Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 54
English (machine translation) 54
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Contents
- 54.73 — 2 parts
54.1
Īśvara said: / And thereafter, the king fell into extreme agitation: / "How can I go to my home in Vārāṇasī again today?
54.2
Afflicted by the murder of a brāhmaṇa, I will offer my body into the fire; / or else, according to his word, I will go toward that hermitage.
54.3
Having gone, I will tell that great sage what happened." / Thinking thus, that king went near the hermitage.
54.4
Taking the bones of Ṛkṣaśṛṅga, that best of kings / stood within the range of sight of that great sage whose self was purified.
54.5
Dīrghatapas said: / "Come, welcome to you! Sit down here on this seat, / so that I may offer argha water, along with the honey-mixture and a grass seat."
54.6
Citrasena said: / "I am not worthy of this argha water, O great sage, nor of being spoken to; / your son, a twice-born standing in the midst of deer, has been killed by me.
54.7
Know me as the slayer of your son, O twice-born, and punish me with severe punishment; / mistaking him for a deer, the twice-born Ṛkṣaśṛṅga of great austerities was killed.
54.8
Considering this, O best of sages, do what is proper to me." / Hearing those words, the mother rushed out of the house, distracted.
54.9
"Alas, I am ruined!" saying this, she fell upon the ground; / she lamented, sorely afflicted with misery, tormented by grief for her son:
54.10
"Alas, ruined! O son, O son!" the distressed mother lamented piteously like an osprey: / "Where have you gone, leaving me behind? / Show your face, and show respect to me, your mother!
54.11
Accomplished in sacred learning and study, devoted to muttered prayer and fire offerings, / when will I see you arrived at the door of the house, my little son?
54.12
In worldly proverbs, it is heard: 'Sandalwood paste indeed is cool'; / the embrace of a son's body is cooler even than sandalwood paste.
54.13
What need of sandalwood paste, what need of a drop of nectar, what need of the moon?"
54.14
if my body might become an object of embrace for a son's body!
54.15
“I desire to embrace you, O dearest son; / deprived of you today, sorrowful, I shall go to death.”
54.16
Lamenting thus, miserable, afflicted with grief for her son, / faint, bewildered, and distressed, she fell to the surface of the earth.
54.17
Seeing his wife fallen, afflicted with grief for her son, / that sage there became enraged at the king Citrasena.
54.18
Dīrghatapas said: / “Go away, go away, O great sinner! Do not show me your face! / Why has my son, a brāhmaṇa, been killed by you without malice?
54.19
Many sins of killing a brāhmaṇa will come upon you, O ruler of the earth! / For you have arrived as death itself to me and my family.”
54.20
Having spoken thus, the brāhmaṇa then thought it over again and again; / relinquishing his anger then due to his sage-nature, he said:
54.21
Dīrghatapas said: / “Cast off your agitation, dear boy! Harsh words were spoken by me, / who was overcome with grief for my son and tormented by sorrow, O honor-giver.
54.22
What can a wise man do when impelled by his own past actions? / For men's intellect follows their past actions beforehand.
54.23
By this very ordinance, my death has been ordained; / the murders spoken of before will certainly be yours, no doubt.
54.24
Among brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas, or among the castes of śūdras and caṇḍālas, / who are you? Tell me the truth: why was the twice-born killed?”
54.25
Citrasena said: / “I make this known, O brāhmaṇa-sage; you should forgive me. / I am not a brāhmaṇa indeed, venerable father, nor a vaiśya, nor born of a śūdra,
54.26
nor a hunter, nor low-born; I am a kṣatriya, O great sage, / the king of Kāśī, who came to this excellent forest to hunt deer.
54.27
Out of delusion, this sage bearing the form of a deer was struck down. / Now, laden with sin, I have taken refuge at the ends of your feet.
54.28
What should be done by me, O brāhmaṇa? Tell me the means!”
54.29
Dīrghatapas said:
Even a single killing of a brahmin cannot be overcome, O lord;
how then could eleven be [overcome]? Hear them, O ruler of men.
54.30
My four sons, O king, along with their wives and mother,
and together with me, will not live on account of Ṛkṣaśṛṅga.
54.31
I shall tell you an excellent means, my dear; hear it,
if indeed you are able to perform this easy means, O ruler of men.
54.32
Having burned me and my whole family in fire, O king,
cast the bones into the waters of the Narmadā at Śūlabheda.
54.33
Indeed on the southern bank of the Narmadā is famous Śūlabheda,
an excellent pilgrimage place that removes all sins and destroys all sorrows.
54.34
Becoming pure, cast my bones into that pilgrimage place;
you will be freed from all sins by my word, there is no doubt.
54.35
The king said:
Give the order, my dear sir, I shall do it without doubt.
All that is mine—whatever kingdom, treasury, friends, or sons—
54.36
is under your control, O great brahmin; I offer it; be gracious to me.
As the brahmin and the king were thus speaking with each other, O king,
54.37
the sage's wife's heart suddenly burst, and she died;
overcome by grief for her son, she fell lifeless to the earth.
54.38
And through grief for their mother, all the sons met their death;
and then all the daughters-in-law died together with their husbands.
54.39
And when all those chief sages met their death, O best of kings,
he summoned the brahmins who resided there in the hermitage.
54.40
The best of kings reported to them what had happened.
Permitted by them, he carefully gathered firewood;
54.41
King Citrasena performed the cremation and the gathering [of ashes],
having carefully taken the bones of all of them, beginning with Ṛkṣaśṛṅga.
54.42
Setting out toward the southern direction on foot, O ruler of the earth,
whenever he could not walk, the king rested under shade.
54.43
Having rested, the ruler of the earth, oppressed by the load, would walk again;
setting down the bones at every step, he performed a sacred bath with his clothes on.
54.44
He drank water without taking food, going southward;
in no long time he reached the bank of the Narmadā.
54.45
Seeing the twice-born staying in an hermitage, the lord of the earth asked:
54.46
Citrasena said:
Tell me, O best of the twice-born, the way to Śūlabheda,
by which I may go, O fortunate ones, to accomplish my purpose.
54.47
The sages said:
Less than a krośa away from here, on the southern bank of the Narmadā,
is that most splendid pilgrimage place; you will see it there, not otherwise.
54.48
At the sage's word, that king, ruler of men, quickly departed;
he then soon saw [a place] crowded with many twice-born,
54.49
abounding in many trees and vines, adorned with many flowers,
frequented by bears and lions, [and filled] with auspicious [ascetics] observing diverse vows:
54.50
some standing on one foot, others with their gaze fixed on the sun,
some standing on one big toe, others with upraised arms;
54.51
some eating once a day, some feeding on roots and fruits,
some eating once in three nights, others observing the parāka vow;
54.52
some devoted to the cāndrāyaṇa penance, some fasting for a fortnight,
some fasting for a month, some breaking fast at the end of a season;
54.53
some engaged in the practice of yoga, some meditating on that ultimate state,
some feeding on withered leaves, and some eating bitter food;
54.54
some feeding on moss, some feeding on air,
some abiding in the householder's life, and some keepers of the sacrificial fire.
54.55
Seeing such twice-born, the king fell to the earth on his knees;
bowing with his head, O king, he spoke these words:
54.56
Citrasena said:
In what place is that pilgrimage place? Tell me truly, O twice-born,
by which my desired success will be attained.
54.57
The sages said:
Go a distance of a hundred bows to the summit of Bhṛgutuṅga;
you will see an auspicious pool, vast and filled with water.
54.58
Hearing their word, he went near the pool;
and indeed, upon seeing that pilgrimage place, confusion arose in the king.
54.59
Then, filled with wonder and reflecting repeatedly,
the king saw an osprey in the sky carrying meat,
54.60
flying about, having seized a snake, being attacked by birds without meat;
and they all fought with one another out of desire for the meat.
54.61
Struck by a blow from a beak, it fell into the water
where of old the tract of earth had been pierced with his trident by Śūlin.
54.62
By the power of that pilgrimage place, it instantly became a human;
he saw a man of divine form standing in a celestial chariot.
54.63
Gandharvas, Apsarases, and Yakṣas praised him as he went into the sky;
and while he was being sung to by Apsarases and reaching the crown of the sun,
Citrasena then was filled with supreme wonder at that.
54.64
"Just as told by the sage, such is the pilgrimage place, without a doubt."
His hair stood on end seeing the power born of that pilgrimage place:
54.65
"Blessed is my day today, since I have arrived here."
Placing the bones on the ground, having taken a sacred bath according to rule,
54.66
he gratified the ancestors and gods with water mixed with sesame seeds;
then the king, taking the bones, cast them into the water.
54.67
Then looking on for a moment, the king stood with face upturned;
he saw them all again, possessing divine forms, auspicious,
54.68
clothed in divine garments, adorned with divine ornaments,
in various divine celestial chariots, attended by groups of Apsarases.
54.69
Seeing them all distinct, situated in celestial chariots,
as if being reborn, the king became filled with joy.
54.70
The sage, mounted on a celestial chariot, then said to Citrasena:
"O virtuous great king Citrasena, ruler of the earth!
54.71
By your grace, O best of kings, such a divine destiny has become mine,
since you have performed this most splendid deed.
54.72
Even one's own son cannot do such a thing for his ancestors;
by my word, my dear sir, you will become free from sin.
54.73
You will attain the fruit, O king of kings, which you desire and which your mind wishes."
Then, having given blessings to the wise Citrasena,
the sage Dīrghatapas went to heaven together with his sons.
54.73.p1
|| Thus ends the fifty-fourth chapter, named 'Description of the Ascent to Heaven of Dīrghatapas', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth Avantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses
54.73.p2
RKV Chapter 55
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit