An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s4.38
An Index to the Names in the Mahābhārata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s4.38
- Language
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[Gālavacarita(m)] ("the history of Gālava"; cf. Gālavasya caritam). § 565 (Bhagavady.): In ancient times, in order to try Viçvāmitra, who was then engaged in ascetic austerities, Dharma in the form of the Rṣi Vasiṣṭha, and feigning himself hungry, came to his hermitage. Viçvāmitra cooked caru, but could not approach Dharma before his guest had dined with the other hermits. Dharma said, "I have already dined; wait here," and went away. Viçvāmitra, bearing that food on his head and himself subsisting on air, waited a hundred years, while the ascetic Gālava waited on him. Then Dharma accepted that food, which was still warm and fresh, and called Viçvāmitra a viprarṣi, whereby he became a brahman. Gālava repeatedly asked Viçvāmitra to take a gift from him as his preceptor, and at last Viçvāmitra, seeing his persistency, requested him to give 800 white steeds each with one black ear (V, 106). Gālava got troubled and was gradually reduced to a skeleton. He thought of repairing to Viṣṇu (or Kṛṣṇa), when his friend Garuḍa came, and said he had spoken to Viṣṇu in his behalf, and that he would bear him (V, 107). Garuḍa described the East: here Savitṛ first rises, and the tapas of the Sādhyas is performed at eve; . . . the two eyes of Dharma; . . . here the daughters of Dakṣa in primeval times gave birth to their children, and here the sons of Kaçyapa first multiplied; here Çakra was first anointed as king of the gods;
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here is the tapas of Indra and the gods, all their religious ceremonies; here the Creator (bhagavān Lokabhāvanaḥ) first sang the Vedas; here Sāvitrī was first said by Savitṛ to the reciters of the Vedas (brahmavādiṣu), and here the Yajurveda (yajumṣi) was given by Sūrya; here the Soma juice was first drunk by the gods, etc.; it was here that Varuṇa, repairing to Pātāla, obtained prosperity (priyam); here the birth, growth, and death of the ancient Vasiṣṭha took place; here first grew the hundred branches (śrtayaḥ) of om; here the Munis called dhūmapāḥ first imbibed the smoke of the havis; here the thousand-rayed Sun slays, rising, the wicked and ungrateful men and Asuras; here is the gate of the three worlds and the path to heaven and to felicity (V, 108). Garuḍa mentioned the remarkable subjects in the South (dakṣiṇā diç, so called because Vivasvat gave it away as a dakṣiṇā): Pitṛpakṣas trailokasya; Uṣmapāḥ devāḥ; the Viçvedevas with the Pitṛs, with whom they equally share the sacrifices in all the worlds; the second door of Dharma . . .; the Devarṣis, Pitṛlokarṣis, and Rājarṣis, who dwell here in great happiness . . .; it is the region whither all must repair; . . . there are Nairṛtaḥ to be seen by the sinful; the Gandharvas chanting on Mandara and in the abodes of the viprarṣis; Raivata who, hearing the Sāmans, retired to the woods, leaving wife and friends and kingdom; Sāvarṇi and Yāvakrīta setting a limit to Sūrya (the southern tropical circle, PCR.);
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Rāvaṇa soliciting immortality from the gods; Vṛtra incurring the enmity of Çakra; Vaitaraṇī filled with the bodies of persons condemned to hell . . .; reaching this region the sun drops sweet water (i.e. the beginning of the rainy season, Nil.), and thence, proceeding again to the Vāsiṣṭha direction (Vāsiṣṭhīm kāṣṭhām = the quarter of the seven Rṣis, i.e. the North, Nil.), once more drops dew (himam); there is Garuḍa obtaining for food an enormous elephant and tortoise; tho great Rṣi Cakradhanus' as Kapila who burned Sagara's sons); the perfect (siddhāḥ) brahmans, named Çivāḥ, who fully had mastered the Vedas, here obtained liberation (mokṣa); here is Bhogavatī, ruled by Vāsuki, Takṣaka, and Airāvata. Those that have to journey hither encounter a thick gloom, so that it cannot be penetrated by either the Sun or by Agni; "even thou shalt have to pass this road" (V, 109). Garuḍa mentioned the remarkable subjects and occurrences of the West: Varuṇa's origin; his instalment by Kaçyapa; the Moon, quaffing all the six juices of Varuṇa, becomes young again in the beginning of the bright fortnight; the Daityas being routed and bound fast by Vāyu; the mountain Asta; Night and Sleep; Çakra beholding the goddess (devīm) Diti asleep, and cutting off her foetus, whence sprang the Maruts; the roots of Himavat stretching towards the eternal Mandara (sunk in the Ocean, Nil.), the end of which is not to be reached by journeying for even 1,000 years;
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Surabhi milking on the shores of the lake with golden lotuses; in the midst of the Ocean the headless trunk of Svarbhānu; the chanting of the Vedas by Suvarṇa-çiras (invisible, and whose hair is eternally yellow); Dhvajavatī, the daughter of the muni Harimedhas, remaining in the air in consequence of Sūrya's injunction, 'stay'; . . . the sources of the rivers; here, in the abode of Varuṇa, are the waters of the three worlds; the abode of Ananta, and of Viṣṇu, and of Pavana (the friend of Agni), and of the Maharṣi Kaçyapa Mārica (V, 110). The North (uttara) has its name from saving (uttāraṇā) from sin; it is also called madhyama, i.e. between the East and the West. None can live there that is unamiable, etc. Garuḍa mentioned its remarkable subjects and places: Badarī, the asylum of Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Jiṣṇu, and Brahmán; Maheçvara with the effulgence of the Yugānta fire; Puruṣa dwelling with Prakṛti, invisible to munis, D. with I., G., Y., and Si., except Nara and Nārāyaṇa; there Viṣṇu appears alone, having 1,000 heads and 1,000 legs; there Candramas (the Moon) was iostalled in the sovereignty over the brahmans; Mahādeva receiving Gaṅgā on his head; Devī practising austerities for obtaining Maheçvara; Kāma; the wrath (of Çiva, PCR.); here took place Kubera's instalment, on the breast of Kailāsa, in the sovereignty of Rā., Y., and G.; Cairaratha; here is the asylum of the Vaikhānāsas; Mandākinī; Mandara; Saugandhikavana, guarded by Nairṛtas;
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the plantain forest (kadalī-skandham), etc.; the Siddhas; the eeven Rṣis with Arundhatī; Svātī; Brahmán near Yajña . . . the munis named Dhāmā (? so B.) (whose origin, etc., are not known) guarding Gāyantikādvāra (B. Gaṅgāmahādvāram); the man who passes beyond them will certainly meet with destruction, except Nārāyaṇa and Nara or Jiṣṇu; here ie Kailāsa, the abode of Ailavila; the origin of the ten Apsarases Vidyut-prabhāḥ; Viṣṇupada, made by Viṣṇu, when he, in his covering the worlds with three steps, stepped on the northern regioo; here took place king Marutta's sacrifice at Uçīrabīja, by the side of the golden lake; here was Himavat's gold-mine, that exhibited itself to the viprarṣi Jīmūta, who gave away the whole wealth to the brahmans, and had it called after his name (Jīmūta); here morning and evening the Lokapālas (diçām pālāḥ) proclaim "what business of what person shall we do?"; it is called uttara (North) because it is superior (uttara) to all (V, 111). At the request of Gālava, Garuḍa carried him (description) to the East, and laughed at his foolish thoughts of casting away his life. At the mountain Rṣabha they rested for some time (V, 112). On the peak of the Rṣabha they met with a brahman lady, Caṇḍīlī, engaged in penances; she gave them cooked food; they fell asleep. As Garuḍa awoke, his wings had fallen off. It was because he had, out of pity, thought of carrying the lady to the place where Mahādeva, Vishnu, etc. (a), live together.
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She gave him his wings back, having warned him not to contemn women, and they set out, but failed to find the steeds. Viçvāmitra met them, and said the time had already passed, but promised to wait for some time more (V, 113). Garuḍa explained the etymology of hiranya (gold) and dhana (wealth), and why gold is not easily obtainable (see the note of PCR. from Nil.); it is guarded by the Ajaikapād-Ahirbradhnaḥ and by Dhanada (i.e. Kubera). They went to Garuḍa's friend, the Rājarshi Yayāti Nahusha (of the Lunar race), in Pratiṣṭhāna, and told him the matter, and that Gālava, when he had paid off his debt, would devote himself to severe ascetic penances and give Yayāti a portion of his wealth of asceticism; "as many hairs as there are in a horse's body, so many regions of bliss are attained by him that gives away a horse" (V, 114). Yayāti, the performer of 1000 sacrifices, the liberal ruler of all the Kāçis, in view of the fact that they had come to him, passing over all the kings of the Solar race, not having the steeds, gave to Gālava his daughter Mādhavī, always praised by gods, men, and Asuras. Garuḍa went away to his own abode, and Gālava offered Mādhavī to king Haryaçva of Ikṣvāku's race at Ayodhyā, who was desirous of offspring (V, 115), on the condition that he gave as her dower the 800 steeds of the kind wanted. Haryaçva had but 200 steeds of this kind;
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he therefore got the maiden—who a brahman had been granted the boon that after each delivery she would be a maiden again—in order to beget only one son upon her, for his 200 steeds. This son was Vasumanas. Then Gālava offered her to king Divodāsa (V, 116), the Kāçi king, son of Bhimasena. The same arrangement was made as with Haryaçva. She bore him Pratardana (V, 117). Then Gālava came to king Uçīnara in the city of the Bhojas, with whom the same arrangement was made. To him she bore Çibi. Then Gālava took the maiden and went to see Garuḍa (V, 118). Garuḍa said that the remaining 200 steeds were unobtainable. For in days of old Reika sought at Kānyakubja Gādhi's daughter Satyavatī in marriage, and was requested by Gādhi to give 1000 steeds of this kind. Reika obtained them at Açvatīrtha, and gave them the king. Performing the sacrifice Puṇḍarīka, the king gave them away to the brahmans. The three kings had each purchased 200 of them from the brahmans, but the remaining 400, while being transported over the Vitastā, were taken by the river (so B.). Viçvāmitra, instead of obtaining the 200 steeds wanting, begot Aṣṭaka upon Mādhavī, and gave him the steeds; Aṣṭaka then went to a certain city (puram prayāt tadā Somapuraprabham) and Kauçika (i.e. Viçvāmitra) to the woods. Gālava dismissed Garuḍa, and returning the maiden to her father, he went into the woods (V, 119).
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Yayāti went to a hermitage on the confluence of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā, taking Mādhavī, Pūru, and Yadu with him, desirous of again disposing of his daughter in a svayaṃvara. There was assembled a vast concourse of N., Y., G., men, etc., and numerous Rṣis resembling Brahmān himself. Mādhavī selected the forest as her lord, practised tapas, and adopted a deer's mode of life (mṛgacāriṇī). King Yayāti died after having lived for many thousands of years. The progeny of Pūru and Yadu multiplied greatly. Yayāti, resembling a maharshi, enjoyed the highest bliss in heaven for many thousands of years. On one occasion, while seated among the Rājarshis and Maharshis, king Yayāti mentally disregarded all the gods and Rṣis and men. Indra at once read his heart; the dwellers of heaven did not longer know him, and he was soon divested of his splendour (V, 120). For continuation v. Yayāti (§ 566).