Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 229

English (machine translation) 229

Language: English

229.28 — 2 parts

229.1

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Thus has the purāṇa, endowed with religious duty, been told to you, O king, / as it was spoken by Vāyu in the assembly of the gods for the pleasure of Śiva.

229.2

There are sixty thousand pilgrimage places and likewise sixty crores [of them], / at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, at every step along the Narmadā.

229.3

The collection of twelve thousand [verses] which was heard by me long ago / as the god of gods was reciting it, has now been told to you.

229.4

Questioned by you, O king, while staying / on Mount Amarakaṇṭaka, all that has been told to you by me in brief.

229.5

Listen to the holy life of the Narmadā [and] what fruit it has. / Whatever fruit there might be through all the Vedas along with their six auxiliary limbs, [chanted in] Pada and Krama steps,

229.6

when read or even heard, much more than that will result. / Where one who performs a long sacrificial session obtains the fruit of twelve years,

229.7

when the life of the goddess is heard, he obtains such a fruit. / Whatever religious merit [is gained] by bathing in all pilgrimage places beginning from the ocean,

229.8

by bathing once in the Narmadā and likewise by hearing [her story], that very fruit [is gained]. / The auspicious life of the Narmadā from beginning to middle and end—

229.9

the man who hears it with devotion, listen to the fruit of his religious merit: / Having attained the abode of Śiva, surrounded by maidens of Rudra,

229.10

having become an attendant of Rudra, he rejoices with him alone. / This righteous narrative is the best among all treatises.

229.11

In whose country, district, village, or town, / or in whose house of the four social classes it is maintained, O Bhārata,

229.12

he is Brahmā, he is Śiva visibly, and he is the divine Janārdana. / In this world it is the threefold cause, the supreme path of righteousness,

229.13

the guru of the deities, the treatise, the supreme cause of accomplishment. / Having heard it from the mouth of Īśvara, O Pārtha, it has also been proclaimed to you by me.

229.14

Whatever pilgrimage places there are on the southern and northern bank, / the preeminent, exceptionally meritorious ones have been described in particular.

229.15

By touching them, seeing them, reciting them, and likewise by hearing about them, / one is released from all sins and goes to the world of Rudra.

229.16

He who regularly hears this purāṇa spoken by Śiva: / a brāhmaṇa will be learned in the Veda, a kṣatriya will be victorious,

229.17

a vaiśya will share in wealth, and a śūdra will surely share in religious duty. / By hearing it, a woman will obtain good fortune, offspring, heaven, and wealth.

229.18

The killer of a brāhmaṇa, the drinker of liquor, the thief, and the violator of the guru's bed, / having heard the glorification of the Narmadā, are cast out of sin.

229.19

A breaker of trust, an ungrateful person, a betrayer of his master's confidence, / a cow-killer, a poisoner, and one who sells a maiden—

229.20

just by hearing this, these are released from sins, there is no doubt about this. / But those of purified soul who hear it constantly, O king,

229.21

honoring this, the gods and gurus are honored by them; / the Narmadā is honored by such a person, and so is the lord Maheśvara.

229.22

Therefore, by every effort, with perfumes, flowers, and ornaments, / this treatise, which grants fruit, is to be honored with supreme devotion.

229.23

Having caused the entire, auspicious life of the Narmadā to be written down, / which is superior to all treatises, he who gives it to a twice-born,

229.24

whatever fruit there is in bathing and giving gifts in all the pilgrimage places of the Narmadā, / that fruit that man fully obtains; there is no doubt about this.

229.25

This purāṇa spoken by Rudra, granting the fruit of great religious merit, / granting heaven, granting sons, auspicious, bringing fame, and increasing renown,

229.26

removes all sins, O Pārtha, and destroys distress and bad dreams; / for those who read or hear it, O king, it grants the attainment of all desires and aims.

229.27

May there be peace, and may there be welfare; may all the worlds be free from disease; / may there be well-being for cows and brāhmaṇas; may righteousness find a refuge in the son of Dharma.

229.28

May the Revā, putting an end to hell, possessing pilgrimage places, purifying the universe, / the Narmadā, bestowing righteousness and giving bliss, always be for you, O Pārtha.

|| Thus ends the two hundred and twenty-ninth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Fruits of Hearing, Reading, Giving, and Other Acts regarding the Revākhaṇḍa' in the dialogue between Mārkaṇḍeya and Yudhiṣṭhira, in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth book, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.

229.28.p2

RKV Chapter 230

Linked texts (1)

Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit