Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 83

English (machine translation) 83

Language: English

83.118 — 2 parts

83.1

Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Then one should go, O great king, to the supremely beautiful pilgrimage place,
declared to remove the murder of a brahmin, situated on the bank of the Revā;
for here exists the excellent liṅga named after Hanumat.

83.2

Yudhiṣṭhira said:
How did it come to be named Hanūmanteśvara? Tell me,
the pilgrimage place situated on the southern bank of the Revā that removes the murder of a brahmin.

83.3

Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Well said, well said, O mighty-armed one, ornament of the lunar dynasty!
More secret than secret is this pilgrimage place; it has not been told to anyone by me.

83.4

Out of affection for you I shall tell it, though afflicted by old age.
Formerly a great war took place between Rāma and Rāvaṇa.

83.5

Pulastya was the son of Brahmā; Viśravas was indeed his son.
From him was born Rāvaṇa, the ten-faced brahmarākṣasa.

83.6

He became the conqueror of the three worlds by the grace of the spear-holder,
all the gods were conquered, and the wife of Rāma was abducted.

83.7

That evil one was restrained by Kumbhakarṇa, saying, 'Release Sītā, release her!',
and again and again by Vibhīṣaṇa and by Mandodarī.

83.8

"You were defeated by Kārtavīrya, and he too by the son of Reṇukā; / that Rāma [was defeated] by Rāmabhadra. How then can you have victory in battle?"

83.9

Rāvaṇa said: / "By monkeys, men, bears, and boars, unarmed, / and by hosts of gods and demons, I have never been defeated."

83.10

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / With Sugrīva and Hanumān, and with Kumuda and Aṅgada, / with these and other allies, he was indeed defeated by Rāmacandra.

83.11

The mighty son of Pulastya was slain in battle by Rāmacandra; / the grove was broken and the warriors were slain by the son of the wind.

83.12

The son of Rāvaṇa, young Akṣa, was slain in battle; / and the vast, terrifying army of the rākṣasas was crushed by the monkey.

83.13

When the events of the Rāmāyaṇa had thus passed and Sītā had been liberated, / and Rāma had returned to Ayodhyā, that great monkey Hanumān

83.14

went to the mountain called Kailāsa to bow down before the great Lord. / "Halt, halt!" the best of monkeys was told by Nandin:

83.15

"You are stained with the sin of killing Brahmins through the slaying of the rākṣasas; / surely, O monkey, the assembly of Bhairava must not be beheld by you."

83.16

Hanumān said: / "O lord Nandin, ask Hara what gives alleviation to the sin, / since I, a monkey, became sinful on account of a different purpose."

83.17

Nandin said: / "Have you not heard of her who arose from the body of Rudra and rests upon the earth? / By hearing [of her], the [sin] born in a birth departs; by glorifying [her], it departs twofold.

83.18

The sin acquired across thirty births is destroyed by bathing in the Revā. / Therefore, go to the bank of the Narmadā and perform great austerities."

83.19

Having heard what Nandin said, the son of the carrier of fragrance / went to the bank of the Narmadā, to the southern confluence with the Aurva.

83.20

He meditated on the god in the far south, the three-eyed one who bears the trident, / endowed with a diadem of matted hair, having a serpent as his sacred thread.

83.21

His whole body was covered with ashes; he resounded with the sound of a damaru; / he shared half his body with Umā; he was peaceful, seated on the lord of bulls.

83.22

For very many years he worshipped Īśvara; / then Mahādeva, well pleased, arrived together with Umā.

83.23

He spoke sweet words with a voice deep as a cloud; / 'Well done, well done!' said the Lord, 'A severe [austerity] has been performed by you, my child!

83.24

No sin was committed by you earlier during the destruction of Rāvaṇa; / for, devoted to the work of your master, you have achieved perfection by the sight of me.'

83.25

Seeing Hara, who was steadfast and shared half his body with Umā, / Hanumān bowed prostrating with eight limbs and said: 'Victory, O Śambhu, obeisance be to you! / Victory to the destroyer of Andhaka! Victory to the bearer of the Gaṅgā on his head!'

83.26

Thus praised, Mahādeva, granter of boons, spoke these words: / 'Ask a boon of me, my child, O one born of the essence of the life-breath!'

83.27

Śrī Hanumān said: / 'The sin of murder arose for me, O Maheśvara, from the slaying of a Brahmarākṣasa; / may I not be sinful, O Lord, in an instant through conversation with you.'

83.28

Īśvara said: / 'From the glorification of the Narmadā pilgrimage place, from the power of the practice of righteousness, / [and] from the sight of my form, O son, you are free of sin, there is no doubt.

83.29

And I grant you another boon, O best of monkeys: / for the benefit of the worlds, your names, O son of the wind, [shall be]:

83.30

Hanūmān, son of Añjanī, son of the wind, possessed of great strength, / dear to Rāma, Phālguna, friend, yellow-eyed, of immeasurable prowess,

83.31

supreme in crossing the ocean, crusher of the pride of the ten-necked [Rāvaṇa], / giver of life to Lakṣmaṇa, and dispeller of the sorrow of Sītā.'

83.32

Having spoken thus, the god Śaṅkara disappeared together with Umā; / Hanumān installed [a liṅga named] Hanūmānīśvara there with devotion.

83.33

By the power of his own yoga alone, by the virtue of celibacy, / [and] by the grace of Īśvara, that liṅga indeed grants desires, / unbreakable and inconceivable, free from destruction and origin.

83.34

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / 'Hear, O son, the evident proof regarding Hanūmanteśvara, / which happened at the beginning of the Dvāpara and the end of the Tretā [yuga], O son of Pāṇḍu.

83.35

A king named Suparvan arose on the surface of the earth; / for that king there was constant happiness, and men were always long-lived.

83.36

He was endowed with sons and wealth, free from the affliction of thieves; / Śatabāhu, endowed with terrible prowess, became his son.

83.37

Always attached to sinful ways, O lord of men, / he wandered all over the earth, the mountains, and the forests.

83.38

In order to slay herds of wild animals, he came to the Vindhya mountain, / teeming with various species of trees and crowded with herds of elephants,

83.39

abounding in the beauty of lions and leopards, filled with deer and wild boars; / having sported in the forest, that king bowed to the Narmadā somewhere.

83.40

He reached the forest of Hanūmant, measuring a hundred krośas, / richly adorned with tamarind groves, crowded with kadamba trees,

83.41

adorned constantly with palāśa, lime, karañja, and khadira trees, / and with pāṭala, badarī, śamī, and tinduka trees;

83.42

covered with herds of wild animals, resounded by the cries of peacocks, / [and] adorned on all sides by the call of flocks of pigeons.

83.43

In the autumn season, in the dark fortnight of Āśvina, the king rejoiced; / having entered the midst of the forest, he saw a tawny brāhmaṇa wandering.

83.44

He questioned that swift brāhmaṇa who held a manuscript in his hand.

83.45

Śatabāhu said: / 'Why are you wandering alone in the forest with a manuscript in your hand, / looking here and there? Tell [me], O best of brāhmaṇas!'

83.46

The brāhmaṇa said: / 'I have come from Kānyakubja, sent by a princess / to cast bones into the water at Hanūmanteśvara, O king.'

83.47

The king said: / 'Why is the casting of bones performed in the water at Hanūmanteśvara, O brāhmaṇa? / For what purpose? Tell me with wonder!'

83.48

Having descended from his chariot and bowed on the ground, / the son of Suparvan, joining his hands in reverence, O lord of men, / [the brāhmaṇa] told him all his ancient history.

83.49

The brāhmaṇa said: / 'There is a glorious king named Śikhaṇḍin in Kānyakubja; / that king was childless, [but] a daughter was born through prayers.

83.50

She remembered her past lives and had very beautiful limbs by the power of the Narmadā; / and once that girl was addressed by her father concerning marriage:

83.51

"In this transient cycle of existence, O daughter, I shall give the gift of a maiden; / one should do today what is to be done tomorrow, and in the forenoon what is of the afternoon; / for Death does not wait [to see] whether a person's work is done or not done."

83.52

The girl said: / 'Where I wish, at that time indeed I should be given by [you, my] father!' / At the daughter's words, that king, amazed, spoke:

83.53

Śikhaṇḍin said: / 'Tell me, O highly fortunate one; something astonishing has been said by you.' / At her father's word, that excellent young girl came near.

83.54

She told what had happened at Hanūmanteśvara, O king: / 'I was indeed a peahen, dear father, and was living then together with my mate.

83.55

Staying at the confluence of the Revā and the Aurvī, on the southern bank of the Revā, / I was roaming at will in the sacred forest of Hanūmant.

83.56

Together with my mate, I fell asleep at night in a pine tree; / hunters afflicted with hunger came there to that excellent forest.

83.57

Together with my mate, I was spotted by those sinners intending to kill; / taking a snare, I was bound along with my husband.

83.58

They wrung our necks, and plucked our tail feathers; / and then, along with my beloved, [we were placed] in the mouth of the fire by those hunters.

83.59

Having roasted our flesh and eaten to their satisfaction, / they slept at night with their senses at ease, and that night drew to an end.

83.60

At dawn, the remainder of the flesh, along with the bone originating from my body / covered with sinews and flesh, [was taken] by jackals and killer vultures.

83.61

It was seized by one predatory bird and then fell from the sky; / seeing it eating that flesh, other birds came.

83.62

Seeing the flock of birds, it dropped the piece of bone / while all the birds were running and looking on.

83.63

It fell into the water of the Narmadā at Hanūmanteśvara, O king; / my piece of bone fell into the water of the Narmadā.

83.64

By the religious merit of that pilgrimage place, I was born as your daughter; / I was born as a king's daughter, with a face resembling the full moon.

83.65

Remembering my past life, I was born in the lineage of you, the ruler of men; / therefore I do not desire marriage, [for] my husband, O best of kings—'

83.66

"He still remains in a wretched state among species of birds and deer; / the remaining bones of his will be found at that pilgrimage place, O king of kings.

83.67

Therefore, dear father, send the best of the twice-born today to throw them. / All this reason has been recounted to you, O best among kings.

83.68

My husband is in a wretched place among species of birds and deer; / if you, dear father, would send someone to the bank of the Narmadā,

83.69

I shall describe to him [the spot] marked by places and tokens. / I too have been summoned there by the peacock, O lord of the earth."

83.70

"I will give twenty villages; go to the bank of the Narmadā. / The mission was promised by me when I was afflicted by misfortune."

83.71

The maiden said: / "Go to the holy Narmadā, the destroyer of all sins. / To the southeast of Somanātha is the supreme Hanūmanteśvara.

83.72

Half a krośa from the Revā is a broad banyan tree; / near the banyan there are also the karañja and the kaṭaha trees.

83.73

Near the root of the banyan you will see minute bones; / having swept them up and gathered them together, go to the Revā, O best of the twice-born.

83.74

In the dark fortnight of Āśvina, on the tithi sacred to the enemy of Tripura, / bathe the trident-bearer with devotion and keep a vigil through the night.

83.75

At dawn you should throw them, standing in water up to your navel, / having uttered: 'May liberation arise for him, O best of the twice-born!'

83.76

Having thrown the bones, a bath that destroys sin must be performed once more. / When this is done, O king of kings, [a good] state will be his."

83.77

"All that was spoken by the maiden was set down in a booklet. / I have arrived, O best of kings, at this pilgrimage place that removes misfortune."

83.78

Then, having seen the token and taken the bones, O ruler of men, / I cast them into the waters of the Narmadā according to the rule previously stated. / There was a shower of flowers [crying] 'Well done, well done!', O Pāṇḍava, / and then a celestial aerial car arrived for the peacock.

Linked texts (1)

Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit

Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 83

Contents

Linked texts (1)