VISHNU PURAN BOOK. V. CHAP. XXXIV. XXXV.XXXVI.

 

VISHNU PURAN BOOK. V. CHAP. XXXIV. XXXV.XXXVI.

 

Paundraka, a Vasudeva, assumes the insignia and style of Krishna, supported by the king of Kas'i. Krishna marches against, and destroys them. The son of the king sends a magical being against Krishna: destroyed by his discus, which also sets Benares on fire, and consumes it and its inhabitants.

 

MAITREYA.--Of a truth the divine S'auri, having assumed a mortal body, performed great achievements in his easy victories over S'akra and S'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.

 

PARAS'ARA.--Hear, excellent Brahman, with reverent attention, an account of the burning of Varanasi by Krishna, in the course of his relieving the burdens of the earth.

 

There was a Vasudeva who was called Paundraka [*1], and who, though not the Vasudeva, was flattered by ignorant people as the descended deity, until he fancied himself to be the Vasudeva [*2] who had come down upon earth. Losing all recollection of his real character, he assumed the emblems of Vishnu, and sent an ambassador to the magnanimous Krishna with this message; "Relinquish, thou foolish fellow, the discus; lay aside all my insignia, my name, and the character of Vasudeva; and come and do me homage; and I will vouchsafe thee means of subsistence." At which Janarddana laughed, and replied, "Go, messenger, back to Paundraka, 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 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 Garuda, mounted him, and set off for the city of Paundraka [*3].

 

When the king of Kas'i heard of the preparations of Kes'ava, he sent his army (to the aid of Paundraka), himself bringing up the rear; and with the force of the king of Kas'i, and his own troops, Paundraka, the false Vasudeva, marched to meet Krishna. 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 Garuda 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 S'aranga bow, and hurling at them his mace and discus, he quickly destroyed both the army of Paundraka and that of the king of Kas'i. He then said to the former, who was foolishly wearing his emblems, "Paundraka, you desired me by your envoy to resign to you all my insignia. I now deliver them to you. Here is my discus; here I give up my mace; and here is Garuda, let him mount upon thy standard." Thus speaking, he let fly the discus and the mace, by which Paundraka was cut to pieces, and cast on the ground; whilst the Garuda on his banner was demolished by the Garuda of Vishnu. The people, beholding this sight, exclaimed, "Alas! alas!" but the valiant king of Kas'i, adhering to the imposture of his friend, continued the conflict, till S'auri decapitated him with his arrows, shooting his head into the city of Kas'i, to the marvel of all the inhabitants. Having thus slain Paundraka and the king of Kas'i, with all their followers, S'auri returned to Dwaraka, where he lived in the enjoyment of heavenly delights.

 

When the inhabitants of Kas'i 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 Krishna, the son of the monarch of Kas'i [*4], together with the priest of the family, propitiated S'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 Krishna, the murderer of my father." "It shall be so," answered S'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 Krishna, and departed to Dwaraka; where the people, beholding her, were struck with dismay, and fled for protection to Madhusudana, the refuge of all worlds. The wielder of the discus knowing that the fiend had been produced by the son of the king of Kas'i, 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 Sudars'ana, the discus of Vishnu, immediately attacked the fiend, fearfully enwreathed with fire, and wearing tresses of plaited flame. Terrified at the might of Sudars'ana, the creation of Mahes'wara awaited not his attack, but fled with speed, pursued by him with equal velocity, until she reached Varanas'i, repelled by the superior might of the discus of Vishnu.

 

The army of Kas'i, and the host of the demigods attendant upon S'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 S'iva had concealed herself [*6]. Thus was Varanas'i 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 Vishnu [*7].

 

Footnotes

 

^597:1 From being, the commentator says, king of Pundra. The Bhagavata calls him chief of the Karushas; the Padma, king of Kas'i; but the Bhagavata, as well as our text, makes the king of Kas'i his friend and ally.

 

^597:2 According to the Padma P., he propitiates S'iva, and obtains from him the insignia which constitute a Vasudeva. The different authorities for this legend all use the term Vasudeva in the sense of a title.

 

^598:3 The Hari V. and Padma P. send Paundraka to Dwaraka. According to the latter, Narada incites Paundraka to the aggression, telling him he cannot be a Vasudeva till he has overcome Krishna: he goes, and is killed. The former work, as usual, enters into particulars of its own invention. Krishna is absent on a visit to S'iva at Kailasa, and during his absence Paundraka, assisted by Ekalavya, king of the Nishadas, makes a night attack upon Dwaraka. They are resisted by the Yadavas under Satyaki and Balarama; by the former of whom Paundraka is repeatedly overthrown, and all but slain: he requires so much killing, however, that he is likely to obtain the victory, when Krishna 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 Kailasa Yatra, or Krishna's journey to Kailasa, 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 Bhagavata names him Sudakshina; the Padma, Dandapani.

 

^599:5 A personified Kritya, a magical creation. The Padma has the same. The Bhagavata makes the product of the sacrificial fire a male, and sends him to Dwaraka, accompanied by a host of Bhutas, Suva's attendant goblins.

 

^600:6 According to the Bhagavata, the magical being himself destroys Sudakshina and his priest; but Sudars'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 Paundraka, and makes no mention of the destruction of Benares. The circumstance is alluded to in a preceding section (s. 159) by Narada, when detailing the exploits of Krishna.

 

^600:7 In this legend, again, we have a contest between the followers of Vishnu and S'iva intimated, as, besides the assistance given by the latter to Paundraka, Benares--Varanas'i or Atimukta--has been from all time, as it is at present, the high place of the S'aiva worship. There is also an indication of a Vaishnava schism, in the competition between Paundra and Krishna for the title of Vasudeva, and the insignia of his divinity.

 

 

CHAP. XXXV.

 

S'amba carries off the daughter of Duryodhana, but is taken prisoner. Balarama comes to Hastinapur, and demands his liberation: it is refused: in his wrath he drags the city towards him, to throw it into the river. The Kuru chiefs give up S'amba and his wife.

 

MAITREYA.--I have a great desire to hear, excellent Brahman, some further account of the exploits of Balarama. You have related to me his dragging the Yamuna, and other mighty deeds, but you can tell me, venerable sir, some other of his acts.

 

PARAS'ARA.--Attend, Maitreya, to the achievements performed by Rama, who is the eternal, illimitable S'esha, the upholder of the earth. At the choice of a husband by the daughter of Duryodhana, the princess was carried off by the hero S'amba, the son of Jambavati. Being pursued by Duryodhana, Karna, Bhishma, Drona, and other celebrated chiefs, who were incensed at his audacity, he was defeated, and taken prisoner. When the Yadavas heard of the occurrence, their wrath was kindled against Duryodhana and his associates, and they prepared to take up arms against them; but Baladeva, in accents interrupted by the effects of ebriety, forbade them, and said, "I will go alone to the sons of Kuru; they will liberate S'amba at my request." Accordingly he went to the elephant-styled city (Hastinapur), but took up his abode in a grove without the town, which he did not enter. When Duryodhana and the rest heard that he had arrived there, they sent him a cow, a present of fruits and flowers, and water. Bala received the offering in the customary form, and said to the Kauravas, "Ugrasena commands you to set S'amba at liberty." When Duryodhana, Karna, Bhishma, Drona, and the others, heard this, they were very angry; and Bahlika and other friends of the Kauravas, who looked upon the Yadu race as not entitled to regal dignity, said to the wielder of the club, "What is this, Balabhadra, that thou hast uttered? What Yadava shall give orders to the chiefs of the family of Kuru? If Ugrasena issues his mandates to the Kauravas, then we must take away the white umbrella that he has usurped, and which is fit only for kings. Depart therefore, Balarama; you are entitled to our respect; but S'amba has been guilty of improper conduct, and we will not liberate him either at Ugrasena's commands or yours. The homage that is due to us, their superiors, by the Kukkura and Andhaka tribes, may not be paid by them; but who ever heard of a command issued by a servant to his master? Elevation to an equal seat has rendered you arrogant. We have committed a great mistake in neglecting, through our friendship for you, the policy (that teaches the danger of treating the abject with deference). Our sending you to-day a respectful present was an intimation of (personal) regard, which it was neither fit for our race to have proffered, nor for your's to have expected."

 

Having thus spoken, the Kuru chiefs, unanimously refusing to set the son of Hari at large, immediately returned into the city. Bala, rolling about with intoxication, and the wrath which their contemptuous language had excited, struck the ground furiously with his heel, so that it burst to pieces with a loud sound that reverberated through the regions of space. His eyes reddened with rage, and his brow was curved with frowns, as he exclaimed, "What arrogance is this, in such vile and pithless creatures! The sovereignty of the Kauravas, as well as our own, is the work of fate, whose decree it also is that they now disrespect or disobey the commands of Ugrasena. Indra may of right give his orders to the gods; and Ugrasena exercises equal authority with the lord of S'achi. Fie upon the pride that boasts a throne, the leavings of a hundred mortals! Is not he the sovereign of the earth, the wives of whose servants adorn themselves with the blossoms of the Parijata tree? Ugrasena shall be the undisputed king of kings; for I will not return to his capital until I have rid the world wholly of the sons of Kuru. I will destroy Karna, Duryodhana, Drona, Bhishma, Bahlika, Duhsas'ana, Bhurisravas, Somadatta, S'alya, Bhima, Arjuna, , the twins, and all the other vile descendants of Kuru, with their horses, elephants, and chariots. I will rescue the hero S'amba from captivity, and carry him, along with his wife, to Dwaraka, where I shall again behold Ugrasena and the rest of my kin. Or, authorized by the king of the gods to remove the burdens of the earth, I will take this capital of the Kauravas, with all the sons of Kuru, and cast the city of the elephant into the Bhagirathi."

 

So saying, the wielder of the club, Baladeva, his eyes red with rage, plunged the blade of his ploughshare downwards, beneath the ramparts of the city, and drew them towards him. When the Kauravas beheld Hastinapura tottering, they were much alarmed, and called loudly on Rama, saying, "Rama, Rama! hold, hold! suppress your wrath! have mercy upon us! Here is S'amba, and his wife also, delivered up to thee. Forgive our sins, committed in ignorance of thy wondrous power." Accordingly, issuing hurriedly from the city, the Kauravas delivered S'amba and his bride to the mighty Balarama, who, bowing to Bhishma, Drona, and Kripa, who addressed him in conciliatory language, said, "I am satisfied;" and so desisted. The city bears the marks of the shock it received, even to the present day--such was the might of Rama--proving both his strength and prowess. The Kauravas then offering homage to S'amba and to Bala, dismissed the former with his wife and a bridal portion [*1].

 

Footnotes

 

^603:1 This adventure is related in the Bhagavata, and very briefly noticed in the Hari Vans'a; but I have not found any mention of it in the Mahabharata. It may have been suggested originally by Hastinapura having sustained some injury either from an earthquake or from the encroachments of the river, which, as is recorded, compelled the removal of the capital to Kausambi.

 

    

 

CHAP. XXXVI.

 

The Asura Dwivida, in the form of an ape, destroyed by Balarama.

 

HEAR also, Maitreya, another exploit performed by the mighty Balarama. The great Asura, the foe of the friends of the gods, Naraka, had a friend of exceeding prowess in the monkey named Dwivida, who was animated by implacable hostility against the deities, and vowed to revenge on the whole of them the destruction of Naraka by Krishna, at the instigation of the king of the celestials, by preventing sacrifices, and effecting the annihilation of the mortal sphere. Blinded by ignorance, he accordingly interrupted all religious rites, subverted all righteous observances, and occasioned the death of living beings: he set fire to the forests, to villages, and to towns: sometimes he overwhelmed cities and hamlets with falling rocks; or lifting up mountains in the waters, he cast them into the ocean: then taking his place amidst the deep, he agitated the waves, until the foaming sea rose above its confines, and swept away the villages and cities situated upon its shores. Dwivida also, who could assume what shape he would, enlarged his bulk to an immense size, and rolling and tumbling and trampling amidst the corn fields, he crushed and spoiled the harvests. The whole world, disordered by this iniquitous monkey, was deprived of sacred study and religious rites, and was greatly afflicted.

 

On one occasion Hala.yudha was drinking in the groves of Raivata, along with the illustrious Revati and other beautiful females; and the distinguished Yadu, in whose praises songs were sung, and who was preeminent amidst graceful and sportive women, resembled Kuvera, the god of riches, in his palace. Whilst thus engaged, the monkey Dwivida came there, and stealing the ploughshare and the club of Baladeva, grinned at and mocked him, and laughed at the women, and threw over and broke the cups filled with wine. Balarama, becoming angry at this, threatened the monkey; but the latter disregarded his menaces, and made a chattering noise: on which Bala, starting up, seized his club in wrath; and the monkey laid hold of a large rock, which he burled at the hero. Bala casting his club at it, as it neared him, broke it into a thousand fragments, which, together with the club, fell upon the ground. Beholding the club prostrate, the monkey sprang over it, and struck the Yadava violently on the breast with his paws. Bala replied with a blow of his fist upon the forehead of Dwivida, which felled him, vomiting blood, and lifeless, to the earth. The crest of the mountain on which he fell was splintered into a hundred pieces by the weight of his body, as if the thunderer had shivered it with his thunderbolt. The gods threw down a shower of flowers upon Rama, and approached him, and praised him for the glorious feat he had performed. "Well has the world been freed," said they, "by thy prowess, O hero, of this vile ape, who was the ally of the enemy of the gods." Then they and their attendant spirits returned well pleased to heaven. Many such inimitable deeds were wrought by the illustrious Baladeva, the impersonation of S'esha, the supporter of the earth [*1].

 

Footnotes

 

^605:1 This exploit of Balarama is also similarly, but more vulgarly, related in the Bhagavata. It is simply said in the Hari Vans'a, and erroneously, that Menda and Dwivida were conquered by Krishna.

 

    

The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson,