Book 1/Chapter 12/Verse 1-53
On the birth of Pururavâ
1-53. Sûta
said :-- O Mahârsis! The son of the above mentioned Budha is the greatly religious
Pururavâ, of a very charitable disposition, and always ready to perform sacrificial
acts; he was born of a kshattriya woman named Ilâ; and I will now describe how
this Pururavâ was born of Ilâ and Budha, kindly listen.
In days of yore there was a king named
Sudyumna, very truthful and highly capable in keeping his senses under control. Once on a time, wearing beautiful ear-rings,
with extraordinary bow named Âjagab and holding the arrow-case full of arrows
on his back, he went out on hunt to a forest, riding on a horse, born of the
country Sindhu, surrounded by a few of his ministers. Going about in the regions of forest, the
king got for his shikâr, buck, hare, boar,
rhinoceros, bison, buffalo, young elephant, Srimar deer, wild fowl and various
other animals fit for sacrificial purposes; thus he went on deep into the
interior of the forest.
This divine forest was adorned with rows
of Mandâra trees and situated at the bottom of the mount Sumeru. Various trees and flowers were spreading the beauty of the forest all
around; at places were Asoka creepers, Vakula, Sâl, Tâl, Tamâl, Champak,
Panasa, mangoe, Nîp, Madhûka, pomegranate, cocoanut, Yûthikâ, plantain, kunda
creeper, and various other trees and flowers; at some other places the bowers
formed of Mâdhavi creepers enhanced the beauty and shed the lustre all around.
There were tanks and reservoirs of water
in the forest filled with swans, kârandavas, and other aquatic birds. The bamboo trees on their banks becoming
filled with air were emitting sweet musical sounds; and at many places of that
all blissgiving forest, there were bees humming sweetly and delighting the
minds of people there.
Now the Râjarsî Pradyumna became highly
gladdened in his heart to see this interior of the forest, resonated with the
cooing of the cuckoos and beautified by various lovely flowers; and no sooner he
entered there than he was turned into a female and his horse, also, turned into
a mare; the king, then, became seriously anxious. He began to think over and over again “What is this? How has this come to
pass?” and became very ashamed and sorry and pondered over thus :--“What am I
to do now? How can I in this woman condition go back to my house and how shall
I govern my kingdom? Alas! Who has deceived me thus!”
Hearing these astounding words of Sûta,
the Risis said :-- “O Sûta! You have mentioned that the king Sudyumna equal to
god has been turned into a woman; this is very strange indeed! Therefore, O
Suvrata! What is the reason of his being turned into a mare? Kindly describe
fully what that beautiful king did in the forest?”
Sûta, said :-- Once on a time, Sanaka and
other Risis went to this forest to pay a visit to S'ankara, illuminating the
ten quarters by their holy aura. But
then Bhagavân S'ankara was in amorous dealings with S'ankarî. The beautiful Devî Ambikâ was then naked and sitting
on the lap of S'ankara and therefore became very much ashamed at their sight; She
got up hurriedly, and putting on her cloth, remained there shuddering, with
great shame and sensitiveness. The Risis, also, seeing them engaged in amorous dealings, went away quickly to the
hermitage of Nara Nârâyana.
Then Bhagavân S'ankara, seeing S'ankari
too much sensitive, said :-- “Why are you so much bashful and shy? I am doing
just now what will give you pleasure. O
Beautiful one! Whoever male will enter from to-day and hereafter, within the
precincts of this forest, will be instantly converted into a woman.” O Munis!
Though the forest gave all delights to all, yet, having this defect, all the
persons that know of this curse, carefully
avoid the forest. No sooner did the King
Sudyumna enter into the forest, out of ignorance, than he, as well as his
attendants, were instantly turned into women; there could be no doubt in this.
The king became overpowered with great
care and anxiety and did not go back, out of shame, to his palace; but he began
to wander to and fro on
the outer skirts of that forest. He became known afterwards as the woman Ilâ. Now, once on an occasion, Budh, while he was
wandering at his will, came up there and seeing the beautiful Ilâ with gestures
and pastures and surrounded by women, became passionately attached towards her;
and Ilâ, too, seeing the beautiful Budh, the son of Chandra deva, became desirous to have him
as her husband. They became so very much
tied in love towards each other, that intercourse took place there. Thus Bhagavân Budh generated, in the womb of
Ilâ, Pururavâ; and Ilâ gave birth, in due time, the son Pururavâ in that forest.
She then, with an anxious heart,
recollected, while in the forest, her (rather his), family priest Vasistha
Deva. Now then Vasistha Deva, seeing the
distressed condition of the king Sudyumna became affected with pity and pleased
Mahâdeva, S’ankara, the most auspicious Deva of all, by hymns and praises. When Bhagavân S’ankara wanted to grant him
the boon that he desired, Vasistha Deva wanted that the king would be turned
again into man as before. At this
Bhagavân S’ankara said, in recognition of His promise, that the king Sudyumna
would be alternately one month a man and the second month a woman and so on.
Thus, by the favour of Vasistha Deva, the
king Sudyumna got this boon and returned to his kingdom and began to govern it. When he used to be turned into a woman, he
used to remain in the interior, and when he used to become a man, he governed
his kingdom. At this the subjects became
very anxious and did not welcome the king as they used to do before.
Some days passed away in this way when the
prince Pururavâ grew up into manhood. Then
the king Sudyumna gave over to him the kingdom and made him the king of the new
capital named Pratisthân; and started out to an hermitage to perform tapasyâ. He went to a beautiful forest, variegated
with all sorts of trees, and got from the Devarsi Nârada the excellent mantra of
the Bhagavatî Devî, consisting of nine letters.
He began to repeat it incessantly, with an heart filled with love. Thus some days passed away when the
all-auspicious Devî Bhagavatî, the Saviour of the whole Universe, became
pleased with the king and appeared before the king, assuming the divine
beautiful form, composed of attributes, intoxicated with the drink, and with
eyes rolling with pride, and riding on vâhana, the lion.
Seeing this divine form of the Mother of
the Universe, the king Ilâ (in this form) bowed down before Her with eyes
filled with love and gladly praised Her with hymns thus :-- “O Bhagavatî! What
a fortunate being I am! That I have seen today the extraordinary world renowned
benignant form of Thine granting grace and benefit to all the Lokas, I, therefore,
bow down to Thy lotus-feet, granting desires and liberation, and served by the
whole host of the Devas. O Mother! What
mortal is there on this earth, who can fully comprehend Thy glories when all the
Devas and Munis get bewildered in trying to know of them.
O Devî! I am thoroughly astonished to see
Thy glories and Thy compassion towards the distressed and poor and helpless
people. How can a human being, who is devoid
of attributes comprehend Thy attributes when Brahmâ, Visnu, Mahes'vara, Indra,
Chandra (moon), Pavana (wind), Sûrya, Kuvera, and
the eight Vasus know not Thy powers. O Mother!
Bhagavân Visnu, of unrivalled brilliancy, knows Thee as a part of Thine only, as
Kamalâ of Sattva Gunas and giving one all one's desires; Bhagavân Brahmâ knows Thy
part only as the form made of Rajo guna and Bhagavân S’ankara knows Thee as Umâ
only made of Tamo Guna; but, O Mother! none of them knows Thy turîya form, transcending
all the Gunas.
O Mother! where is my humble self, that is
of very dull intellect and powerless, and where is Thy extremely propitious
serenity and graciousness! Indeed such a gracious favour on me is certainly
beyond expectation. Therefore, O Bhavâni!
I have come to realise, in particular, that Thy heart is full of unbounded
mercy; for Thou dost certainly feel compassion for these Bhaktas that are full
of Bhakti towards Thee. O Mother! what
more shall I say than this, that Bhagavân Madhusûdan Visnu, though married to Kamalâ,
born from only a part of Thine, considers Himself unfit of Her and is therefore
not happy; then the fact that He, the Âdi Purusa gets his feet shampooed by
Kamalâ merely corroborates the fact that He wants His feet to become pure and
all auspicious to the world by the holy touch of Kamalâ's hands.
O Mother! It seems to me that the ancient
Purusa Bhagavân Visnu wants gladly to be kicked by Thee like As'oka tree, for his
own improvement and pleasure; and therefore it is that Thou dost want, as if
Thou hast become angry to kick (beat with one's legs) Thy husband, stricken by
Smara (cupid, love) and worshipped by all the
Devas, who lies prostrate below Thy feet. O Devî; when Thou always residest on
the calm broad chest, as if on a great cot, adorned beautifully of Bhagavân
Visnu, as lightning in deep dense blue clouds, then it is without doubt that
He, becoming the Lord of the Universe, has surely become Thy vâhan (vehicle)
(on account of carrying Thee on His breast), O Mother! If Thou forsakest
Madhusûdana, out of wrath, He becomes at once powerless and is not worshipped by any body; for it is seen
everywhere that persons, though calm and serene, if devoid of S’rî (wealth and
power) are forsaken by their relatives as reduced to a state having no
qualities.
O Mother! I am not to be ignored by Thee,
on account of my being a woman, for was it not the fact, that Brahmâ and the
other Devas who always take shelter of Thy lotus feet, had
not all to assume once youthful feminine forms, while in Manidvîpa, and I know
this surely that Thou again didst make them of male forms. Therefore, O Thou of unbounded power! What
shall I describe about Thy power? Indeed,
there is great doubt in my mind whether Thou art masculine or feminine?
O Devî! Whoever Thou mayst be, whether
with attributes on transcending the attributes, whether male or female, I
always bow down to Thee, with heart full of devotion towards Thee. O Mother! I want that I may have one
unflinching devotion, towards Thee in my final state.”
Sûta said :-- Thus praising the Devî, the
king Sudyumna, in the form of the feminine Ilâ, took refuge of the World
Mother; and the Devî, becoming greatly pleased, gave to the king, then and
there, union with Her own Self. Thus the
king got the highest steady place, so very rare even to the Munis, by the grace
of the Prime Force, the Devî Brahmâmayî.
Thus ends the Twelfth Chapter of the first
Skandha on the birth of Pururavâ, in the Mahâpurânam S'rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam of
18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâs.
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
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