Parva 1 Chapter 23: pitṛkalpaḥ (7) -- haṁsa varṇanam - portrayal of swans

Those swans that ever engrossed in yogic practises subsisting just on water and air, abiding on the lake banks of mānasa sarovar have these names: padma-garbha, aravinda-akṣa, kṣīra-garbha, su-locana, uru-bindu, su-bindu while the seventh one is haima-garbha... rājā vibhrājamānaḥ tu vapuṣā tat vanaṁ tadā | cacāra antaḥ- pura vṛto nandanaṁ maghavān iva || 1-23-3 On certain occassion king vibhrāja took a stroll in those woods accompanied by the inmates of his palace-chambers, as if indra takes a stroll in nandana gardens along with his ladies... sa tān apashyat kha-carān yoga-dharma-ātmakān nṛpa | nirvedāt ca tam eva artham anudhyāyan puraṁ yayau || 1-23-4 On noticing those sky-flying swans to be engrossed in yogic exercises, that king became despondent, because he himself is not able to concentrate on yogic practices as much as these birds... returning to his city that king pondered on the same thought... aṇuho nāma tasya āsīt putraḥ parama-dhārmikaḥ | aṇu-dharma ratiḥ nityam aṇuṁ saḥ adhyagamat padam || 1-23-5 That king vibhrāja had a son named aṇuhu; because that prince examines everything in microcosmic manner - aṇu-dharma rata – he acquired such a name... aṇu- microcosmically; hanti – prāpnoti - he delves deep, hence aṇuhu, is his name... prādāt kanyāṁ śukaḥ tasmai kṛtvīṁ pūjita-lakṣaṇām | satya-śīla-guṇa-upetāṁ yoga-dharma-ratāṁ sadā || 1-23-6 sā hi uddiṣṭā purā bhīṣma pitṛkanyā manīṣiṇī | sanatkumāreṇa tadā sannidhau mama śobhanā || 1-23-7 satya-dharma-bhṛtāṁ śreṣṭhā dur-vijṣeyā kṛta-ātmabhiḥ | yogā ca yoga-patnī ca yoga-mātā tathaiva ca || 1-23-8 yathā te katithaṁ pūrvaṁ pitṛkalpeṣu vai mayā | Sage shuka’s daughter is kṛtvi, an adorable entity to everyone, one who has qualities of truthfulness, immaculacy etc... one who is always engrossed in yogic practices... the best lady adhering to sincerity and righteousness... an incomprehensible personality even for the elevated souls... she is a wife of yogi, a mother of yogi, why all these, she herself is an embodiment of yoga... and she being the brainchild of bārhiṣada-s is the daughter of shuka too... such as she is she is given to this prince aṇuhu in marriage... I have already covered this topic, as has been said to me by sanatkumāra, while narrating about fatherly gods to you... isn’t it... vibhrājaḥ tu aṇuhaṁ rājye sthāpayitvā nareśvaraḥ || 1-23-9 āmantrya paurān prīta ātmā brāhmaṇān svati vācya ca | prāyāt saras tapaḥ chartuṁ yatra te saha-cāriṇaḥ || 1-23-10 saḥ vai tatra nir-āhāro vāyu-bhakṣo mahātapāḥ | tyaktvā kāmān tapaḥ tepe sarasaḥ tasya pārśvataḥ || 1-23-11 On certain day, king vibhrāja summoning his ministers and high priests established that prince aṇuha on the throne to the intonation of blessing hymns and to his heart’s content... then he repaired to Lake mānasa-sarovar where the swans are ambling, to undertake ascesis on par with those swans... and he practised ascesis at a fringe area of that lake, indeed, forgoing cravings, food and water tasya saṁkalpa āsīt ca teṣām ekatarasya vai | putratvaṁ prāpya yogena yujyeyam iti bhārata || 1-23-12 His intention is similar to that of swans... swans wanted to take birth as humans to enjoy luxuries, and this human king wanted to take birth as a swan to undertake an unperturbed ascesis to achieve salvation... kṛtva abhisandhiṁ tapasā mahatā sa samanvitaḥ | mahātapāḥ sa vibhrājo virarāja aṁśumān iva || 1-23-13 tato vibhrājitaṁ tena vaibhrājaṁ nāma tat vanam | sarastaccha kuruśreṣṭha vaibhrājam iti saṁjṣitam || 1-23-14 On performing a great ascesis with utmost concentration that great ascetic king vibhrāja shone forth like radiating sun, and because he irradiated that forest and lake are called after him... yatra te śakunā rājan catvāro yoga dharmiṇaḥ | yoga bhraṣṭāḥ trayaḥ caiva deha nyāsa kṛto'bhavan || 1-23-15 kāmpilye nagare te tu brahmadatta purogamāḥ | jātāḥ sapta mahātmānaḥ sarve vigata kalmaṣāḥ || 1-23-16 Later this king, four cursing swans that are abiding by the tenets of yoga, and three more cursed swans that deviated from righteous path, all have discarded their physical bodies... and all the seven swans have taken rebirth in kāmpila city as brahmadatta et al... jṣāna dhyāna tapaḥ pujā veda veda aṅga pāragāḥ | smṛtimanto'tra catvāraḥ trayaḥ tu parimohitāḥ || 1-23-17 Four of the seven dharma-abiding swans took rebirth as scholarly brāhmaṇa-s endeavouring in intellectual pursuits, meditation, cogitation, rituals, and veda-s and their ancillaries... other three swans took rebirth like this... svatantraḥ tu aṇuhāt jajṣe brahmadatto mahāyaśāḥ | yathā hi āsīt pakṣi-bhāve saṁkalpaḥ pūrva-chintitaḥ | jṣānadhyānatapaḥpūto vedavedāṅgapāragaḥ || 1-23-18 As has been cursed, swan svatantra, who was the seventh son of kaushika, with his name as pitṛ-varti, has now taken rebirth as the son of king aṇuha, with his name as brahmadatta, yet possessing faculties of intellectual pursuits, meditation, cogitation, rituals, and veda-s and their ancillaries, drawn from previous births... cidra-darśī su-netraḥ ca tathā bābhravya vatsayoḥ | jātau śrotriya dāyādau veda vedāṅga pāragau || 1-23-19 sahāyau brahmadattasya pūrva jāti saha-uṣitau | There used to be two ministers to king aṇuha who by their names are called as bābhravya and vatsa... these two ministers are from very erudite family of brāhmaṇas... and the fifth and sixth swans named Chidra-darshi and su-netra, who wished to become ministers of swan svatantra, in the event of his taking birth as human king, have now taken rebirth as the sons of these orthodox brāhmaṇa ministers, respectively... pāṣcālaḥ pāṣchikaḥ caiva kaṇḍarīkaḥ tatha aparaḥ || 1-23-20 The fifth one named kavi among the seven sons of kaushika, who had always been taking birth as a fifth brother in all the previous six births, has taken birth in this seventh life as pāncāla... while the sixth one, namely kha-sṛma took birth as kaṇḍarīka... these two took birth as the sons of ministers to the king... Recap; sons of kaushika: vāgduṣṭa, krodhana, hiṁsra, pishuna, kavi, kha-sṛma, pitṛ-varti. pāṣcālo bahu ṛchaḥ tu āsīt ācāryatvaṁ cakāra ha | dvivedaḥ kaṇḍarīkaḥ tu chandogaḥ adhvaryuḥ eva ca || 1-23-21 sarva sattva ruta jṣaḥ tu rāJā āsīt aṇuha-ātmajaḥ | pāncāla has assumed the position of a mentor in the court of brahmadatta, because he is a high scholar in many Rik-s, i.e., Rig-Veda... while kaṇḍarīka assumed the position of adhvaryu, a high priest, in the religious ministry of brahmadatta, because of his lofty scholarship in sāma-veda... while brahmadatta himself is a scholar in the speech-patterns of all living beings... pāṣcāla kaṇḍarīkābhyāṁ tasya sakhyam abhūt tadā || 1-23-22 te grāmya-dharma abhiratāḥ kāmasya vasha vartinaḥ | pūrva jāti kṛtena āsan dharma kāma artha kovidāḥ || 1-23-23 King brahmadatta has more affinity with these two, pāncāla and kaṇḍarīka, and coming under the influence of desires, these three are preoccupied in rustic pleasures... yet, they are discriminative between spiritual and material living, owing to the scrupulous faculties drawn from earlier births... aṇuhaḥ tu nṛpaśreṣṭho brahmadattam akalmaṣam | rājye abhiṣicya yoga ātmā parāṁ gatim avāptavān || 1-23-24 Thus king aṇuha has anointed brahmadatta in kingdom and repaired to forests wherefrom he departed to higher abodes... brahmadattasya bhāryā tu devalasya ātmajā abhavat | asitasya hi durdharṣā sannatiḥ nāma nāmataḥ || 1-23-25 tām eka bhāva saṁpannāṁ lebhe kanyām anuttamām | sannatiṁ sannati matīṁ devalāt yoga dharmiṇīm || 1-23-26 brahmadatta took lady sannati as his wife, who is the daughter of the invulnerable asita-devala... she is an immaculate lady endowed with unique dedication with flexile behaviour – saṁ nata mati – all good qualities derived from the training of asita-devala... paṣchamaḥ pāṣchikaḥ tatra sapta jātiṣu bhārata | ṣaṣṭhaḥ tu kaṇḍarīko abhūt brahmadattaḥ tu saptamaḥ || 1-23-27 The fifth one in seven births has become pāṣchika aka pāncāla, while the sixth one became kaṇḍarīka, and the seventh one – brahmadatta... śeṣā vihaṅgamā ye vai kāmpilye sahacāriṇaḥ | te jātāḥ śrotriya kule su-daridre sahodarāḥ || 1-23-28 dhṛtimān sumanā vidvān tattva-darśī ca nāmataḥ | veda adhyayana saṁpannāḥ catvāraḥ cidra-darśinaḥ || 1-23-29 teṣāṁ saṁvit tatha utpannā pūrva jāti kṛtā tadā | ye yoga niratāḥ siddhāḥ prasthitāḥ sarva eva hi || 1-23-30 āmantrya pitaraṁ tāta pitā tān abravīt tadā | Rest of the seven swan brothers, viz. four cursing swans, have taken rebirth in the same kāmpilya city, but in a very poor scholarly family... they by their names are: dhṛtimān, sumana, vidvān, tattva-darshi... these four have become teachers of veda... these are endowed with faculty of - Chidra-darshana – hole-finding – fault-finding – censorious towards those who transgress from righteous path... this wealth of righteousness has accrued to them owing to their merited acts drawn from their earlier births... and on one day, intending to start on their journey to pass through the pearly gates, they called upon their old father, the poor brāhmaṇa who gave birth to these four in this human life, and informed him about it... adharma eṣa yuṣmākaṁ yat māṁ tyaktvā gamiṣyatha || 1-23-31 dāridryam anapā kṛtya putra arthān caiva puṣkalān | śuśrūṣām aprayujya eva kathaṁ vai gantum arhatha || 1-23-32 That old man is startled at the news of departure of his sons and said like this, “your departure on discarding me is unconscionable... our poverty is not yet alleviated, nor your filial due is achieved... how you wished to walk out leaving me as an unassisted old man... what becomes of me...” te tamūcur dvijāḥ sarve pitaraṁ punareva ca | kariṣyāmo vidhānaṁ te yena tvaṁ vartayiṣyasi || 1-23-33 imaṁ ślokaṁ mahārthaṁ tvaṁ rājānaṁ saha mantriṇam | śrāvayethāḥ samāgamya brahmadattam akalmaṣam || 1-23-34 prīta-ātmā dāsyati sa te grāmān bhogān ca puṣkalān | yathā īpsitān ca sarva arthān gaccha tāta yathā īpsitam || 1-23-35 Then they pacifically said to their father, “we will make an alternative arrangement, sire, with which your old age will pass off peacefully... please approach the unimpeachable king brahmadatta when he is with his ministers and recite this verse... then, on listening this verse he will be gladdened and endows you with whatever wealth and comfort you would like to specify... then you can be on your own as you please...” etāvat uktvā te sarve pūjayitvā ca taṁ gurum | yoga dharmam anuprāpya parāṁ nirvṛtim āyayuḥ || 1-23-36 Saying this much to their poor father and adoring him befittingly, those four brothers have set forth on a retunless path as final release has bechanced on them... --o)0(o-- iti śrīmahābhārate khileṣu harivaṁśe harivaṁśaparvaṇi pitṛkalpe [haṁsa varṇano nāma] trayoviṁśo'dhyāyaḥ Thus, this is the twenty-third chapter of first canto called harivamsha-parva, in harivamśa-purāṇa, the sequel of mahābhārata, portraying the swans. --o)0(o--