Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 29
English (machine translation) 29
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- English
Contents
- 29.48 — 2 parts
29.1
Yudhiṣṭhira said: / O best of beings, renowned in the three worlds is the Kāverī; / I wish to hear truly of her glorification, O Mārkaṇḍeya.
29.2
What is the sight of her like, or the fruit of touching her, O lord, / in sacred bath, in recitation of prayers, in gift, or likewise in fasting, O sage?
29.3
Tell me, O fortunate one, the fruit of the confluence of the Kāverī. / When dharma is heard, or seen, or spoken of, or even practiced,
29.4
or rejoiced in, O chief of brahmins, it purifies—so have I heard. / Just as in the context of dharma, O sage, even dharma is born,
29.5
[so there are] both heaven and hell: such is the Vedic revelation.
29.6
The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Excellent, excellent, O highly fortunate one, that I have now been asked by you! / Listen with single-minded attention to the supreme fruit of the Kāverī.
29.7
There is a Yakṣa of great strength, renowned by the name Kubera; / he too, through the power of the pilgrimage place, O king, became the lord of Yakṣas.
29.8
Listen to that in proper order, with supreme devotion, O king: / how he attained perfection, O highly fortunate one, through the confluence of the Kāverī.
29.9
At the world-renowned confluence of the Kāverī and the Narmadā, / having bathed there and become pure, Kubera of true valor,
29.10
having observed vows according to rule and by scriptural method, O best of men, / worshipped eternal Mahādeva with an undivided mind.
29.11
Living for a month eating once a day, and likewise eating every sixth meal, / he dwelled for some time fasting for a fortnight, O best of kings.
29.12
The wise one spent another time on roots, greens, and fruits; / living there at the pilgrimage place for some time, he fed on moss.
29.13
He passed the time with the parāka penance, and also with the kṛcchra penance, O giver of honor; / and another time with the cāndrāyaṇa penance, and another time feeding on wind and water.
29.14
Thus remaining there, O best of men, freed from desire and passion, / for a full hundred years, emaciating his body,
29.15
then, at the end of the hundred years, the god of gods, Maheśvara, / pleased indeed by his supreme devotion, spoke to him as if smiling:
29.16
“Hail, hail, O Yakṣa of great strength! Choose a boon, O one of noble vows! / I am well pleased with your devotion; I will grant you whatever you desire.”
29.17
The Yakṣa said: / “If you are pleased, O lord of gods, O Śaṅkara along with Umā, / let me from this day forth become the lord of all Yakṣas,
29.18
imperishable, immutable, and ever devoted to you; / and always grant me an intellect steadfast in dharma, O supreme lord!”
29.19
The Lord said: / “All that has been requested by you is the fruit of dharma; so shall it be.” / Having spoken thus to him there, Hara vanished from sight.
29.20
He too, having bathed according to rule and gratified the ancestors and deities, / taking leave of that pilgrimage place, went home fulfilled.
29.21
Honored there by the Yakṣas, consecrated in accordance with the rites, / he exercised there extensive, desired, and supreme sovereignty.
29.22
There also other gods, Siddhas, Yakṣas, Gandharvas, Kiṃnaras, / hosts of Apsarases, and also sages [abode], O sinless one.
29.23
Therefore they know the confluence of the Kāverī as destroying all sin; / it is the gate to all heavens, O Yudhiṣṭhira.
29.24
Fortunate are they, great-souled are they, well-lived is the life of those / who, having bathed at the confluence of the Kāverī, have offered water with sesame seeds.
29.25
Ten past and ten future [generations], dear one, on the mother’s and on the father’s side— / his fathers and grandfathers are thereby delivered from the ocean of hell.
29.26
Therefore, with every effort, a human being should bathe there / and worship the god Īśvara, if he desires the eternal path.
29.27
At the confluence of the Kāverī, O king, sacred bath, gifts, and worship performed / by men with devotion, O best of men, yields a fruit greater than a horse sacrifice.
29.28
By fire offerings heaven becomes imperishable; by silent prayer life increases; / from meditation one constantly attains the station consisting of the essence of Śiva.
29.29
Whoever should enter the fire at that pilgrimage place, O lord of men, / would dwell in the world of Agni until the dissolution of all beings.
29.30
And whoever should undertake fasting unto death at that pilgrimage place, O king, / hear what the religious fruit of that is, O best of men:
29.31
In a celestial chariot filled with Gandharvas and Apsarases, resplendent as the sun, / fanned by excellent women, he rejoices along with the deities.
29.32
For sixty thousand and six hundred years, / he sports, dwelling in the world of Rudra, and at the end of that, having returned to earth,
29.33
he is born as an enjoyer of pleasures, generous, and an earthly king; / freed from mental torment and sorrow, he will live for a hundred autumns.
29.34
Thus filled with hosts of virtues is that river Kāverī, O king, / always renowned in the three worlds at her confluence with the Narmadā.
29.35
Those who have conquered speech, body, and mind, and are devoted to meditation on the object of meditation, / at the confluence of the Kāverī, dear one, even they obtain liberation.
29.36
Hear another marvel that I shall declare to you, O best of kings: / in the three worlds, what other river is seen to be her equal?
29.37
Those by whom the water of the Narmadā has been obtained, and those who perform circumambulation, / and those who drink the water there—they are meritorious; of this there is no doubt.
29.38
For them there is no disruption of lineage for fifteen generations; / their sin dissolves like snow at sunrise.
29.39
Whatever fruit a man obtains at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, / that fruit a mortal obtains by bathing in the Kāverī.
29.40
On Tuesday, at the combination with the fourteenth lunar day, at a vyatīpāta, and at a solstice or transit, / and at the conjunction of Rāhu and the Moon, it is traditionally regarded as eightfold.
29.41
Eighty barley grains are stated [as the measure of merit] at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā; / at the confluence of the Kāverī and Narmadā, it is traditionally regarded as eight times that.
29.42
The Gaṅgā is worshipped by sixty thousand guardian deities; / other pilgrimage places are protected by half that number, there is no doubt.
29.43
At Amareśvara, the confluences of rivers that are celebrated / are protected by eighty thousand guardian deities.
29.44
Likewise, to the south of Amareśvara is the liṅga Capaleśvara, / and the second named Caṇḍahasta: these two liṅgas are protectors of the pilgrimage place.
29.45
Installed of old by Śiva to protect the Kāverī and other places, / the goddess Narmadā, enduring for many eons, is protected by one hundred thousand.
29.46
By men holding bows, sixty thousand in number, dispatched by the Lord, / and by hundreds of thousands of Omkāras, the mountain is protected.
29.47
Sin committed in another region is destroyed in this holy site; / sin committed in this pilgrimage place will adhere like adamantine cement.
29.48
Thus has the Kāverī, best of rivers, been related to you, dear one. / It arose from Rudra's body; therefore that best of rivers is endowed with religious merit.
29.48.p1
|| Thus ends the twenty-ninth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glorification of the Kāverī Confluence', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Narmadā Glorification, in the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa.
29.48.p2
RKV Chapter 30
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit