of brāhmaṇas,
pleasing his parents with supreme devotion in accord with the highest truth.
218.10
Seeing that Arjuna then, the powerful Jamadagni,
having gone to him as he was wandering about on the hunt, invited him with hospitality.
218.11
Saying "So be it," the king, together with his servants, army, and vehicles,
went to the sacred hermitage of that great-souled sage.
218.12
At that very moment it became filled and enveloped with supreme splendour;
seeing that, the king was struck with great wonder.
218.13
As soon as he arrived, the powerful king together with his servants
was fed spontaneously with prepared divine food by the brāhmaṇa;
he asked: "What is this?" inquiring about the cause and the power.
218.14
Learning that it was the power of the wish-fulfilling cow, he then said to the twice-born:
"O brāhmaṇa, give me as a fee the spotted, excellent cow.
218.15
A hundred, a hundred thousand, ten thousand, a million, more,
even a hundred million adorned cows I will give you!"
218.16
Jamadagni said:
"Not for tens of thousands, not for millions, not for billions
do I give this excellent wish-fulfilling cow, my dear; you may go back!"
218.17
Addressed thus by that twice-born, O best of kings, O descendant of Bharata,
his eyes reddened with rage, he spoke these words:
218.18
"You whose conduct is so wilful, even towards me, O disgrace of the twice-born!
Therefore, before your very eyes, I shall take Surabhi from your house!"
218.19
The twice-born said:
"Who, fearless, plays with a furious great serpent,
that he would take my cow even when looked upon by Death?"
218.20
Having spoken thus, seizing a great staff like a second staff of Brahmā,
supremely enraged, Jamadagni spoke:
218.21
"Whatever lowest of his lineage among kṣatriyas possesses power or splendour,
let him take my cow now, his lifespan depleted, along with his retinue!"
218.22
Hearing these harsh words, the Haihaya, surrounded by hundreds [of men],
rushing forward, fell to the surface of the earth, struck down by the staff of Brahmā.
218.23
Then from the roar of the spotted cow, [warriors] holding swords, nooses, and scimitars in their hands
were seen issuing forth by the thousands.
218.24
From the tips of her nostrils, from the ends of her hair, and from her anus, Kirātas and Māgadhas,
and inside other orifices, were born by the hundreds and thousands.
218.25
Thus striking one another, the Haihaya, burning the Taṅkaṇas,
along with the twice-born went to destruction through the fiery energy of Arjuna.
218.26
Having attained victory in battle and killed the best of twice-borns, / Kārtavīrya went joyfully to his own city, deluded under the sway of death.
218.27
Then, once the enemy had departed, Rāma arrived in haste / and saw his mother crying aloud beside his father.
218.28
Rāma said:
"By whom was this reckless deed done out of ignorance for his own destruction? / Who, desiring to kill my father, wishes to see death here?"
218.29
Then she, bewildered as if life had left her at Rāma’s words, / beating her belly with both hands, said to him:
218.30
"By the cruel Arjuna, along with other kṣatriyas, / coming here, your father was slain by that mighty-armed one.
218.31
Look upon your slain father, lifeless and unconscious; / after performing his funeral rites according to the rules, O son, offer libations properly."
218.32
Hearing those words and bowing to his mother, / he made a vow; listen to that, O ruler of men:
218.33
"Thrice seven times making the earth bereft of lineages of kṣatriyas, / and having bathed in their blood, I will offer libations to your husband.
218.34
And severing the arms of that evil-minded Kārtavīrya with an axe, / I will drink his blood; hear this truth from me!"
218.35
Having thus made the vow, that powerful son of Jamadagni, / seized with great rage, performed the funeral rites for his father, and then,
218.36
Rāma went to the city of Māhiṣmatī, overcome with fury; / having cut down his forest of arms and killed that vilest of kṣatriyas,
218.37
he roamed about, surveying the earth, for the annihilation of kṣatriyas— / [the earth] with its seven continents and oceans, accompanied by mountains and forests.
218.38
From the eastern quarter to the west, and south to north towards the Kurus, / he made five pools of blood at Samantapañcaka.
218.39
In those pools of bloody water, overcome with fury, / he offered libations to the ancestors with blood—so we have heard.
218.40
Then the ancestors, headed by Ṛcīka, approached that bull among brahmins / and said to him, "Forgive!"; thereupon he indeed desisted.
218.41
The region near those pools of bloody waters / is proclaimed as the holy [site named] Samantapañcaka.
218.42
Having turned away from that deed, the most righteous Rāma / said to the ancestors, O Pāṇḍava: "That blood which by me
218.43
was cast into the five pilgrimage places, let that become an excellent pilgrimage place." / Saying "So be it," all those ancestors vanished from sight.
218.44
Thus, the presence of Rāma on the Devamārga, O Yudhiṣṭhira, / destroys all sins for men through seeing and touching.
218.45
To provide proof for Reṇukā, even today the ancestor deities, / remaining on the Devamārga, are seen, destroying all sins.
218.46
At that pilgrimage place, O best of kings, at the confluence of the Narmadā and the ocean, / having performed ablution according to the rules, men are freed from sins.
218.47
O son of Kuntī, the great ocean should not be touched even with the tip of a kuśa blade [without a mantra]; / with this mantra one should bathe there, O best of kings:
218.48
"Salutation to you in the form of Viṣṇu, salutation to you, O lord of waters; / be present, O lord of gods, in the ocean of salt water." / This is the touching mantra.
218.49
"Agni is the splendour, through Mṛḍā in the body; the semen is Viṣṇu, the navel of nectar." / Speaking this true utterance, O Pāṇḍava, one should then plunge into the lord of rivers.
218.50
Equipped with the five gems, accompanied by fruits, flowers, and unbroken grains, / one should offer water to the great ocean with this mantra, O best of kings:
218.51
"You are the repository of all gems, the mine of all oceans of gems; / O lord who is foremost among all immortals, accept this offering of water; salutation to you." / This is the offering mantra.
218.52
"From the sin produced from birth, deliver me, O great ocean; / worshipped, go, O treasure of jewels, to the mountains, O best one of the parvan times." / This is the dismissal mantra.
218.53
Who else is a god than the ocean, O breaker of heaven's doors? / There up to the ocean is the great, supreme pilgrimage place.
218.54
There the god was installed by Rāma, the son of Jamadagni, / where gods, along with gandharvas, sages, siddhas, and cāraṇas,
218.55
worship Virūpākṣa and the incomparable Jamadagni; / and those men on earth who look upon the goddess Reṇukā,
218.56
dwell in the beloved world of Śiva for the desired duration. / Having bathed there, O king, offering libations to the ancestor deities,
218.57
one would rescue one hundred and one families from terrible hell. / Having bathed, given gifts together here, and heard [this] with devotion,
218.57.p1
|| Thus ends the two hundred and eighteenth chapter named 'Description of the Glorification of the Pilgrimage Place of the Son of Jamadagni' in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Avantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses.
218.57.p2
RKV Chapter 219
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit