Vishnu Purana Book V- Chap-XXXIV- Paun?d?raka, a Vásudeva
Mar 28, 2015 10:08:03 GMT 1
Post by Anne Terri on Mar 28, 2015 10:08:03 GMT 1
p. 597
Paun?d?raka, a Vásudeva, assumes the insignia and style of Krishn?a, supported by the king of Ká?í. Krishn?a marches against, and destroys them. The son of the king sends a magical being against Krishn?a: destroyed by his discus, which also sets Benares on fire, and consumes it and its inhabitants.
MAITREYA.--Of a truth the divine ?auri, having assumed a mortal body, performed great achievements in his easy victories over ?akra and ?iva, and all their attendant divinities. I am now desirous to hear from you, illustrious sage, what other mighty exploit the humiliator of the prowess of the celestials performed.
PARÁ?ARA.--Hear, excellent Brahman, with reverent attention, an account of the burning of Varán?así by Krishn?a, in the course of his relieving the burdens of the earth.
There was a Vásudeva who was called Paun?d?raka 1, and who, though not the Vásudeva, was flattered by ignorant people as the descended deity, until he fancied himself to be the Vásudeva 2 who had come down upon earth. Losing all recollection of his real character, he assumed the emblems of Vishn?u, and sent an ambassador to the magnanimous Krishn?a with this message; "Relinquish, thou foolish fellow, the discus; lay aside all my insignia, my name, and the character of Vásudeva; and come and do me homage; and I will vouchsafe thee means of subsistence." At which Janárddana laughed, and replied, "Go, messenger, back to Paun?d?raka, and say to him from me, 'I will dispatch to thee my emblem the discus without fail. Thou wilt rightly apprehend my meaning, and consider what is to be done; for I shall come to thy city, bringing the discus with me, and shall undoubtedly consign it to thee. If thou wilt command me to come, I will immediately obey, and be with
p. 598
thee to-morrow; there shall be no delay: and, having sought thy asylum, I will so provide, O king, that I shall never more have any thing to dread from thee.'" So saying, he dismissed the, ambassador to report these words to his sovereign; and summoning Garud?a, mounted him, and set off for the city of Paun?d?raka 3.
When the king of Ká?í heard of the preparations of Ke?ava, he sent his army (to the aid of Paun?d?raka), himself bringing up the rear; and with the force of the king of Ká?í, and his own troops, Paun?d?raka, the false Vásudeva, marched to meet Krishn?a. Hari beheld him afar off, standing in his car, holding a discus, a club, a mace, a scimitar, and a lotus, in his hands; ornamented with a garland of flowers; bearing a bow; and having his standard made of gold: he had also the Srivatsa mark delineated on his breast; he was dressed in yellow garments, and decorated with earrings and a tiara. When the god whose standard is Garud?a beheld him, he laughed with a deep laugh, and engaged in conflict with the hostile host of cavalry and elephants, fighting with swords, scimitars, maces, tridents, spears, and bows. Showering upon the enemy the shafts from his ?áranga bow, and hurling at them his mace and discus, he quickly destroyed both the army of Paun?d?raka and that of the king of Ká?í. He then said to the former, who was foolishly wearing his emblems, "Paun?d?raka, you desired me by your envoy to resign to you all my insignia. I now deliver them to you. Here is
p. 599
my discus; here I give up my mace; and here is Garud?a, let him mount upon thy standard." Thus speaking, he let fly the discus and the mace, by which Paun?d?raka was cut to pieces, and cast on the ground; whilst the Garud?a on his banner was demolished by the Garud?a of Vishn?u. The people, beholding this sight, exclaimed, "Alas! alas!" but the valiant king of Ká?í, adhering to the imposture of his friend, continued the conflict, till ?auri decapitated him with his arrows, shooting his head into the city of Ká?í, to the marvel of all the inhabitants. Having thus slain Paun?d?raka and the king of Ká?í, with all their followers, ?auri returned to Dwáraká, where he lived in the enjoyment of heavenly delights.
When the inhabitants of Ká?í saw the head of their king shot into their city, they were much astonished, and wondered how it could have happened, and by whom the deed could have been done. Having ascertained that the king had been killed by Krishn?a, the son of the monarch of Ká?í 4, together with the priest of the family, propitiated ?ankara; and that deity, well pleased to be adored in the sacred place Avimukta, desired the prince to demand a boon: on which he prayed, and said, "O lord, mighty god, through thy favour let thy mystic spirit arise to destroy Krishn?a, the murderer of my father." "It shall be so," answered ?ankara: and from out of the southern fire upsprang a vast and formidable female 5, like flame out of fire, blazing with ruddy light, and with fiery radiance streaming amidst her hair. Angrily she called upon Krishn?a, and departed to Dwáraká; where the people, beholding her, were struck with dismay, and fled for protection to Madhusúdana, the refuge of all worlds. The wielder of the discus knowing that the fiend had been produced by the son of the king of Ká?í, through his adoration of the deity whose emblem is a bull, and being engaged in sportive amusements, and playing at dice, said to the discus, "Kill this fierce creature, whose tresses are of plaited flame." Accordingly Sudar?ana, the discus
p. 600
of Vishn?u, immediately attacked the fiend, fearfully enwreathed with fire, and wearing tresses of plaited flame. Terrified at the might of Sudar?ana, the creation of Mahe?wara awaited not his attack, but fled with speed, pursued by him with equal velocity, until she reached Varáná?í, repelled by the superior might of the discus of Vishn?u.
The army of Ká?í, and the host of the demigods attendant upon ?iva, armed with all kinds of weapons, then sallied out to oppose the discus; but, skilled in the use of arms, he consumed the whole of the forces by his radiance, and then set fire to the city, in which the magic power of ?iva had concealed herself 6. Thus was Varáná?í burnt, with all its princes and their followers, its inhabitants, elephants, horses, and men, treasures and granaries, houses, palaces, and markets. The whole of a city, that was inaccessible to the gods, was thus wrapped in flames by the discus of Hari, and was totally destroyed. The discus then, with unmitigated wrath, and blazing fiercely, and far from satisfied with the accomplishment of so easy a task, returned to the hand of Vishn?u 7.
597:1 From being, the commentator says, king of Pun?d?ra. The Bhágavata calls him chief of the Kárúshas; the Padma, king of Ká?í; but the Bhágavata, as well as our text, makes the king of Ká?í his friend and ally.
597:2 According to the Padma P., he propitiates ?iva, and obtains from him the insignia which constitute a Vásudeva. The different authorities for this legend all use the term Vásudeva in the sense of a title.
598:3 The Hari V. and Padma P. send Paun?d?raka to Dwáraká. According to the latter, Nárada incites Paun?d?raka to the aggression, telling him he cannot be a Vásudeva till he has overcome Krishn?a: he goes, and is killed. The former work, as usual, enters into particulars of its own invention. Krishn?a is absent on a visit to ?iva at Kailása, and during his absence Paun?d?raka, assisted by Ekalavya, king of the Nishádas, makes a night attack upon Dwáraká. They are resisted by the Yádavas under Sátyaki and Balaráma; by the former of whom Paun?d?raka is repeatedly overthrown, and all but slain: he requires so much killing, however, that he is likely to obtain the victory, when Krishn?a conies to the aid of his kinsmen, and after a protracted encounter, described in language employed a hundred times before, kills his competitor. The whole of the sections called the Kailása Yátrá, or Krishn?a's journey to Kailása, must have been wanting in the copy used by M. Langlois, as they are not included in his translation. The chapters of the Hari V. according to his enumeration of them are 261: my copy has 316.
599:4 The Bhágavata names him Sudakshin?a; the Padma, Dan?d?apáni.
599:5 A personified Krityá, a magical creation. The Padma has the same. The Bhágavata makes the product of the sacrificial fire a male, and sends him to Dwáraká, accompanied by a host of Bhútas, Suva's attendant goblins.
600:6 According to the Bhágavata, the magical being himself destroys Sudakshin?a and his priest; but Sudar?ana consumes the people and the city. The Padma ascribes the destruction of the king and all his city to the discus. The Hari V. closes its narrative with the death of Paun?d?raka, and makes no mention of the destruction of Benares. The circumstance is alluded to in a preceding section (s. 159) by Nárada, when detailing the exploits of Krishn?a.
600:7 In this legend, again, we have a contest between the followers of Vishn?u and ?iva intimated, as, besides the assistance given by the latter to Paun?d?raka, Benares--Varáná?í or Atimukta--has been from all time, as it is at present, the high place of the ?aiva worship. There is also an indication of a Vaishn?ava schism, in the competition between Paun?d?ra and Krishn?a for the title of Vásudeva, and the insignia of his divinity.
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The Vishnu Purana Book V- Chapter -XXXV
CHAP. XXXIV.
Paun?d?raka, a Vásudeva, assumes the insignia and style of Krishn?a, supported by the king of Ká?í. Krishn?a marches against, and destroys them. The son of the king sends a magical being against Krishn?a: destroyed by his discus, which also sets Benares on fire, and consumes it and its inhabitants.
MAITREYA.--Of a truth the divine ?auri, having assumed a mortal body, performed great achievements in his easy victories over ?akra and ?iva, and all their attendant divinities. I am now desirous to hear from you, illustrious sage, what other mighty exploit the humiliator of the prowess of the celestials performed.
PARÁ?ARA.--Hear, excellent Brahman, with reverent attention, an account of the burning of Varán?así by Krishn?a, in the course of his relieving the burdens of the earth.
There was a Vásudeva who was called Paun?d?raka 1, and who, though not the Vásudeva, was flattered by ignorant people as the descended deity, until he fancied himself to be the Vásudeva 2 who had come down upon earth. Losing all recollection of his real character, he assumed the emblems of Vishn?u, and sent an ambassador to the magnanimous Krishn?a with this message; "Relinquish, thou foolish fellow, the discus; lay aside all my insignia, my name, and the character of Vásudeva; and come and do me homage; and I will vouchsafe thee means of subsistence." At which Janárddana laughed, and replied, "Go, messenger, back to Paun?d?raka, and say to him from me, 'I will dispatch to thee my emblem the discus without fail. Thou wilt rightly apprehend my meaning, and consider what is to be done; for I shall come to thy city, bringing the discus with me, and shall undoubtedly consign it to thee. If thou wilt command me to come, I will immediately obey, and be with
p. 598
thee to-morrow; there shall be no delay: and, having sought thy asylum, I will so provide, O king, that I shall never more have any thing to dread from thee.'" So saying, he dismissed the, ambassador to report these words to his sovereign; and summoning Garud?a, mounted him, and set off for the city of Paun?d?raka 3.
When the king of Ká?í heard of the preparations of Ke?ava, he sent his army (to the aid of Paun?d?raka), himself bringing up the rear; and with the force of the king of Ká?í, and his own troops, Paun?d?raka, the false Vásudeva, marched to meet Krishn?a. Hari beheld him afar off, standing in his car, holding a discus, a club, a mace, a scimitar, and a lotus, in his hands; ornamented with a garland of flowers; bearing a bow; and having his standard made of gold: he had also the Srivatsa mark delineated on his breast; he was dressed in yellow garments, and decorated with earrings and a tiara. When the god whose standard is Garud?a beheld him, he laughed with a deep laugh, and engaged in conflict with the hostile host of cavalry and elephants, fighting with swords, scimitars, maces, tridents, spears, and bows. Showering upon the enemy the shafts from his ?áranga bow, and hurling at them his mace and discus, he quickly destroyed both the army of Paun?d?raka and that of the king of Ká?í. He then said to the former, who was foolishly wearing his emblems, "Paun?d?raka, you desired me by your envoy to resign to you all my insignia. I now deliver them to you. Here is
p. 599
my discus; here I give up my mace; and here is Garud?a, let him mount upon thy standard." Thus speaking, he let fly the discus and the mace, by which Paun?d?raka was cut to pieces, and cast on the ground; whilst the Garud?a on his banner was demolished by the Garud?a of Vishn?u. The people, beholding this sight, exclaimed, "Alas! alas!" but the valiant king of Ká?í, adhering to the imposture of his friend, continued the conflict, till ?auri decapitated him with his arrows, shooting his head into the city of Ká?í, to the marvel of all the inhabitants. Having thus slain Paun?d?raka and the king of Ká?í, with all their followers, ?auri returned to Dwáraká, where he lived in the enjoyment of heavenly delights.
When the inhabitants of Ká?í saw the head of their king shot into their city, they were much astonished, and wondered how it could have happened, and by whom the deed could have been done. Having ascertained that the king had been killed by Krishn?a, the son of the monarch of Ká?í 4, together with the priest of the family, propitiated ?ankara; and that deity, well pleased to be adored in the sacred place Avimukta, desired the prince to demand a boon: on which he prayed, and said, "O lord, mighty god, through thy favour let thy mystic spirit arise to destroy Krishn?a, the murderer of my father." "It shall be so," answered ?ankara: and from out of the southern fire upsprang a vast and formidable female 5, like flame out of fire, blazing with ruddy light, and with fiery radiance streaming amidst her hair. Angrily she called upon Krishn?a, and departed to Dwáraká; where the people, beholding her, were struck with dismay, and fled for protection to Madhusúdana, the refuge of all worlds. The wielder of the discus knowing that the fiend had been produced by the son of the king of Ká?í, through his adoration of the deity whose emblem is a bull, and being engaged in sportive amusements, and playing at dice, said to the discus, "Kill this fierce creature, whose tresses are of plaited flame." Accordingly Sudar?ana, the discus
p. 600
of Vishn?u, immediately attacked the fiend, fearfully enwreathed with fire, and wearing tresses of plaited flame. Terrified at the might of Sudar?ana, the creation of Mahe?wara awaited not his attack, but fled with speed, pursued by him with equal velocity, until she reached Varáná?í, repelled by the superior might of the discus of Vishn?u.
The army of Ká?í, and the host of the demigods attendant upon ?iva, armed with all kinds of weapons, then sallied out to oppose the discus; but, skilled in the use of arms, he consumed the whole of the forces by his radiance, and then set fire to the city, in which the magic power of ?iva had concealed herself 6. Thus was Varáná?í burnt, with all its princes and their followers, its inhabitants, elephants, horses, and men, treasures and granaries, houses, palaces, and markets. The whole of a city, that was inaccessible to the gods, was thus wrapped in flames by the discus of Hari, and was totally destroyed. The discus then, with unmitigated wrath, and blazing fiercely, and far from satisfied with the accomplishment of so easy a task, returned to the hand of Vishn?u 7.
Footnotes
597:1 From being, the commentator says, king of Pun?d?ra. The Bhágavata calls him chief of the Kárúshas; the Padma, king of Ká?í; but the Bhágavata, as well as our text, makes the king of Ká?í his friend and ally.
597:2 According to the Padma P., he propitiates ?iva, and obtains from him the insignia which constitute a Vásudeva. The different authorities for this legend all use the term Vásudeva in the sense of a title.
598:3 The Hari V. and Padma P. send Paun?d?raka to Dwáraká. According to the latter, Nárada incites Paun?d?raka to the aggression, telling him he cannot be a Vásudeva till he has overcome Krishn?a: he goes, and is killed. The former work, as usual, enters into particulars of its own invention. Krishn?a is absent on a visit to ?iva at Kailása, and during his absence Paun?d?raka, assisted by Ekalavya, king of the Nishádas, makes a night attack upon Dwáraká. They are resisted by the Yádavas under Sátyaki and Balaráma; by the former of whom Paun?d?raka is repeatedly overthrown, and all but slain: he requires so much killing, however, that he is likely to obtain the victory, when Krishn?a conies to the aid of his kinsmen, and after a protracted encounter, described in language employed a hundred times before, kills his competitor. The whole of the sections called the Kailása Yátrá, or Krishn?a's journey to Kailása, must have been wanting in the copy used by M. Langlois, as they are not included in his translation. The chapters of the Hari V. according to his enumeration of them are 261: my copy has 316.
599:4 The Bhágavata names him Sudakshin?a; the Padma, Dan?d?apáni.
599:5 A personified Krityá, a magical creation. The Padma has the same. The Bhágavata makes the product of the sacrificial fire a male, and sends him to Dwáraká, accompanied by a host of Bhútas, Suva's attendant goblins.
600:6 According to the Bhágavata, the magical being himself destroys Sudakshin?a and his priest; but Sudar?ana consumes the people and the city. The Padma ascribes the destruction of the king and all his city to the discus. The Hari V. closes its narrative with the death of Paun?d?raka, and makes no mention of the destruction of Benares. The circumstance is alluded to in a preceding section (s. 159) by Nárada, when detailing the exploits of Krishn?a.
600:7 In this legend, again, we have a contest between the followers of Vishn?u and ?iva intimated, as, besides the assistance given by the latter to Paun?d?raka, Benares--Varáná?í or Atimukta--has been from all time, as it is at present, the high place of the ?aiva worship. There is also an indication of a Vaishn?ava schism, in the competition between Paun?d?ra and Krishn?a for the title of Vásudeva, and the insignia of his divinity.
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The Vishnu Purana Book V- Chapter -XXXV
'The Vishnu Purana', translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, is public domain in the US because it was published prior to 1923.