Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 6
English (machine translation) 6
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Contents
- 6.45 — 2 parts
6.1
Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Again, when the end of the yuga arrived in the third [kalpa], O best of kings, / the blessed Nīlalohita, assuming the body of twelve suns,
6.2
burned the entire earth bounded by the seven continents and oceans, along with mountains, forests, and woods, / Maheśvara having become Time [itself].
6.3
Then, having become a great cloud, he flooded with water / this dark [earth] whose form was blackened, marked with lightning and the bow of the moon.
6.4
Having flooded the whole world when it was turned into a single ocean, / he slept in the pure water, drawing the universe together by his māyā.
6.5
Then I, wandering in the great ocean enveloped in darkness / for a divine thousand years, while Maheśvara had become wind,
6.6
saying 'Oṃ' to the god of the gods of heaven by whom this [world] was made impenetrable, / meditating on the god, O king of kings, in the pure water,
6.7
in that terrifying great ocean, when the stationary and moving had perished, / I suddenly saw a peacock in the water, rich with golden wings, / endowed with multicolored eyes [on its plumage], with a blue neck and beautiful eyes.
6.8
Then that peacock, having agitated the expanse of the great ocean with great speed, / the three-crested, feathered god, the guardian of the three worlds, possessed of great majesty, moved about.
6.9
And while the water was being agitated by Śiva in the terrible form of a peacock, / the great one saw a river with a mighty current wandering together [with him] at the edge of the great ocean.
6.10
He, in the form of Mahādeva as a peacock, seeing her wandering with masses of swift waves, [said]: / 'Who are you, auspicious one, having an eternal body, that you have not gone to destruction at the end of the great destruction?
6.11
When the hosts of gods and asuras have perished, along with rivers, lakes, and the great ocean, / who are you, lotus-eyed one, that wander, and where did you go without meeting destruction?'
6.12
Narmadā said: / 'By your grace, O lord of the gods, death does not exist for me; / create the universe again, O god, the night has reached its end.'
6.13
Thus spoken to, Mahādeva shook the cage of his wings; / thereupon, from the midst of that cage, from his wings emerged
6.14
just so many lords of gods and Daityas, born from his two wings; / and in their midst, that river Narmadā wandered once again.
6.15
Then another great mountain is seen, O bull of the Bharatas, / with three vast peaks, like a horned bull.
6.16
It is renowned as Trikūṭa, adorned with all jewels; / and from that Trikūṭa she went forth, flooding the earth.
6.17
Therefore she is celebrated as Trikūṭī, the supreme deliverer of the ancestors; / and from the second [peak] the Gaṅgā spread over the surface of the earth.
6.18
Then the third peak broke into seven parts; / in Jambūdvīpa they became the seven family mountains.
6.19
Along with the moon and constellations, planets, settlements, rivers, and streams, / there arose the egg-born, sweat-born, plant-born, and womb-born beings.
6.20
Thus this entire universe arose of old from the peacock, / all originating from Mahādeva, O tiger among men.
6.21
Then, dividing the rivers and the oceans individually, / the lord of gods said to Narmadā: "Go to the southern quarter."
6.22
"Thus you are the southern Gaṅgā, destroyer of great sins; / in the northern region is the Jāhnavī, holy, and you in the south are auspicious.
6.23
Just as the Gaṅgā, born from my head, possesses great religious merit, / so too are you distinguished, O highly fortunate one; of this there is no doubt.
6.24
I shall abide with you with a part of myself, O lady of good vows; / you shall be the medicine for those laden with great sins."
6.25
Having been addressed thus by the god, the destroyer of great sins, / of swift stride, went to the southern quarter.
6.26
Having reached the Ṛkṣa mountain, the king of mountains, through the grace of the moon-crested god, / she set forth with floods of waters, being impelled by Mahādeva.
6.27
And because she rose up with great speed, / she is called Mahatī, having come from Mahādeva, O king.
6.28
As that god practiced austerities, drops fell from the tip of his trident; / because of that she is named Śoṇā, and they are remembered as seventeen.
6.29
Of all [rivers], the Narmadā is holy, having issued from the body of Rudra, / and [superior] to all rivers because of the boon granted by that great-souled one.
6.30
By the grace of Śaṃkara, the goddess destroys great sins; / and because she appears vast in the terrible ocean,
6.31
with clearly manifest limbs and a massive body, she is therefore called Mahatī. / Agitated by the world-elephants, who resemble clouds,
6.32
she certainly brings turbidness [to an end] with her essence; thus [she is called] Surasā. / Because she shows compassion, granting fearlessness to all beings,
6.33
to those drowned in the ocean of transmigration, she is therefore known as Kṛpā. / Formerly, in the sacred Kṛta age, adorned with celestial mandāra trees,
6.34
thronged with wish-granting trees and crowded with rohītaka trees, / she flows slowly, and therefore is called Mandākinī.
6.35
Because, having swiftly split the great ocean, she came here to this world, / worthy of worship by gods and siddhas, she is therefore called Mahārṇavā.
6.36
crowded with varied clusters of lotuses, and filled with bears and elephants,
6.37
cleaving a vast mountain, she goes thus to the great ocean, / resounding in all directions with a great roar of old;
6.38
overflowing and shining resplendent, she is therefore known as Revā. / Because she purifies from sin men afflicted with severe grief on account of wives and sons
6.39
and covered with curses, she is therefore known as Vipāpā. / [Free from] the terrible accumulation of feces and urine, mud mixed with dust and blood,
6.40
and continually constricted by bonds, because she greatly frees [them], / she, who ferries across the ocean of worldly existence, is therefore called Vipāśā.
6.41
Narmadā has spotless waters and a fair face like the spotless moon. / Because in the terrible darkness [of the cosmic dissolution] she possesses great radiance,
6.42
she is therefore called Vimalā by the wise, O best of kings. / With rays resembling the rays of the moon, having the radiance of the rays of the sun,
6.43
flowing and delighting the universe, she is therefore called Karabhā. / Because, O descendant of Bharata, she gladdens beings by her very sight,
6.44
she is called Rañjanā from [the root meaning] 'delighting', O best of kings. / The grasses, climbers, bushes, and so forth, as well as beasts and birds— / she leads those born [along her] to heaven; therefore she is called Vāyuvāhinī.
6.45
He who thus knows the names and especially the origin, / he, freed from sin, goes to the world of Rudra, there is no doubt.
6.45.p1
|| Thus in the holy Skandapurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses], in the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Revākhaṇḍa, in the glorification of the Narmadā, in the description of the significance of the names of Revā, the sixth chapter, named 'The Origin from the Mayūrakalpa'.
6.45.p2
RKV Chapter 7
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit