Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 57

English (machine translation) 57

Language: English

57.31 — 2 parts

57.1

RKV chapter 57 / Īśvara said: / Having fed the twice-born, Bhānumatī ate of the leftovers. / Having eaten, resting very comfortably and digesting that food,

57.2

she then went on the thirteenth lunar day, the day known as Madana. / Having bathed in Mārkaṇḍa's pool and worshipped the god who rests in the cave,

57.3

having undertaken the observance of fasting, and having bathed Maheśvara / with fragrant pañcāmṛta, with incense, lamps, and offerings,

57.4

she worshipped [him] with various flowers and very splendid food offerings. / Keeping vigil through the night and listening to the Purāṇic narrative,

57.5

with dances, songs, and hymns she meditated upon the god Maheśvara. / All the food was laid out before the god according to rule.

57.6

Sons of all four social classes were fed along with their retinues. / Having worshipped the bull-bannered god throughout the fourteenth day,

57.7

made to resound with conches, musical instruments, kettledrums, and the roll of tabors, / keeping vigil through the night crowded with many people,

57.8

that night was passed with dances, songs, and hymns. / At dawn, the Brahmins were fed with milk-rice, honey, and ghee.

57.9

Having bestowed gifts upon the Brahmins according to her capacity and in accordance with the Brahmins, / and having worshipped [the god] with great flowers, sweet perfumes, and datura,

57.10

and having worshipped the god, he was draped with diverse fine cloths, / with hanging garlands, and blazing with many lamps,

57.11

with cooked foods, various eatables, and well-rounded modaka sweets and the like. / Then all those Brahmins devoted to the study of the Vedas

57.12

proclaimed that auspicious conjunction by the name of Padmaka: / 'Today is the day of the sun, and the lunar day is the fifteenth;

57.13

the asterism is Tvāṣṭra (Citra), and the transition is an equinox; / the astrological combination is Vyatīpāta, and the astrological division is Viṣṭi.

57.14

This sacred festival is called Padmaka, four times [more meritorious] than a solstice and the like. / What is given, offered in fire, or recited here becomes entirely imperishable.'

57.15

Then those twice-born, having gone with Bhānumatī to Śūlabheda, / saw the hunter standing at the pool with his wife.

57.16

Having gone toward the northeastern direction on the mountain, upon the precipice, / he had ascended along with his wife to jump down, O protector of the earth.

57.17

Bhānumatī said: / Stop, stop, O great-hearted one! Listen to my words! / Why do you give up your life, when you are still young?

57.18

What torment, what agitation, what sorrow or disease is there? / You still look like a youth; let the cause of this be told.

57.19

The hunter said: / I have no cause at all, nor any sorrow whatsoever; / terrified by the fear of worldly existence, no other thought arises [in me].

57.20

Because human birth is attained with difficulty, only by good fortune, / and having attained human birth, one who does not practice dharma

57.21

goes to a terrible hell through his own fault, O beautiful lady. / Therefore I wish to jump down at this pilgrimage place that destroys sin.

57.22

The queen said: / There is still time for you to acquire dharma; / one who has committed bad actions is indeed purified by vows and gifts.

57.23

I will give grain or garments and much wealth. / Practice dharma constantly, always meditating upon Maheśvara.

57.24

The hunter said: / I desire neither wealth, nor grain, nor clothing; / whoever eats the food of another eats that person's sin.

57.25

The queen said: / Living on bulbs, roots, and fruits, or wandering for noble alms, / and plunging into excellent pilgrimage places, one is freed from all sins.

57.26

Then, freed from sin and pure, whatever one does, / purified by that action, you will surely attain a good state.

57.27

The hunter said: / Today I have renounced food, which is dearer even than life. / Truth should not be violated, O queen; my mind is resolute in this.

57.28

Grant your favour, O queen; forgive me today together with your people. / Having bound himself [to her] with half of his upper garment, determined,

57.29

the hunter together with his wife, having meditated upon Hari, jumped. / As he fell halfway down the mountain, his life was gone, O ruler of men.

57.30

Seeing the two of them crushed to powder above the pool, O protector of the earth, / when an interval of three muhūrtas had elapsed, the hunter along with his wife,

57.31

having mounted a celestial chariot, attained the unsurpassed state.

|| Thus ends the fifty-seventh chapter, named 'The Description of the Hunter's Ascent to Heaven', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth, Āvantya book of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa in eighty-one thousand verses.

57.31.p2

RKV chapter 58

Linked texts (1)

Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit