[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Purāṇas](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana) › [Vishnupurana](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu) › 4.24.70 # Vishnupurana 4.24.70 Viṣṇupurāṇa 4.24.70 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### [4.24.70](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.4.24.70) etad viditvā na nareṇa kāryaṃ mamatvam ātmany api paṇḍitena tiṣṭhantu tāvat tanayātmajāyāḥ kṣetrādayo ye tu śarīrato 'nye // > These were the verses, Maitreya, which Earth recited, and by listening to which ambition fades away like snow before the sun. I have now related to you the whole account of the descendants of the Manu; amongst whom have flourished kings endowed with a portion of Vishńu, engaged in the preservation of the earth. Whoever shall listen reverently and with faith to this narrative, proceeding from the posterity of Manu, shall be purified entirely from all his sins, and, with the perfect possession of his faculties, shall live in unequalled affluence, plenty, and prosperity. He who has heard of the races of the sun and moon, of Ikshwá.ku, Jahnu, Mańd́hátri, Sagara, and Raghu, who have all perished; of Yayáti, Nahusha, and their posterity, who are no more; of kings of great might, resistless valour, and unbounded wealth, who have been overcome by still more powerful time, and are now only a tale; he will learn wisdom, and forbear to call either children, or wife, or house, or lands, or wealth, his own. The arduous penances that have been performed by heroic men obstructing fate for countless years, religious rites and sacrifices of great efficacy and virtue, have been made by time the subject only of narration. The valiant Prithu traversed the universe, every where triumphant over his foes; yet he was blown away, like the light down of the Simal tree, before the blast of time. He who was Kártavíryya subdued innumerable enemies, and conquered the seven zones of the earth; but now he is only the topic of a theme, a subject for affirmation and contradiction. Fie upon the empire of the sons of Raghu, who triumphed over Daśánana, and extended their sway to the ends of the earth; for was it not consumed in an instant by the frown of the destroyer? Mańd́hátri, the emperor of the universe, is embodied only in a legend; and what pious man who hears it will ever be so unwise as to cherish the desire of possession in his soul? Bhagíratha, Sagara, Kakutstha, Daśánana, Ráma, Lakshmana, Yudhisht́hira, and others, have been. Is it so? Have they ever really existed? Where are they now? we know not! The powerful kings who now are, or who will be, as I have related them to you, or any others who are unspecified, are all subject to the same fate, and the present and the future will perish and be forgotten, like their predecessors. Aware of this truth, a wise man will never be influenced by the principle of individual appropriation; and regarding them as only transient and temporal possessions, he will not consider children and posterity, lands and property, or whatever else is personal, to be his own. > — Horace Hayman Wilson 1840, The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition ### [4.24.70.p1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.4.24.70.p1) iti śrīviṣṇupurāṇe caturthe 'ṃśe caturviṃśo 'dhyāyaḥ > These were the verses, Maitreya, which Earth recited, and by listening to which ambition fades away like snow before the sun. I have now related to you the whole account of the descendants of the Manu; amongst whom have flourished kings endowed with a portion of Vishńu, engaged in the preservation of the earth. Whoever shall listen reverently and with faith to this narrative, proceeding from the posterity of Manu, shall be purified entirely from all his sins, and, with the perfect possession of his faculties, shall live in unequalled affluence, plenty, and prosperity. He who has heard of the races of the sun and moon, of Ikshwá.ku, Jahnu, Mańd́hátri, Sagara, and Raghu, who have all perished; of Yayáti, Nahusha, and their posterity, who are no more; of kings of great might, resistless valour, and unbounded wealth, who have been overcome by still more powerful time, and are now only a tale; he will learn wisdom, and forbear to call either children, or wife, or house, or lands, or wealth, his own. The arduous penances that have been performed by heroic men obstructing fate for countless years, religious rites and sacrifices of great efficacy and virtue, have been made by time the subject only of narration. The valiant Prithu traversed the universe, every where triumphant over his foes; yet he was blown away, like the light down of the Simal tree, before the blast of time. He who was Kártavíryya subdued innumerable enemies, and conquered the seven zones of the earth; but now he is only the topic of a theme, a subject for affirmation and contradiction. Fie upon the empire of the sons of Raghu, who triumphed over Daśánana, and extended their sway to the ends of the earth; for was it not consumed in an instant by the frown of the destroyer? Mańd́hátri, the emperor of the universe, is embodied only in a legend; and what pious man who hears it will ever be so unwise as to cherish the desire of possession in his soul? Bhagíratha, Sagara, Kakutstha, Daśánana, Ráma, Lakshmana, Yudhisht́hira, and others, have been. Is it so? Have they ever really existed? Where are they now? we know not! The powerful kings who now are, or who will be, as I have related them to you, or any others who are unspecified, are all subject to the same fate, and the present and the future will perish and be forgotten, like their predecessors. Aware of this truth, a wise man will never be influenced by the principle of individual appropriation; and regarding them as only transient and temporal possessions, he will not consider children and posterity, lands and property, or whatever else is personal, to be his own. > — Horace Hayman Wilson 1840, The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition ## Translations (2) - [The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu~en-wilson.4.24.18) — Horace Hayman Wilson 1840, English - [A Prose English Translation of Vishnupuranam](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu~en-dutt.4.24.p24) — Manmatha Nath Dutt 1896, English --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.4.24.70](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu.4.24.70) · Pramāṇa