Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 3
English (machine translation) 3
- Language
- English
Contents
- 3.41 — 2 parts
3.1
Yudhiṣṭhira said: / “The terrible destructions of seven aeons were witnessed by you, O great sage, / and there is no one else here, O venerable one, who is so long-lived in this world.
3.2
Indeed, Padmanābha, the slayer of the enemies of the gods, / who has a thousand feet and a belly of a thousand eyes, was seen by you sleeping upon the single ocean.
3.3
You indeed, through his grace when all moving and unmoving things were burning, / did not reach destruction, by the boon granted by that great-souled one.
3.4
What wonderful thing was seen by you as you roamed, O sinless one? / Tell me this, O venerable one, for great indeed is my curiosity,
3.5
when the terrible great destruction arrived at the end of the yuga, / when the world was struck down by a drought lasting more than a hundred years in former times,
3.6
during the terrible destruction of herbs, when [the world] was abandoned by gods and demons, / destitute of vigor, devoid of the vaṣaṭ-call, and exceedingly corrupted by Kali;
3.7
when rivers, lakes, ponds, pools, and groves / were completely dried up, O brahmin, in that formless destruction of the yuga;
3.8
when Brahmins, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and others, / as well as the great-souled sages endowed with divine splendor, reached Janaloka and Maharloka—
3.9
which beings remained, and which departed, O great sage? / Tell all this to me, O fortunate one, each in turn.
3.10
Which beings, O chief of brahmins, and how would one attain perfection, / when that very dreadful time arrives for Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Indra, and Rudra?”
3.11
Thus addressed then by the wise king of righteousness, / Mārkaṇḍa, surrounded by hosts of sages, replied:
3.12
The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / “Let all the sages listen together with you, O lord of men, / to the great purāṇa formerly spoken by Śambhu, of which Vāyu is the deity.
3.13
From Vāyu, this ancient [text] was heard by Skanda; / Vasiṣṭha heard it from him, and Parāśara after him.
3.14
From him, Jātūkarṇya [heard it], and from him the great sages. / Thus it has been transmitted in lineage by hundreds of excellent twice-born men.
3.15
A compilation of one hundred thousand verses was indeed spoken of old by Śambhu, / having churned all the scriptures for the sake of the essential truth in former times.
3.16
Later, it was divided into four according to the yugas / by the great sages, in accordance with the dull intellect of men.
3.17
Having formerly worshiped Maheśvara, the master of creatures, / this purāṇa was indeed heard by me; so I shall declare it to you in full,
3.18
by hearing which a creature is freed from all sins, O lord of men— / mental ones and those born of actions, accumulated over seven births.
3.19
The terrible destructions of seven aeons were witnessed by me again and again / by the grace of the god of gods, Viṣṇu, the supreme lord.
3.20
When the world was burnt up by the twelve suns and turned into a single ocean, / I, exhausted and roaming there, swam the ocean with my arms.
3.21
Then, in the water, O king, I saw of old a person / whose form was like the sun, the lord without beginning or end,
3.22
and the peak of the king of mountains illuminating the ten directions. / A second, another Manu was seen, accompanied by sons and grandsons.
3.23
He too roamed in that bottomless great ocean enveloped in darkness, / wandering without resting for even a moment, as if mounted on a wheel.
3.24
Then I, agitated by fear, swimming the ocean with my arms, / situated there, saw a great fish filled with exhilaration.
3.25
Then, seeing me, he said, “Come, come, O Bhārata!” / Maheśvara, the highest principal of all, in the form of a fish.
3.26
Then I quickly went into his mouth, O lord of men, / utterly exhausted, having lost all awareness, and arrived at supreme despondency.
3.27
Then I saw at the edge of the ocean [a river] full of great whirlpools, / its waters surging with waves, laughing aloud with masses of foam,
3.28
a holy river moving at will, swarming with big and small fish. / And in the middle of that river was a woman who could take forms at will,
3.29
dark like the petal of a blue lotus, carrying a great agitation [of waters], / her limbs painted with divine gold, radiant with bright gold,
3.30
holding a great boat with both her knees as she stood. / Manu addressed her with these words: “Who are you, divine and excellent woman?
3.31
For what purpose do you stand here, O celestial beauty? / When the host of gods and asuras has perished, you wander playfully on the ocean.
3.32
Rivers, oceans, and mountains have met their end in many ways. / How do you alone remain, virtuous woman? This is a great wonder; / I wish to hear it, O goddess; please tell it completely!”
3.33
The woman said: / “Born from the body of Īśvara, famous indeed by the name Amṛtā, / I am the holy river that removes sin. Having taken refuge in me, whence fear?
3.34
It is I who have come bringing this boat for you, O twice-born! / For there is no destruction of this boat where Śaṃkara stands.”
3.35
Hearing those words of hers, my eyes wide with amazement, / I then boarded the boat together with Manu, O best of kings.
3.36
Folding my hands in reverence and bowing with my head to the omnipresent Lord, / I praised the all-pervading Parameśāna, the giver of freedom from fear:
3.37
“Homage indeed to the god Sadyojāta, to Vāmadeva! / Homage to you in existence after existence, homage to you who are reached through devotion!
3.38
Homage to you, the earth and atmosphere! Homage to the elder brother of Rāma! / Homage to you, Bhadrakāla! Homage to you whose form is Kali!
3.39
To the abode Mahādeva, whose form is inconceivable and unmanifest! / We know the god of gods; therefore, homage, homage to you, O Rudra!
3.40
Homage, homage to the cause of the creation and destruction of the universe!” / Praised thus formerly by me along with the creation, O sinless one,
3.41
Mahādeva was pleased and then said to me: “Choose a boon, O you of noble vows!”
3.41.p1
|| Thus ends the third chapter, named ‘The Description of Mārkaṇḍeya Boarding the Boat at the End of the Kalpa in the Dialogue between Mārkaṇḍeya and Dharmarāja,’ in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Narmadāmāhātmya, in the fifth Avantyakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].
3.41.p2
RKV Chapter 4
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit