Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 5
English (machine translation) 5
- Language
- English
Contents
- 5.52 — 2 parts
5.1
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
All this that has been told is marvelous, O best of the twice-born!
Together with me, the hosts of sages have attained the utmost wonder.
5.2
Ah, how holy is this divine Narmadā, not born of a womb,
emerging from the body of Rudra, causing the destruction of great sins!
5.3
When the destruction of seven kalpas arrived, along with you, O one of good vows,
this highly fortunate one did not perish; what supreme religious merit is greater than this?
5.4
Which are those seven kalpas declared, which cause the destruction of the kalpas,
if this goddess did not perish, and you as well, O bull among sages?
5.5
When flocks of birds were destroyed, when the universe was turned into a single ocean,
of what form was Mahādeva at the end of the yuga?
5.6
How does he withdraw the universe, and how does he remain upon the great ocean?
How does he create the universe, and how does he sustain creatures?
5.7
Of what form was the goddess river when [the world] was turned into a single ocean?
For what reason was she called Narmadā, and how is she remembered as Revatī?
5.8
For what reason is she called Añjanā, and for what reason Surasā?
For what reason Mandākinī, and how could she be Śoṇā?
5.9
For what reason is she called Trikūṭā, and for what reason Vāluvāhinī,
she who entered the great ocean with crores upon crores of pilgrimage places?
5.10
How many crores of rivers attend upon the Narmadā?
And likewise by sages with sacred threads and by deities,
5.11
why is she heard to be divided, O best of sages?
And why is she called Vaiṣṇavī here by those who know the purāṇas?
5.12
In which places and pilgrimage places is the best of rivers to be worshipped?
Tell separately of the pilgrimage places where Hara is present.
5.13
And what is the extent of that goddess who was created by Rudra?
And what kinds of deeds were related to you by Rudra?
5.14
How did this region become crowded with barbarians, O best of the twice-born?
Tell me this, O holy one, O Mārkaṇḍeya of great intelligence!
5.15
The glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Let all the sages listen, and you too, dear Yudhiṣṭhira,
to the purāṇa concerning the Narmadā, told by the wielder of the trident.
5.16
From the presence of Vāyu it was heard by me, and by him from Maheśvara;
because of the incapacity of human beings, it was abridged of old by the sages.
5.17
The first was the Māyūra [kalpa], dear one, and immediately after that the Kaurmya;
then the Pura, the Kauśika, the Mātsya, and the Dvirada,
5.18
the Vārāha, which was seen by me, and the eighth, the supreme Vaiṣṇava;
after this was the one called Nyagrodha, and then the excellent Ākāṅkṣa,
5.19
and the Padma, the Tāmasa, and the Saṃvartodvarta—
these the thinkers on the Vedas call the great dissolution in the purāṇa.
5.20
All this was briefly abridged by those great souls,
and divided into four parts by Brahmā and the other great ṛṣis.
5.21
That I shall fully proclaim, O you who are skilled in the meaning of the purāṇas:
the seven very terrible kalpas through which this river did not perish.
5.22
All the moving world was enveloped in darkness, unknown, devoid of distinguishing marks, / with the rays of moon and sun lost, empty of living beings.
5.23
Out of that darkness, with a great name, that Person, the guru of the universe, / the eternal one, both manifest and unmanifest, moved alone in that [abyss].
5.24
Composed of the syllable Oṃ, transcendent, the twice-born created the Gāyatrī; / together with her, the sovereign Person, the Virāṭ, disported.
5.25
From his own body he created the universe, known as having the nature of the five elements; / sporting, he created the universe, known as having the nature of the five elements.
5.26
Sporting, he who is called Virāṭ created the golden [egg] endowed with seed; / and that divine egg shone like twelve suns.
5.27
Breaking it open, the four-faced Person, the Grandfather, was born; / he created the universe in this manner, together with gods, demons, and mortals,
5.28
with animals, beasts, and birds, sweat-born, egg-born, and womb-born; / this egg is celebrated as the first in the Purāṇas.
5.29
In a former kalpa, O best of kings, as she was sporting with the Supreme Lord, / as Rudra was sporting with Umā, [the world] was turned into an ocean.
5.30
From delight an auspicious maiden was born, arising from the sweat of Umā; / from Śarva’s chest she was born from the rubbing of Umā’s breasts.
5.31
From that sweat was born a great maiden with lotus eyes, / whose second birth, O Yudhiṣṭhira, was from the body of Rudra.
5.32
She roamed about the worlds with their gods, demons, and mortals, / inspiring passion in the three worlds, peerless in beauty at that time.
5.33
Seeing her, the lords of gods and Daityas were infatuated: 'How can she be won?' / They sought after that maiden here and there, O descendant of Bharata.
5.34
With amorous gestures, moods, and charms, she enchanted the entire world; / she wandered about with a divine form, like a flash of lightning
5.35
dwelling in the midst of a cloud with radiences, supreme among all women. / Then all the gods, and the Daityas along with the Dānavas,
5.36
sought the hand of that maiden, intensely agitated by desire. / Then Mahādeva spoke to both the gods and the Dānavas:
5.37
'Whoever shall indeed be superior in might and splendor, / he shall obtain this maiden, not otherwise, O best of gods!'
5.38
Then all the gods and asuras approached the maiden, / saying, 'I will seize her! I will seize her!'
5.39
Even as all of them were watching, that maiden vanished; / again, they all saw her standing a yojana away.
5.40
They all went swiftly to where she was seen, / and again they saw her standing three, four,
5.41
and then ten yojanas away, walking with the gait of an elephant; / then standing hundreds and thousands of yojanas away;
5.42
and likewise a hundred thousand [yojanas away] she appeared because of her swiftness; / in front, behind, in the cardinal directions, and in the intermediate directions,
5.43
they saw that fair-hipped woman, now as one, now as many; / for a thousand divine years they were led wandering by her in ancient times.
5.44
Yet that maiden born of Mahādeva’s body could not be attained; / then the god, together with Umā, laughed out loud again and again.
5.45
Filled with joy, the gaṇas danced to the clapping of palms, / and suddenly the maiden was seen standing near Śaṅkara.
5.46
Seeing her, the gods were filled with wonder and turned away; / then the bearer of the Pināka himself bestowed a name upon her:
5.47
'Since you gave delight (narma) to these [gods] through each of their distinct actions, / you shall be Narmadā, O fair-hipped woman, the best of rivers!'
5.48
Because the god, assuming his own form, obtained laughter on earth, / therefore she was called Narmadā, having very cool water and auspicious.
5.49
When the destruction of seven kalpas took place, because of what Śambhu said of old, / she did not perish, O lord of kings; thus Narmadā attained fame.
5.50
Then the lord of gods, the lord of all beings, the sovereign, gave that virtuous / and very lovely maiden to the great ocean.
5.51
Then, laughing aloud with masses of foam from the lord of mountains Ṛkṣa, / the goddess Narmadā entered the ocean, the lord of rivers.
5.52
Thus of old in the Brāhma kalpa she arose from Īśvara; / she was seen by me in the Mātsya kalpa, and has been recounted by me; now listen:
5.52.p1
|| Thus ends the fifth chapter in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth Āvantyakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.
5.52.p2
RKV chapter 6
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit