Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 72
English (machine translation) 72
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- English
Contents
- 72.65 — 2 parts
72.1
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Then one should go to the auspicious Maṇināgeśvara, O king of kings, / on the north bank of the Narmadā, destroying all sins, / established by the serpent Maṇināga wishing for the welfare of the worlds.
72.2
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
How was Īśvara pleased by a venomous serpent? / Mean, terrifying to all the world, they are full of poison.
72.3
Tell me everything, O venerable one, which grants the calming of sin. / My grief born of agony, arising from Duryodhana,
72.4
terrible, arising from Karṇa and Bhīṣma, and arising on account of Pāñcālī, / inundated by the stream of your lotus-like mouth, has attained peace.
72.5
Having heard the story sung from your mouth, which destroys sin, / this is improper for us, O twice-born, if affliction is not appeased.
72.6
Or rather, dear one, whatever fruit of imparting knowledge is obtained, / that fruit is continually obtained from hearing the stories of Hari.
72.7
The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Just as you speak, O king, so my speech attains joy. / Though I am accompanied by old age, weakness does not at all destroy affection for you, dear one. / Therefore listen, along with your kinsmen, to this praiseworthy story that removes sin.
72.8
I shall tell an ancient history just as it occurred,
72.9
as told from earlier events in unbroken tradition, O Bhārata.
72.10
Kaśyapa had two wives, unequalled in all the worlds: / Vinatā gave birth to Garuḍa, and Kadrū to the serpents.
72.11
And with contentment, dear one, they stayed in Kaśyapa's house, / named Kadrū and Vinatā, two women always glad.
72.12
Prajāpati Kaśyapa also sported with them. / Then one day, having stayed in the hermitage, fair-faced [Vinatā],
72.13
having seen the horse Uccaiḥśravas endowed with the speed of thought— / "Look, look, O slender-limbed one, at the horse white everywhere,
72.14
running without rest, equal in speed to the mind!" / Having seen that horse, she [Kadrū] at once spoke with an attitude of jealousy.
72.15
Kadrū said: / Tell me, auspicious one, of what colour could the horse of the thousand-rayed [Sun] be? / I say he is black; what do you say? Speak that!
72.16
Vinatā said: / Do you not see with your eyes? You see him black, not white! / From speaking falsehood, auspicious one, you will go to the world of Yama.
72.17
On the true and false statement, let there be a wager between you and me: / I shall be a slave-woman in your house for a thousand years,
72.18
if my word is false, if Uccaiḥśravas is black; / then I shall become a slave-woman in your house, O mother of serpents!
72.19
If Uccaiḥśravas is white, I [win], and you are my slave-woman! / Thus this dialogue increased between the two mutually.
72.20
Going to the hermitage, the young woman remained at night filled with anxiety; / she told her relatives all of that conduct.
72.21
She said to her sons, "O Pāṇḍava, a wager was indeed made by me." / A cry of despair was raised by the serpents upon hearing that the wager was made by their mother.
72.22
"You have become a slave woman, no doubt; Bhāskara's mount is white; / the horse Uccaiḥśravas is white, never black anywhere."
72.23
Kadrū said: / "Consider what must be done so that I do not become a slave woman: / enter the pores of the horse Uccaiḥśravas,
72.24
for just one muhūrta, so that he appears black. / In just a single moment, she will become my slave woman.
72.25
Having made that slender Vinatā, who is proud of truth, a slave woman, / you will all then go to your own places happily as you please."
72.26
The serpents said: / "O mother, just as you are our mother, honoured by all on earth, / so is she especially; mothers should not be deceived.
72.27
One's mother, a father's wife, a maternal grandmother, and a paternal grandmother— / one should act for their benefit in action, mind, and speech."
72.28
She then became enraged at that speech, like the fire of destruction: / "Whatever snakes there are on earth who do not obey my word,
72.29
shall all go into the mouth of the fire without doubt!" / Hearing that word of their mother, all the serpents—
72.30
some entered into the hairs of the horse Uccaiḥśravas, / while some fled in the ten directions out of fear of Kadrū's curse.
72.31
Some fled into the waters of the Gaṅgā, some fled to the Sarasvatī; / some vanished into the great ocean, or entered caves in the Vindhya.
72.32
O king, taking refuge in the waters of the Narmadā, Maṇināga, the best [of snakes], / performed vast austerities on the northern bank of the Narmadā.
72.33
Out of fear of his mother's curse, O Pāṇḍava, he meditated on the destroyer of desire, / the indivisible, inconceivable [Lord], free from destruction and origin.
72.34
Living on air for a full hundred [years], and for half of that gazing at the sun, / while he was thus devoted to meditation, the destroyer of Tripura became visible to his eyes.
72.35
"Well done, well done, O fortunate one, O snake possessing true resolve! / I have been captured by your devotion; I am pleased with you, O lord of serpents! / Quickly ask of me a boon, whatever is in your mind."
72.36
Maṇināga said: / "O Lord, distressed by fear of my mother's curse on the bank of the Narmadā, / by your grace, O Lord, may my mother's curse become futile.
72.37
Īśvara said: / "O child, by my command you shall not enter the mouth of the fire; / and your dwelling, O son, shall be in my world."
72.38
Maṇināga said: / "O Mahādeva, abide in this place through a fraction of your portion; / abide in the water of the Narmadā with a thousandth part, / for the benefit of the worlds, under my very name, O Śaṅkara."
72.39
Īśvara said: / "Establish a supreme liṅga by my command, O snake!" / Having spoken thus, the god disappeared and went away with Umā.
72.40
Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Those who, having gone to that pilgrimage place with a pure and restrained mind, / on the fifth, the fourteenth, or the eighth day of the bright or dark fortnights,
72.41
constantly worship [it], O Pāṇḍava, do not approach Yama. / With curd, honey, and ghee mixed with milk,
72.42
they bathe the odd-eyed god who bears half the body of Umā, / the god who burnt the limbs of Kāma, the slayer of the demon Agha.
72.43
And those who with devotion behold Parameśvara being bathed / go to the supreme world, freed from all sins.
72.44
Those who, O Pāṇḍava, [perform] a śrāddha for the deceased on the eighth or on fifth days, / through brāhmaṇas who are always qualified, who study and contemplate the Veda,
72.45
devoted to their own wives, gentle, avoiding the wives of others, / devoted to the six duties, dear one, avoiding acting as servants to śūdras—
72.46
the lame, the lepers, eunuchs, usurers, and farmers, / and those who follow improper vocations, O son, should never be engaged.
72.47
He in whose house there is a śūdra woman, or he who tends a buffalo cow— / that brāhmaṇa should be avoided from afar in vows and śrāddhas, O ruler of men.
72.48
The one-eyed, those with mutilated limbs, the blunt, and those lacking Veda recitation— / those twice-born are not to be honoured, O Pāṇḍava, at the auspicious Maṇināgeśvara.
72.49
If one desires an upward course for oneself along with the ancestors, / one should give a cow that is handsome in every limb to a first-born [brāhmaṇa].
72.50
He goes to the supreme world until the dissolution of all beings; / then, falling from heaven, he is born in an immaculate family.
72.51
Those who behold Maṇināgeśvara with supreme devotion, O king, / in their family no fear of snakes ever arises, O king.
72.52
A snake is afraid of them due to the sight of Maṇināga; / indeed, in the realm of snakes they appear as having the form of Garuḍa.
72.53
Now hear the fruits of gifts, O best of kings: / those best of men who give food prepared with rites,
72.54
water, a bed, likewise a parasol, a maiden, or a sweet-speaking maidservant— / for it should be given to a worthy recipient, O king, if one desires one's own welfare.
72.55
One should give fragrant flowers, perfumed garments, / a lamp, grain, a bright house endowed with all utensils.
72.56
Those who give with supreme devotion go to heaven. / Whatever gift is given at Maṇināga, O best of kings,
72.57
by the power of that gift, residence in heaven is certain. / Sins dissolve away just as water in an unbaked earthen pot.
72.58
He who gives food prepared with Narmadā water to a brāhmaṇa / is also freed from sins and sports with the gods.
72.59
Then I shall declare the characteristics of those who have fallen from heaven: / long-lived, their children living, wealthy, very handsome,
72.60
freed from all diseases, accompanied by sons and servants, / generous, endowed with enjoyments, always delighting in religious discourses,
72.61
devoted to gods, twice-born, and gurus, dedicated to serving pilgrimage places, / ever obedient to mother and father, free from malice and anger.
72.62
Endowed with these very virtues, those men, O son of Pāṇḍu, / have truly arrived from heaven and go to dwell in heaven.
72.63
Maṇināga is a pilgrimage place superior to all pilgrimage places, O best of kings. / Whoever reads or even listens to this holy pilgrimage narrative,
72.64
is also freed from sins and is glorified in the world of Śiva. / Poison does not affect them; they wander as they please.
72.65
And whatever religious merit [is gained] on the sixth day of the month of Bhādrapada by seeing the Sun, / one attains that fruit indeed by hearing this narrative.
72.65.p1
|| Thus ends the seventy-second chapter, titled "Description of the Glorification of the Pilgrimage Place of Maṇināgeśvara", in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth book, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses ascribed to Skanda
72.65.p2
RKV chapter 73
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit