Mahabharata Vol. 3 (Penguin Translated Texts) (10 page)

Vaishampayana said, ‘Having thus reassured the king, the illustrious rishi Narada took his leave of the great-souled one
³²⁴
and instantly disappeared. Yudhishthira, with dharma in his soul, reflected on this and recounted to the rishis the eternal merits that derive from going to the tirthas.’

Vaishampayana said, ‘Having ascertained the thoughts of his brothers and those of the wise Narada, King Yudhishthira then spoke to Dhoumya, who was like the grandfather
³²⁵
himself. “I have sent into exile Jishnu, tiger among men and for whom truth is his valour, the mighty-armed one whose soul is unlimited, for the sake of weapons. O one rich in austerities! That brave one is devoted and capable. He is skilled in the use of weapons and is like the lord Vasudeva himself. O brahmana! I know those two brave Krishnas,
³²⁶
the slayers of enemies, just as the powerful Vyasa knows Pundarikaksha
³²⁷
Vasudeva and Dhananjaya of the three
yuga
s.
³²⁸
Narada also knows this and has spoken to me about this. I know them to be the sages Nara and Narayana. Therefore, knowing that he was capable, I sent Arjuna to set his eyes on the king of the gods and obtain weapons from him. He is capable, he is the son of a god and he is not inferior to Indra. That is the reason he was exiled. Bhishma and Drona are
atiratha
s
³²⁹
and Kripa and Drona’s son
³³⁰
are invincible. These immensely strong ones have been engaged by Dhritarashtra’s son for the war. They are all knowledgeable in the Vedas, they are valiant and they are all skilled in the use of weapons. Then there is also Karna, the maharatha who is the son of a
suta
³³¹
and has the knowledge of divine weapons. That immensely strong one has always wanted to fight with Partha. He has the speed of a horse and the strength of the wind. His arrows roar from a flaming base. The dust
³³²
is like the smoke. Unleashed by the wind of Dhritarashtra’s son, his weapons scorch. He has been unleashed,
like the flames of destruction at the end of a yuga, released by time. There is no doubt that he will scorch my soldiers like dried grass. There is the wind raised by Krishna, with a great cloud of divine weapons and with his white steeds like cranes. The blazing Gandiva is like Indra’s weapon.
³³³
Only a shower of those arrows, unfurled from Arjuna’s cloud can pacify in battle Karna’s blazing flames. Bibhatsu, the destroyer of enemy cities, will certainly obtain from Shakra himself all the divine weapons and their knowledge. I keep thinking that he is equal to all of them. No one can act against him in battle, nor will the enemies be able to react. All of us Pandavas will see Dhananjaya with the weapons that he has obtained. Bibhatsu has never been seen to be dragged down under the weight of something he has undertaken. O supreme among those who have two feet! But in this Kamyaka forest, in that warrior’s absence and with Krishna with us, we will never find peace of mind. Therefore, tell us of another forest that is sacred and lovely and has a lot of food and fruit, frequented by the performers of virtuous deeds. We should be able to spend some time there and wait for the brave Arjuna, for whom truth is his valour, to return, just as those desirous of rain wait for the clouds. Tell us about the different hermitages that have been listed by brahmanas, about lakes and rivers and beautiful mountains. O brahmana! Bereft of Arjuna, residence in this Kamyaka forest no longer seems attractive to us. Let us go in some other direction.”’

Vaishampayana said, ‘On seeing all the Pandavas anxious and miserable in their minds, Dhoumya, who was like Brihaspati himself, reassured them and said, “O bull among the Bharata lineage! O king! Let me mention sacred hermitages, directions, tirthas and mountains approved of by brahmanas. Listen as I speak. O king! O
Yudhishthira! As I remember it, I will first describe to you the beautiful eastern direction, frequented by masses of rajarshis. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! In that region there is a place named Naimisha, desired by the devarshis. There are sacred tirthas, holy to separate gods. The beautiful and holy Gomati flows here, frequented by devarshis. There is the sacrificial ground of the gods and Vivasvat’s sacrificial site is here. Sacred Gaya, supreme among mountains and worshipped by rajarshis, is there. There is Brahma’s sacred lake, frequented by rishis and the thirty gods. O tiger among men! It is for this reason that the ancient ones have declared that if one desires many sons, one should go to Gaya alone. O unblemished one! Mahanadi is there and also Gayashira. There is also a banyan tree, celebrated by the brahmanas as Akshayakarana.
³³⁴
O lord! The food that is given to the ancestors there, becomes inexhaustible. A great river named Phalgu flows there and its waters are sacred. O bull among the Bharata lineage! There is also Koushiki, with many roots and fruit. Vishvamitra, rich in austerities, became a brahmana there. The sacred river Ganga is there. O son! Bhagiratha performed many sacrifices on its banks and gave away a lot of gifts.

‘“O Kouravya! It is said that there is Utpala in Panchala. Koushika Vishvamitra
³³⁵
performed a sacrifice there with Shakra. On witnessing Vishvamitra’s superhuman powers, Jamadagni’s illustrious son recounted his lineage there.
³³⁶
In Kanyakubja,
³³⁷
Koushika drank
soma
with Indra and withdrawing himself from the kshatriya class,
announced that he was a brahmana. O brave one! There is the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna, renowned in the world. It is pure and sacred, supreme among purifying places, and is visited by the sages. In earlier times, the grandfather,
³³⁸
the soul of all beings, performed a sacrifice there. O supreme among the Bharata lineage! That is the reason it has become famous as Prayaga.
³³⁹
O Indra among kings! O king! There is Agastya’s supreme and great hermitage. There is the peak named Hiranyabindu on Kalanjara. O king! There is another mountain that is more pure and sacred than all other mountains. O Kouravya! This is the great-souled Bhargava’s
³⁴⁰
Mahendra. O Kounteya! O Yudhishthira! In earlier times, the grandfather performed a sacrifice there and the sacred Bhagirathi was where the officiating priests were seated. O lord of the earth! The sacred and famous Brahmashala
³⁴¹
is there. Its mere sight is pure and its banks are crowded by those whose sins have been cleansed. There is also the pure, auspicious, eternal, supreme and great hermitage of the great-souled Matanga, famous in the world by the name of Kedara. The beautiful Kundoda mountain has roots, fruits and water. The thirsty nishada
³⁴²
found water and shelter there. There is the beautiful grove of the gods there, adorned with ascetics. There are the rivers Bahuda and Nanda, on the peak of the mountain. O great king! I have recounted for you tirthas, rivers, mountains and sacred spots that are in the eastern direction. Now hear from me about sacred tirthas, rivers and mountains in the other three directions.”’

‘Dhoumya said, “O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Now listen to the sacred tirthas in the southern direction. O
descendant of the Bharata lineage! I will recount them in detail, to the best of my intelligence. In this direction is the sacred and auspicious river Godavari. It is pure, has many places to rest and a lot of water, and is frequented by ascetics. There are the rivers Venna and Bhimarathi, both capable of destroying the fear of sin. They are full of animals and birds and are adorned with the habitations of ascetics. O bull among the Bharata lineage! There is the river of rajarshi Nriga, lord of the earth. This is the Payoshni, with beautiful tirthas and a lot of water, and frequented by brahmanas. The immensely ascetic and great yogi Markandeya sang the praises of Nriga’s lineage here. We have heard that this really happened when Nriga performed a sacrifice. Indra became drunk with soma and brahmanas with their gifts. O best of the Bharata lineage! On Mount Varunasrotasa, there is the sacred and pure forest of Mathara, with many roots and fruit. This has a sacrificial stake. It is said that to the north of Praveni, there is Kanva’s sacred hermitage and there are many forests inhabited by ascetics. O son! O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Two sacrificial altars of the great-souled Jamadagni are in Shurparka—Pashana tirtha and Purashchandra. O Kounteya! In Martya, there is Ashoka tirtha, with many hermitages. O Yudhishthira! In Pandya, there are the tirthas known as Agasyta and Varuna. O bull among men! In Pandya, there is the sacred one known as Kumari.
³⁴³

‘“O Kounteya! Listen as I now recount Tamraparni.
³⁴⁴
The gods underwent austerities there, in a desire to attain greatness. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Gokarna is famous in the three worlds. O son! There is a lot of water there and the water is cool. It is sacred and auspicious. The lake is extremely difficult to access for men who have not purified their souls. Near that is the sacred hermitage of Agastya’s disciple, on Mount Devasabha. It is full of fruits and roots and is known as Trinasomagni. There is Mount Vaidurya, auspicious and beautiful, and full of many gems. Agastya’s hermitage is there,
with a lot of roots, fruit and water. O lord of men! I will now describe the sacred spots, hermitages, rivers, mountains and lakes in Surashtra. O Yudhishthira! The brahmanas speak of Chamasonmajjana there and of Prabhasa tirtha on the sea, belonging to the thirty gods. There is the auspicious Pindaraka, visited by the ascetics and the great Mount Ujjayanta, which brings swift success. O Yudhishthira! Narada, foremost among devarshis, has recited an ancient shloka about this. Listen. ‘He who torments his body with austerities in Ujjayanta, on auspicious Mount Surashtra, frequented by animals and birds, attains greatness in the vault of the sky.’
³⁴⁵
The sacred Dvaravati is there. The ancient god Madhusudana, who is the eternal dharma, dwells there in person. The brahmanas who are knowledgeable in the Vedas and those who are learned about the nature of the soul say that the great-souled Krishna is the eternal dharma. It is said that Govinda is supremely pure among all purifiers, most sacred among all things sacred and most auspicious among all things auspicious. Pundarikaksha, the eternal god of the gods in the three worlds, Hari whose soul cannot be contemplated and Madhusudana dwells there.”’
³⁴⁶

‘Dhoumya said, “I will now recount for you the sacred and purifying places that lie to the west, in Avanti. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! There is the sacred river Narmada that flows in a western direction. It has
priyangu
s
³⁴⁷
and groves of mangoes and groves of cane. The sage Vishrava’s holy and famous habitation is there. The lord of riches, Kubera, who has a man as a mount, was born there.
³⁴⁸
There is a sacred and auspicious peak there, by the
name of Vaiduryashikhara.
³⁴⁹
It abounds in green trees and there are divine flowers and fruit. O king! On the top of the peak there is the lake of a sage, with blooming lotuses and frequented by gods and gandharvas. O great king! Many wonders are to be seen on that mountain. That sacred and celestial place is always like heaven itself and is frequented by the devarshis. O destroyer of enemy cities! The rajarshi Vishvamitra’s river is there and that sacred river known as Para has many lakes and holy tirthas. Nahusha’s son Yayati fell on its banks, in the midst of righteous ones.
³⁵⁰
Though he fell, he again obtained the eternal words characterized by dharma. O son! There is also a sacred lake and Mount Mainaka. There is also Mount Asita, with many roots and fruit. O Yudhishthira! O Pandava! Kakshasena’s sacred hermitage is there and also Chyavana’s hermitage, famous everywhere. O lord! With a few austerities, men can obtain success there. O great king! There is also Jambumarga, the hermitage of rishis who have controlled their souls. O foremost among those who have pacified themselves! It is frequented by animals and birds. O king! O lord of the earth! There is Ketumala, which is most sacred and is always crowded by ascetics and Medhya and Gangaranya. There is the famous and sacred forest of Saindhava, frequented by brahmanas. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! There is the grandfather’s
³⁵¹
holy lake, by the name of Pushkara. This is the beloved hermitage of
vaikhanasa
s,
³⁵²
siddhas and rishis. O best of the Kuru lineage! O supreme among those who have performed good deeds! Prajapati himself chanted this verse in praise of Pushkara. ‘If a wise person desires to go to Pushkara even in his mind, all his sins are destroyed and he finds delight in the vault of the sky.’”’
³⁵³

‘Dhoumya said, “O tiger among kings! I will now describe to you the sacred spots and purifying places in the northern direction. O Pandava! The sacred Sarasvati flows towards the ocean, with many pools
³⁵⁴
and adorned with groves. There is the immensely swift Yamuna. There is also the sacred and auspicious tirtha Plakshavatarana. After undertaking a sacrifice to Sarasvati, brahmanas performed their ablutions there. O unblemished one! O descendant of the Bharata lineage! There is the sacred, famous, divine and auspicious Agnishira. Sahadeva sacrificed there, after throwing the sacrificial peg.
³⁵⁵
O Yudhishthira! It is because of this reason that Indra chanted a verse, which is still prevalent in the world and is sung by brahmanas. ‘The fires that Sahadeva lit along the Yamuna were one crore
³⁵⁶
and the gifts were hundreds of thousands.’ It was there that King Bharata, the immensely famous emperor, performed thirty-five horse sacrifices. O son! We have heard that Sarakasta, who satisfied the wishes of brahmanas in ancient times, has an extremely holy and famous hermitage there. O Partha! O great king! The river Sarasvati is always worshipped by those who are virtuous. In ancient times, the Valakhilya rishis performed sacrifices there. O Yudhishthira! The most sacred and famous Drishadvati is there. O lord of men! O supreme among the Bharata lineage! The immensely sacred Vaivarnya and Varna, learned in the Vedas, learned in the rites of the Vedas and wise in the knowledge that is in the Vedas, always performed many sacred sacrifices there.