Vishnu Purana Book V- Ch -XXXI-Krishn?a, Indra-Párijáta tree

[Anne Terri]

p. 589

CHAP. XXXI.

Krishn?a, with Indra's consent, takes the Párijáta tree to Dwáraká; marries the princesses rescued from Naraka.

KE?AVA, being thus eulogized by the king of the gods, smiled, and spake gravely to him in reply. "Thou art Indra," said he, "the king of the celestials: we are but mortals, O lord of the world: thou must pardon therefore the offence that I have committed. Let this Párijáta tree be taken to its appropriate situation. I removed it in compliance with the words of Satyá. Receive back also this your thunderbolt, cast at me; for this is your proper weapon, the destroyer of your foes." Indra answered and said, "Thou beguilest us, O lord, in calling thyself a mortal; but we know thee to be the lord, although not endowed with subtlety of discernment. Thou art that thou art, engaged in the active preservation of the earth; thou extractest the thorns implanted in her bosom, destroyer of the demon race. Let this Párijáta tree be transferred to Dwáraká, and it shall remain upon earth as long as thou abidest in the world of mortals." Hari, having assented to the proposal of Indra, returned to earth, hymned by attendant sages, saints, and quiristers of heaven.

When Krishn?a arrived over Dwáraká, he blew his shell, and delighted all the inhabitants with the sound. Then alighting from Garud?a, he proceeded with Satyabhámá to her garden, and there planted the great Párijáta tree, the smell of which perfumed the earth for three furlongs, and an approach to which enabled every one to recollect the events of a prior existence; so that, on beholding their faces in that tree, all the Yádavas contemplated themselves in their (original) celestial forms. Then Krishn?a took possession of the wealth, elephants, horses, and women, which he had recovered from Naraka, and which had been brought to Dwáraká by the servants of the demon; and at an auspicious season he espoused all the maidens whom Naraka had carried off from their friends;

p. 590

at one and the same moment he received the hands of all of them, according to the ritual, in separate mansions. Sixteen thousand and one hundred was the number of the maidens, and into so many different forms did the foe of Madhu multiply himself; so that every one of the damsels thought that he had wedded her in his single person; and the creator of the world, Hari, the assumer of universal shape, abode severally in the dwelling of each of these his wives.

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The Vishnu Purana Book V- Chapter -XXXII

  'The Vishnu Purana', translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, is public domain in the US because it was published prior to 1923.