^fofPflS^191 R-^.
.\
%OS/CAL
St^'^\#
Secttoa
,
A3
V\
t)
I
V
THE MAHABHARATAOFKRISHNA-DWAIPAYANA VYASA
TRANSLATEDINTO
ENGLISH PROSE.
Published and Distributed chiefly gratis
BY
PROTAP CHANDRA ROY
ADI PAR
VA.
CALCUTTA
:
BHARATA
PRESS.
No. 367, Upper Chitpore Road,1884.(Theright of tmnslalionis
rmrvcd.)
TABLE
OF
CONTENTS.
Introductio7i.
PAGE.Sauti's arrival at the wooJs of Naimisha.
1
The
desire of the Rishis to hear the,
Mahabharata
2ib.
Invocation to Isana
The order
of creationtiie
3Bharata5to
Vyasa's desire to publish
The Graud-sire comes
him
Ganesa undertakes to write the BhS-rataSauti's praise of the Bharata,
6ib
Dhritarashtra's lamentationsSanja}a's consolations to Dhritarashtra.
1017
Sauti's eulogies on the study of the Bharata
19 21
The
history of
Samantapanchaka
Explanation of terms indicating the divisions of an
army
22
Parva Sangraha,
Summary
of the contents of the Eighteen
main Parvas
23
Pausya Parva.Curse on Janamejaya
45it
Measures adopted by him to evadeStory of the sage
ib ib
Dhaumya.
Story of AruniStory of
46,
Upamanyu
ib
Story of Veda
51ib
Story of Utanka
Story of Paushya
5359
Utanka's arrival at Janamejaya's court
His incitement of Jiuiamejaya against Takshaka
60
PaiUoma Parva.The Rishis waitfor
Saunaka
.
6061
Genealogy of the Bhargava raaeStory of Puloma..
,
.
62 64
Story of the birth of CbyavanaBhrigu'a curse on Agui^,
ib
11
CONTENTS,PAGE.
Hymn
to Agnl
b}*
Brahma.
.
*
History of
-Rtiru
.
.
68
Story of the
Dimduva
.
,
70
Astika Parva.Story of JaratkaruBirth of Astika.
,
*
7376
.
i
History of Kadru and Vinata
,
.
77
Ocean The wager between Kadru and VinataChurningof the
78
84ib
Kadru's curse on the snakes
Kadru andsee the
Vinata go to see Uchchaisravas,
and85
Ocean
.
.
.
Birth of Gadura
87
HymnWrath
to
Gaduraand the appointment of Aruna.
88 909295 96
of the Sun,
as his charioteer
.
.
Hymn
to Indra
by Kadru
Gadura's inquiry as to the cause of his bondage
Gadura Of Kasyapa and Gadura Story of the Elephant and the Tortoise Bad omens are seen by the gods and their preparationdevisee.
means
to bring the
Amrita
97 98102
for battle
Battle of the gods with Gadura
t
107109ib
Gadura takes Of Gadura and Vishnu
away
the
Amrita
The mutual grantobtaining the
of boons
.
110Gadura'sib
Conversation of Indra with Gadura and
name
of
Suparna
Indra steals the Amrita from the snakes
112ib
The
cleaving of their tonguesof the
.
Enumeration
names of the chief serpents,
113 114115116
Asceticism of Sesha
Sesha obtains boons from BrahmaConsultation of the snakes on the subject of their
mother'a curse
,
,
CONTENTS.
Ill
PAGE.
The snakes bring up JaratkaruParikshit's hunt.
*
I
120121124>e.friends
may
be had of the
same name with me, who-?e
would besides willingly give
ADIPARVA.her to
75"
me
in
marriage as a gift in charity, I shall take her hand,
according to
poor givenunion.
ritca. But who will give away his daughter to a man like myself? I shall accept, however, any daughter I shall endeavour, O sires, to compass a to me in alms,
I will
abide by
my"
word,
I v/ill raise offsjn-ing for
your
redemption, so that,
O
fathers, ascending tO' the celestial regions
ye
may
joy as ye
like.'
So ends the thirteenth SectionParva.
in the Astika of the
Adi
Section XIV.( Astika ParvcC contln,ucd'. )
Santi said,
"That Brahmana
of rigid vows then began to
search for a wife, but found he none.
One day he went
into the
forest, and recollecting the words of his ancestors, in a faint voice thrice begged for a bride. Thereupon rose before the Brahman-a^ Vasuki with his sister and offered for the former's acceptance
the hand of the
fair one.
But the Dwija hesitated
to accept
her, thinking her not of the self-same
name with'
himself.
Theo-f
great Jaratkaru thought within himself,
I will takev'ise
none save
one
who
is
my
namesake.'
Then the'
Jaratkaru
austere devotions asked the Snake,
tell
me
truly,
what
is
tlie
name"
of this thy sister Vreplied,
Vasuki
'O Jaratkaru, the name of this
my youngerthee
sister is
Jaratkaru. Pray, accept this slender- Avaisted one for thy
spouse.
Othis
best
of Dwijas,
it
was
to
unite her with
that I have brought her up.
Tlierefore
do thou take her!*to
Saying
he offered his beautifulrites.
sister
Jaratkaru
whoAdi
then espoused her with ordained
So ends the fourteenth SectionParva.
in the Astika of the
Section XV.( Aatika
Parva continued.
)
Sauti
said,
"O
foremost of the Brahm-(truth) knowing Rishis^serpents
the mother
of the
had cursed them
of old,
saying.
Y6'
MAHABHARATA.shall
Agni
burn ye
all
in the sacrifice of
Janamejaya
!'
It
was
to neutralise that cursehissister
that the chief of the serpents married
to
that high-souled and vow-observing Rishi.
The
Rishi having formally wedded her, begat in her the great Astika, who became an illustrious ascetic, profound in the Vedas and Vedangas, who regarded all with an even eye, and who removed
the fears of his parents."
Then
aft^r a long space of time, the king of the
Panda vaAfter
line celebrated a sacrifice
known
as the
Snake
sacrifice.
that sacrifice
intended for the extermination of the serpents hadreptiles,
commenced, the powerful Astika delivered thethera and uncles.
bis bro*
spring to himself.various
He delivered his fathers also by raising offAnd by his austerities, O Brahmana, and by;
vows and the study of the Vedas, he became freed from By sacrifices he propitiated the gods and by the his debts. aloption of the Brahmacharya mode of life he conciliated the
Bishis
and by bagetting offspring he gratified his ancestors. "Thus discharging his great debts, and having acquii'ed great;
merit, Jaratkaru
went
to
heaven with his ancestors, leavingstoryof Astika, which I
Astika behind. This is related as I heard it. Now,
the
have
tell
me,
O
powerful
one of the
BhriguParva.
race,
what more
I
am
to narrate."
So ends the
fifteenth
Section in the Astika of the Adi
Section XVI.( Astika
Parva continued.
)
Saunaka said, " O Sauti, relate in detail the history of the We are extremely curious to virtuous and learned Astika. hear it. O thou amiable one, thou speakest sweetly, and we arewell pleased with thy speech.
Thou speakest even
as thy father.
Thy
sire was ever ready to please us."it.
Now
tell
us the story as
thy father toldSauti said,
"
O
thou blest
Avith
length
of
days, I will
narrate the history of Astika as I heard it from my father. O Brahmana, in the Krita (golden) age Prajapati had two fair andvirtuous daughters
named Kadru and
Vinata,
The
sisters vvere
ADI PARVA.the wives of Kasj'apa.
77his virtuous wives,
Highly gratified with
Kasyapa, resembling Prajapati himself, was desirous of conferring on each of them a boon.their lordTlie ladies were all joy because was willing to confer on them choice blessings. Kadru said, I would be mother of a thousand snakes of equal vigor.' And Vinata wished to bring forth two sons surpassing'
the thousand offspring of Kadru in strength, energy, size of body, and bravery. And Kasyapa said, be it so/ to Vinata extremely'
desirous of having offspring.
And
having obtained her prayer,
she rejoiced greatly.prowess, she
And
having obtained two sons of slpendidfulfilled.
regarded her boonsons of
And Kadru'
also
obtained her thousandchildren'
equal
vigor.
Bear yourforest,
carefully said Kasyapa and went to the leaving his two wives gratified with his blessings. "
Sauti said, "
O
best
of Dwijas,
after a long time,
KadruFive
brought forth a thousand eggs, and Vinata two.servants deposited
Their maidvessels.
the eggs separately in
warm
hundred years passed away, and the thousand eggs produced by Kadru bui^st and out came the progeny. But the twins ofVinata did not appear.
And Vinata was jealous, andit
she broke
one of the eggs and found inthe egg
an embryo with the upper
part developed but the lower undeveloped.in
At
this,
the child
became angry and thus cursed
his
mother: 'Ofive
mother, since thou hast prematurely broken this egg, thoushalt even serve as a slave.years,
And shouldst thouchild
wait
thousand
and not destroy, by breaking thethe illustrious
otiierit,
egg throughit
impatience,
within
or renderif
half-
developed, he will deliver thee from slavery.
And
thou wouldsfcfor
have the child strong, thou must take tender care of the eggall
this time.'
And
thus cursing his mother the child roseis
to
the sky.
O
Brahmana, even he
the charioteer of the Sun,
always seen in the hour of moniing.
"Then
at the expiration of the five liundred years, bursting
open the other egg, out came Gadura, the serpent-eater.tiger of the
Othe
Bhrigu
race,
immediately on seeing thewings to seekof"all.
light,
son of Vinata
left his
mother, and the lord of birds feelingfor the food assigned
hungry mounted onto
his
him by the great ordainer
78
MAHABHARATA...
AndParva.
so eails the sixteenth Section iu the Astika of the AJi'
^^
Section XVII.( Astika
Parva continued.
)
Sauti said, " O ascetic, about this time the two sisters saw Uchchaisrava approaching near, that Uchchaisrava of complacent appearance who was worshipped by the gods, that best
of
steeds,
who
at
the
churning
of
the
Ocean
for
nectar"
arose, divine, graceful, perpetually
young, creation's masterpiece,
of irrisistible vigor, and'
blest with every auspicious mark.
Why did the gods churn the ocean for Saunaka asked, which occasion, nectar and under what circumstances (an best of steeds so powerful and resplenas you say, sprang thatdent) wasit
undertaken"
?"
Sauti said,pearance, and
There
is
a mountain
named
Mem of blazingThe
apraya
looking like aits
huge heap of effulgence.
of the sun falling on
peaks of golden lustre are dispersed bythat,
them.
Abounding with gold and of variegated tints, mountain is the haunt of the gods and the Gandharvas. immeasurable, and unapproachable by men of manifoldits breast,
It issins.
Dreadful beasts of prey inhabit
and
it
is
illuminated
with divine herbs of healing virtue.
It standeth kissing
the
heavens by
its
height and
is
the
fii-st
of mountains.it.
Ordinarygraced
people cannot so
much
as think of ascending
It is
with trees and streams and resoundeth with the charming melody Standing high for infinite ages, upon it once of winged choirs.all
the mighty celestials sat them
They came
in quest of observed the rules according to the ordinance. and
down and held a conclave. amrita, they who had practiced penancesSeeingconsultation,
said the celestial assembly in anxious Suras ( gods ) to Brahma, Do thou churn the Ocean with the By doing so, amrita shall be obtained and the Asuras.'
Narayana
together with
all
drugs and
all
gems."
O
ye gods, churn ye the
Ocean, and ye shall discover dmriia.' And so ends the seventeenth Section in the Astika of the
Adi Parva.
Section XVIII.( Ast'tka
Parva continued.
)
Sauti
said, "
There
is
a mountain ofIt
name Mandara adoraedis
with peaks like those of the clouds.
the best of mountains,
and
is
covered
all
over with intertwining herbs.
There no end
roam The gods, the Apsaras, and the Kinnaras visit the place. Upwards it riseth eleven thousand yojanas, and descendeth downwards as much. The gods failed to tear it up and they came to Vishnu and Brahma who were sitting, and said. devise you some efficient scheme. Consider, ye gods, how Mandara may be upraised for our good. "febout.'
of birds pour forth their melody, and there beasts of prey
"And Vishtui, with Brahma, assented to it, And the lotus-eyed one laid the hard task on the mighty Ananta, the prince of Snakes. And the mighty Ananta, directed thereto both by Brahma and Narayana,Sauti continued,!
O
son of Bhrigu
O
Brahmana,
upraised
that
mountain
with
tlie
woodsthe gods
thereon and with the dwellers of those woods.
And
came to the shore the Ocean saying,waters forit so,
of the
'
O
Ocean with Ananta, and addressed Ocean, we have come to churn thy'
obtaining nectar.I
And
the Ocean replied,I
'
be
as
am
to
have a share of the nectar,of
amsaid
able
to
bear the agitation
my
waters by the mountain.'tiie
Andto
the
gods went to the king of'
tortoises
and
him,
Tortoise-king, thou
shalt have to hold the
on thy back.'"
The
tortoise-king
agreed,
mountain and Indra placedtheir churn-
the mountain on the former's back by means of instruments.
And
the gods and the Asuras
made Mandara
ing staff and Vasuki the cord, and set about churning the mainfor
amrlta.tail.
The Asuras held Vasuki by the hood and the gods
by the
And Ananta who was
for
Narayana, at intervals raisedit.
the Snake's hood and suddenly loweredof the friction
And
in conserpience
he received at the hands of the gods and the Asuras, black vapours with flames issued out of his- mouth
which becoming clouds charged with lightning poured downshowers to refresh the tired gods.rain
And
blossoms beginning to
on
all
sides of the go
Is
from
the trees
on the whirling
Mandara,
also refreshed
them,
80"
MAHABHARATA,And,Brahraana, out of the deep then came a tremendous
roar, liketion.
unto the roar of the clouds at the
universal
dissolu-
Various aquatic animals were crushed by
the great
mountain, and gave up their being in the salt-waters.
And
manylarge
dsvellers
of the
lower regions and inhabitants of thekilled.
world of Varuna weretrees
Fix>m
the revolving Mandara,
were
torn
up by thewater.fire
roots,
and flying into thethe
air
like birds, they fell into the
And
mutual
friction
of the
trees
produced a
which surrounded the mountain.increased,
And
the mountain looked like a mass of dark clouds charged with
lightning.
O
Brahmana, the
fire
and burnt the
lions,
elephants and other creatures that were on the mountain.carcasses of no
AndThen
end of animals floated down the waters.fire
Indra extinguished that
by descending showers.
"0 Brahmana, after the churning had gone on for sometime, the gums of various trees and hei'bs mixed witli the watersof the
Ocean.
And
the celestials
attained
immortality
by
drinking of the Avaters mixed with those
gums
vested with the
properties of amrita, and with the liquid extract of gold.
By
degrees, the milky water of the agitated deep produced clarified
butter by virtue of therise
gums andsaid,
juices.
But nectar did notare spent,
even then.
And
the gods appeared before boon-granting'
Brahma, seated on his seat andnot strengthleft to
Sir,
we
we havearisen.
churn further.
Nectar hath not yet
So that now we have no resource save Narayana.'"Hearing them, Brahma said"
to
Narayana,
'
Lord, vouchsafe
to grant the gods strength to churn afresh the deep.'
And Narayana'
agreeing to grant their various prayers,
said,
wise ones, I grant ye sufficient strength.
Go, insert
the mountain and churn the waters.'
"Re-equipped with strength, the gods began the churningagain.
After a
while,
the
mild Moon of a thousand rays
emerged from the ocean. Thereafter, Lakshmi dressed in white, and wine, the white steed, and then the celestial gem Kaustuva which graces the breast of Narayana. Lakshmi, wine,
and the steed fleet as the mind, all came before the gods on high. Then arose the divine Dhanwantari himself with thewhitevessel
of nectar
in
his
hand.
And
seeing
him, the
ADI PARTA.Asiiras set
8Z'
up a louj
cry, saying,
"
Ye have taken
all,
l(e
musthugeon,
be
ours.'
"
Aud
at length rose the great elephant, Airavata, of
bod}'
ami with two pairs of white tusks.appeared, and
And himstill
took the
holder of the thuiider-bolt.so that poison at last
But the churningbegan
went
to overspread the
earth, blazing like as(\ent of
flame mixed with fumes.
And
at the
the fearful Kahikuta,
the three Avorlds were stupefied.form, solicited by Bralima,
And
then Mahadcva of the
Mantra
to save the creation swallowed thethroat.
poison amit'lat
heldis
it
in
hia
And(
it is sairl
that the god from)
time
called Nila'thing's,
hintha,
blue-throated.filled
Seeing
all
these
wondrousto
the Asuras were
with
despair,
and preparedhis
enter
into hostilities with the gods for the possession ofnectiir.
Thereupon Narayana
called
Lakshmi and bewitching Maya.
to his aid, and assuming a ravisliing female form, co pietted with
the Asuras.their reason
And"
the Daityas,
ravished
with her charms, lostin
and unanimously placed the nectarin the
the hands of
that
fair
woman.
So ends the eighteenth SectionParva,
Astika of the Adi
Section XIX.( Astika
Parva continued.
)
Sauticlass
said, Then the Daityas and the Danavas with first armours and various weapons pursued the gods. In the"
meantime the valiant liord Vidhnu accompanied by Nara took away the nectar in his hands from those mighty Danavas,
"And then
all
the tribes of the gods during thatit
time of
great fright drank the nectar receiving
from Vishnu.
And
while the gods were drinking that nectar after which they had 80 much hankered, a Danava named Rahu was drinkino^ it inthe nectar had only reached Rahu's throat, the Sun and the Moon (discovered him and)the guise of a god.
And whenthe
communicated thely
fact to
gods.
Ami Narayanahead
instant-
cut off
with his
discus
the
well-adorned
of
the
Dauavu who was drinking
the aectur without permission.
Audi
11
if
MAHAEHAHATA.
the linge head of the Danava cut off by the discus and resembling a mouutain-peak then rose to the sky and began And the Danava's headless trunk to utter dreadful cries.fallinfT
upon the ground and
rolling
thereon naade the
Earth
tremble with her mountains,
forests,
and
islands.
And from
that time ha4h arisen a long-standing quarrel between Rahu's head and the Sun and the Moon. And to this day it swalloweth
the
Sun and the Moon, (causing the
eclipses.)
ino'
And Narayana quitting his ravishing female form, and hurlmany terrible weapons at them, made the Danavas tremble.thus on the sliores of the sea of salt-water,
And
commenced the
dreadftjl battle of the gods
and the Asuras. And sharp-pointedweapons by thousands beganwith the discus and
javelins and lances and
various
to be disehai*ged on all sides.
And mangled
wounded with swords, saktis, and maces, the Asuras in large nnmbers vomitted blood and lay prostrate on the earth. Cut offfrom the trunks with sharp double edged swords, heads adorned with bright goldbodies drenchedItfell
continually on the field of battle. Theirthe great Asuras lay dead everywhere.all
in gore,
seemed
as
if
red-dyed mountain peaks lay scattered
around.
And when'
the sun rose in his splendour, thousands oftheir
warriors striking one another with
weapons, the sounds
'Alas!' andfiohtinEC
0h
' !
were heard everywhere.
The
warriors
at
a distance from one another broughtiron missiles,
one anotherclose quartersfilled
down by sharp
and those fighting atfist.
slew one another by blows of the
And
the air was
with shrieks offvounds, 'cutoff,'
distress.
Everywhere were heard the alarming
'pierce/ 'after,' 'hurl down,' 'advance.'
"And whenin the
the battle was raging fiercely,field.
yana entered the
And Narayanahis
seeing the heavenlyhis
hand of Nara, called todiscus.
mindlo!
Nara and Narabow own weapon the
Danava-destroying
And
the
discus,
Sudarshana,
destroyer of enemies,in battle,it
like to Agiii in effulgence,
and dreadful
came from the sky as soon as thought of. And when Aehyuta of fierce energy, of arms like the trunk of an came,tire,
elephant, hurled with great force the weapon, effulgent as flam-
ing
dreadful,
and of extraordinary
lustre,
and capable of
destroyidg
hostile towns.
And
that discus bla :ing like the fire
ADI PARVA.that burneth all things at the endof time, hurlel with
83force
from the handg of Narayana,
falling
constantly
everywhere
destroyed the Daityas and the Danavas by thousand,^. Sometimes it flamed like fire and consmued them all, eonietiioes it struck them down &s it coursed through the sky; and sometimes, falling on earth; like a goblin"it
drank their
life
blood.
And on
their &ide, the Danavas, white as the clouds from
which the rain hath been extracted, possessing great strength and bold hearts, ascended the sky and hurling down thousandsof mountains continually harassed the gods.
And
those dreadfulflat tops,
momitaina, like masses of clouds, with their trees andfalling
from the sky, collided with one another and produced aroar.
tremendous
And when
thousands of warriors shouted
without intermission on theforests trembled.
field of battlefall
and the mountains
with the woods thereon began to
around, the Earth with be?
Then the divine Nara coming to that dread* ful conflict of the Asuras and the Ganas (the followers of Rudra), reducing todu.st those rock-s by means of his goldheaded arrows covered the heavens with the dust.corafittcd
And
dis-
by the gods,heaven
and seeing the furious discus scourlike a blazing flame, the
ing the
fields of
mighty Dana-
vas entered the bowels of the Earth, while others plunged into
the sea of salt waters."
And having
gained the victory, the gods otTering due respecti
Mandara placed him on bis own base. And the nectar-bearing gods making the heavens resound with their shouts, v^^eut to And the gods returning to the heavens retheir own abotles.to
joiced greatly, and the vessel of nectar
ludra and the other"
gods made
over to
Nara
for careful
keep.
AndAdi
so
ends the nineteenth Section in the Astika of the
Parva.
Section XX.( Astikd Parvcb Gontinued. )Sautisaid
: ' Thus
have I recited to youot
all
about ho"r
amrita (nectar) was churned outoocfitsiou the
the Ocean, and on
whichiiiivm-
horse
Uchcbaiarava of great beauty and
84
MAHABHARATA.It
parable prowess was obtained.
was
this horse
seeing whona
Kadru asked
Vinata,of
'
Tell me, amiable sister, without takingis
much
time,
what coloro(
Uchchaisravais
?'
answered, 'that king
horaes
certainly white.is'
And Vinata What dostLet ue lay aagreeable
thou think,
sisterit.'
?
Say thou whathorse
its color.
wager uponsmiles,I
And Kadruthatthat
replied,is
Oin
thou ofits tail.
think
black
Beauteous
one, betslave.'
with
me
she
who
losetb
shall
be the other'aother aboutresolvedto
Sauti continued,
menial service as a slave, thesatisfy
"Thus wagering with each sisters went home
themselves by examiuing the horse the next day.
And
Kadru bent uponcover the horse'sslave.
practising a deception, ordered her thousand
eons to transform
themselves into black hair and speedilyinorder thatslie
tail
might notto
become a
But her sons
the snakes refusing
do her bidding,
ehe cursed them, saying, 'during the snake-sacrifice of thewise king Jauamejaya of the Pandava race,ye.'fire shall
consume
And
the
Grand-father (Brahma) himself heard this ex-
ceedingly cruel curse denouncedfates.
by Kadru impelled by thefor his
And
seeing
that
the
snakes bad multiplied exceed-
ingly, the Grand-father
moved by kind considerationall
creatures sanctioned
with
the
gods
tiiis
curse of Kadru.
Indeed, of flaming poison, great
prowess,
excess of strength,
and ever bent on biting other creatures, in consequence of such poison and for the good of all creatures the conduct of their mother towards those persecutors of all creatures was veryproper.
Fate always
inflicts
the punishment of death
on those
who
seek
the death of other creatures.
The gods having
exchanged such sentiments with each other then applauded
And Brahma calling Kasyapa to Kadru (and went away.) him spake uuto him these words: 'O thou pure one whoovercomestall
enemies,
these
snakes of flaming poison, of
huge
bodies,
and ever intent on biting other creatures, thatChild,
thou hast begot, have been cursed by their mother.not grieve forit
do
in the least.
The
destruction
of the snakesPuranas.'
in the sacrifice hath, indeed,
been indicated in the
paying
this,
the
divine
Creator of the
universe propitiated
ADIPARVA.the Prajapati (LorJof creation,
85
Kasyapa) and bestowed on
that illustrious one the knowledge of neutralising poiaous.
AndParva.
so ends the twentieth Section in the Astika of the
Adi
Section XXI.(Astika Parva cmitinued),Sauti said,"
Then when the night had passed away and the
sun had risen in the morning,the twosisters,
O thou
whose wealth
is
ascetism,
Kadru
and
Vinata,
having laid a wager
about slavery, with haste and impatience went to view the horse Uchchaisrava from a near ix)int. On their way they
saw Ocean, that receptacleed andin a
of
waters, vast and deep, agitatfull
tremendous
roar,
of
fishes
large
enough
to swallow the whale, and abounding with huge makaras and creatures of various forms by thousands, and rendered
inaccessible
by the presence of otherfierce
terrible,;
monster-shaped,also
dark, andtortoises
aquatic
animals
abounding
with
home
of
and crocodiles, the mine of all kinds of gems> the Varuna (the water-god), the excellent and beautifulNagas, the lordthefriend(or
residence of the
of rivers, the abode of the
subterraneantheterror
fire,
asylum)
of
the
Asuras,waters,
of
all
creatures,It
the grand reservoir ofis;
knowing noBacred,
deterioration.
holy,
beneficial to the gods,limits,
and the great mine of nectarand highly wonderful.creatures,
without
inconceivable,
Dark, terrible with the voicefullall
of aquaticwhirl-pools.
tremendously roaring, and
of
deep
It
is
an
object
of
terrorits
to
creatures.
Moved by the winds blowing fromwith agitation and disturbance,it
shores and heaving high
seems to dance everywhereits
with uplifted hands represented by
surges.
Full of heav-
ing billows caused by the Avaxing and waning of the moon, the
parent of (Vasudeva's great conch called) Panchajanya,, thegreat mine of gems,its
waters were formerly distitrbed in conwithin them
sequence of the agitation caused
by the LordIti
Goviuda (Vishnu)
of
immeasurable prowess when he assumed
the form of a wild-boar for raising the (submerged) Earth.
86bottomlower
MAHABHARATA.than thenether regionatlie
vow-observingfor)
Brahmavshi, Atri, could not fathom after (toilingyears.It
a hundred becomes the bed of the lotus-naveled Vishnu whenof every Yiij(t that deity of
at the
dawn
immeasurable powerItis
enjoys the deep sleep of spiritual meditation.of
the refuge
Mainaka under th^
fear of falling thunder,fierce
of the Asaras overcome in
encounters.fireis
and the retreat It offers water
as sacrificial butter to the blazing
emitted from the mouthfathomless and withoutrivers.
of
Vadava (the ocean-mare).
It
limits, vast
and immeasurable, the lord ofit
"And
they aawthat unto
rushed mighty rivers by thousands,
in pride of gait, like competitors in love, each eager for a meet-
ing forestalling the others.
And
they saw that
it
was alwaysit
full,
was and always dancing with the waves. And they saw that deep and abounding with fierce timls and makarois. And itroared constantly with the terrible sounds of aquatic creatures.
And
they saw that
it
was
vast,
and wide
as the
expanse of space,
unfathomable, and limitless, and the grand reservoir of waters."
And
80
ends tho twenty-first Section in the Astika of the
Adi Parva.Section XXII.( Astika*'
Parva continued. )
The Nagas
after a debate arrived at the conclusion thatif
they should do their mother's bidding, foring her desire she might burn themall
she failed in obtainaffection;
abandoning her
on the other hand
if
she were graciously inclined, the magnani-
mous one might
free
them from her
curse.
They
said,
'We
will
certainly render the horse's
tail black.*
And
it is
said that they
then went and became as hairs in the horse's tail, * In the meantime, the two co-wives had laid the wager.
And
having laid the wager,
O
excellent of Brahmanas, the twoof Daksha,
sisters,
Kadru and Vinata, the daughters
proceededocean.
in great delight along the sky
to the other side
of the
And
on their way they saw the Ocean, that receptacleof being^viud,
of waters,
incapable
easily disturbed, mightily agitated all
on a
sudden by the
and roaring tremendously,
Abounding with
ADI PAKYA,fishelendour."
And
thus
ends
the
twenty-third Section
the Astika of
the Adi Parva,
12
Section XXIY.(Astika Parva contimied,)Sauti"Siiid,
"Then having heardsaid,
about,
and beholding
his
own
body, that bird of beautiful feathers diminished his size,
And Gadura
'Lei no creature be afraid
;
and as ye
also are in a fright at sight of
mythat
terrible form, I will diminish
my
energy.'
Sauti
continued, "will,
Then
bird capable of going every-
where ataid
that ranger of the skies capable of calling to his
any measure of energy, bearing Aruna on his back wended from his father's home and arrived at his mother's side on the
other shore of the great ocean.
And"
he placed Aruna of greatthe
splendour in the eastern region,
when
Sun had resolved
to
burn the worlds with his
fierce rays.for did?
Saunaka
said,
"
What
the worshipful"
Sun
resolve atto
that time to burn the worlds by the gods which provoked
What wrong was done?1
him
his ire
Sauti said.
"0
thou sinless one
when Rahutlie
in the act of
drinking nectar was discovered to the gods by
Sun and the
Moon, the former from that time conceived an enmity towards And upon the Sun being sought to be devoured those deities. by that afflicter (Rahu), he became wroth, and thought, O'
this
enmity of Rahu towards
me
hath sprung from
my
desire of
benefitting the gods.
And
this sore evil I alone
have to sustain.
Indeed, at this pass help I obtain not.
Andmust
the dwellers of theit.
heavens seefore for the
me
about to be devoured and sufferI
destruction of the worldsto the
sit.'
And thereAnd with
thid"
resolution he went
mountains of the west.
And
from
that place
he began to scatter his heat around
for the destruction of the worlds.
And:
then the great Rishis' 1
Lo in the middle of approaching the gods spake unto them a great heat striking terror into every the night s[)ringethheart,
and destructive of the three'
worlds'.
And then
the
gods accompanied by the Rishis wended to the Grand-father, and said unto him, O what is this great heat to-day thatcauseth such panic?
The Sun hath
not
yet arisen,
still
the
ADI PARVA,destruction(oftlie
91
world)?'
is
obvious.
O
Lord,
wliat shall itreplied,'
be when he doth
arise
And
the Grand-father
In-
deed, the Sun is prepared to rise to-day for the destruction of the worlds. As soo-n as he appeareth he will burn everything By me hath been provided the remedy into a heap of asiies. beforehand. Tlie intcllij^ent son of Kysyapa is known to all
by the name of Aruna.splendour;
He
is
huge of body and of great
duties of charioteer andformer.Risliis,
he shall stay at the front of the Sun, doing the taking away all the energy of thetliis
And
will secure the welfare of the worlds, of thd
Andfather,
and of the dwellers of the heavens,'" Sauti continued, " And Aruna, ordered by the Granddidall
that he was ordered to do,
Atid
the Siin
rose
by Aruna's person. I have told thee all about why the in wrath, and how Aruna also was appointed as the Now hear of that other question propounded Sun's charioteer.veiled
Sun was
by thee a
little
while ago.
"
And
so ends the twenty fourth vSection in the Astika cf the
Adi Parva.
Section(
XXV,continued, j
Adlkd Parva
Sauti said,
"
Then that bird of great strength and energywill into
and capable of going atthither
every place repaired
to
hia
mother's side on the other shore of the great ocean.
For
was Vinatao-f
in
affliction,
defeated in wager and putafter,
into a stateoccasion,
slavery.
And sometime
on a certain
Kadru
calling Vinata
who had
prostrated herself
to the former, addressed her these words in the presence of her
san:
*0
gentle Vinata, there
is
in the
midst of the ocean, in
a remote quarter, a delightful and fair region inhabited by the Nagas, Bear me thither.' And then the mother of that birdof fair feathers bore (on her back or shoulders) the
mother of
the snakes.carried
And Gadurathe
alsa,
directed
by
his mother's v/ords,
(on his back)
snakes.to ascend
And
that
ranger of the
skies born of Vinata
began
towards the FJun.
And
thereupon the snakes, scorched by the rays of the Sun, swoou-
92 ed away.
MAHABHAEATA.And Kadru'I
seeing her sons into thee,
that stateall
adored:
Indra, saying,I
bow
thou lord of!
the deities
bow
to thee,
thou slayer of (the Asura) Vala
I
bow
to thee,
thou slayer of Namuchi,
O
thou of thousand eyes, thou lord of
BhacJd
!
By
thy showers, be thou the protector of the snakes!
scorched by the Sun
our great protectionclouds, thou art
1
O O!
thou best of the
deities,
thou art
thou Purandara, thou art able toart
grant rain in torrentsfire,
Thou
Vayu
(the
air),
thou art the!
and thou art the lightning of the skies
Thou
art the
propeller of the clouds,{i. e.
and thou hast been
called the great cloud
that which will darken the universe!
during the end of the Yuga)the creator of the
Thou
art the fierce
and incom!
parable thunder, and thou art the roaring cloudsworlds and theirart thelij,^ht
destroyer
!
Thou Thou
art art
imconquered
!
Thou
of all creatures,
thou art
Aditya, thou art
Vibhavasu, thou art the highest knowledge,!
Thou art thou art wonderful, thou art the greatest being Thou art the best of the wonderful and thou art a King!
deities
Thou
art
Vishnuart
!
Thou hast thousandthefinal
eyes,
thouart,
art
a god,
and thouart the
resource
!
Thou
O
deity, all!
amrita, and
thou
art
the most adored
Soma
(juice)
Thoulava(
moment, thou),
art the lunar daj*, thou
art the
minute
thou art the kshana (4 minutes).full
Thou
art
the fortnight of the!
moon and thethe
fortnight
of the
new moon
Thou
art the kala, thouall
kashtha,
andart
thou the Tvid'i. thou the days
(These are
divisions of time.)
Thou
the year, thou the seasons, thou the months, thou!
the nights,
andthe
forests
Sun
!
Thou art the fair Earth with her mountains Thou art also the firmament resplendent with Thou art the great Ocean with heaving billows!!
and abounding with timis, swallowers of thnis, tnakaras, Thou art of great renown, always adored and various fishes and by the great Rishis with minds rapt in by the wise, Thou drinkest, for the good of creatures, contemplation!
the
Soma
juice in sacrifices andof a
the clarified
butter offeredAvorfruit.
with Vashats (mantras
shippcd
ill
sacrifices
Thou art always by Brahmanas moved by desire ofkind).
Q
thou incomparable mass of strength, thou art sung
in
the
ADI FARVA.I
93
Vedmigas It is for that reason that the learned Brahmanas bent upon pertbnning sacrifices study the Vedangas witheverycare.'
And
so ends the twenty-fifth Section in the Astika of the
Adi Parva.
Section XXVI.( Astika
Parvd continued.
)
Sauti continued,
"Andfor
then the illustrious one havingbearer,
the
best
of horses
his
covered the entire firmament
thus adored by Kadru, with masses of blue cloudsi
Anding,
he commanded the clouds, saying, 'pour ye your vivifyiag'
And those clouds luminous with lightand incessantly roaring against each other in the welkin, poured abundant water. And the sky looked as if the end ofand blessed drops.the
consequence of those wonderful and terribly-roaring clouds that were incessantly begetting vastin
Yuga had come,
quantities of water.
And
in consequence of myriads of
waves
caused in the falling torrents, the deep roar of the clouds, theflashes of lightning, the violence of the wind,
and the general
agitation, the sky looked as
if
dancing in madness.
the sky became dark, the rays of the sun and the
And tlien moon totally
disappeaing in consequence of thethose clouds.
incessant
downpour by
" And upon Indra's causing that downpour, the Nagas became exceedingly delighted. And the Earth whs filled with
water
all
nether regions.
over the
And the cool clear water reached even the And there were countless watery waves all Earth. And the snakes with their mother reachedaround.
(in safety) the island called
Ramaniaka.
And
so ends the twenty-sixth Section in the Astika of the
Adi Parva.
Section XXVII.('
Aatika Parva continued.
)
Sauti
said,
''And then the Nagaa wetted with the showerghid.
became exceedinglyfeathers,
And
borne by
that
bird
of fair
they soon arrived at the island.
And
that ishiud
had been appointed by the creator of the universe as the abode of the makaras. They had seen in that island ou a former occasion the fierce Asnra of the name of Luvana.
And
arrived
there
with Gadiira,
they saw there a beautiful
forest,
washed by the watersaround with variousmansions
of the sea
and resounding withof
(the music of) wingedtreesall
choirs.
Andfruits;
there were clusters
and flowers.
And
there
were
ing with lotuses.
all around and many tanks aboundAnd it was also adorned with many fair lakes of pure water. And it was refreshed with pure incensebreathing breezes. And it was adorned with many a tree
also fair
hills of Malaya (sandal wood) which seemed by Its tall ness to reach the very heavens, and which shaken by the breeze dropped showers of flowers. And there were also various other trees whose flowers were scattered all
that grows only on the
around by the breeze.
And
it
seemed asthat forest
if
these bathed
the
Nagaa
arrived
there withflowers.
showers of rain represented by
their dropping
And
was charming and
dear to the
Gandharvas' and always
gave them pleasure.
And it was full of bees mad with the honey they sucked. And the sight of its appearance was exceedingly delightful. And in consequence of many things there capable of charming everybody, that forest was fair, delightful, and holy. Andechoing with the notes of variousthe sons of Kadru.birds, it delighted
greatly
"And
then the snakes having arrived at that forest began
to enjoy themselves.
And
they
commanded'
the lord
of birds,fair
Gadura, of great energy, saying,island
convey us to some otherof theskies,
with
pure
water.fair
Thou rangerregions in
thou
must have seen manyair.)'
thy course (through the
And Gadura,
after reflecting for a few
moments, asked.
,
ADI PARYA,
95
mother Yinata, why, mother, am I to do the hidding of the snakes V And Vinata thus questioned by him thus spake unto that ranger of the skies, her son, invested with every virtue, of great energy, and great strength.his
'O ihou best of birds, I have become, from misfortune, the slave of her who hath the same husband with me. The snakes by an act of deception caused me to lose my And when liis mother had told bet and have made me so."Vinatasaid,'
bim thewhat
reason, that ranger of'
tlie skies,
dejected with
grief,
addressed the snakes, saying,thing,
Tell me, ye snakes,
by bringing
or
gaining a knowledge of Avhat thing, or doing
what
act of prowess,ye.'
we may be
freed from this state of bond-
age to
Sauti
continued,"
"Andforce.
the
snakes hearing him
said.
'Bring thou amrita byfreed from bondage.'
Then.
O
bird,
shalt
thou be
And
so
ends
the twenty-seventh Section in the Astika of
the Adj Parva.
Section XXVIII.( Astika
Parva continued.
)
Sauti!aid
said,
"
Gadura, thus addressed by'
tlie
snakes, thenI
unto his mother.
I shall
goto
to
bring amrita.
desire:
to
eat something.
Direct
me
it.'
And Vinataocean,
replied
'In a remote
region in the midst
of the
the Nishadas
have their
fair
home.
H avingof a
eaten the thousand Nishadas
that live there, bringever set
thou amrita.life
But
let
not thy heart be
on taking the
Brahmana.is,
A
Brahmanafire.
of
all
creatures must not be
slain.
He
indeed, like
A
Brah-
mana when angry becomesedged weapon.ofall
like fire or the
Sun, like poison or an
A
creatures.
For
Brahmana, it hath been said, is the master thei^e and other reasons, a Brahmana ischild,
the adored of the virtuous.
he
is
never
to
be slain by
thee even in anger.
Hostility
with the Brahmanas, therefore,
would not be proper under any circunii^tances.
O
thou sinless
one, neither Agni nor the Sun truly consuineth so as doth a Brahmana of rigid vows when angry. By these vai ious iudica-
9Gtionsis
MAHAT^HARATA.must thou knowfirst-born
a good
Brahmana,theall.'
Indeed, a
Brahmanathefour
the
of
all
ereatnres,
foremost of
orders, the father"
and the master ofthen asked,'
And Gadura
mother, of what form?
is
a
shineit
Brahmana, of what behaviour, and of what prowess like fire, or is he of tranquil mien ? And,behoveth thee totell
Doth hemother,
O
my
inquirin^
self,
assigning reasons,
those auspicious signs by which I*'
may'
recognise a
Brahmana
!'
And Vinataas a ballwill
know
replied, saying, O child, him shouldst thou amongst Brihmanas who having entered thy
throat
torture thee as a fish-hook or burn thee as flaming
charcoal.anger.' him.
A Brahmana'
must never be
slain
by thee evenson againa good"
in
And Vinata from affection for her these words: Him shouldst thou know asshall not be
told
Brahm-
ana whoshe
digested
in thy stomach.
from parental affection, rniterated those words.
And Vinata, And although
knew the incomparable strength of her son, she yet blessed him heartily, for deceived by the snakes she was very muchafflicted
by woe.
And
she said,
'
Let Maruta (the god of the
winds) protect thy wings, and the Sun and the Moon thy vertebral regions; let Agni protect they head, and the Vasus thy
whole bodyshallsit
!
I also,
O
child,
engaged
in beneficial ceremonies,
here
to
give thee prosperity.
Go
then,
O
child, in
safety to accomplish thy purpose.
Sauti continued,
"
Then Gadura, having heard the wordshis
of his mother, stretched
wings and ascended the
skies.
And endued withshadas,
great strength, he soon camelike
upon the Nibent upon
hungry and
to
another Yama.
And
slaying the Nishadas, he then raised a great quantity of dusb
that overs{)read the firmament and sucking up water from
amid
the ocean, shook the trees growing on the adjacent mountains. And then the lord of birds obstructed the principal thoroughfare of the
Nishadas by
his
mouth having increasedfly in
its
cleft
at
will.
And
the Nishadas begaa to
great haste in
the direction
of the open
mouth of the great serpent-eater.by thousands into theshaken by the wind, so
Andskies
as birds in great affliction ascend
when the
trees of the forest are
those Nishadas blinded by the dust raised by the storm entered
ADIPARVA.the
i)7
wule-extending
cleft
of Gadura's moutli open to receiveall
them.
And
then the hungry lord of
rangers of the skies,
the oppressor of enemies, endued
with great strength, and
moving with the greatest
activity to achieve his end, closed his
mouth
killing
innumerable Nishadas following the occupatioa
of fishermen."
And
so ends the twenty-eighth Section in the
Astikaof the
Adi Parva.Section XXIX.( Astllrt
Parva continued.certain
)his wife
Sauti
continued,
''
A
Brahmana with
had
entered the throat of that ranger of the skies.
And
the former
thereupon began to burn the bird's throat like flaming charcoal.
And him Gaduraanas,
addressed,
saying,
'
O
thou best of Brahm-
come out soon from my mouth which I open for thee. Brahmana must never be slain by me although he may be always engaged in sinful practices.' And to Gadura who had let this woman of thus addressed him, that Brahmana said, the Nishada caste who is my wife come out with me !' And
A
'
Gadura
said,
'Taking the
woman
also of the
Nishada caste with
Save thyself without delay inasmuch aa thee, come out soon. " thou hast not yet been digested by the heat of my stomach.'Sauti continued,'*
And
then that Brahmana accompaniedout,
by
his
wife
of
the
Nishada caste came
and eulogising
Gadura wended whithersoever he liked. And upon that Brahmana coming out with his wife, that lord of birds, fleet as themind, stretching his wings ascended the skies.
And he then
saw
his
father
;
and hailed by him, Gadura of incomparable
prowess made proper answers.then asked him,sufficient food'
And
the great Rishi (Kasyapa)?
O?
child,?
is it
well with thee
Dost thou
getj
every day
Is there food in
plenty for thee in
the world of
men
"And Gadura
replied,
'
My
mother
is
ever well.
AndI
so
my
brother, and sofor to
am Lwhich
But, father, I do not always obtain
plenty of food
my
peace
is
incomplete.
am
sent
by the snakes
fetch the
excellent
amrUa13
(Soma).
And,
^^ill
MAHAEHARATA,to-day for emancipating
Jeeil, I shall fetch it
my
mother from
her l^oudage.
My
mother had commanded me, saying,
I
Etit
thou the Nishadas. I have eaten them by thousands but my hunger is not appeased. Therefore, O worshipful one, pointout to
me some
other food, by eating which,
O
master,
may
be strong enough to bring away amrita by force. Thou shouldst indicate some food wherewith I may appease my hunger andthirst.
"
And Kasyapa
replied,
'
This lake thou seest
is
very sacred.
It hath been heard of even in the heavens,
Tiiere an elephant
with face downwards doth continually drag a tortoise his elderbrother,I shall
speak to you in detail of
tiieir
hostility in
formerlife.
life.
I will tell
you
in full
of their
enmity in another
Hear from me the"
truth,
in proof
whereof are they both
(in this place.)
'There was of old a great Rishi of the
name
of Vibha-
vasu.
He wasname
exceedingly wratiiful.
He
had a younger brotherascetic.
of the
of Supritika
who
also
was a great
And
the great sage Supritika was averse to keep his wealth joint with his brother's. And Supritika would always speak of partition.
After a certain time his brother Vibhavasu told Supri-
tika,
It
is
of wealth always desire to
from great foolishness that persons blinded by love make a partition of their patrimony.with each other. Thencause an
And
after effecting a partition they fight
again, enemies in the guise
of friends
estrangement
between ignorant and selfish men after they become separated and pointing out faults confii-m their quarrels in their wealth And downright ruin very so that they soon fall one by one. For these reasons, the wise, separated. soon overtakes the;
never speak well of partition amongst brothers who when divided regard not the most authoritative Shastras and are
always in fear of each other.regardingwishest to
But
as thou
Supritika,
without
my
advice, impelled by desire of separation
always
make an arrangement about your:
property, thou
must become an elephant. And Supritika, thus cursed, then Thou also must become a tortoise spake unto Vibhavasu
moving"
in the interior of the waters.
Aud
thus on account of wealth those two
fools,
Supritika
ADI PARVA,
99^
and Vibhavagu, from each other's curse, have become an elephant and a tortoise, Owinor to their wrath, they have both
become
inferior animals.
And And
they are
engaged in
hostilities
with each other, proud of their excessive strength and theweight of their bodies.in
this
lake
those two of hugehostility.
bodies are engaged in acts according to their former
Theis
other amongst them, the handsome elephant of huge body,
even
how
approaching.
And
hearing his roar, the tortoise also
of huge body, living witliin the waters,
cometh out agitatingthe elephant, with
the lake exceedingly.
And
seeing him,
trunk in a
curl,
goeth
into the water.
And endued
with great
energy, with motion of his tusks,tail,
of fore-part
of his trunk, of
and of
feet,
he agitates the waters of the lake abounding with
fishes.
And
the tortoise also offor
much
strength, with upraised
head, cometh forwardsix
an encounter.
And
the elephant
is
yojctnas in height and twice that measure in circumference.
Andin
circumference ten.
also is three yojanas and his Eat thou both of them, madly engaged the encounter and bent upon slaying each other, and accom-
the height of the tortoise
plish this business that thou desirest.
Eating that
fierce
ele=
phant,
looking
like a
huge mountain and resembling a mass of"
dark clouds, bring thou amrita.'Sauti continued,
"And having'
said
so unto
Gadura,
he
(Kasyapa) blessed him then.
Blest be
thou when thou artfilled
engaged with the gods
in
combat. Let pots
to
the brim,there are,
Brahmanas, kine, and what other auspicious objectsbless thee,
And O thou of great engaged with the gods in combat, let strength, the Richas, the Yajus, the Samas, the sacred sacrificial butter, all the mysteries (of the Vedas), and all the Vedas, be thythou oviparous one.art
O
when thou
strength."
And Gadura,
thus addressed by his father, wended to the
side of that lake.
And
he saw that expanse of clear waterall
with birds of various kinds
around.
And remembering
the
words
of his father, that ranger of the skies possessed of great
swiftness of motion seized thein each claw.
elephant and the tortoise, onetheair.
And
that bird then soared high into
And he came upon
a sacred
place
called
Alamixi and saw
100
MAHABHARATA.divine trees.
many
Andbegan
struck by the wind raised by histo
wings, those trees
shake with
fear.
And
those di-
vine trees growing on golden summits feared that theybreak.
would
And
the ranger of the skies seeing that those trees
capable of granting every wish were quaking with fear, went to other trees of incomparable appearance. And those gigantictrees were adorned with fruits of gold
and
silver
and branchesinto
of precious gems.sea.
And
they were washed with the waters of the
And
there was a large banian
among them grown:'
gigantic proportions, that then spoke unto that lord of birds while
coursing towards
it fleet
as
the mind
Sit thou on this large
branch of mine extending a hundred yojanas and eat thou theelephant and the tortoise.'
And when
that best of birds of great
swiftness, and of body resembling a mountain, quickly alighted, that banian, the resort of thousands of birds, shook and that
branch also
full of
leaves broke.
"
AndAdi
so ends the
twenty-ninth Section in the Astika of the
Parva.
Section( Astika
XXX.)
Parva continued.of
Sauti
said, "
The moment the armmight with
the tree was touched
by Gadurabroke,it
of great
his feet, it
broke.
And
as
it
was supported by Gadura. And as he cast his eyes around in wonder after having broken tliat gigantic branch, he saw that a tribe of Rishis called Valakhilyas were suspended And having seen those therefrom with heads downwards.Brahmarshis engagedin ascetic practices'
suspended therefrom,that
Gadurafromit;
said unto
himself,
Indeed, there are Rishis suspended'
I will not kill them.
And
reflecting thatslain,
if
branch
fell
down, the Rishis would be
the mighty one
held by his claws the elej)hant and the tortoise yet more firmly.
Andon
the king of birds,
from fear of slaying the Rishis and
desirous of saving them, held that branch in his beaks and rosehis wings.
And
great Ritihis seeing that act
of his
which
WJ^s
beyond even the power of the gods,
their hearts
wonder, gave that mighty bird a name.
And thpy
moved by eaid, Aa'
ADI PARVA.this ranger of the skiesrises
101
oa
its
wings bearing a heavy
burden, thereforehis food be called"
let this
foremost of bir Js having snakes for
And
Gadivra (bearer of heavy weight.)' slinking the mountains by his wings, Gadura
leisurely
coursed through the skies.
And
as he soared with the elephant
and theneath.
tortoise (in his claws), he beheld various regions under-
And
desiring as he did to save the Valakhilyas,sit.
he saw
not a spot whereon to
And
at
last
he wended to the
foremost of mountains called
Gandhamadana.in
And
he saw
there his father Kasyapa engaged
ascetic devotions.
Andand
Kasyapa
also
saw
his son
that ranger
of the
skies,
of divine
form, possessed of great splendour, energy, and strength,
endued with the speed of the windmountain peak, a ready smiterinconceivable, indescribable, frightful
or the mind, huge as a
like the curse of a
Brahmaua,endued
to
all
creatures,
with great prowess, terrible, of the splendour of Agni himself,
and incapable of being overcome by theinvincible Rakshasas, capable
deities,
Danavas, and
of splitting
mountain summits
and of sucking the ocean itself and of destroying the worlds, And then the illusfierce, and looking like Yama himself. trious Kasyapa seeing him approach and knowing also hismotive, spake unto"
him these words.'
And Kasyapa
said,
child, don't
then thou wouldst have to suffer pain."
commit a rash act, for The Valakhilyas, supif
porting themselves by drinking the rays of the Sun, might, angry, consume thee.'
Sauti continued, "
And Kasyapa
then propitiated,
for
the
sake of his son, the Valakhilyas of exceeding good
fortune
and whose sins had been destroyed by ascetic penances. And Kasyapa said, Ye whose wealth is asceticism, the essay of Gadura is for the good of all creatures. The task is great that'
he
is
striving to?
accomplish."'
It
behoveth ye to accord him
your permission
The Munis thus addressed by the illustrious Kasyapa abandoned that branch and wended to the sacred mountain of Himavata for purposes of ascetic penances.Sauti continued,"
And upon
those Rishis going away, the son of Vinata, with voice
obstructed by the branch in his beaks, asked his father Kasyapa,
102'
MAHABHARATA.thou illustrious one, where?
am
I to
throw
tliis
armis
of the
tree
Illustrious one, indicate to
me some
region that
with-
out
human beings.' And then Kasyapa spoke of a mountain without human beings, with caves and dales always coveredwith snow and incapable of ^approach by ordinary creatureseven in thouf^ht.
And
the
great bird bearing that branch,
the elephant, and the tortoise, then proceeded with great speed
towards that mountain of broad waist.of the tree with which that bird of
Andof
the great
arm
huge body flew away coulda hundred (cow)flew
not be girt round with a cord madehides.
And
Gadura, the lord of birds, then
away
for
hundred thousands of yojanas within the shortest time.tain
Andfall
going according to the directions of his father to that mounalmost in a moment, the ranger of the skieslet
the gigantic branch.
And
it
fell
with a great noise.
And
that king of rocks shook, struck with the storm raiseddura's wings.
by Ga-
And
the trees thereon dropped showers of flowers.
Andfell
the
cliffs
of that
mountain decked with gems and golditself,
and adorning that great mountain
were loosened andflowers
down on all sides. And numerous trees which with
the
falling
branch struck down
their golden
amid their
dark foliage shone there like clouds charged with lightning.
And
those trees, bright as gold, falling
down upon the groundif
and becoming dyed with mountain metals, shone aswere bathed in the rays of the sun."
they
And
the best of birds, Gadura, perching on
the summittortoise.
of that mountain then ate both the elephant and the
And
he the son of Tarkhya, endued with great speed, having
eat of the tortoise and the elephant, then rose on his
wingS
from the top of the mountain summit."
And
various
omens began
to appear
among
the gods fore-
boding
fear.
Indra's favorite thunder-bolt blazed
up
in a fright.
And meteorsshot
with flames and smoke, loosened from the welkin,theday.
down during
And
the respective weapons of
the Vasus, the Rudras, the Adityas, of all of them, of the Sadhyas, the Marutas, and of all the other tribes of the gods,
began
to
spend their force against each other.
And such
things had never happened even in the war of the gods and the
ADI FARVA.Asiiras.
103with thunder, and
And
the winds blew accompanied
And the sk}^ meteors fell by And even cloudless, roared tremendously. dropped showers of blood. And god of gods,thousands.
although
it
Avas
he who was thethe lustre of the
flowery garlands on the necks of the gods was dimned. And And terrible masses of their prowess suffered a diminution.
clouds dropped thick showers
of blood.
And
the
dust raisedcoronets of
by the winds darkenedthe gods.
tlie
splendour of the verysacrifices
And
he of a thousand
(Indra),
with the
other gods, perplexed with fear at sight of these dark disasters,
spake unto Vrihaspati thus
'
:
Why,?
worshipful one, have
these dark disasters suddenly arisen
No
foe
do I behold who'
would oppress us
in war.
'
And
Vrihaspati answered,it is
O
thou
chief of the gods, thou of a thousand sacrifices,fault
from thy
and carelessness, and owing
also to the ascetic
penances ofson
of the high-souled great Rishis, the Valukhilyas,
that the
of Kasyapa and Vinata, a ranger of the skies endued with great strength and possessing the capacity to assume at will
any form,
is
approaching to take away the Soma.
Andto
that
bird, foremost
among
all
endued with strength,is
is
able
rob:
ye of the Soma.
Every thing
possible,
I
ween, in him
the un-achievable he can achieve.'Sauti continued,
"
"And
Indra having heard these wordsthe
then spoke unto those that guardedtaking away the amrita.
amrita
:
'
Ahe
bird
endued with great strength and energy hasI
set his
mind on
warn ye beforehandforce.
so that
maytold
not succeed in taking
it is
away by
Vrihaspati has
meof
that his strengthit
immeasurable.'
And
the gods hearing
were amazed
and took precautions.with tbem.
And
they stood
surrounding the amrita, and Indra also of great prowess, theAvielder of the thunder, stood
Andand
the gods woreset with
curious breastplates of gold,
of great value
gems,the
and bright
leathern
armour of great toughness.
And
mightyof
deities wielded various siiarp-edged
weapons of terrible
shapes, countless in number, emitting, even all of them, sparksfire
mixed with smoke.
And
they were also armed with
many
a discus and iron mace furnished with spikes, and trident,
and battle-axe, various kinds of sharp-pointed short missiles
104 and polished swords
MAHABHATIATA.raid
maces of
terrible forma,
all
befitting
their respective bodies.
And decked
with celestial ornaments
and resplendent with those bright arms, the gods waited there,theirfeai-s
allayed.
And
the gods, of incomparable strength,
energy, and splendour, resolved to protect the amrita, capableof splitting the towns of the Asnras,inall
displayed
themselves
forms resplendent as the
fire.
there, that [would be] battle-field,
Thus the gods having stood in consequence of hundredlike " the rays of the sun.
thousands of niaces furnished
with iron
spikes,
shone
another suddenly arrived sky illumined by
And
so
ends
tiie
thirteeth
Section in the Astika of the
Adi Parva.
Section XXXI.( Af^tlhi
Parva contimied.
)fault,
Saunaka
said,
''
O
Son of Suta, what was ludra's?
what
his act of carelessness
How
was Gadura born?
in conse-
quence of the ascetic penances of the Valakhilyas
had Kasyapa
a Brainnana the king ofall
birds for his
Why also son Why?
too was he invincible of
creatures
and un-slayable of
all ?
Why
also
was that ranger of the skies capable of going intoany measure ofPurana, I should like
every place at will and of mustering at will
energyto hear
?
If these are described in the!"
them
Sauti said,of the Purana.all!
"
What
thou askest
me
is,
indeed, the
subjectrecite it
twice-born one, listen as I briefly
"
Once upon a time, wlien the Prajapati, Kasyapa, wasin a sacrifice from desire of offspring, the
engaged
Rishis,
the
gods, and the Gandiiarvas, gave him
help.
Andwood;
Indra was
appointed by Kasjapa to bring the
saerificial
and withdeities.
him
those ascetics
the Vahikhilyas,
and
all
the other
And
the lord Indra taking
up according
to hisit
own strength a
weight that was mountain-like, brought
without any fatigue.
And
he saw on the way some Pashis, of bodies of the measure
of the tiiumb, together carrying one single stalk of the
Palashaof food,
(Butea frondosa)
leaf.
And
those Rishis were, from
want
ADI PAHVA.very lean-fleshed asif
105
merged
into their OAvn bodies.afflicted
And
they
were so weak that they werehoof of a cow.
much
when sunk
in the
water that collected in an indentation on the road caused by the
And
Purandara, proud of his strength, beheld
them with surprise, and laughing at them in derision soon left them behind, insulting them besides by passing over theirheads.sorrow.
And those Rishis were at tlus possessed with rage and And they made preparations for a great act at Avhich
terrified. Hear thou, O Saunaka, of the wish for (he accomplishment of which those vow-observing, wise, and excellent
Indra was
ascetics
poured
clarified!'
butter on
ioudly uttered mantras
the sacrificial fire with There shall be another Indra of all
the gods, capable of going everywhere at will and of mustering at will any measure of energy, imparting fear unto the (present) king of the gods. By the fruit of our ascetic penances,?et
one
arise,
and strength,
an hundred times greater than Indra in coura^-e fleet as the mind, and fierce v/ithal.' And thesacrifices, iiaving
king of the gods, he of a hundred
come
to
know
of this,
became very much alarmed and sought the provow-observing Kasyapa.
tection
of the
And
the Prajapati,
Kasyapa, hearing everything from Indra went to the Valakhilyas and asked them if their act had been successful. Andthose truth-speaking Rishis replied to him, saying, 'Letit
be aa
thou say est.spake
'
Andthembeen
the Prajapati, Kasyapa,asfollows:
pacifying them,of Brahma,
unto
'
By the wordofto
this one hathascetics,
made
the
lord
the
three worlds.
Ye\
ye also have been striving
create
another Indra
Ye excellent ones, it behove th ye not to falsify the word of Let not also this purpose for (accomplishing) which Brahma!
5'e
are striving be rendered futile.
Let there
sjiring
an Indra
(Lord) of winged creatures, endued
with excess of strened body became And Gadura was vested with the tlie Sun.
lordship of the VnwU.
O
thou of the race of Bhrigu, hearken
nowAdi
to the
mighty achievement of Gadura!"thirty-first
And
so eudp. the
Section
in the
Astika of the
P:\rva.
Section( Astlka
XXXIE)
Parva continued.
Sauti said,
"O
thou
foremost of Brahnianas,for
upon the
gods having stood prepared
war
in
that
vmy, Gadura the
king of birds soon came upon those wise ones. gods beholding him of excessive strength began withfear,
Andto
the
quake
and strike one another witharchitect), of
all their
weapons.
And(tlic
amongst those that guarded the Skoma was Bhav.manacelestial
measureless might,
effulgent
as
the
electric fire,
ter of
and of great energy. And after a terrific encounonly a moment, mangled by the lord"^ of birds with and wings, he lay as dead on thehisfield.
his talons, beak,
And
that ranger of the skies darkening the worldsraisedtials
by the hurricane ofit.
by the dust wings, overwhelmed' the celesoverwhelmed by thatdusfc
And swooned away. Andwith
the
cclei^tialalo,
the
immortals
who
guarded the
amrita, blinded by that dust, could not sec Gadura
Gadura mangled the gods thusand beaks.
thus agitated
the region of thev/ith the
hciivens.
And And ha!
wounds
iniiict^d by,
his
wings
"Andsoon.
then the god of
thousand eyes commanded Vayuthou this shower of dust
(the god of wind); saying, 'dispell
O
Maruta, this
is,
indeed, thy
mighty Vayu soon dispelled thatness had disappeared, theas he of great
dust.
celestials
And then the And when the darkattacked Gadura, Andv/ork!'
might was attacked by theFit^ft,
gods, he
began toat
roar loudly, like the great cloud that' appeareth in the, sky
the end of the
fi-ightening every
creatm-e
And
that
king of birdsthe heads of
of
great energy and slayer of hostile heroes,
then rose on his
v.'ings.
And himall
sta^nng in
the skies overcelcstialb)
the gods,
the
wise ones (the
with Indra amongst them
covcrad
with double-edged
broad-
swords, iron-maces furnished with sharp spikes, pointed lances,
maces, bright ktis
of
Kadru an
the b"ii,]age
motlier,
caused by an act of deception, owing to the well-known i-easoa(the curseof Aruua), said,shall'
Although
I
have power overLet,
all
creatures, yet I
do your bidding.
Sakra, theof theDii-
mighty snakes become
my
food
'.'
And
the flayer
112
KAHAEHAEATAiliiiu'
navas, having' saiJ unto
Be
it so,'
tLen went to Harl theof
god
of god'^,
of great
soul,
the lorJ
Yogees.
And
the
latter sanctioned
everything that had
been said by Gadura.
And And
the worshipful lord of the heavens again said unto Gadura,
'I shall bring
away the Soma whenso,
tliou
placest
it
down."the
having said
he bade farewell to Gadura.to the
And
bird of fair feathers then went
vicinage of his mother
with great speed."
And GaduraI
in joy then spake unto all the snakes,
'
Here
havegrass.
brought the amrita.
Let
me
placeit
it
on
some kusaye have per-
O
ye snakes, sitting here, drink ofrites.
after
formed your ablutions and religiousthis
As
said
by
ye, letfor
my mother become
from this day a freed- woman,'
by
me
hath been accomplished your bidding.'
And
the snakes
having said unto Gaduraablutions.
Be
it so,
'
then went to perform their
And Sakra
in the
meantime taking up the amrita
wended back
to the heavens.
And the
snakes, after performing
their ablutions, their daily devotions,
and other sacredamritd.
rites,
returned in joy, desirous of drinking the
And they
saw that the bed of kusa grass whereon the amrita had been placed was empty, the amrita itself having been taken away by a counter act of deception. And they thereupon began tolick
with their tongues the husa grass as the amrita had been
placed thereon.
And
the tongues of the snakes
bj'
that act
became dividedtact with
in twain.
And
the Jaisa grass
too
from conthus by
amrita became sacred from that time.for the snakes,
And
the illustrious Gadura was amrita brought (from the heavens)
and brought
and by him thus were the snakes
made"
of divided tongues.
And
the bird of fair feathers very
much
delighted, enjoyed
himself in those woods accompanied by his mother.of grand achievements, deeply reverencedskies, gratified his
And hetlie
by
all
rangers of
mother by eating of the snakes.listen to this
"And
that
man who wouldmerit
story, orto
read
it
to an assembly of good Brahmanas,
must surely go
heaven
acquiring great
from
the
recitation of (the deeds of)
Gadura.
"
ADIPARVA,
11 Q
AndAdi
so enJa the tliirfy-fourtli Section iu the
Astlka of the
Parrfi.
Section( Astlka
XXXV.)tlie
Parva continued.of Suta,
Saunaka
said,
"
O
son
thou hast nnfolded
reason why the snakes were cursed by their mother, and why
Vinata was also cursed by her son.bestowal of boons bytheir
Thou bast
also related the
husband on Kadru and Vinata.sons.
Thou hast likewise told us the names of Vinata's But thou hast not yet recited the names of the snakes. are anxioi^s to hear the names of the principal ones.Sauti S^d, "
We
O
thou whose wealth
is
asceticism,all
from feauthesnalcesr.
f being lengthy,
I shall not
mention the names of
But
I will recite the
namesfirst,
of th chief ones. Listen ye to me.
Sesha was born
and then Vasuki.
(Then were born)
Airavata, Takshaka, Karkotaka, Dhananjaya, Kalakeya, the ser-
pent Mani, Purana, Pinjarakaand Elapatra, Vamana,Nila, Anila,
Kalmasha, Savala,kha,
Aryaka,
Ugraka, Kalasapotaka,
Suramu-
Dadhimukha, Vimalapindaka, Apta, Karotaka, Sanklia, Hemaguha, Nahusha, Pingala, BahyaHastipada, Mudgarapindaka, Kamvala, Aswatara, Kakarna,Valisikha, Nisthanaka.liyaka, Vritta,
Samvartaka, Padma, Mahapadma,
Sankhamu-
kha, Kuslimandaka, Kshemaka, Pindaraka, Karavira, Pushpa-
danstraka, Vilwaka, Vilwapandara, Mushakada, Sankhashirah,
Purnabhadra, Haridraka, Aparajita, Jyotika, Srivaha, Kauravya, DhritaraRtra,Sankhapinda, Virajah, Sabahu, Salipinda,tipinda, Pitharaka,
Has-
Sumukha, Kaunapasliana, Kuthara, Kunjara, Prabhakara, Kumuda, Kum.udakshya, Tittiri, Halika, Kardama, Vahuniulaka, Karkara, Akarkara, Kundodara and Mahodara,Thus,
O
best of Dwijas,
have
I
told the
names of theasceticism,
principal serpents.
From
fear of length I
have not told theis
names
of the rest.
O
thou whose wealth
the
sons of these
snakes,
with their grandsons, are innumerable.
Reflecting upon this, I shall notascetics, in this world
the
name them to thee. O best of number of snakes defies calculation,of them,
there being
many thousands and arbudas
15
4.^14!
MAHABHARATA,Andso suds the thirty-fifth
Section iu the Astika of the
Alii Parva,
Section
XXSVI.
( Astika Pai^t^a continued.. )
thou hast named many o-f the energy and incapable of being easily serpents gifted with great cui-se ?" overcome. What did they do after liearing of that
Saunaka
said,
"
O
child,
of great Sauti said, "Tlie illustrious Bhesha amongst them, practised hard penances, living renown, leaving his mother, And he was enair and rigidly observing his vows.
upon gaged
in these
ascetic devotions,
having arrived at Gandha-
and the inadana, Vadari, Gokarna, the woods of Pushkara, his days in those sacred And he passed foot of Himavat.recrions,
some
of
which were sacredrigid
for their
waters and others
fur their soil,
in the
observance of his vows, with ain completecentral.
sinoleness of aim
andin
his passions
Anddried
theliairivn,
Grand-father of
all srav
him
that
ascetic with
knotted
and
clad
rags,
his
flesh,
skin,
and sinews
owing to the hard penances he v/as practising.Grand-fatheraddressing
And
rhe
him
thatis
penance-practising
one of
firm fortitude, said,?
'What
this that thou doest,
Let the welfare of the creatures of the worlds also O thou sinless one, thou art afflicting eJio-acre thv thoughts. O Shesha, tell me by thy hard penances. all creatures
O
Shesha
the desire that''
is
implanted in thyreplied,
breast.'
And Shesha
'My uterine
brothers are
all
of
wicked hearts.of one:
I do not desire to live
amongst them.
Let
this be sanctioned
by
thee.
Like enemies, theyI
are always
jealous
another.
amher
therefore
engaged in asceticVinata'sson,
devotions
I will not see them even.
They never show anyIndeed,
kindness for Vinata
and
son.
capable of ranging through the They always envy him. ours.
skies, is
another brother of
he too is much stronger, boon by our father the high-souled from the bestowal of the Kasyapa. For these, I am engaged in ascetic penances, and I
And
ADI PARVAi
]15^
wiH cast off them I may"so,'
this
body of mine, so that companionship withlife.'
avoid, even in another state of
And
the
Grand-father spake unto ShcshaI
who had
said
Q Shesha,O
know the behaviourowing
of
all
thy brothers, andtheir mother.
their great danger
to their offence against
But,
Snake, a remedy hathIt
been provided byfor thy
me
even
before-hand.
behoveth thee not to grieve
brothers.I have
O
Shesha, ask then of
me
the boon that thou desircst.
been highly gratifiedboon.
v;ith thee
and Iitis
will
grant thee to-day athat thy heart
O
thou best of snakes,'
fortunate
hath been set on virtue.firmly set on virtue.
Let thy heart be more and more
"And Sheshaboon thatvirtueis
replied,
'0
divine Grand-father, this
is
(he
desired by me, that
my
heart
may
always joy in!
by mand,turestains
O Loi'd of all " And Brahma said, O Shesha, lam exceedingly gratified this thy self-denial and love of peace. But by my comandin blessed ascetic penances,'
let this act
be done by thee for the good ofthis
my
crea^:
!
Holding properly and wellforests,
Earth with her motm-
and
her seas and towns and retreats for enjoyments;thou,
80
unsteady, remain!
Shesha, so that she
may
be
steady"
And Shesha
said,
'
divine
lord of all creatures,
grantorlord
of boons,
O
lord of the Earth, lord of every created thing,I will,
of the universe,
even as thou sayest, hold the Earthlord of all creatures,
steady.
Therefore,'
place
thou that on
my
head."
And BrahmaSheAnd,
said,
'
O
beat of snakes,
go thou underneathacrevice"to
the Earth,
will
herself give
thee
pass
through.certainly
O
Shesha, by holding this Earthis
thou shalt
do what
prized by
me
very greatly.'
Sauti continued,of the
"And
then the elder brother of the kingto
snakes entering by a hole passed
the other
Bule
of the Earth,
and holding
her, supports
with his headround.
the:
goddess Earth with her belt of seas going
all
"And Brahma
said,
'O Shesha, be&tofalone,
snakes, thou
art the
god Dbarma^ because
with thy huge body, thou 5U-
116portestthis
MAHABHARATA.Earth takingit
everything
with her, evert
as I
myself or Vala\
(Indra) can'."*'
Sauti continued,of great prowess,
A
Top Related