The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER XXVII.
PAST LIVES OF LﾍLﾁ.
1.The two ladies then disappeared from that
place, leaving the Brāhman
family at their house in the mountainous
village.
2. The family exclaimed "We are highly
favoured by the sylvan
goddesses;" and then forgetting their
grief, they betook themselves to
their domestic employments.
3. Then the etherial goddess spake to the
aerial-Līlā, who stood fixed
in air, over the mansion of the Brāhman, in a
state of mute
astonishment.
4. They then conversed as familiarly with
each other, as persons having
the same thoughts and desires, agree with one
another in their views and
acts; and as the dreamers of the same dream
hold their mutual
correspondence, like Usha and Anniruddha (the Cupid and Psyche of
India).
5. Their conversation in their immaterial forms,
was of the same
intellectual (psychical) kind, as we are
conscious of in our dreams and
imaginations.
6. Sarasvatī said:—Now you have fully known
the knowable, and become
acquainted with whatever is visible and
invisible: such is the essence
of Brahma; say now what more you want to
know.
7. Līlā said:—Tell me the reason why I was
seen by my son, and not
where the spirit of my departed lord is
reigning over his realm.
8. Sarasvatī replied:—Because you were not
then perfect by your
practice of Yoga to have your wish fulfilled,
nor had you then lost your
sense of duality, which is a preventive of
perfection.
9. He who has not known the unity, is not
entitled to the acts and
benefits of his faith in the true god; as no
one sitting in the sun, can
enjoy the coolness of shade.
10. You were not practiced to forget your
identity as Līlā, nor learnt
that it is not your will, but the will of God
that is always fulfilled.
11. You have afterwards become of pure
desire, and wished that your son
might see you, whereby he was enabled to have
your sight.
12. Now if you should return to your husband,
and do the like, you will
undoubtedly be successful in your desire.
13. Līlā said:—I see within the sphere of
this dome (of my mind), the
Brāhman to have been my husband before; and I
see also in it, that he
died and became a ruler of the earth
afterwards.
14. I see in it that spot of the earth, that
city and that palace of his
where I sat as his queen.
15. I see within myself my lord to be
reigning in that place, and I see
even there how he died afterwards.
16. I see herein the glory of the sovereign
of so many countries on
earth, and I see also the perfect frankness
of his conduct through life.
17. I see the worlds in the inner sky of my
mind, as they are placed in
a casket, or as the oil is contained in a
mustard seed.
18. I see the bright orb of my husband ever
roving before me, and now I
pray you to contrive any how to place me by
his side.
19. The Goddess replied:—Tell me Līlā, to
what husband you shall go, as
there are hundreds of them that you had, and
shall have in your past and
future lives, and now there are three of them
confined in this earth.
20. The nearest of the three, is the Brāhman
who is here reduced to
ashes; the next is the prince lying in state
and covered with flowers in
the inner apartment.
21. The third is now a reigning prince in
this earth, and has been
buffeting in the waves of error in the vast
ocean of the world.
22. His intellect is darkened and disordered
by the splashing waves of
worldliness, his intelligence is perverted to
stupidity, and he is
converted to a tortoise in the ocean of the
world.
23. The management of his very many
disordered state affairs, has
stultified him to a lubbard, and he is now
fast asleep amidst the
turmoils of business.
24. He is fast bound to subjection by the
strong chain of his thoughts,
that he is a lord, is mighty, accomplished,
and that he is happy and is
to enjoy his estates for ever.
25. Now say, O excellent lady! to what
husband you wish to be led, in
the manner of the fragrance of one forest
borne by the breeze to
another.
26. Here you are in one place, and there they
in others amidst this vast
world; and the state of their lives and
manners differs widely from one
another.
27. These orbs of light in the heaven, though
they appear to be placed
so near us (both to our eyesight and in the
mind), are yet situated
millions of leagues apart from one another;
and the departed souls are
carried in them (in their endless
transmigrations).
28. And again all these bodies are as vacuous
as air, though they
contain the great mounts Meru and Mandara in
themselves.
29. All bodies are formed by the combination
of atoms, incessantly
proceeding from the Great Intellect, like
particles of sun-beams over
the universe.
30. The great and stupendous fabric of the
world, is no more (in the eye
of intelligence), than a quantity of paddy
weighed in the balance.
31. As the spangled heavens appear like a
forest full of brilliant gems
in it, so the world appears as full of the
glory of God to the
contemplative mind, and not as composed of
earth or other material
bodies in it.
32. It is intelligence alone, that shines in
the form of world in the
intelligent soul, and not any material body,
which was never brought
into being before.
33. As billows in the lake, rise and set and
rise again, so the rising
and falling days and nights present these
various scenes to our
knowledge.
34. Līlā said:—So it is, O mother of mankind!
and so I come to remember
now, that my present birth (state) is of a
royal (rājasika) kind, and
neither of too pure nor gross a nature. (Sattvika or Tāmasika).
35. I having descended from Brahmā, had
undergone a hundred and eight
births (in different shapes); and after
passing various states, I find
myself still in existence.
36. I recollect, O goddess! to have been born
in another world before,
and to have been the bride of a Vidyādhara,
when I used to rove about as
freely as a bee over flowers.
37. Being debased by my libertinism, I was
born in this mortal world,
and became the mate of the king of the
feathered tribe (an eagle).
38. And then having been a resident in the
woods, I was turned to a
woodman's mate, wearing a vest of leaves on
my loins.
39. Growing fond of my life, I sported
wantonly about the forest, and
was changed to the guluncha plant, delighting the woods with my leafy
palms and flowering eyes.
40. This arboret of the holy hermitage, was
held sacred by the society
of saintly sages; and then I was regenerated
in the form of an
anchorite's child, after the woods were burnt
down by a wild-fire.
41. Here I was initiated in the formularies
for removing the curse of
womanhood, and became as a male being in the
person of the handsome
prince of Surāshtra (Surat), where I reigned
for a hundred years (or for
a whole century).
42. I was then denounced to become a weasel,
and covered with leprosy,
in the lowlands of Tāli, on account of my
misconduct in the government.
43. I remember, O goddess! how I became a
bullock at Surat, and was
goaded by thoughtless cowherd boys, in their
merry sport for full eight
years.
44. I bear in mind when I was transformed to
a bird, and with what
difficulty I broke the net, that was laid by
bird-catchers for my
destruction. It was in the same manner as we
release ourselves from the
snares of sinful desires.
45. I remember with pleasure when as a bee, I
lighted lightly on the
leaflets of blossoms, sipped the honey of the
blooming buds, dined on
the pistils, and slept in the cups of lotus
flowers.
46. I wandered about in pleasant wood-lands
and lawns, with my exalted
and branching horns and beautiful eyes, in
the form of an antelope, till
I was killed by the dart of a huntsman in my
mortal part.
47. I have been in the form of a fish, and
was lifted up by the waves of
the sea above the surface of the water. I saw
how a tortoise was killed
by the blow of a club on the neck, when it
failed to break its
back-bone.
48. I was a Chandāla huntsman once, roving by
the side of Charmanvatī
(the river Chenab), when I used to quench my
thirst with cocoa water, as
I was tired with roaming.
49. I became a stork also, delighting in
lakes with my mate, and filling
the air with our sweet cries.
50. In another birth, I rambled about in
groves of palm and tamāla
trees, and fixed my eyes with amorous looks
and glances upon my lover.
51. I had next been a fairy Apsarā, with a
form as bright as melted
gold, and features as beautiful as those of
the lotus and lily, in which
the celestials like bees and butterflies,
used to take delight.
52. I remember to have decked myself in gold
and pearls, and in gems and
rubies upon earth, and to have sported with
my youthful consorts in
pleasure gardens and groves, and on hills and
mountains.
53. And I remember also to have lived long as
a tortoise on the borders
of a river, and to have been carried away by
the waves, sometimes under
an arbour of creepers, over-hung with
clusters of beautiful flowers; and
at others to some wild cave washed by the
waves.
54. I see how I acted the part of a goose
with my covering of feathers,
swimming on the high heaving waves on the
surface of a lake.
55. Then seeing a poor gnat hanging on the
moving leaf of a Sālmali
branch, I became its associate and as
contemptible a thing like itself.
56. I became an aquatic crane also, skimming
playfully over the waters
gushing from the hills, and slightly kissing
the crests of the waves
rising over the rapid torrent.
57. I remember also how I slighted the loves
of amorous youths, and
spurned off from me the Vidyādhara boys on
the Gandha Mādana and Mandara
hills.
58. I remember likewise the pangs of a
lovelorn lass, when I lay pining
in my bed, strewn over with the fragrance of
camphor, and how I was
decaying like the disk of the waning moon.
59. Thus I passed through many births, in the
wombs of higher and lower
animals, and found them all to be full of
pain. And my soul has run over
the billows of the irresistible current of
life, like the fleet
antelope, pacing its speed with the swiftness
of the wind
(Vātapramī).
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SECTION I.
EXPOSITION OF LﾍLﾁ'S VISION.
Rāma said:—Tell me sir, in what manner the
goddesses broke out of the
strongholds of their bodies, and the prison
house of this world, (where
their souls were pent up), and passed through
infinite space, to survey
the scenes beyond its confines. (i. e. How does the mind and the
flight of imagination, reach to regions
unknown and unseen before).
2. Vasishtha replied:—Where is the world and
where is its support or
solidity? They were all situated in the
region within the minds of the
goddesses.
3. They saw in it the hilly tract, where the
Brāhmana Vasishtha had his
abode and his desire of royalty, (pictured in
in their minds).
4. They saw in a corner of it the deserted
mansion of the Brāhman, and
they saw in it the surface of the earth
stretching to the seas. (i. e.
in their mental view).
5. They beheld in that imaginary spot of
earth the city of the prince,
and the royal palace which he had enjoyed
with Arundhati his consort (in
his imagination).
6. How she was born under the name of Līlā,
and worshipped the goddess
of wisdom—Sarasvatī; by whom she was
miraculously conveyed to the
delightful region of the sky.
7. It was in the mansion situated in that
hilly village, that she beheld
the world placed within the space of a span
of her mind.
8. Having come out of her vision of the
world, she found herself seated
in her house, as one finds himself lying in
his own bed, after his
rambling from one dream to another.
9. All that she saw was mere vision and void;
there was no world nor
earth, nor a house nor the distance thereof.
10. It was the mind which showed them these
images, as it presents the
objects of our desire to our view; or else
there was neither any world
nor earth in actuality.
11. The sphere of intelligence is infinite,
and without any covering;
and being agitated by the powers of one's intellect,
it presents all the
objects of nature to his view, as the sky
when agitated by heat produces
the winds.
12. The sphere of the intellect is uncreated,
(being a mode of the
Divinity itself); it is ever calm everywhere;
and is supposed as the
world itself by deluded minds.
13. He who understands rightly, views the
world to be as unsubstantial
as air; but whoso is misled by his wrong
judgement takes it to be as a
solid mountain.
14. As a house and a city are manifested to
us in our dream, so is this
unreal world presented as a reality to our
understandings.
15. As is the misconception of water in the
mirage, and the mistake of
gold in a bracelet; so does all this
unreality appear as a
substantiality to the mistaken mind.
16. Discoursing in this manner between
themselves, the two charming
ladies, walked out of the house with their
graceful steps.
SECTION II.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MOUNTAINOUS HABITATION.
17. Being unseen by the village people, they
viewed the mountain which
stood before them, kissing the vault of
heaven, and touching the orb of
the sun with its lofty peaks.
18. It was decorated with flowers of various
colours, and covered with a
variety of woods of various hues. There were
waterfalls gushing with
their tremendous roarings on one side, and
groves resounding with the
warbling of birds in another.
19. The clouds were variegated by the many
coloured clusters of flowers
sweeping over them, and cranes and storks sat
screeching on the
cloud-capt top of gulancha trees.
20. There were the robust reeds, hedging the
banks of rivers with their
wide stretching stems and roots, and the
strong winds tossing about the
tender creepers, growing out of the rocky
caves, for want of support.
21. The tops of trees covered with flowers,
were over-topped by the
sheds of clouds hanging from the vault of
heaven; which shed profusely
their pearly drops of rain water upon them,
and formed the current
streams below.
22. The banks of the streamlets were
continually laved by the waves,
raised by the winds playing upon the shaking
arbours on them; and a
continued cooling shade was spread by the
branching trees all around.
23. Standing on that spot, the ladies beheld
the hilly hamlet in the
lawn, likening a fragment of heaven fallen
upon the ground.
24. There the purling rills were softly
gliding by, and here the
brimming brooks wabbled in the ground. The
birds of the air were
chirping on the sprays and aquatic fowls were
flying about the holes of
the sea shore.
25. There they saw the herds of kine slowly
moving and grazing in the
plains, and filling the echoing woods with
their loud lowing; and beheld
the space, interspersed with shady groves and
arbours and verdant
meadows all about.
26. The cliffs were whitened with snow,
impenetrable by sunbeams; and
the tops of hills were covered with bushy
brambles, forming as braids of
hair upon their craggy heads.
27. Cascades falling in torrents in the
cavities of rocks, and
scattering their pearly particles afar,
memorialized the churning of the
milky ocean by the Mandara mountain.
28. The trees in the glens, loaded as they
were with their fruits and
flowers, appeared as waiters upon the
goddesses, and standing to welcome
their approach with their rich presents.
29. Shaken by gusts of roaring winds, the
forest trees, were shedding
showers of their mellifluent flowers, as
offerings to the sylvan gods
and people.
30. The birds that approached fearlessly to
drink the water dropping
from the hill, now fled for fear of their
seeming as sleets, shells and
shots of archers.
31. The birds parched by thirst, and wishing
to drink the water dashed
by the waves of the rivulet, were hovering
upon it as stars in the sky.
32. There were rows of crows sitting on the
tops of the tall tāla (or
palm) trees, from whose sight the boys were
hiding the remains of their
sweetmeat.
33. There they beheld the rustic lads with
garlands of flowers on their
heads and garments; and roaming in the
cooling shades of the date, jam
and nimba trees.
34. They saw the lean and hungry beggar woman
passing slowly by the way,
and clad in her flaxen robe, with chaplets of
blossoms for her ear
dress.
35. They saw the lazy rustics sitting retired
in their lonely retreats,
and conversing afar from the noisy brooks where
they could hardly hear
one another.
36. They saw the naked mendicant boys,
besmeared in their face and hands
with curd, and with cow-dung upon their
bodies, and holding the flowery
branches of plants in their hands, and
crowding in the compound.
37. The bushes on the verdant banks of the
river, were shaken to and fro
as in a swing by the dashing of the waves,
which left their marks on the
sandy shore, as the waters receded to their
bed.
38. The house was full of flies cloyed with
the sweets of milk and
curds; but the children were moaning with
cries for their want of
sufficient food.
39. The herdswomen were observed to be
fretting, at seeing their
wristlets daubed by the cow-dung, (which they
were pasting); and the men
were seen to be smiling, at seeing the
eagerness of women, for tying the
loosened knots of their hair.
40. The crows were alighting from the tops of
hills, to pick up the
offerings of the holy sages; and the paths
about their houses, were
strewn over with the sacred kuru and kurunta leaves.
41. The floral plants growing in the caverns
of the hills, and about the
precincts of the house, covered the ground
every morning, with heaps of
flowers to the depth of the heels.
42. There were the chouri kine and antelopes, grazing in one part of
the forest; and also the tender fawn sleeping
on the bed of grass under
the gunja groves.
43. There were the young calves lying on one
side, and shaking their
ears to drive the flies away; which were
fluttering on their faces, and
upon the milk exuding from the sides of their
mouths.
44. The rooms were stored with honey, which
had been collected by
driving the bees from the hives; the gardens
were full of flowering
asokas (asoka Jonesia); and
their rooms were painted with lacdye.
45. The winds moistened by the showers of
rain, had given the arboretum
to bloom, and the blooming buds of Kadamba,
overhung like a canopy, the
beds of green grass below.
46. The Ketaka (keya)
arbour was blooming white by removal of its
weeds, and the water-course was gliding along
with its soft murmuring
tune.
47. The winds whistled in the windows of the
caves, and the clouds
rested on the roofs of the mountain tops; the
ponds were brimful of
water, and filled with lotuses like so many
lightsome moons.
48. The green arbour cast its cooling and
undivided shade upon the
ground, where the dew-drops trembling on the
blades of grass, glistened
like twinkling stars in the azure sky.
49. The trees incessantly dropped down their
ripened fruits, and dried
flowers and leaves of various sorts, like
showers of snow on the
whitened ground.
50. There some clouds were seen to hang
continually over the household
compound, like the chirinti (or kulīna) girls, that never forsake the
abode of their parents; while there were
others hovering over the roof
of the house, and flashing in lightenings
that supplied the place of
lights.
51. The altar here, re-echoed to the loud
roaring of the winds, confined
in the caverns of the mountains; and the
temple there, was graced by the
twittering swallows and parrots, that
alighted upon it in their numerous
flights.
52. Soft breezes were moving slowly, loaded
with the fragrance exhaled
by the sleepy flowers (in the evening), and
gently shaking the leaves of
trees as they passed along the lawn.
53. There the ladies were attentive to the
prattling and playful parrots
and partridges, and here they listened to the
melodious notes of the
Kokila, responsive to the jarring crows on the branches.
54. The palma and tamāla trees were loaded
with fruits, and the forest
trees were entwined by creepers, which waved
their leafy palms around
them.
55. There were the tender ivy creepers,
clasping the branches on one
side, and the fragrance of the efflorescent Kandala and silindhra
plants, exhaled on the other. The tapering tāla and tamāla trees
rising as high as spires, and a cooling
breeze was blowing amidst the
flower plants in the gardens.
56. There were the kine hastening to drink
the water in the troughs, and
garden trees hanging with loads of green
unripe fruits and beautiful
flowers; the running streams were hidden
under rows of trees on the
banks, and the stalks of plants were studded
with flowers without
alternation.
57. The gardens were perfumed with the
nectarious fragrance of kunda
flowers, and the lakes were redolent with the
odour of lotuses, hiding
the humble bees giddy with liquor, in their
honied cells. The air was
reddened with the roseate pollen, flying from
the crimson lotuses
(sthala padmas) of the land, and mocked the redness of Indra's palace
in the sky.
58. The gargling noise of the rivulets
running down precipitately from
the hills, and the whiteness of the hoary
cloud, hanging with the hue
of kundu flowers over them; the beauty of the flowery parterres in
the
compound of the house, and the melodious
warbling of musical birds
singing joyous in the air, enchanted the
scene.
59. The youths were sporting on their beds of
flowers, and the playful
damsels were decked with flowery wreaths
hanging down to their feet. The
ground was adorned every where with sprouting
and prickly shrubs and
blades of grass; and there was a beauty
displayed in the clasping of
creepers about the clumps of reeds.
60. The new shooting buds and blossoms
covered the trees around, and
fragments of clouds shrouded the houses
below; the ground was decorated
by wreaths of icicles, and the flash of
lightnings in the clouds over
the houses, terrified the women within.
61. There was the fragrance of blue lotuses
exhaling its sweets about,
and the hoarse lowings of the kine, hastening
to their green grazing
ground. The confident deer and does were
lying tamely in the house-yard,
and the peacocks dancing merrily before the
water-falls, as if they were
the showers of rain water.
62. The odoriferous breezes were blowing
giddily, with the flavour of
the fragrance they bore about; and the
medicinal plants were lending
their lights like lamps at night. The nests
of birds were resonant with
ceaseless warblings, and the noise of the
cataracts deafened the ears of
men on the bank.
63. The pearly dew drops, that were
continually dropped on the ground,
from the leaves of trees and blades of grass;
and the gleaming beauty of
the ever blooming blossoms above, form with others,
the everlasting
charms of mountainous habitations, and baffle
the description of poets.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ACCOUNT OF THE PREVIOUS LIFE OF LﾍLﾁ
A Description of the Domestic Duties of a
Hindu Lady.
The two goddesses then alighted in that
cooling village seat, as the two
states of felicity and liberation, meet in
the tranquil spirit of the
man knowing the Divine spirit.
2. Līlā, who had by this time, become
personified to the form of pure
intelligence, by her knowledge of yoga, now
became a seer of the three
times presenting themselves before her.
3. She remembered the whole course of her
past life, and derived
pleasure in relating the events of her former
life and death.
4. Līlā said:—I recollect by thy favour, O
goddess! and by sight of
this place, all what I did and thought of in
my past life.
5. Here I had grown up to old age, and here I
had withered and become
lean and thin as a skeleton. I was a Brāhmanī
here, and had my body
scratched by the dried sacrificial grass (kusa), which I had to meddle
with.
6. I was the legal wife of my lord, and
producer of his race, and was
employed in the acts of milking the kine, and
churning the curd (for
butter and ghee). I had been mother of many sons, and a kind hostess
to my guests.
7. I was devoted to the service of the gods,
Brāhmans and good people,
and rubbed my body with cow milk and ghee: I was employed in cleaning
the frying pans and the boiling kettles of
the house.
8. I boiled the food daily with a single
bracelet of glass and one of
conch-shell in my wrists; and served my
father, mother, brother and
daughters and sons-in-law with their daily
victuals.
9. I was emaciated in my body like a domestic
servant, by working all
day and night; and 'haste and hasten,' were
the words I used to repeat
to myself.
10. Being thus busied and employed, I was so
silly and ignorant, that I
never thought within myself, even in a dream,
about what I was and what
was this world, although I had been the wife
of a Brāhman.
11. Wholly engaged in the collection of fuel,
cow-dung, and sacrificial
wood and vegetables, I became emaciated in my
body, which was wrapt in a
worn out blanket.
12. I used to pick out the worms from the
ears of the milch cow, and was
prompt to water the garden of greens with
watering pots in hand.
13. I used to go to the swelling lake every
day, and get the fresh green
grass for the fodder of my tender calves. I
used to wash and clean the
house every morning, and paint the doorway
with the white tints of
pasted and powdered rice (gundi].
14. I had to correct my domestics with gentle
rebukes, and tell them to
keep within their bounds like the billows in
the rivers.
15. With my infirm body and ears shaking as
dried leaves of trees, and
supporting myself on a stick, I lived here
under the dread of old age.
16. As she was speaking in this manner, and
walking in company with
Sarasvatī about the village, in the valley of
the mountain, she was
astonished to see her former seats of
pleasure, and showed them to the
goddess.
17. This was my flowery arbour, decorated by
these torn pātala plants,
and this was my garden alcove of flowering
Asokas.
18. This is the bank of the pond where the
calves were loosely tied to
the trees; and this is my pet calf Karnikā,
which has refrained from
browzing the leaves (in my absence).
19. This is my watering woman, now so languid
and dirty in her
appearance; and weeping these eight days in
my absence, with her eyes
daubed in tears.
20. This, O goddess, is the place, where I
used to eat and sit, and
where I slept and walked; and these are the
places where I gave and
received the things to and from my
attendants.
21. This is my eldest son Jyeshtha Sarmā,
weeping in the house; and this
is my milch cow, now grazing on the grassy
plain in the forest.
22. I see this portico and these windows,
once dear to me as my person,
and besmeared with the dry powder of the huli festival of the vernal
season.
23. I see these pulpy plants of gourd planted
with my own hands, and
dear to me as myself, now spreading
themselves over the oven place.
24. I see these relatives of mine, who had
been the bonds of my life
before, now smoking in their eyes with tears,
and carrying the fuel for
fire, with beads of rudrāksha seeds on their bodies.
25. I see that stony shore, baffling the
force of the waves, which have
been pelting their pebbles against it, now
covered by bushes of the
beach.
26. The verdant meadows were full of leafy plants,
with pendant dew
drops on their tips; and the plains were
whitened by the hailstones
falling on them in showers.
27. The mid-day was mantled by sun beams, as
by a white mist of frost,
and the arbours resounded with the humming of
bees, fluttering about
their clustering flowers.
28. The blooming palāsa glowing as reddish
corals, had covered the trees
and the land with heaps of crimson flowers.
29. The village rill was flowing with the
floating fruits, which it bore
from shore to shore; and the rustic lads
jumbled together with loud
noise, eager to lay hold on them.
30. The cool shady beach of the rill, was
strewn over with pebbles,
washed and carried away by the current, and
covered by leaves falling
from the trees.
31. There I see the altar of my house, which
is so beautifully
ornamented with the flowering creepers, and
which is overhung on its
windows by clusters of fruits and flowers.
32. Here lived my husband, whose life has
fled to the sky in its aerial
form, and became afterwards the lord of the
earth, reaching to the
surrounding seas.
33. I remember, how he had fostered the fond
wish of obtaining royal
dignity, and how ardently he looked forward
on its attainment.
34. I see, O goddess! his royal dignity of
eight days, which had seemed
to be of so long a duration (as eighty years)
before.
35. I see the soul of my Lord, residing in
the empty space of this
mansion, as in his former kingly state;
although it is invisible to all
as the current air in the sky, and as the
odours borne by the winds.
36. It is in this vacuous space, that his
soul is contained in the form
of a thumb; which contains in its bosom, the
whole extent of the realm
of my lord, stretching to thousands of
leagues in its circumference.
37. I see also O goddess! the spacious
kingdom of my lord, in the space
of my intellect, which makes room for
thousands of mountains by the
miraculous power of God, styled as illusion.
(māyā).
38. I wish now, O Goddess! to see the earthly
city of my lord again; let
us therefore turn our course that way, as no
place is distant to the
resolute.
39. Vasishtha said:—Having said so, she bowed
down to the goddess and
entered into the shrine, and then like a
bird, she flew into the air
with the goddess.
40. It was a region devoid of darkness, and
as fair as a sea of
moonlight. And then it was as azure as the
person of Nārāyana, and as
bright as the back of a locust.
41. They passed above the regions of the
clouds and winds, as also
beyond the spheres of the orbits of the sun
and moon.
42. They passed beyond the path of the north
polar star, and the limits
of the circuits of the sādhyas and siddhas
and other celestial beings.
43. Thence they ascended to the higher
heavens of Brahmā and the Tushita
divinities, and then upward to the sphere of
Golaka (the zodiac); and
thence again to the Sivaloka, and the sphere
of the Pitris or the
departed souls of the dead.
44. Passing thus beyond the spheres of the
embodied living beings, and
bodiless souls of the dead, they proceeded
far and farther to the
unknown regions of empty space.
45. Having passed the etherial sphere, they
beheld nothing there, except
the sun, moon and the stars shining below
them.
46. There was only a deep darkness to be
seen, filling the whole vacuity
of space, and appearing as the basin of the
waters of universal deluge,
and as compact as the impenetrable cavity of
a rock.
47. Līlā said:—Tell me, O goddess! what
became of the light of the sun
and other luminaries, and whence came this
dense darkness as to be
compressed under the fist (mushti-grāhya).
48. The goddess replied: you have got to a
spot so remote from the
spheres of heaven, that the light of the
luminaries can never reach to
it.
49. And as one in a deep dark pit, can see no
light of a fire fly
flitting over it; so the solar light is
invisible to one behind the
great belt of heaven.
50. Līlā said:—Oh! the great distance that we
have come to, whence the
great luminary of the sun also, appears as
small as an atom below.
51. Tell me mother, what sort of a place is
that which lies beyond this
region, and how can we come to it after
traversing this gloomy expanse.
52. Sarasvatī said:—Behind this is the great
pole of the universe,
which is scattered over with innumerable
nebular stars in the form of
the particles of dust.
53. Vasishtha said:—As they were talking in
this manner, they glided
imperceptibly to that pole, as the bee saunters
over the solitary hut on
the height of a mountain.
54. They then were at no pains to come down
from that precipice, as
there is no pains to effect what must
certainly come to pass in the end,
though it appeared difficult at first. (Or)
that which is certain must
come to pass, however hard it might seem at
first.
55. They saw the system of the universe, laid
naked to their sight, as
the bold navigator beholds a world exposed to
his view beyond the wide
expanse of waters.
56. They saw the watery expanse to be ten
times greater than the earth,
and enveloping it in the shape of the crust
of the walnut fruit.
57. Then there is a latent heat which is ten
times as great as the
water, and the circumambient air which is as
much greater than the
water; and then the all encompassing vacuum
of which there is no end.
58. There is no beginning, middle or end of
that infinite space; and it
is productive of nothing, like a barren woman
of her offspring.
59. It is only an extended expanse, infinite,
calm and without
beginning, middle or end, and is situated in
the Supreme spirit.
60. Its immensity is as immeasurable as if a
stone is flung with full
force from its top, or if the phoenix would
fly up to it with all his
might, or if he would traverse through it in
full velocity, it is
impossible for him to reach from one end to
the other, in a whole Kalpa
age.
CHAPTER XXX.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MUNDANE EGG—(BRAHMﾁNDA).
They passed in a moment beyond the regions of
the earth, air, fire,
water, and vacuum, and the tracks of the ten
planetary spheres.
2. They reached the boundless space, whence
the universe appeared as an
egg (ovum).
3. They beheld under its vault millions of
luminous particles floating
in the air (nebulae).
4. These were as innumerable bubbles,
floating on the waters of the
unlimited ocean of the sphere of the
Intellect.
5. Some of them were going downward, and
others rising upward; some
turning round, and others appeared to their
understanding to remain
fixed and immovable.
6. These different motions appeared to them
with respect to their own
situations, as they saw them in their
different sides.
7. Here there were no ups and downs and no
upside or below, nor any
going forward or backward. Here there are no
such directions as men take
to be by the position of their bodies.
8. There is but one indefinite space in
nature, as there is but one
consciousness in all beings; yet everything
moves in its own way, as
wayward boys take their own course.
9. Rāma said:—Tell me sir, why do we call
upward and downward, forward
and backward, if there are no such things in
space and nature.
10. Vasishtha said:—There is but one space
enveloping all things, and
the worlds which are seen in the infinite and
indiscernible womb of
vacuity, are as worms moving on the surface
of water.
11. All these bodies that move about in the
world by their want of
freedom (i. e. by the power of attraction), are thought to be up and
down by our position on earth.
12. So when there is a number of ants on an
earthen ball, all its sides
are reckoned below which are under their
feet, and those as above which
are over their backs.
13. Such is this ball of the earth in one of
these worlds, covered by
vegetables and animals moving on it, and by
devas, demons and men
walking upon it.
14. It is covered also by cities, towns and
mountains, and their
inhabitants and productions, like the walnut
by its coat.
15. Like elephants appearing as pigmies in
the Vindhyan mountains, do
these worlds appear as particles in the vast
expanse of space.
16. Every thing that is any where, is
produced from and subsists in
space. It is always all in all things, which
are contained as particles
in it.
17. Such is the pure vacuous space of the
Divine understanding, that
like an ocean of light, contains these
innumerable worlds, which like
the countless waves of the sea, are revolving
for ever in it.
18. Some of these are hollow within, and
others as dark as the darkness
in the end of a kalpa age: and they are all moving about in the ocean
of vacuity, like the waves of the sea.
19. Some of these are whirling about with a
jarring noise for ever,
which is neither heard by nor known to any
body. It is like the motion
of men addicted to earthly pursuits by their
nature.
20. Some of these are now growing in form, as
if they were newly
created, and are in the course of their
development, like sprouts in the
cells of seeds newly sown in the ground.
21. Some of these are melting away as icicles
under heat, like the
mountains that were melted down by the
burning sun and heavenly fire, at
the dissolution of the world.
22. Others have been continually falling
downward without gaining the
ground, till at last they dwindle away, and
melt into the divine
Intellect.
23. Others are as immovable in the air, as
the animalcula in the water,
which are moved to and fro by the wind,
without any sign of motion or
sensation in them.
24. Again nothing is stable in nature, but
every thing is as changeful
as the acts and usages enjoined in the Vedas
and sāstras, are altered
and succeeded by others.
25. There are other Brahmās and other
patriarchs, and many Vishnus and
many Indras one after the other. We have
different kings of men, and
sometimes no ruler of them.
26. Some are as men and lords of others (Ishas),
in this multiform
creation, and some are creeping and crooked
living beings on earth; some
kinds are as full as the waters of the ocean,
and others have become
quite extinct in the world.
27. Some are as hard as solid stones, and
others as soft as the poor
insects and worms; some are of godly figures
as the giants, and others
of puny human forms.
28. Some are quite blind and suited to
darkness (as owls and moles and
bats); others are suited to light (as men,
birds and beasts), and some
to both (as cats and rats).
29. Some are born as gnats sucking the juice
of the fruits of the fig
tree; while others are empty within, and fly
about and feed upon the
air.
30. The world is thus filled with creatures
beyond the conception of
Yogis, and we can not form even a guess-work
of the beings that fill the
infinite vacuum.
31. This world is the sphere of these living
beings; but the great
vacuum spreading beyond it, is so extensive,
that it is immeasurable by
the gods Vishnu and others, were they to
traverse through it, for the
whole of their lives.
32. Every one of these etherial globes, is
encircled by a belt
resembling a golden bracelet; and has an
attractive power like the earth
to attract other objects.
33. I have told you all about the grandeur of
the universe to my best
knowledge, any thing beyond this, is what I
have no knowledge of, nor
power to describe.
34. There are many other large worlds,
rolling through the immense space
of vacuum, as the giddy goblins of Yakshas revel about in the dark and
dismal deserts and forests, unseen by others.
CHAPTER XXXI.
SECTION I.
ALIGHTING OF THE LADIES ON EARTH.
Vasishtha said:—After having seen the worlds
in their aerial journey,
the ladies alighted from there, and quickly
entered the inner apartment
of the king.
2. There they saw the dead body of the king
lying in state amidst heaps
of flowers, accompanied by the spiritual body
of Līlā, sitting beside
the corpse.
3. It was the dead of night, and the inmates
had fallen into sound sleep
one by one; and the room was perfumed with
the incense of resin, camphor
and sandalwood and saffron.
4. Līlā, seeing the house of her latter
husband, and wishing to enter
into it, alighted in her assumed body
(sankalpadeha) on the spot of his
sepulchre.
5. She then passed through the fictitious
spacious palace of her lord
(sankalpasansāra), by breaking out of the confines of her body and
cranium called the earthly and worldly
environs in Yoga terminology
(sansāra and Brahmānda-āvaranas).
6. Then she went again with the goddess to
the bright and spacious
temple of the world (Brahmānda-mandapa), in
which she quickly entered.
7. She saw her husband's imaginary world to
lie as a dirty and mossy
pool, as the lioness beholds the mountain
cave covered by darkness and
clouds.
8. The goddesses then entered into that
vacuous world with their airy
bodies, as weak ants make their passage
through the hard crust of the
wood-apple or bel-fruit.
9. There they passed through regions of
cloudy hills and skies, and
reached the surface of the earth, consisting
of tracts of land and
basins of water.
10. They then came to the Jambu-dwīpa (Asia),
situated amidst the
ninefold petals of the other dwīpas (or
continents), and thence
proceeded to the territories of Līlā's
husband in the varsha land
of
Bharata (India).
11. At this interval of time they beheld a
certain prince—(the ruler of
Sinde), strengthened by other chiefs, making
an attack on this part
which was the beauty of the world.
12. They beheld the air crowded by people of
the three worlds, who had
assembled there to see the conflict.
13. They remained undaunted, and saw the air
crowded by aerial beings in
groups like clouds.
14. There were the Siddhas, Chāranas,
Gandharvas, Vidyādharas, Sūras,
celestials and Apsarās in large bodies.
15. There were also the goblins of Bhūtas and
Pisāchas, and Rākshasa
cannibals; while the Vidyādhara females were
flinging handfuls of
flowers like showers of rain on the combatants.
16. The Vetālas, Yakshas and Kushmānds, that
were looking at the affray
with pleasure, took themselves to the shelter
of hills, to avoid the
flying darts and weapons.
17. The imps were flying from the air, to
keep themselves from the way
of the flying weapons; and the spectators
were excited by sound of the
war-whoop of the combatants.
18. Līlā who was standing by with a flapper
(or fan) in her hand, was
frightened at the imminent dreadful conflict,
and smiled to scorn their
mutual vauntings.
SECTION II.
SIGHT OF A BATTLE ARRAY IN EARTH AND AIR.
19. Virtuous people who were unable to endure
the horrid sight, betook
themselves to prayers, with the chief priests
for averting the calamity.
20. The messengers of Indra, were ready with
their decorated elephants
(called loka-pālas), for bearing the souls of mighty heroes to grace
the seats of heaven.
21. The chāranas and Gandharvas, were singing
praises of the advancing
heroes; and heavenly nymphs that liked
heroism, were glancing at the
best combatants.
22. Voluptuous women were wishing to embrace
the arms of the brave; and
the fair fame of the heroes, had turned the
hot sunshine to cool
moonlight.
23. Rāma asked:—Tell me, sir, what sort of a
warrior is called a hero,
that becomes a jewel in heaven, and who is an
insurgent.
24. Vasishtha answered:—He who engages in a
lawful warfare, and fights
for his king, and whether he dies or becomes
victorious in the field, is
called a hero, and goes to heaven.
25. Whoever kills men otherwise in war and
dies afterwards, in an unjust
cause, is called an insurgent, and goes to
hell at last.
26. Whoever fights for unlawful property, and
dies in battle, becomes
subject to everlasting hell fire.
27. Whoso wages a just warfare, that is
justified by law and usage, that
warrior is called both loyal as well as
heroic in deed.
28. Whoever dies in war, for the preservation
of kine, Brāhmans and
friends with a willing mind, and whoso
protects his guest and refugee
with all diligence, he verily becomes an
ornament in heaven after his
death.
29. The king who is steadfast in protecting
his subjects and his own
country, is called the just, and those that
die in his cause are called
the brave.
30. They that die fighting on the side of
riotous subjects, or in the
cause of rebellious princes or chiefs, are
doomed to fire.
31. They that die fighting unjustly against
their kings, lawgivers and
rulers, are subjected to the torments of
hell.
32. A war which is just, serves to establish
order; but the giddy that
are fearless of the future, destroy all order
(by their unjust warfare).
33. The hero dying, goes to heaven, is the
common saying; and the
sāstras call the lawful warrior only a hero,
and not otherwise.
34. They who suffer wounds on their bodies,
for the protection of the
righteous and good, are said to be heroes, or
else they are insurgents
(dimbhavas).
35. It was in expectation of seeing such
heroes that the damsels of the
gods, were standing in the air, and talking
to themselves of becoming
the spouses of such warriors.
36. The air was as decorated as by an illumination
on high, and by rows
of the beautiful heavenly cars of gods and
Siddhas, and presence of
celestial maidens, who sang in sweet notes,
and decorated their locks
with mandāra flowers.
CHAPTER XXXII.
ONSET OF THE WAR.
Vasishtha said:—Līlā standing with the
goddess of wisdom in air, saw
the Apsarās dancing there, at the eagerness
of the combatants for war
below.
2. She beheld the assemblage of the forces in
her own territory once
governed by her lord; and saw the field of
the air not less formidable
by the assembled ghosts (and its encircling
belt composed of the lion,
scorpion, crab and the archer).
3. The meeting of the two forces made the
ground appear as a billowy
sea; like the meeting of two clouds in the
sky, giving it the appearance
of two hostile forces.
4. The battle array of armoured warriors,
flashing as the fire of
heaven, was succeeded by their commingled
blows, resembling the rattling
of thunders above, deafening the ears and
dazzling the sight.
5. Then darts and javelins, spears and
lances, and many other missiles
(prāsas) began to fall on both sides, like showers of raindrops,
hailstones and meteorolites from the skies.
6. Showers of shafts fell with a force, that
would pierce the pinions of
garuda, and struck out the glare of sunbeams, by hitting at the
armours of the warriors.
7. The combatants standing face to face with
their lifted arms, and
staring at each other with steadfast looks,
seemed as they were pictures
in a painting.
8. The armies drawn in long regiments,
standing in lines opposite to
each other, were heard to answer one another
by their repeated shouts.
9. The battalia of both armies, and the drums
on both sides, were put to
a stop by the warnings of their leaders,
against striking the first
blow.
10. The intermediate space of the breadth of
two bows, that separated
the hostile forces like a bridge from one
another, appeared as the gap,
caused by the winds in the midst of the ocean
at the universal deluge.
(Or more like the partition of the waters of
the Red sea by the rod of
Moses).
11. The leaders were drowned in thoughts for
fear of bloodshed and
massacre; and the cowardly soldiers groaned
in their hearts, with the
hoarse noise of croaking frogs.
12. There were numbers of bravoes, eager to
yield up their precious
lives in a trice; and the bowyers stood with
their bowstrings drawn to
the ear, and ready to let loose their pointed
arrows at the foe.
13. Others stood dreadfully fixed to strike
their arms upon the enemy,
and many were looking sternly at their
adversaries, with their frowning
looks.
14. The armours were clashing by mutual
concussion, the countenances of
the bravoes were burning with rage, and the
faces of cowards were turned
towards sheltered retreats for flight.
15. The lookers stood in doubt of their lives
until the end of the war,
and old men like big elephants, were covered
with horripilation on their
bodies.
16. The silence which ensued at the
expectation of the first blow,
resembled the calm of the stormy main, and
the deep sleep of a city at
the dead of night.
17. The musical instruments, the drum and
conch-shell were all silent,
and a thick cloud of dust, covered the face
of the earth and sky.
18. The retreaters were flying from their
stronger assailants, who kept
running after them, in the manner of sharks
pursuing the shoals of
fishes in the sea.
19. The glittering fringes of the flags, put
the etherial stars to
blush, and the lifted goads in the hands of
the elephant-drivers, made a
forest of tapering trees in the sky.
20. The flinging arrows were flying like
flocks of the winged tribe in
air, and the loud beating of drums and
blowing of pipes, resounded
amidst the air.
21. There was a phalanx in a circular form,
attacking a host of wicked
demons, and here was a squadron in the form
of Garuda, with its right
and left wings, attacking a body of
elephants.
22. Somewhere a great howling was heard to
rise from the vanguard of a
body of troops, disconcerted by a cohort in
the form of eagles: and at
another many were seen to fall upon one
another with mutual shouts.
23. Thus a tremendous noise was raised by the
warriors of the many
legions, and a multitude of big mallets were
seen to be raised on high
by the hands of the combatants.
24. The glaring of sable steel, shaded the
sunbeams like a cloud, and
hissing darts in the air, emitted a sound,
resembling the rustling of
breeze amidst the dry leaves of trees.
25. Now the brunt of battle, began like the
dashing of clouds upon
clouds at the end of a Kalpa, and the war
raged like the raging sea
ruffled by a hurricane.
26. Big elephants were falling in the field
like coal-black rocks,
hurled down by gusts of wind.
27. It seemed that the infernal spirits were
let loose from their caves
of hell, to rage in the battle field with
their horrid and dismal
figures.
28. The day light was obscured by the sable
cloud of swords, and the
mallets and lances were raised up by the
black Kunta warriors, who
seemed bent upon converting the earth to an
ocean of bloodshed.
CHAPTER XXXIII.[17]
COMINGLED FIGHTING.
[17] The whole of this chapter abounds in
onomatopoeian alliterations,
and is more a play upon words than display of
sense. It is interesting
however, for these jingling words in the
language, as also for the names
of the warlike weapons in use among the
ancients.
Rāma said:—Sir, relate to me in short and
promptly, about this warfare,
as my ears are delighted with narratives of
this kind.
2. Vasishtha said:—These ladies then, in
order to have a better view of
the battle below, ascended in their imaginary
aerial cars vimānas, to
a more retired spot in the higher regions of
the sky.
3. At this interval, there began a mingled
fight of the forces face to
face, with a commingled shout of the two
armies, as the dashing of the
waves against one another in the raging sea.
4. At this instant, Vidūratha the lord of the
realm, (formerly
Padma—the husband of Līlā), seeing a daring
warrior of the hostile
force attack one of his soldiers, struck him
impatiently on the breast,
with the blow of a ponderous mallet.
5. Then the battle raged with the impetuosity
of the rolling waves of
the stormy main, and the arms on both sides,
flamed with living fire and
flash of fiery lightnings.
6. Now the edges of waving swords
(larattarat), glittered in the sky,
and cracking and clashing noise (Kanakana),
filled the air with a
hideous crackling (kadkada).
7. Then flew the winged arrows, overshadowing
the beams of the sun, and
emitting a booming noise (hunkāra), which
hushed the rattling clamour
(gharghara) of summer clouds.
8. Armours clashed against armours (Kankata),
with a clanking noise
(tankāra), and shot forth the sparks of
glistening fire (Kanatkana); and
arms, hashing (ch'hina-bhinna) and slashing (Khanda-khanda)
against
arms, filled the air with their fragments
flying like birds in the air.
9. The shaking (dodulya) shanks and arms of
the army, appeared as a
moving forest (dordruma) on the land, and the
twangings of their bows
(tankāra), and rumbling of the disks
(krenkāra), drove away the birds of
the air, and crackled like the rattling drive
of wheels (dravat) in
heaven.
10. The hissing of their loosened strings
(halhala), resembled the
(ghunghuna) buzzing of bees, heard in the samādhi yoga (by shutting
the ears).
11. Iron shafts like sleets of hailstones,
pierced the heads of the
soldiers, and the (ranat) crashing of armours
(sanghatta), broke the
arms of the warriors in mail (Kankata
sankata).
12. Weapons struck on brazen armours with a
howling noise (hunkāra),
made a clanking sound by the stroke
(tānkāra), and flying like drifts of
rain water (tartara), pierced the face of the
air on all sides:
(literally, denticulated—dantura dingmukha).
13. The striking of steel on one another
(sanghatta), made the hands
ring with a jingling sound (jhanjhanat); and
the continued rapping on
the arms, (āsphota), and clapping of hands,
(karasphota), raised a
pattering and chattering sound (chat chat and
pat pat).
14. The whizzing noise of unsheathing the
sword (shitkāra), and the
hissing of the sparks of fire (sansana); the
flinging of arrows in all
ways (sadatkāra), and the flying of darts,
likened the rustling of
falling leaves (Kharkhara) in autumn.
15. The spouting of life blood (dhakdhak),
from the throats separated
from the bodies, the mangled limbs and heads,
and the broken swords
filled the whole space.
16. The flame of fire flaring (sphurat) from
the armours; emblazoned the
hairs of the warriors, and the fighting and
falling (ranatpatat) of
swordsmen, raised a giddy and loud jingling
of their weapons
(jhanjhana).
17. The lofty elephants pierced by the spears
of the Kunta lancers,
poured out torrents of red-hot blood; while
the tusky tribe was goring
whole bodies of them with their shrill cries
(chitkāra).
18. Others crushed by the ponderous maces of
their antagonists, creaked
grievously under the blows; while the heads
of the slain soldiers, swam
in the rivers of blood over the plain.
19. Here the hungry vultures were pouncing
from above, and there the sky
was covered by a cloud of dust; and the
weaponless combatants, were
engaged in Kesākesī fighting, by holding each other down by the
hairs.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE.
Now the generals and ministers of the
belligerent powers, and the aerial
spectators of the war, were thus talking
among themselves.
2. Lo! here the ground has become a lake of
blood, with the heads of the
slaughtered hosts floating as lotuses upon
it; and there the air has
become as the starry heaven, glittering with
broken weapons, flying like
birds in the sky.
3. Behold the air is reddened with the
particles of vermeil blood, borne
above by the winds, and the sky presenting
the evening clouds, with the
glow of the setting sun at midday.
4. What are these, says one, that are flying
as straws in the firmament?
They are, says the other, no straws, but the
flight of arrows, that have
filled the atmosphere.
5. As long as the dust of the earth, cries
another, is moistened by the
bloodshed of the brave, so long are the
heroes entitled to glory, and
have their abode in heaven for myriads of
years.[18]
[18] Notwithstanding the reward of heavenly
abodes promised to the slayer
and slain in war, in the Sāstra and Koran,
the Asiatics are far backward
now-a-days, both to kill and to be killed
than the Europeans, who are
forbidden by the Holy writ, to slay and shed
human blood. Thus there is
a laxity of the injunction and prohibition on
both sides.
6. Fear not these sable swords, says the
sāstra, whose blades are worn
by the brave like petals of blue lotuses
about their hecks and breasts;
and bravoes are favourites in the eyes of the
goddess of fortune.
(Fortune favours the brave).
7. The heavenly nymphs that beheld the
fighting, felt a desire to
embrace the brave, and the god of the flowery
bow (Kāma or Cupid), was
busy to loosen their waist bands. (Cupid by
inversion is Dīpuc, another
name of the Indian Kāma. And Fairies or
Paries and Huries are said to
fall to the lot of the fighters in
Jehad-battle. So says Dryden: "None
but the brave deserve the fair").
8. They beckoned their welcome by the waving
of their reddish palms, in
the shaking of the ruddy leaves of trees, and
by the round glances of
their eyes, in the blooming blossoms of
plants, and by the perfume of
their breath in the honied fragrance of
flowers.
9. The geniuses of the garden of Paradise,
were singing sweetly in the
notes of the sylvan choir, and betook
themselves to dancing in the
wagging tails of peacocks.
10. As the brave warrior was breaking the
line of the enemy with his
hardy axe; so was his beloved breaking his
hard heart and spirit, with
the soft glances of her eyes.
11. It is by my lance, says the lancer, that
I have severed the head of
my adversary with the rings in his ears, like
the head of the ascending
node of Rāhu, approaching the disk of the
sun.
12. Lo! There is a champion, hurling the
blocks of stones, attached to
the end of a chain reaching his feet; and
another whirling his wheel
with a wondrous log of wood, held in his
uplifted arm.
13. There comes that combatant in the form of
Yama, appearing from the
region of Pluto (Preta), and spreading a
horrid devastation all around.
Come let us go hence as we came.
14. Look there the ravenous birds, greedily
plunging their long necks in
the cells of bodies just separated from their
heads, and glutting
themselves with the gushing blood; and see
there the headless trunk of
the slain, moving to and fro in the field of
battle.
15. The eloquent among the spectators were
talking to one another, about
the frailty of human life, and the
uncertainty of the time of their
meeting in the next world.
16. Oh! the stern cannibal of death, says
one, that devours in one
swoop, whole bodies of the assembled armies,
now weltering in blood; and
levels the levelling hosts to the ground.
17. The showers of arrows falling on the
bodies of elephants, resemble
the showers of rain drops on mountain tops;
and the darts sticking to
their frontal bones, liken the bolts of
lightning piercing the peaks of
cliffs.
18. While the headless body of the beheaded,
was grovelling grievously
on the ground for want of its head, the pate
flying on high as a bird of
air, proclaimed its immortality in heaven.
19. The army harassed by stones slung on
their heads, cried to entrap
the enemy in the snares set at their feet.
20. Wives that had become Apsarās (heavenly
nymphs) after death, were
now eager to claim their husbands, who were
restored to their youth, by
virtue of their falling in the field of
battle.
21. The glaring light of the line of lances
that had reached the skies,
seemed as a flight of stairs or golden
vistas, for the ascent of the
brave to the gates of heaven.
22. The wife of the slain soldier, seeing now
a heavenly goddess, taking
possession of her husband's fair gold-like
breast, was looking about in
search of another.
23. Generals, wailing loudly with their
uplifted arms, over their fallen
armies in the field, appeared as the cliffs
of rocks, resounding to the
clamorous surges below.
24. They cried out to fight the foremost in
war, and to remove the
wounded to the rear; and not to trample over
the bodies of their own
soldiers, now lying low on the ground.
25. Behold! there the Apsarās eagerly tying
their loosened locks, and
advancing with sobbing bosoms to receive the
departed warriors, joining
their company in their celestial forms.
26. Ah! receive them says one, who are our
guests from afar, on the
banks of the rivers of Paradise, decorated
with lotus blossoms of golden
hue, and entertain them with fresh water and
cooling breeze.
27. Look! there the groups of weapons, broken
into pieces like bones by
their concussion, are huddled in the air with
a jingling sound
(kanatkāra), and shining as stars in the sky.
28. Lo! the stream of deceased souls, flowing
in arrowy currents and
rolling in whirlpools of the flying disks, is
rapidly gliding with the
pebbles and stones, flung from the slings in
the air.
29. The sky is become as a lake of lotuses
with the lotiform heads of
warriors flung aloft in the air, while the
flying weapons are floating
like their stalks in it, with the broken
swords as their thorns all
around.
30. The flying fragments of the flags,
forming the folia of the plants,
and the darts sticking to them, appear as big
black bees fluttering
about the flowers moving with the breeze.
31. The arrows sticking to the dead bodies of
elephants, are as emmets
on mountain tops, and as timid girls clinging
to the bosoms of men.
32. The winds unfurling the curling locks of
Vidyādhara females,
indicate their approaching spousals, as the
unfolding plumage of fowls
are predictions of success in augury.
33. The lifted umbrellas are shining as so
many moons on high and the
moon shining above in the form of fair fame,
spreads her light as a
white canopy on earth.
34. The brave warrior, soon after his death,
assumes a celestial form
framed by his own merit, as a man in his
sleep, attains to a state, he
has imagined to himself in his waking.
35. The flying spears and lances and clubs
and disks are hurtling in the
air, like shoals of restless fishes and
sharks, moving about incessantly
in the troubled waters of the sea.
36. The milk-white rags of umbrellas,
tattered and shattered by arrowy
shafts, are flying as cranes in the crowded
air, and appearing as the
disk of the moon broken into a thousand
pieces.
37. These waving flappers flying in the air
with a hoarse gurgling
(gharghara), seem as the waves of the sea
lifted in the air, and
undulating with a babbling noise in the ocean
of the sky.
38. Those slips of the flappers and
umbrellas, hashed by the slashing
arms, appear as the laurels of glory flung
aloft and flying in the
regions of air.
39. Behold ye friends! how these flying
arrows and showering spears, are
approaching to us with hits of their spoil,
like bodies of locusts,
bearing away their verdant booty in the air.
40. Hearken to the clanking sound of the
striking steel, in the uplifted
arm of the armoured soldier, resounding like
the loud larum of the
regent of death.
41. Hear the tremendous blows of weapons,
like the blowing of an all
destroying tornado, throwing down the
elephants like crags of mountains,
with their long stretching tusks lying like
water falls on the ground.
42. Lo! there the drivers of war chariots are
stopped in their course,
and striving to make their way through the
puddles of blood, in which
the wheels and horses of the car, are huddled
together as in a bog of
quagmire.
43. The jingling of arms and armours, and the
jangling of swords and
steel, resound, as the tingling of the lute
at the dancing of the dire
and dreaded dame of death.
44. See the skirts of the sky reddened by the
roseate particles, borne
by the winds from the streams of blood,
issuing out of the wounds in the
bodies of men, horses and elephants lying
dead in the field.
45. Look at the array of arrows formed in the
air as a wreath of
blossoms, and falling as the rays of
lightnings from the dark black
clouds of weapons hanging on high.
46. Lo! the surface of the earth filled with
blood-red weapons,
appearing as faggots of fire strewn over the
ground in an universal
conflagration.
47. The multitudes of commingled weapons,
clashing with and breaking one
another into pieces, are falling down in
showers, like the innumerable
rays of the sun.
48. The fighting of one man among the
motionless many, is like the magic
play of a magician[19] where the conjurer
acts his parts amidst the
bewitched beholders, Lo! there the
indifferent spectators viewing the
warfare as a dream (by their prajna or inward vision of the mind).
[19] P. mujosi S. Yātudhāna, H. Jādugar =
juggler.
49. The field of battle, where all other
sounds are hushed under the
clashing of arms, resembles the stage of the
martial god Bhairava,
chanting his pitiless war song in jarring
cacophony.
50. The battlefield is turned to a sea of
blood, filled with the sands
of pounded weapons, and rolling with the
waves of broken discuses.
51. All the quarters under the regents of the
sky, are filled with
martial music loudly resounding on all sides;
and the rebellowing hills
seem to challenge one another, in their
aerial flight and fighting (as
in contest of the gods and titans of old).
52. Alas for shame! says one, that these
arrows flung with such force
from the bow strings, and flying with such
loud hissing, and glittering
as red hot lightnings in the air, are foiled
in their aim of piercing
the impenetrable armours, and driven back by
them to hit at the stony
hills.
53. Hear me friend, that art tired with the
sight, that it is time for
us to depart from this place, ere we are
pierced in our bodies by these
sharp arrows flashing as fire, and before the
day runs its course of the
fourth watch (evening).
CHAPTER XXXV.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLEFIELD.[20]
[20] The battle ground is compared firstly
with the sky, then with the
sea, next with a forest, and lastly with the
last dooms-day.
Vasishtha said:—Then the waves of horse
troops mounting to the sky,
made the battlefield appear as a raging sea.
2. The moving umbrellas floated as its foam
and froth, and the feathered
silvery arrows glided like the finny pearly
fishes in it, while the high
flight and rush of the cavalry, heaved and
dashed as surges of the sea.
3. The rushing of the weapons resembled the
running of its currents, and
the circles of the soldiers were as vortices
of its waters. The
elephants were as its islets and their
motions resembled the moving
rocks in it.
4. The whirling disks were as its eddies, and
the flying hairs on the
heads likened its floating weeds. The
sparkling sands were as its
shining waters, and the flash of swords like
its glassy spray.
5. The gigantic warriors were its whales and
alligators, and the
resounding caverns like its gurgling
whirlpools.
6. The flying arrows were like its swimming
fishes, and the floating
flags likened its uprising waves and bores.
7. The shining weapons formed the waters of
this ocean and their
whirlpools also, while the long lines of
forces appeared as the huge and
horrible bodies of its whales.
8. Soldiers clad in black iron armour, were
as the dark blue waters of
the deep, and the headless bodies groveling
in dust were as the eddies
of the sea, with the encircled equipments as
the sea weeds.
9. The showers of arrows had obscured the
skies with a mist, and the
confused rattlings of the battlefield, were
as the roarings of the
clouds.
10. The flying and falling heads of the slain
soldiers, resembled the
large drops of rain, and their bodies were as
pieces of wood, whirling
in the eddies of the disks.
11. The bold bowyer, bending his strong bow
in the form of a curve, and
leaping above the ground, resembled the
spouting sea, rising from
underneath the ground with his heaving waves
on high.
12. The unnumbered umbrellas and flags, that
were moving up and down in
the field, were as the foaming and frothing
sea, rolling in waves of
blood, and carrying away the beams and
timbers of the broken cars in its
current.
13. The march of the army resembled the
flowing of the sea waters, and
the blood spouting from the wounds of the
elephants likened its bubbles,
while the moving horses and elephants represented
the sea animals in
their motion.
14. The battlefield had become like the
wondrous field of the air, where
the furious war, like a tremendous
earthquake, shook the hills like
moving clouds in the sky.
15. Here the waves were undulating like
flights of birds in the air, and
the groups of elephants falling aground like
rocks, and the cowardly
ranks were murmuring like herds of the
timorous deer.
16. The field is turned to a forest of
arrows, and wounded soldiers are
standing fixed on the ground as trees, with
the arrows flying as
locusts, and the horses moving like antelopes
in it.
17. Here the loud drum sounded as the humming
of bees in the hollows of
trees, and the army appearing as a mist, with
the bold warrior sprawling
like a lion in it.
18. The dust was rising in clouds and the
forces falling as rocks; the
huge cars broken down as hills, and the
flaming swords shining on all
sides.
19. The rise and fall of the foot soldier's
feet flitted like the
falling flowers on the ground, and the flags
and umbrellas o'ertopped it
as clouds; it was overflown by streams of
blood, and the high-sounding
elephants falling as thundering showers of
rain.
20. The war was as the last doom of death
ready to devour the world, and
destroy the flags and banners, the umbrellas
and chariots in a confused
chaos.
21. The shining weapons were falling like
fragments of the refulgent
sun, and burning all things as a burning pain
inflames the soul and
mind.
22. The out-stretched bows were as rainbows,
and the falling arrows as
showers of rain; the flying sabres resembled
the forky lightnings, and
their falling fragments like the sparkling
hailstones.
23. The dire massacre made a sea of blood,
with the hurling stones as
its shoals and rocks; while the flying arms
resembled the falling stars
from heaven.
24. The sky was as a sea full of the
whirlpools of the groups of disks
and circlets, that were hurled in the air;
and there were the burning
fires, that performed the funerals of the
slain.
25. The missiles were as bolts of thunder,
which struck the rock-like
elephants dead in the field, to block the
passage of men.
26. The earth and sky were obscured by a
thick cloud of showering
arrows, and the army below was a sea of
tempestuous warfare and
bloodshed.
27. The destructive weapons were flying on
all sides, like huge dragons
of the sea, carried aloft by gusts of wind
from the stormy main.
28. The flying arms of bolts and swords,
disks, pikes and lances, were
blazing and breaking one another in the air
with such hideous noise,
that it seemed to be a second deluge, when
the last tornado blew up
everything on high scattering them in all
directions, and crushing and
smashing them with a tremendous peal.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
SECTION I.
COLLISION OF EQUAL ARMS AND ARMIGERENTS.
The heaps of arrows rising in spires above
the ground, drove the cowards
and the wounded afar from the field.
2. The hills of the dead bodies of men,
horses and elephants, heaving in
promiscuous heaps, and appearing as clouds
fallen upon earth, invited
the Yakshas and Rākshasas, and the
carnivorous Pisāchas, to come and
sport in the wide ocean of blood.
3. Now there commenced a commutual contest,
betwixt men of rank and
virtue, and those of good character, valour
and strength on both sides;
not excepting even the holy and household
people, all of whom took part
in the combat, (that is, no condition of
life, nor age nor sex, could
escape the contagion of a warfare).
4. Duels were fought between these, like the
clashing of one cloud with
another; and like the confluence of two
streams discharging their fury
against each other.
5. As a rib is joined to another, and one
side with the other, so met
the horse against the horse, and elephant
opposed the elephant in mutual
conflict.
6. As one forest clasps and clings to
another, and one hill is linked
with the other in a range, so the duelists
strove together, as one wave
dashes against the other.
7. Footmen fought with footmen, as the reeds
crush the reeds, and
bamboos clash against one another, and the
contrary winds struggle
between themselves.
8. Cars falling upon cars, and chariots
running against chariots, broke
one another to pieces; and the citizens beat
the rustics, as the Devas
smote the demons of old.
9. The sky which had been erewhile clouded by
the flight of arrows, was
now emblazoned by the banner of the bowyer,
resembling the rainbow of
various colours.
10. At last the warriors who were overpowered
in their conflict with
unequal arms, fled away from the field, as
they do from the fire of a
conflagration.
11. Now the armigerents with discuses, met
the thwarters of disks
(chakras) in contest; and bowyers were
opposed to bowmen, and swordsmen
challenged the sword fighters in the field.
So met the hookers and
crookers with their co-rivals with crowbars
(bhusundis) in hand.
12. Maces were opposed to maces (musalas),
and lancers were set against
the lance bearers (kuntas) in fighting.
Spearmen braved the spearmen
(rishtis), and the throwers of missiles were
crossed with missives
(prāsas) in hand.
13. Mallets militated against mallets (mudguras),
and clubs were
contravened by clubmen in the conflict.
Combatants with pikes (saktis),
encountered the pikemen (sakti-dharas) face
to face; and iron rods were
crossed to pointed rods (sūlas) in the
strife.
14. Pugilists with missive weapons, counteracted
the missiles of their
antagonists (prāsas), and those fighting with
battle axes (parasus),
baffled the poleaxes and pickaxes
(paraswadhas) of their foes.
15. Trappers with their traps and snares,
attacked the darters of nooses
and lassos (pāsas); and the darters of
javelins (sankus), withstood the
darts of the dartsmen on the other side.
Daggers were opposed to daggers
(kshurikas), and cudgels were presented
before the cudgels (bhindipālas
of the enemy).
16. Combatants with iron gloves contravened the
boxers with iron
fistcuffs (Vajramushtis), and those with iron
cranes, pursued the
fighters with crooked goads, (ankusas) in
hand. Warriors with
ploughshares attacked the ploughmen, and
those with tridents, fell upon
the trident holders (trisūlins) in contest.
17. Champions with chained armours set upon
the soldiers attired in mail
(srinkhala jāla); and they poured upon the
field as flights of locusts,
or as the waves in the troubled sea.
18. The air also seemed as a sea, with flying
disks whirling as
whirlpools (chakravartas), and the flight of
reeds whistling like gusts
of wind; while the range of running weapons
seemed as sharks and
dolphins moving about it.
19. The hollow of the heaven became as the
great deep of the sea,
impassable by the celestials, owing to the
waving weapons, moving as sea
monsters in the air.
20. Thus the armies of the two belligerent
potentates, each composed of
eight ranks or battalions, were furiously
engaged with one another, as
described below.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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