Parva 1 Chapter 52: viṣṇuṁ prati pṛthivyā vākyam - appeal of mother earth to viṣṇu

vaiśaṁpāyana uvāca: vaiśampāyana continued bāḍhjam iti eva saha taiḥ durdina aṁbhoda niḥsvanaḥ | pratasthe durdina-ākāraḥ sa durdina iva achalaḥ ||1-52-1 sa muktā-maṇi-vidyotaṁ sa candra aṁbhoda varchasam | sa jaṭā-maṇḍalaṁ kṛtsnaṁ sa bibhrat śrīdharo hariḥ ||1-52-2 sa ca asya urasi vistīrṇe roma-aṣcha-udgata-rājimān | srīvatso rājate śrīmān stana-dvaya-mukha-aṣchitaḥ ||1-52-3 pīte vasāno vasane lokānāṁ guruḥ avyayaḥ | hariḥ saḥ abhavat ālakṣyaḥ sa sandhya abhra iva achalaḥ ||1-52-4 taṁ vrajantaṁ suparṇena padma-yoni-gata-anugam | anujagmuḥ surāḥ sarve tat gatā sakta cakṣuṣaḥ ||1-52-5 Saying 'so be it…', viṣṇu, whose hue and voice are like the rumblings of a loury cloud, proceeded afore the gods like a mountain shrouded in dark clouds… he that śrīhari who is always endowed with celestial grandeur śrī, dark-blue in his physique, shinning with hair-locks, crested with gems and pearls like a cloud inlaid with moon… from whose spacious chest hosts of self-effulgent rays are radiating like hairs standing erect, within which the mystic mark of śrīvatsa is there… who is wearing two pieces of yellow raiment, who is the preceptor of the worlds, who looked like a mountain covered with evening clouds, when proceeded on the back of garuḍa, his eagle-vehicle, on hearing the plea of brahma, while brahma and other gods began to follow him fixing their eyes on him alone… na ati-dīrgheṇa-kālena saṁprāptā ratna-parvatam | dadṛśuḥ devatāḥ tatra tāṁ sabhāṁ kāma-rūpiṇīm ||1-52-6 Reaching the jewelly mountain Mt. meru in no time, gods saw an assembly hall built to change its form according to the wishes of its occupiers… meroḥ shikhra vinyastāṁ samyuktāṁ sūrya varchasā | kāṣchana staṁbha rācitāṁ vajra sandhāna toraṇām ||1-52-7 That effulgent hall with pillars crafted in golden, archways crested with diamonds, is shimmering on a summit of the Mt. sumeru like sun… mano nirmāṇa-citra-āḍhyāṁ vimāna shata mālinīm | ratna-jāla-antara-vatīṁ kāma-gāṁ ratna bhūṣitām ||1-52-8 It amazingly changes its architecture, or auto-mobile, at the wish of the chairperson presently incumbent, adorned with hundreds of domes, window-blinds and other drapes are with the lace-work of diamonds… kypta-ratna-samākīrṇāṁ sarva ṛtu-kusuma utkaṭām | deva-māyā-dharāṁ divyāṁ vihitāṁ viśvakarmaṇā ||1-52-9 Filled with many sorts of other diamond-work and flourishing with flowers of any season, that celestial assembly hall, a construction of the celestial architect viśva-karma, appeared as an abstract of celestial illusion… tāṁ hṛṣṭa-manasaḥ sarve yathā sthānaṁ yathā vidhi | yathā nideśaṁ tridaśā vivishuste sabhāṁ śubhām ||1-52-10 All the gods delightedly entered hall and assumed seats according to their rank, entitlement and protocol… te niṣeduḥ yathā ukteṣu vimāneṣu āsaneṣu ca | bhadra-āsaneṣu pīṭheṣu kuthāsu āstaraṇeṣu ca ||1-52-11 Some of the gods assumed seats on docked aircraft-modules, some on regular seats, some on seats of judgement, some on one-seat-planks, some on variegated decorative cloth with gold and silver embroidery – kuthā-s – usually spread under the howdahs of elephants, and some on carpets, according as they are assigned… The ‘my-fi’ of participants seated in dockable aircraft modules has been shown in the film Starwars, sequel II. tataḥ prabhaṣjano vāyuḥ brahmaṇā sadhu choditaḥ | mā śabdam iti sarvatra pracakrāma atha tāṁ sabhām ||1-52-12 niḥśabda stimite tasmin samāje tridivaukasāṁ | babhāṣe dharaṇī vākyaṁ khedāt karuṇa-bhāṣinī ||1-52-13 Then prabhaujana, the airgod, renowned for his silent participation anywhere, has announced “silence please…” when brahma instructed him to do so… then that assembly of gods became calm and quite, whereupon mother earth, whose talk will always be touching, talked this touchingly… dharaṇi uuvāca: mother earth said tvayā dhāryā tu ahaṁ deva tvayā vai dhāryate jagat | tvaṁ dhārayasi bhūtāni bhuvanāni bibharṣi ca ||1-52-14 “O god, you bear the burden of universe, all beings, and skies too… such as you are you harbour me and my burden, too… yat tvayā dhāryate kiṣchit tejasā ca balena ca | tataḥ tava prasādena mayā yatnāt ca dhāryate |1-52-15 tvayā dhṛtaṁ dhārayāmi na a-dhṛtaṁ dhārayāmi aham | na hi tat vidyate bhūtaṁ yat tvayā na an-udhāryate ||1-52-16 Whatever you sustain by your energy and strength, I do afterwards hold it by thy grace… I do not hold whatever you do not, and whatever you will not sustain I too do not keep it… yet, there is no element in the universe which you do not sustain… tvam eva kuruṣe deva nārāyaṇa yuge yuge | mama bhāra avataraṇaṁ jagato hitakāṁyayā ||1-52-17 You alone relieve me of my burden, oh, nārāyaṇa, from era to era, for the well-being of the world… tava eva tejasā krāntāṁ rasātalatalaṁ gatām | trāyasva māṁ suraśreṣṭha tvām eva śaraṇaṁ gatām ||1-52-18 Once when I lurched into nether-regions you upraised with your magnificence… now when I am lurching into a place to turn… oh, god viṣṇu, won’t you save me… dānavaiḥ pīḍyamānā ahaṁ rākṣasaiḥ ca durātmabhiḥ | tvām eva śaraṇaṁ nityam upāyāsye sanātanam ||1-52-19 Evilminded demons and monsters are ever assailing me, and I am ever and ever seeking the shelter of an everlasting entity, that is what you are… tāvat me asti bhayaṁ bhūyo yāvat na tvāṁ kakudminam | śaraṇaṁ yāmi manasā shatasho hi upalakṣaye ||1-52-20 I surmise in a hundred ways that as long as I shall not come under the bulwark of yours, because you are – kakudmi - the wielder of terrible bow śāraṅgam and the reliever of all my burdens, so long I shall be under the influence of a dreadful fear…” then mother earth started narrating a legend to the members of that assembly… aham ādau purāṇasya saṁkṣiptā padmayoninā | mā avarundhāṁ kṛtau pūrvaṁ mṛnmayau dvau mahāsurau ||1-52-21 “In the days of yore when agriculture, merchandise and other means of commercial livelihood spinning money are not instituted, as is the maxim of kārṣa paṇa nyāyam, I was a sight for the gods, especially for the lotus-sprung brahma – aham padmayoninā; saṁkṣiptā= covered well, well looked after by brahma… but, two great demons made of clay beleaguered me… karṇa-srota udbhavau tau hi viṣṇoḥ asya mahātmanaḥ | mahārṇave pra-svapataḥ kāṣṭha kuḍya samau sthitau ||1-52-22 While this high-souled viṣṇu is reposing in the mighty deep they originated from the glue ears of viṣṇu and fell insensate in water like underwater logs or ramparts… tau vivesha svayaṁ vāyuḥ brahmanā sādhu choditaḥ | divaṁ prachcādayantau tu vavṛdhāte mahāsurau ||1-52-23 vāyu prāṇau tu tau gṛhya brahmā paryamṛśat śanaiḥ | ekaṁ mṛdutaraṁ mene kaṭhinaṁ veda ca aparam ||1-52-24 nāmanī tu tayoḥ cakre sa vibhuḥ salila-udbhavaḥ | mṛdustvayaṁ madhuḥ nāma kaṭhinaḥ kaiṭabho'bhavat ||1-52-25 Airgod entered into their bodies at the behest of brahma and breathed his expansive factor into them, whereupon those two great demons began to grow up in huge proportion as if they are covering whole of the sky, because they both are touched off by brahma -= brahma parāmarśayā - further gifted with vital breaths from no less than airgod… one of them appeared to be soft and the other hard, whereby the water-born god brahma gave them names... the demon who is softish is named as madhu and the other who is hardish is called kaiṭabha… tau daityau kṛta nāmānau ceratur bala darpitau | sarvam ekārṇavaṁ lokaṁ yoddhu kāmau su-durjayau ||1-52-26 When those two demons are named thus, they are elated with the pride of their strength, and being unassailable demons they began to range as warmongers in a world which at that time is converted into a single sheet of water… tāu āgatau samālokya brahmā lokapitāmahaḥ | eka arṇava ambu nichaye tatra eva antaradhīyata ||1-52-27 On seeing those two demons affronting face to face, brahma disappeared to hide himself under the mass of water in that single-sheeted-universal ocean… sa padme padmanābhasya nābhi madhyāt samutthite | rochayāmāsa vasatiṁ guhyāṁ brahmā caturmukhaḥ ||1-52-28 Because he sprang from the lotus that sprang from the naval of viṣṇu, brahma deemed it safe to stay where he is, i.e. inside the corolla of lotus… tau ubhau jala-garbha-sthau nārāyaṇa pitāmahau | bahūn varṣa gaṇān apsu śayānau na chakaṁpatuḥ ||1-52-29 Those two nārāyaṇa and brahma, one reposing on water, and another hiding in the deep of water, have not bestirred themselves for many years… atha dīrghasya kālasya tau ubhau madhukaiṭabhau | ājagmatuḥ tam uddeśaṁ yatra brahmā vyavasthitaḥ ||1-52-30 After some years those two demons madhu and kaiṭabha came to the place where brahma is hiding… dṛṣṭvā tau asurau ghorau mahākāyau durāsadau | brahmaṇā tāḍito viṣṇuḥ padma nālena vai tadā | utpapāta atha śayanāt padmanābho mahādyutiḥ ||1-52-31 Beholding the approach of those two dreadful, huge-bodied and irrepressible demons, brahma cowering within the corolla of lotus started shivering with which the stalk of lotus started to vibrate whereby the highly-effulgent nārāyaṇa woke up abruptly… tat yuddham abhavat ghoraṁ tayoḥ tasya ca vai tadā | ekārṇave tadā loke trailokye jalatāṁ gate ||1-52-32 There ensued a terrible encounter between nārāyaṇa and those two demons, madhu and kaiṭabha, at that time when the three worlds are under one sheet of water… tat ābhūt tumulaṁ yuddhaṁ varṣa saṁkhyā sahasraśaḥ | na ca tau asurau yuddhe tadā shramam avāpatuḥ ||1-52-33 atha ataḥ dīrgha-kālasya tau daityau yuddha-durmadau | ūchatuḥ prīta-manasau devaṁ nārāyaṇaṁ harim ||1-52-34 That dreadful battle continued for thousand years and those tsvo demons did not experience least exhaustion in the encounter… after a long time those two demons, dreadful in battle, delightedly said this to nārāyaṇa… prītau svas tava yuddhena ślāghyaḥ tvaṁ mṛtyur āvayoḥ | āvāṁ jahi na yatra urvī salilena pariplutā ||1-52-35 hatau ca tava putratvaṁ prāpnuyāvaḥ surottama | yaḥ hi āvāṁ yudhi nirjetā tasya avāṁ vihitau sutau ||1-52-36 We are pleased with the fight you have given to us, and appreciate your becoming our death, if a situation calls for it… but, we are predestined to become the sons of our eliminators… as such we suggest that you may vanquish us at a waterless place on earth, whereby we can take rebirth as your sons… sa tu gṛhya mṛdhe dorbhyāṁ daityau tau abhyapīḍayat | jagmatur nidhanaṁ cāpi tau ubhau madhukaiṭabhau ||1-52-37 Then nārāyaṇa dished them up into the bowl of his palms – a waterless plane; stuck those two demons, madhu and kaiṭabha, under his armpits; crushed them to death and threw their remains into water available around him… tau hatau ca āplutau toye vapurbhyām ekatāṁ gatau | medaḥ mumucatur daityau mathyamānau jala ūrmibhiḥ ||1-52-38 medasā tajjalaṁ vyāptaṁ tābhyām antardadhe anaghaḥ | nārāyaṇaḥ ca bhagavān asṛjat sa punaḥ prajāḥ ||1-52-39 Thus killed and thrown in water those two dead bodies of demons floating on water fused into one, which by tide rips discharged bodily fat into that water, spreading fatty lather on whole of the surface of water, whereupon those two bodies of demons disappeared… O sinless janamejaya, thereupon nārāyaṇa again engaged in the work of creation… daityayoḥ medhasā cchannā medini iti tataḥ smṛtā | prabhāvāt padmanābhasya śāśvatī jagatī kṛtā ||1-52-40 Consolidated with some of that fat of demons I have been solidified for ever, while the remaining fat vanished with the vanishing demons…. consequently I acquired the name medini because the medas, fat of demons, has been overlaid on me… vārāheṇa purā bhūtvā mārkaṇḍeyasya paśyataḥ | viṣāṇena aham ekena toya madhya Atsam uddhṛtā ||1-52-41 Such as I am, an inspissated clod called earth, I am again submersed under water when universe is under deluge, and again viṣṇu upraised me with a single fang of ritual-boar incarnation… an incarnation he took up just for my sake… hṛta ahaṁ kramataḥ bhūyaḥ tadā yuṣmākam agrataḥ | baleḥ sakāśāt daityasa viṣṇunā prabhaviṣṇunā ||1-52-42 Again, when I am about to be enslaved by daitya emperor bali, right in presence of viṣṇu, it is viṣṇu who has trodden on me and saved me from that daitya… sāmprataṁ khidyamānā aham enam eva gadādharam | anāthā jagato nāthaṁ śaraṇyaṁ śaraṇaṁ gatā ||1-52-43 Again, I am oppressed now and I do not have any to protect me, except nārāyaṇa, I am now seeking refuge with god nārāyaṇa who is ever fond of his votaries… agniḥ suvarṇasya guruḥ gavāṁ sūryo guruḥ smṛtaḥ | nakṣatrāṇāṁ guruḥ somo mama nārāyaṇo guruḥ ||1-52-44 yat ahaṁ dhārayāmi ekā jagat sthāvara-jaṅgamaṁ | mayā dhṛtaṁ dhārayate sarvam etat gadādharaḥ ||1-52-45 As to how fire, sun and moon are enliveners of gold, rays, and stars… so is nārāyaṇa to me… while I am the lone sustainer of world with mobile and immobile beings, sequentially it is viṣṇu who sustains me… jāmadagnyena rāmeṇa bhāra avataraṇa īpsayā | roṣāt triḥ=sapta-krittvā ahaṁ kṣatriyaiḥ vi-prayojitā ||1-52-46 sā asmi vedyāṁ samāropya tarpitā nṛpa śoṇitaiḥ | bhārgaveṇa pituḥ śrāddhe kaśyapāya niveditā ||1-52-47 māmsa-meda-asthi durgandhā digdhā kṣatriya śoṇitaiḥ | rajasvala iva yuvatiḥ kaśyapaṁ samupasthitā ||1-52-48 Again when I am overburdened paraśu-rāma, the son of sage jamadagni, had relieved me of it by putting those aberrant kshatriya kings to rout… at that time he used me as if I am a sacrificial altar for placing those kings, as if they are sacrificial animals destined for a hecatomb, as if he is oblating his manes with their blood he shed, that too for twenty-one times… After which parsaśu-rāma bequeathed me to sage kashyapa, in whose holy presence I stood as if I am a damsel in menses with stench from my body that is begrimed with flesh, fat, and bones of slain kśatriyā-s… sa māṁ brahmarṣiḥ api āha kim urvi tvam avāṅmukhī | vīra-patnī-vratam idaṁ dhārayantī viṣīdasi ||1-52-49 Then that brahma-sage kashyapa cheered me up by saying, “how is that, girly earth, your face is downcast… you undertake the vow of wifehood of heroes, yet you are downhearted…” sā ahaṁ vijṣāpitavatī kaśyapaṁ lokabhāvanam | patayo me hatā brahman bhārgaveṇa mahātmanā ||1-52-50 sā ahaṁ vihīnā vikrāntaiḥ kṣatriyaiḥ śastra-vṛttibhiḥ | vidhavā śūnya nagarā na dhārayitum utsahe ||1-52-51 tat mahyaṁ dīyatāṁ bhartā bhagavan tvat samo nṛpaḥ | rakṣet sa grāma nagarāṁ yaḥ māṁ sāgara-mālinīm ||1-52-52 “I am bereaved of my husbands, oh, sage, because paraśu-rāma exterminated all my husbands who are valiant kśatriyā-s wedded to martial life, foisted widowhood on me… such as I am I am downhearted to bear empty cities divested of urbanity and urbanism any more… therefore, O reverend sir, confer upon me, who am enwreathed with oceans, such a king as will be able to protect me abounding in rural and urban areas, as well…" I requested kashyapa prajāpati in this way… sa śrutvā bhagavān vākyaṁ bāḍham iti abravīt prabhuḥ | tataḥ māṁ mānava-indrāya manave sa pradattavān ||1-52-53 On hearing my words that godly kashyapa said "very good…” and he then gave me to prajāpati manu, the king of humankind… sā manuprabhavaṁ divyaṁ prāpyekṣvākukulaṁ nṛpam | vipulena asmi kālena pārthivāt pārthivaṁ gatā ||1-52-54 Thereupon obtaining the godlike kings originating from viṣṇu and belonging to ikṣvāku dynasty as my husbands, I am handed down from one king to the other, aeon after aeon… evaṁ datta asmi manave mānavendrāya dhīmate | bhuktā rāja-sahasraiḥ ca maharṣi-kula-saṁmitaiḥ ||1-52-55 Bequeathed like this by manu the originator of humans to the human kings, I have been enjoyed by thousands of such kings conformable to exalted sages… bahavaḥ kṣatriyāḥ śūrā māṁ jitvā divam āśritāḥ | te ca kāla-vaśaṁ prāpya mayi eva pralayaṁ gatāḥ ||1-52-56 Many valiant kśatriyā-s who won and ruled me went to heavens, while many more are graved in me when they are time-worn… mat kṛte vigrahā loke vṛttā vartanta eva ca | kṣatriyāṇāṁ balavatāṁ saṁgrāmeṣu a-nivartinām ||1-52-57 Because of me battles have been fought, still being fought, in the world… and I am what they the mighty kśatriyā-s who will not lose ground, fought each other for… etat yuṣmat pravṛttena daivena paripālyate | jagat hitārthaṁ kuruta rājṣāṁ hetuṁ raṇa-kṣaye ||1-52-58 And these are the kings whom you gods brought into this world, and the are thriving because of divine providence you bestowed… if world’s well-being is cherished, please make these kings responsible for war-miseries… yadi asti mayi kāruṇyaṁ bhāra-śaithilya-kāraṇāt | ekaḥ cakra-dharaḥ śrīmān abhayaṁ me prayacchatu ||1-52-59 yam ahaṁ bhāra-saṁtaptā saṁprāptā śaraṇārthinī | bhāro yadi avaroptavyo viṣṇuḥ eṣa bravītu mām ||1-52-60 If you have any mercy on me, a downtrodden one by insufferable weight, let śrīhari, the one and only wielder of disc, give me an assurance… if it is deemed that I am disconcerted with encumbrance, if it is deemed that I am true shelter-seeker, if it is deemed proper to unburden me of my burden, then let something be said to me by him in whose audience I am present, namely viṣṇu… --o)0(o-- iti śrīmahābhārate khileṣu harivaṁśe harivaṁśaparvaṇi dharaṇī-vākye dvipaṣcāśattamo'dhyāyaḥ Thus, this is the fifty-second chapter of first canto called harivamsha-parva, in harivamśa-purāṇa, the sequel of mahābhārata, narrating the appeal of mother earth. --o)0(o--