On Tris’irâ’s austerities [ p. 481 ] 1-12. The Risis (of the Naimisa forest) addressed Sûta (fondly) :— O highly Fortunate One! Your nectar-like words are very sweet. We are not satiated with what you have described to us as the auspicious sayings of Dvaipâyana Vyâsa. O Sûta! We desire to ask you again to narrate to us the auspicious sayings of this Purâna, beautiful, famous, and sin-destroying and authorised by the holy Vedas. Vis’vakarmâ had a son, named Vritrâsura, who was very well known, and very powerful. How was it that he had been slain by the high-souled Indra? Vis’vakarmâ was a powerful Brâhmin and belonged to the gods’ party; his son was stronger. How was it that he had been killed by Indra! The Devas are born of the Sattva qualities; men are born from the Râjasic qualities; and all the birds, etc., are born of the Tâmasic qualities. This is the opinion of the Pundits, versed in the Purânas and Âgamas. But in this act of slaying Vritrâsura, a great contradiction arises; for the powerful Vritra was killed merely under a pretext by Indra, the performer of the hundred sacrifices, and endowed with Sattva qualities. And Indra was prompted to do so by Visnu, the head of those who possess Sattva qualities; while Visnu himself entered in disguise into the thunderbolt so that he could kill Vritra. The powerful Vritra entered into a treaty and kept himself peaceful when Indra and Visnu violated truth and treacherously killed him by Jalaphena (the watery foams). O Sûta! The great wonder is this :— That Indra and Visnu turned out so bold as to forsake the truth. This, then, is therefore very clear that the high souled persons become deluded and act sinfully. The Heads of the Devas act very wrongly; they are reckoned as polite simply because they observe the mere outward forms of good conduct as approved by the S’âstras. How can the mere observance of outward forms constitute politeness? Had Indra, who killed in disguise Vritra relying on his words, to suffer any punishment for the sin that he incurred in killing a Brâhmana? It was told by you before that Vritra had been slain by the Devî Bhagavatî; but the general belief is that Indra killed him. Our minds are puzzled on this point. (So clear our doubts on this point.) [ p. 482 ] 13-14. Sûta said :— O Munis! Hear the incident of the killing of Vritrâsura and the punishment that Indra had to suffer due to his sin of Brahmahatyâ (killing a Brâhmin). This question was asked by the King Pâriksit and replied by Vyâsa, the son of Satyavatî. I will tell you what Vyâsa had told before.
15-18. Janamejaya asked :— O Best of Munis! How was it that in former days Indra, endowed with the Sattva qualities, killed Vritrâsura, with the aid of Visnu? And how and why was it that he was killed again by the Goddess Bhagavatî? O Lord of Munis! How could one body be killed by the two; our curiosity has been excited to hear the truth. What man is there that does not like to hear any more of the glorious deeds of the high-souled persons! Kindly narrate to us the slaying of Vritra by the Devî Bhagavatî.
19-26. Vyâsa said :— O King! You are blessed, since your taste to hear the events of Purâna has grown so much; the Devas even get their thirst for drinking nectar; but when quenched, they do not like to drink any more. O King! Your name and fame are widely spread. Your Bhakti (devotion) to the Purânas is growing more and more daily. A speaker gets very much delighted when his audience hears him with undivided attention. O Lord of the earth! The fight between Vritra and Vâsava that occurred in days of yore is famous in the passages of the Vedas and the Purânas; as well as the suffering that Indra had to encounter as his punishment when he had killed the innocent son of Visvakarma. O King! The Munis, who fear sin very much, commit yet blameable acts under Mâyâ; then what wonder is there that Visnu, and Indra would kill Tris’irâ and Vritra merely under a plea. When Visnu, the incarnate of Sattva qualities, gets deluded by Mâyâ and kills deceitfully the Daityas always, then how can you expect any other man to conquer mentally even the Maha Mâyâ Bhavâni, Who deludes all the beings! O King! It is under the compulsion of this Mâyâ that the Bhagavân, the Infinite, the friend of Nara, Nârâyana, takes incarnations in thousands and thousands of Yugas in this Samsâra as Fish, etc., and does deeds sometimes lawful and sometimes unlawful. The Devas and men, being confounded by his Mâyâ, become upset and disordered and say “that this body, wealth, house, sons, wife and relatives are all mine” and being thus deluded sometimes do virtuous and sometimes sinful deeds. O King! There is not even one, on the surface of this earth, though he may be well versed in finding out cause and effect, the knowledge of the high and low, that can be free from this Great Delusion; he is from the very beginning tied up by the three Gunas of this Mâyâ and that remains under Her control. [ p. 483 ] 27-35. This explains that Visnu and Indra both were deluded by Mâyâ and engaged in fulfilling their own selfish ends. They killed Vritrâs’ûra under a pretext. O King! Hear! I am now describing to you the cause of enmity between lndra and Vritra. Vis’vakarmâ, the Prajâpati, was great architect of the Gods, he was skilled, he was superior amongst the gods, a great ascetic and endeared by the Brahmins. He had enmity with Indra; and out of this enmity he created a son, very beautiful named him Tris’iraska Visvarûpa. That son had three faces very beautiful and lovely. Visvarûpa performed three different functions with his three different faces; with one, he used to study the Vedas, with the second he used to drink nectar (wine), and with the third he used to see simultaneously all the directions. Tris’irâ renounced the pleasures of the world and began to practise a hard tapasyâ; he became a great ascetic, gentle, restrained in his passions and entirely devoted to his religion. He practised Panchâgni-Sâdhan in the summer season, tying his feet upwards on the branch of a tree with his head downwards; he remained in dew in the cold season, under water in the winter season. Thus he abstained from food and conquered his self and, forsaking all the worldly connections, practised a very hard tapasyâ; very difficult, indeed, for those who are of dull intellects.
36-49. Indra became very sad and dispirited to see him practise such a Tapasyâ and thought of the means so that he might not acquire his Indraship. The Pâkasâs’ana Indra remained always very anxious see the energetic penance practised by that ascetic of unbounded glory and his steady attachment towards it. He thought thus :— “This Tris’irâ is becoming stronger day by day by his penance, so he will kill me. The wise never look an enemy with indifference whose strength daily becomes greater and greater.” It is now my urgent duty to invent means how to baffle his Tapasyâ and he at last settled that lust is the great enemy of asceticism; the practice of devout austerities is destroyed complete by lust; so I must try this very day how the Muni becomes attached to worldly lust and enjoyments. The intelligent Indra, thinking thus, called the Apsarâs Urvas’î, Menakâ, Rambhâ, Ghritâchî, and Tilottamâ and others proud of their beauties so that they might seduce Tri’sirâ, the son of Vi’svakarmâ. O Apsarâs! I have now got a very grave task to fulfil; all of you help me in this respect. A great enemy of mine, difficult to conquer, is practising penance with his self-controlled. Start at once and with your dress suited to various amorous gestures and try hard to seduce him. Be all well with you; seduce him and remove the fever of my heart. O Apsarâs! What more shall I say, I am restless since I have heard of his strength performing such hard austerities. O Weak Ones ! That powerful [ p. 484 ] ascetic may acquire my place and thus dispossess me; this fear has possessed me. Therefore destroy my fear as quickly as possible. This is the task now given to you; get united and do this good to me. The Apsarâs, hearing him, bowed down and said :— “O Lord of the Devas! Do not be afraid! We will try our best to seduce him. O highly Lustrous One! For the enticing away of the Muni, we will do all the things, dancing, music and other amorous gestures and practices, that will discard your fear. O King of the Gods! We will unsettle the mind of the Muni by our side glances and passionate gestures and postures, delude and tie him and then bring him under our control.”
50-60. Vyâsa said :— O King! Thus saying, the Apsarâs went to Tris’irâ and began to exhibit various amorous gestures and postures as stated in the Kâma Sâstra. They began to sing sometimes, sometimes to dance in tune with musical measures before the Muni. In short, they practised various amorous gestures to entice him away. But that ascetic, blazing with the fire of Tapas, did not notice even the Apsaras’ various attempts; rather he kept all his senses under the control and remained like a deaf, dumb, and blind man. In that lovely hermitage of the Muni, the Apsarâs sang and danced ravishingly and remained a few days there. But when they saw that the Muni Tris’irâ did not swerve a bit from his meditative posture they returned tired, distressed to Indra and all, very fearful, began to address Indra with folded hands :— “O King! We tried our best and we could not in any way make the Muni unsteady, very hard to surmount. O Pâkas’asana! Please invent other means; we could not make the self-controlled Muni move away an inch from his position; it is our good luck that that high-souled Muni, an incarnate of blazing fire have not cursed us!” Then dismissing the Apsarâs, the evil-minded and dull Indra began to devîse means, though totally unlawful, how to kill that good Muni. O King! That Indra abandoned all shame, and fear of sin and ultimately came to a highly blameable and sinful conclusion how to kill him.
Here ends the First Chapter of the Sixth Book on Tris’irâ’s austerities in S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam the Mahâ Purânam, of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On the birth of Vritrâsura [ p. 484 ] 1-11. Vyâsa said :— The extremely covetous Indra, then, mounted on his Airâvata elephant and determined to kill the Muni. He went to him and saw him immersed in deep Samâdhi, firmly seated in his posture and with his speech controlled. At that time, a halo of light emanated from [ p. 485 ] his body and he looked like a second Sun and a blazing fire. Indra became very sad and dejected when he saw that. Indra then thought within himself thus :— “Oh! Can I slay this Muni, free from any vicious inclinations, and endowed with the power of Tapas, blazing like a fire! This is quite against the Dharma. But, Alas! He wants to usurp my position; how can I, then, neglect such an enemy?” Thus cogitating, Indra hurled at the Muni his swift going, infallible thunderbolt, the Muni remaining engaged in his penance and shining like the Sun and Moon. The ascetic, struck thus, fell on the ground and died, like a mountain peak struck by thunder falling on the ground and presenting a wondrous sight. Indra became very glad when he killed the Muni; but the other Munis then cried aloud :— “Oh! We are killed! Alas! What a crime has Indra committed today! Oh! The vicious Indra has killed today this jewel amongst the Munis without any offence! Let, then, this sinner reap the fruits of his sinful act without any delay.” Indra, then, went back soon to his own abode; on the other hand, the high-souled Muni, though killed, looked as it were, living by the lustre of his own body. Indra, then, seeing him lying like a living man thought that the Muni might get alive and so became very sad. While he was thus arguing in his mind, he saw before him a wood cutter named Taksa and began to speak to him for his own selfish ends thus “O Artisan! Cut all the heads of this Muni and keep my word; this highly lustrous Muni is looking as it were alive; therefore, if you sever his heads, he cannot be alive.” Taksa then cursed him and spoke thus.
12-14. “O King of the Devas! The neck of this Muni is very big and therefore cannot be severed; my axe is not at all fit for this work . Specially I cannot do such a blameable act. You have done a very heinous crime, quite against the law of the good persons; I fear sin; I will not be able to cut the heads of a dead man. This Muni is lying dead; what use is there in severing his head again? O Pâkas’âsana! The killer of the demon Pâka! Why do you fear in this?”
15. Indra said :— “O Artisan! This Muni is my dire enemy. Life seems to be still lingering in his body; his body is still lustrous, I fear if the Muni be alive again!”
16. Taksa told :— “Do you not feel shame in doing this heinous crime, when you know everything? Do you not fear God for the crime of killing a Brâhmin?”
17. Indra said :— I will make Prâyas’chitta (penance) afterwards for the washing away of my sins; but my duty at present is to kill my enemy.
[ p. 486 ]
O Fortunate One! The wise men, clever in polity, say that enemies must be killed by any excuse whatsoever.
18. Taksâ then replied :— “O Maghavan! You are doing this sinful deed out of your avarice; but, O Lord! I have no cause whatsoever; how then without any cause, can I engage myself in such a vicious act?”
19-20. Indra said :— “O Taksan! I will allot a share to you wherever there will be a sacrifice. The human beings will invariably offer to you the head of the animal killed at any sacrifice. Now cut his head according to this rule.”
21-42. Vyâsa said :— O King! That Taksâ became very glad when he heard thus from Indra and struck off the heads of the Muni with his very strong axe. O powerful King! When the three heads, thus severed, fell to the ground, thousands and thousands of birds came out of those heads in quick succession. The three groups of birds Kalavinkas, Tittiris and Kapinjalas came out very rapidly from the three heads in due succession. The Kapinjala birds came out of that mouth that used to chant the Vedas and used to drink Soma; the Tittiri birds came out of that mouth that used to see all the quarters as if it drank them; and the Kalavinka birds came out of that face that used to drink wine. Indra became very glad to see the birds thus coming out of his mouths and went back at once to his Heavens. O King! No sooner Indra went back, than Taksâ came back to his own house and felt himself very pleased to receive his share of sacrificial things. On returning to his home, Indra thought that he had done his duty in slaying his powerful enemy. It did not pass in his mind that he had committed the Brahmahattyâ sin (i. e., that he had killed a Brâhmin). When Vis’vakarmâ heard that his virtuous son had been killed, he became very angry (in his mind) and said that as Indra had killed his qualified son engaged in asceticism without any offence, he would create another son to kill Indra. Let the Devas see his strength and power of Tapasyâ and let Indra, too, reap the far-reaching effects of his own Karma. Thus saying, Vis’vakarmâ distressed with anger, offered oblations in the sacrificial Fire, reciting Mantram from the Atharvan Vedas, with the object of producing a son. When Homa was performed for eight nights consecutively, a man quickly came out of that burning fire, as if he was the Incarnate of Fire itself. Seeing the lustrous son before him, come out of the fire and endowed with power and energy, Vis’vakarmâ said “O Indra’s enemy! Grow by my power of asceticism.” When Vis’vakarmâ spoke these words, burning with anger, that brilliant fiery son began to grow, towering high above the Heavens. Within a moment that man looked a second God of Death and appeared like a [ p. 487 ] mountain and shone like the God Himself. Then he spoke to his own father Vis’vakarmâ, who was very distressed “O Father! Put my name. Pray, what use can I be to you? Why do you look so aggrieved and anxious; please explain to me all the causes. I make a firm vow today that will remove the cause of your sorrow. Father ! Of what avail is that to his father when he is not able to remove his sorrows!” O Father! Shall I drink the ocean or crumble the mountains to dust or shall I obstruct the passage of the rising Sun or shall I kill Indra, Yama, or the other host of Devas or shall I root out the earth and throw it with all beings into the ocean?”
43-53. O King! Hearing thus the sweet words of his son, Vis’vakarmâ gladly told his mountain-like son “O my Son! You are capable to save me from troubles (Vrijina) hence you are named Vritra. O highly Fortunate One! Your brother, named Tris’irâ, was a great ascetic; his three faces were all very strong. He was thoroughly conversant with the Vedas and the Vedangâs and well versed in all the other knowledges. He remained always engaged in practising asceticism, surprising to the three worlds. Indra killed my qualified son with his thunderbolt; that wicked soul severed the three heads without any offence. Therefore, O Best of beings! Kill that vicious, shameless, deceitful, wicked Indra guilty of the sin of Brahmahattyâ.” O King! Thus saying, Vis’vakarmâ very much confounded with the breavement of his son, created various divine weapons. He prepared weapons specially suited to kill Indra, the best axes, tridents, clubs, S’aktis, Tomaras and bows made of horns and arrows, Parighas, Pattis’as, divine discus like the Sudars’an Chakra, divine inexhaustible arrow cases with arrows, nice Kavacha, very substantial air-like swift-going chariot looking like a cloud and capable to carry great loads; all these he created and gave over to his son. O King! Vis’vakarmâ, the best of architects, excited by anger, made ready all the equipments necessary for war and gave them to his son Vritrâsura and sent him to kill Indra.
Here ends the Second Chapter of the Sixth Book on the birth of Vritrâsura in the Mahâ Purânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On the Deva defeat and on Vritra’s tapasyâ [ p. 487 ] 1-3. Vyâsa said :— O King! Having the Svastyayana ceremony (a performance of rite to secure welfare or avert calamity) performed by the Brâhmanas versed in the Vedas, the powerful Vritra mounted on his [ p. 488 ] chariot and started to kill Indra, the King of the Gods. The Dânavas that were previously defeated by the Devas now knowing Vritrâsura to be powerful, came up to him to serve his cause. The messengers of Indra, when they saw him ready for battle, hurriedly came to Indra and informed him all about his doings and other matters connected with it.
4-7. The messengers said :— O Lord! Vis’vakarmâ, having been very much grieved his son being slain, got very angry and by Abhichâra process (an incantation with a design to injure or magic spells or charms used for a malevolent purpose) has created a son in order to kill you. That indomitable Vritrâsura is now your powerful enemy; mounting on his chariot he is coming here to fight with you, surrounded by other Asuras. O highly Fortunate One! This enemy of yours is as high as the mountain Meru; he is now coming hurriedly to you, making a terrible noise; guard yourself carefully. O King! While Indra was hearing the messengers, the Devas came there panic-stricken and terrified and said :—
8-16. The Ganas said :— O Lord of the Suras! Ominous signs are being seen in the houses of the Gods; the birds are making sounds, very inauspicious and foreboding a great calamity. Crows, vultures, herons, falcons, and other ugly inauspicious birds are crying and making hoarse sounds on the tops of houses. Other birds are making incessantly harsh sounds like chichi koochy. The carriers of the several Devas are weeping and shedding tears always. O highly Fortunate One! On the tops of houses are heard very loud and very dreadful sounds of the crying Râksasîs at dead of night. O Giver of honour! The flags on the chariots are falling to the ground without any trace of wind. Thus ominous signs are being visible on earth and in the air. O King of the Devas! The ugly faced women, wearing black clothes, are roaming from house to house and always repeating “Leave the house, and go away at once.” The Deva women while sleeping in their own temples are seeing in their dreams that terrible Râksasîs, coming to them are cutting away their hairs on their heads and are frightening them. O Indra of the Devas! The inauspicious signs like these and earthquakes and the falling of the meteors are taking place. The jackals come in the courtyard of houses at night and yell horrible heartrending sounds. Lizards are moving always in the rooms and the several limbs of our bodies are shaking and thus making very inauspicious signs.
17. Vyâsa said :— O King! Hearing their words, Indra became very anxious and called Brihaspati, the Deva Guru, and asked him :— [ p. 489 ] 18-20. Indra spoke :— O Brâhmana! Very inauspicious signs are being visible; dreadful winds are blowing and stars are falling from the skies what are all these? O Intelligent One! You are very wise and versed in the S’astras and the Guru of the Devas; you are omniscient and know very well how to remedy the evils. Therefore perform the rites by which enemies can be killed; do such as our miseries be all averted.
21-31. Brihaspati said :— “O Thousand-eyed! What shall I do? You have committed shortly a heinous crime; you killed that innocent Muni and so you have earned a very bad Karmic effect. Very violent sins and good deeds produce their effects very quickly. It is, therefore, highly incumbent on those that desire for their own welfare, to take up any work with great discretion. It is never advisible to do any action that leads to the tormenting of others. Never do they find happiness who give pains to others. O Indra! You have committed Brahmahattyâ under the influence of greed and delusion; now suddenly has appeared the fruit of that act. O King of the Suras! This Vritra Asura is born invulnerable to all the Devas. That powerful indomitable Asura chief is now coming, mounted on a chariot, to kill you, surrounded by the other Dânavas and taking with him the Vis’vakarmâ-made divine arms and weapons equal to thunderbolt. He is coming like a second Kâla, as it were, to destroy the whole Universe. There is none in this Triloka, capable kill him; and his death will not also take place. While Brihaspati was thus speaking, a great tumultuous uproar rose at once. The Gandharbas, Kinnaras, Yaksas, Munis and other Immortals began to fly away from their quarters. Indra seeing the Devas flying away became very anxious and gave orders at once that all subservient to him must be ready at once for battle; they must go and call the Vasus, the Rudras, the twin As’vins, the Âdityas, Pûsâ, Bhaga, Vâyu, Kuvera, Varuna, Yama and the other Devas to come there at once. The enemy is well nigh; so let all the Devas come on their Vimânas quickly there.”
32-44. Thus ordering, Indra mounted on the Airâvata elephant and taking the Sura Guru in front started from his own temple. The other Devas mounted on their respective carriers and, firmly resolved to fight, started with all their arms and weapons. On the other hand, Vritrâsura surrounded by the Demons, came up to the beautiful mountain, adorned with trees, on the north side of the Mânasarovara Lake. Indra, too, came there with Brihaspati in front and attended by all the other Devas to that mountain, north of the Mânasa Lake and began to fight. A dreadful fight, then, ensued between Vritra and Indra with clubs, swords, Parighas, Pâs’as, arrows, S’aktis, Parsus and other weapons. The terrible [ p. 490 ] fight lasted for full one hundred human years, terrifying to the self-controlled Risis and all the human beings. Varuna first turned his back; then Vâyu, then Yama, the Sun and Moon and then Indra fled from the battle-field. Seeing Indra and the other Devas flying away, Vritrâsura came to the hermitage and there bowed down to his father who looked very glad; and he said :— O Father! I have carried out your orders; Indra and all the other Devas are defeated in the battle; as elephants and deer fly away seeing a lion, so the Devas all fled away to their respective abodes. I have taken the Airâvata, the best of elephants, away from Indra who fled away on foot. O Bhagavan! I have brought the elephant here. Kindly accept it. O Father! It is not advisable to kill a man who is terrified, therefore I did not kill them. Now kindly order anything else that I may fulfil your desires. All the Devas fled away from the battle-field, very much tired and terrified; and what more to say than this that Indra, too, fled, leaving his elephant on the field.
45-54. Vyâsa said :— O King! Vis’vakarmâ became very glad to hear his son’s words and said :— “Today I can rightly say that I have got my son and that my life is successful. O son! To-day you have sanctified me; my cares and worries are abated; my mind is also calm to see your wonderful prowess. O Child! Now hear attentively what I say. O highly intelligent One! Now carefully sit in your steady posture (Sthirâsan) and practise Tapasyâ. Never trust anybody; Indra is now your enemy, ever ready to find your faults, and clever in sowing dissensions between you and your well-wishers. O Son! Tapasyâ is not an ordinary thing; Laksmî (prosperity) is obtained thereby; excellent kingdoms, increase of vigour, and victories in battles are obtained. Therefore worship Hiranyagarbha and get excellent boons from him; then kill this vicious Indra, guilty of the sin Brahmahattyâ. Worship the auspicious Creator calmly and carefully. The four-faced Brahmâ then will be pleased and grant you your desired boon. First please the Creator of indomitable prowess, from Whose womb has sprung all this Universe, and get, then, immortality from Him. Then kill that guilty Indra, my enemy. O Son! My feeling of enmity due to the killing of my son reigns always in my mind; I cannot go to sleep peacefully nor do I get peace in any way. The vicious Indra killed my son; O Vritra! What more shall I say to you; I am merged in the ocean of sorrows; save me.”
55-60. Vyâsa said :— O King! Thus hearing his father’s words, Vritrâsura became inflamed with anger and, getting his permission, set out gladly to practise Tapasyâ. He then went to the Gandhamâdan mountain and performed his bath in the holy and auspicious river [ p. 491 ] Mandâ Kinî, and, preparing a Sthirâsan, took his seat in the Kus’â grass, to practise the tapasyâ. He left off gradually taking his food, then subsisted on water only and remained engaged in Yoga; and, seated in Sthirâsan meditated incessantly on Prajâpati, the Creator of this Universe. Indra, on the other hand, knowing Vritrâsura engaged in tapasyâ became very anxious and sent to him Gandharvas, Yaksas, Pannagas, Kinnaras, Vidyâdharas, Apsarâs and other Deva messengers, all of unbounded vigour to create obstacles in his austerities. These Gandharvas and other Deva Yonies, expert in exercising magical spells, tried many ways and means and various gestures and postures to create disturbances in his penance; but that great ascetic Vritra, the son of Vis’vakarmâ did not swerve a bit from his meditative state.
Here ends the Third Chapter of the Sixth Book on the defeat of the Deva army and on Vritra’s tapasyâ in the Mahâpurânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On the defeat of the Devas by Vritra [ p. 491 ] 1-17. Vyâsa said :—- O King! The Suras that wanted to create hindrance in Vritra’s tapasyâ, seeing him firmly resolved, became disappointed in the fulfilment of their objects and returned to their own abodes. Thus full one hundred years passed away. The four-faced Brahmâ, the Grandsire of the Lokas, came there mounted on his carrier the Swan, and said :— “O Vritra! Be happy; now quit your meditation and ask boon; I will grant you the boon that you choose. O Child! Your body has become very lean and thin through your penance. I am now very pleased to see your this very hard tapasyâ. Welfare be to you. Now ask the boon that you desire.” Vyâsa said :— O King! Hearing thus the clearly distinct nectar-like sweet words of the Creator Brahmâ, Vritra shed tears of joy and suddenly stood up. And going to him, bowed down gladly before His feet, and, with folded hands, spoke to Him, Who is desirous to grant him boons, in a tremulous voice. O Lord! Today I have been fortunate to see Thee who art generally seen with great difficulty; and I have acquired thus the posts of all the Devas; O Lotus-seated One! I have got an insatiable desire burning within me. Thou art omniscient, Thou knowest everything; still I am speaking out my mind. O Lord! Grant that my death does not occur with iron, wood, dry or wet substances or with bamboos or any other weapons and let my strength and valour be increased very much in the battle; for, then, I will be unconquerable by all the Devas with all [ p. 492 ] their armies. Vyâsa said :— O King! Thus prayed for, Brahmâ said to him smiling :— “O Child! get up; I grant that your desired boon will always be fulfilled; now go to your own place. Your death won’t occur with dry or wet substances or with stones or wood. I say this truly unto you.” Thus granting the boon, Brahmâ went to His Brahmâloka. Vritra, too, became very glad on receiving his desired object, and returned to his own abode. The highly intelligent Vritra informed the father about the boon granted to him; Vis’vakarmâ became very glad to hear it. O highly fortunate One! Let all bliss and good fortune come unto you; kill Indra, my greatest enemy. Go and kill the murderer of my son Tris’irâ, the vicious Indra and return to me. Be victorious in the battle and become the Lord of all the Devas and remove my mental agony due to the killing of my son. A son becomes then really a son when he obeys the commands of his father and when he feeds plentifully good many people on the Srâddha day (after his father’s death) and when he offers Pinda at Gayâ. Therefore, O Son! Keep my words and try to remove my sorrows. Know this as certain that Tris’irâ never vanishes from my mind. Tris’irâ was very truthful, amiable and good-natured; he was an ascetic and foremost amongst the Vedic scholars. The wicked Indra killed my dear son without any offence.
18-33. Vyâsa said :— O King! Hearing the father’s words, that extremely indomitable Vritrâsura mounted on his chariot and quickly got out of his father’s house. The proud Asura, then, marched to the battle, accompanied with his vast army, to the sounding of the conch-shells and war drums. Vritra, versed in politics and morals, exhorted his soldiers before marching and said :— “To-day we will kill Indra and possess the kingdom of the Immortals, freed of all enemies.” O King! Thus, accompanied by his soldiers, and raising a tremendous war-cry terrifying to the Devas, the Asura set out for battle. O Bhârata! The King of the Devas, knowing that the Asura is quite at hand, became overwhelmed with terror and ordered at once the soldiers to be ready for the battle and called quickly all the Lokapâlas and sent them all for the battle. The highly lustrous Indra, the tormentor of the foes, arrayed his troops in order according to Gridhra Vyûha (the method in which the vultures arrange themselves while flying) and stayed there. On the other hand Vritra, the slayer of enemies, dashed unto that place with all swiftness. A dreadful fight then ensued between the Devas and Dânavas; the two parties, desirous to get victory over the other, fought awfully hard. When the blaze of the battle fire shone to a very high pitch, the Devas dropped with sorrow while the Asuras became [ p. 493 ] excited with joy. The Devas and Dânavas struck each other with Tomaras, Bhindipâlas, axes, Paras’us, Pattis’as, and various other weapons. When the dreadful battle rose to a high pitch causing horripilation, Vritra became very angry and suddenly caught hold of Indra and denuding him of all clothes and armours swallowed him; he, then, remembering his former enmity, became very glad and stayed there. When Indra was thus devoured by Vritra, the Devas were overwhelmed with terror and cried out frequently, with great distress :— “O Indra! O Indra!” All the Devas became very dejected and grieved in their hearts to see Indra denuded of his armour and clothes in the belly of Vritra and bowed down to Brihaspati and said :— “O Indra of the Brâhmans! You are our best Guru what are we to do now? Though the gods tried their best to save Indra still Vritra has devoured him. We are all powerless, what can we do without Indra? O Lord! Perform quickly magic spells (Abhichâra process) which will lead to our Indra’s liberation.”
34. Brihaspati said :— “O Suras! The king of the gods is swallowed by Vritra, he has been quite disabled; but Indra is living in his bowels; attempt therefore must be made that he comes out while living.”
35-54. Vyâsa said :— O King! The Devas became very anxious to see Indra in that plight and took all the ways and means carefully how he might be freed. Then they created a state tending to cause yawning, very powerful and irresistible and calculated to destroy one’s enemy. Vritrâsura then yawned and his mouth got widely opened and extended. In the meanwhile Indra, the destroyer of one’s enemies’ strength, contracted all his limbs and came out of the expanded mouth of the Asura and fell down. Since that time, this state of yawning has become prevalent amongst the beings. The Devas were all glad to see Indra thus come out. When Indra thus got out, he fought again with Vritra for 10,000 years (Ajuta years). The fight was very dreadful, causing horripilation. On one side all the Devas joined in the battle; on the other side, the pre-eminently powerful Vritra, the son of Vis’vakarmâ fought. When Vritrâsura got more and more energy in the battle, Indra became gradually dwindled and was at last defeated. Indra became very much grieved when he found himself defeated; the Devas also were very dejected to see this. Indra and the other Devas quitted the battle-field and fled away. Vritrâsura too, quickly arrived and occupied the Heavens. Vritra began to enjoy by force the Heavenly gardens and took the Airâvata elephant. O King! The Asura, the son of Tvastâ, took away all Vimânas (the self-moving chariots of gods), Uchchais’rava, the best of horses, the heavenly cow, the giver of desires, the Pârijâta tree, the Apsarâs, and all other jewels of the Heavens. The Devas, on the other hand, deprived of their shares in sacrifices [ p. 494 ] and driven away from their Heavens, suffered very much. Vritrâsura became puffed up with vanity, when he got possession of the Heavens. Vis’vakarmâ, too, became very happy at that time and began to enjoy pleasures along with his son. O Bharata! The Devas, then, united with the Munis and they began to consult about their own welfare. When the Devas took Indra with them and went to Mahâ Deva in the Mount Kailâs’a and bowed down to His feet very humbly and, with folded hands, spoke thus :— O Deva of the Devas! O Mahâ Deva! Thou art the Mahes’vara and the unbounded Ocean of Mercy! We are defeated by Vritrâsura and we are very much terrified. Save us, O S’ambhu! Thou dost good to all the beings; dost thou tell us, therefore, truly what are we to do now, when that powerful Dânava has dispossessed us of our Heavens. O Mahes’a! Now dislodged, where are we to go? We are not finding any remedy by which our miseries can be destroyed. O Bhûta Bhâvana! We are very much pained; help us; O merciful One! That Vritrâsura has become intoxicated with vanity due to his being granted the boon. Therefore destroy him.
55-57. S’ankara said :— “O Devas! We will keep Brahmâ in the front and let all of us go to the residence of Hari and there consult with Him how to destroy this unruly Vritra. The Janârdana Vâsudeva is fully capable to do all actions. He is powerful, knower of pretexts, highly intelligent, ocean of mercy, and fit to be asked by all for protection. Without Him, the Deva of the Devas, no success is possible in any action. Therefore all of us ought to go there for the success in our undertaking.”
58-62. Vyasa said :— O King! Thus settling their plan of action, Indra and other Devas took S’ankara and Brahmâ with them and went to the abode of Hari, who protects all and is gracious to His devotees. They, then, began to chant Purusasûkta hymns to Him and thus they praised the God Hari, the Guru of this Universe. The Janârdan Hari, the Lord of Kamalâ, then, appeared before them and, after showing his respect, addressed them thus :— O Lord of the several Lokas! What have brought you all together with Brahmâ and S’ankara hither? O best of Suras! Please tell me the reason of your coming here. Vyasa said :— O King! Thus hearing Hari’s words, the Devas could not reply anything; rather almost all of them remained with an anxious look with their hands folded, overwhelmed with cares.
Here ends the Fourth Chapter of the Sixth Book on the defeat of the Devas by Vritra in the Mahâ Purânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On praising the Devî [ p. 495 ] 1-5. Vyâsa said :— O King! Nârâyana, the Lord of Laksmî, and Knower of the essences of all subjects, seeing the Devas extremely attached to him and anxious, spoke to them thus :— O Suras! Why have you kept silent? Tell me why you have all come, let it be good or bad, tell me; I will try to remove your miseries. The Devas said :— O Lord! Is there anything unknown to you in this Triloki; You know everything; why then art Thou asking us again and again? In ancient times You in your Dwarf incarnation overspread the three worlds by Your three feet and thus bound the King Vali in his own premises and gave over the sovereignty over the Devas to Indra. O All Pervading One! It is You who deluded the Daityas and procured nectar for the Devas, and it is You who sent them to the house of Death. Therefore, O Lord! You are the one and only one that is capable in warding off all the evils that befall on the Devas.
6-31. Thus hearing the Devas’ words, Visnu said :— “O Suras! You need not fear; I know one remedy, approved by all, by which that Daitya might be killed so that you would be happy. I am now giving out to you. Your welfare, your benefit must be looked at by me whether by the exercise of my intelligence or by using my prowess, by wealth pretext or by any other means whatsoever. Four means, viz., conciliation, gifts, sowing discord, or punishment are mentioned by the wise statesmen to be applied to friends and specially to the enemies. Brahmâ was worshipped by Vritra with severe austerities and He granted boons and it is due to the influence of that favour that this Asura has become indomitable. The more so that Vis’vakarmâ created him from the sacrificial fire; it is through all these causes that the Demon Vritrâsura, conqueror of the enemies’ stronghold, has grown up so very powerful that he can hardly be conquered by any being. O Suras! First peace must be negotiated with him; then deceive him, otherwise the enemy will be very difficult to conquer. First entice him and bring him under control; then kill him. Now take the Risis and Gandharbas with you and go where the powerful enemy Vritrâsura is residing and make a treaty with him; thus he will be conquered. Swear on oath and accede to the terms he proposes and thus create faith in him; then cultivate friendship with him; lastly, when time will come, kill that powerful enemy. O Suras! I will also enter, unseen by anybody, into the excellent weapon of Indra, his thunderbolt and will help him in due time. Wait till the period of [ p. 496 ] his longevity expires; otherwise his death will never take place. Now go to that Asura, with Gandharbas and Risis and cunningly cultivate friendship between him and Indra, by conciliatory words; when he begins thus to put his confidence, then deceive him. I will enter hiddenly into the strong well covered thunderbolt. When Indra will come to know that the Demon has put complete faith in him, he will hurl his thunderbolt against him and thus the enemy will be killed and not otherwise. O Lord of the Devas! Do not consider for the present the act of treachery that you will commit: take my help and kill that wicked Demon with thunderbolt. To practise hypocrisy with an hypocrite is not considered a sin; specially no powerful enemy can be killed only by the well known rules applicable to warriors, without any deceit. I also deceived, before, Vali, with my dwarf body and again I deceived all the Demons by showing myself as a beautiful woman; therefore to practise deceit with a strong deceitful enemy is never considered a sin. Know this. O Devas! Now you all conjointly worship the Devî Bhagavatî with Mantras and prayers and take Her shelter; the Yoga Mâyâ, then, will help you. We, too, worship that Devî, the Highest Prakriti, the Incarnate of pure Sattva Guna, Who grants success, bestows us all our desires, Who is Herself the object of desires, and Who is never realised by any except by those Yogis, self-controlled pure men. Indra, too, will certainly be able to kill his enemy in battle if he worships Her; for the Mahâ Mâyâ, the Creatrix of Delusion, will, when worshipped, delude that Demon. Thus deluded by Her Mâyâ, Vritrâsura will easily be killed by him; there is no doubt in this, what more do you want than this that everything will be successfully accomplished when the Devî Ambikâ is propitiated and gets well pleased. She regulates the hearts of all and is the Cause of all causes. Without Her worship no one’s desires can be expected to be accomplished. Therefore, O Best of Suras! Worship the Universal Mother, the Prakriti Devî with greatest devotion and with greatest purity for the destruction of your enemy. See! In days of yore, I fought for five thousand years, dreadfully with the two Demons Madhu and Kaitabha and then killed them. I worshipped, then, the Mahâ Mâyâ, the Highest Prakriti; She was thus pleased and deluded the two Asuras; thus the two powerful Asuras puffed up with vanity were deluded and thus I could kill those terrible Daityas under a pretext. Therefore, O Suras! You, too, worship that Highest Prakriti with the greatest devotion; She will then surely fulfill your desires.
32-49. O King! When the intelligent Visnu enlightened thus the Devas, they went to the top of the Mount Sumeru, adorned with the Mandâra [ p. 497 ] trees, and, remaining at a secluded place, recited slowly Her Mantrams and thus engaged in asceticism and meditation, began to chant hymns and praise that Universal Mother, the Holder of the world, the Remover of all world ailings, and the Creatrix, Preservatrix and Destructrix of the world and the Bestower of all desires to Her devotees. The Devas said :— “O Devî! Be graciously pleased unto us! O Thou, the Destructrix of the afflictions of the distressed! We have taken refuge unto Thy lotus-feet. We have been defeated by Vritrâsura in the battle, we are very much oppressed and afflicted. O Thou, the Highest Reality! O Thou, the Mother of the whole Universe! Protect us as a Mother protects her child; we are fallen into this difficulty arising from our enemies. O Mother! Nothing is hidden from Thy knowledge in the three worlds. Why art Thou taking no notice of us, that are being tormented by the Asuras! O Mother! Thou createst, preservest, and destroyest the three worlds; Brahmâ, Visnu and Mahes’a are created by Thy mere will and are doing all Thy works. Mother! They are not independent; by the contraction of Thy eye-brows, they are directed and enjoy all the pleasures. The Mother protects her sons afflicted with various difficulties and dangers, even when they are found guilty of various offences. It is Thou that hast made this rule; then why, O Merciful! Art Thou not protecting us who are quite innocent and whom Thou dost know as having taken refuge unto Thy lotus-feet. O Devî! If Thou thinkest that we forget Thee, being too much attracted by the enjoyments that Thou hast been pleased to confer unto us and therefore we are proper not to be looked upon with Thy merciful eyes, we would say that this is quite true; but, O Mother ! Nowhere is seen a feeling of a Mother to Her child; we are no doubt, objects of Thy mercy and favour always. Besides there is no fault of us in this matter, O Mother! that we do not worship Thee and become immersed in sensual enjoyments; for Thy creation, the Moha (delusion) is very powerful and deludes us. O Mother! Thou art naturally Merciful! Knowing these, why art Thou not showing mercy unto us. O Devî! Thou hadst killed before in battle, for our sake, the powerful Daitya Chief Mahis’âsura, very terrible to all the beings. Then why art not Thou, O Mother ! killing this dreadful Vritrâsura? O Mother! Thou hadst killed the two brother Daityas, S’umbha and Nis’umbha, extraordinarily powerful, and the other Daityas that followed them; O Thou, the embodiment of mercy! Similarly destroy now this deceitful strong Vritrâsura. O Mother! Delude this proud Asura so that he could not manifest, in the least, his power. We are very much troubled by the Asuras and overwhelmed with terror from them; Thou savest us; for there is no other in the three worlds that can by his own force remove the sorrows and sufferings of the Devas. O Mother! Though Thou hast shown favour towards Vritra, now dost kill him soon, whose nature is cruel and tormenting to others. O Bhavânî! Better dost Thou save him from sin by Thy holy arrows. Otherwise that vicious Asura will surely enter into the hideous Hell. It is for his welfare that Thou oughtest to kill him. Those that had been before enemies of the Gods, Thou didst purify them by weapons in the battle-field and hadst sent them to the Nandana Garden in the Heavens. O Thou, the Mercy personified! Was it not that Thou didst not save them from hell? Then why art not Thou killing this Vritrâsura! We know this for certain that the Asura is Thy enemy, not Thy servant; for that mischievous soul is giving us trouble. O Mother! How can he be Thy servant and devotee who torments the Devas that are always engaged in worshipping Thy lotus feet. O Mother! How can we perform Thy worship? The flowers and other articles used in worship all are created by Thee; especially we and the Mantras, in fact, everything is the manifestation of Thy power. Therefore, O Bhavânî! We worship Thee by laying ourselves prostrate on Thy feet. Be’st Thou pleased. Those men are blessed that worship with devotion Thy lotus feet for crossing this ocean of world. O Devî! Those Yogins that want final liberation and forsake therefore all attachments, vikâras and delusions, even they attain success then only when they meditate Thy lotus feet. Those that are great Sacrificers and know best the essence of the Vedas, even they when they offer oblations to the sacrifice, utter “Svâhâ” that is cheering to the Devas and “Svadhâ” very consoling to the Pitris; thus they always think of Thee (for Svâhâ and Svadhâ are Thy names only). O Mother! Thou art the retentive power and memory. Thou art the beauty, Thou art the peace, Thou art the Buddhi (intellect) well known to clarify men’s minds; and Thou art the prosperity and wealth of all these three worlds. O Devî! Those that worship Thee, Thou givest them, out of mercy, those wealth in some way or other.
50-57. Vyâsa said :— O King! Thus worshipped by the Devas, the Devî Bhagavatî appeared before them in a very beautiful form, thin, adorned with all ornaments. Her two hands holding a noose, and goad, and the other two hands making signs to discard all fear and ready to grant boons; Her loins very beautiful, girdled with a gold band with small bells pending and making sweet tinkling sounds; Her feet with anklets (ornaments) making sweet sonorous sounds with tiny tinkling bells. Her voice was exceedingly sweet and lovely, Her forehead was adorned with the crescent of the Moon and on Her head was glittering a diadem of jewels, Her lotus-face adorned with sweet soft smiles and with Her three beauteous lotus-eyes looking like Indîbaras. Her [ p. 499 ] body was of a red colour like the Pârijâta flowers and Her limbs were marked with red sandal-paste. She was dressed in a red attire. The Devî looked well pleased, like an ocean of infinite mercy, wearing complete dress suited to happy interviews, the Creatrix of all this Cosmos, the Highest, the Knower of all, the Directrix of all, and the Great Upholder of all. She looked like an embodiment of the Truth of all Vedântas and the Incarnate of ever Existence, Intelligence, Bliss, the Mahâ Devî Bhagavatî Bhuvanes’varî. The Devas all bowed down before Her standing in front of them. The Mother then spoke :— “What business have you got here? Speak to Me.”
58-59. The Devas said :— “O Bhagavatî! Vritrâsura is tormenting much the Devas; Bewitch him. O Devî! Do such as he can trust the Devas; and impart then strength on our weapons such as he can be killed.” Vyâsa said :— “O King! That will be done.” Saying thus, the Devî departed then and there. The Devas became very glad and returned respectively to their abodes.
Here ends the Fifth Chapter of the Sixth Book on the praising of the Devî by the Devas in S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On the slaying of Vritrâsura [ p. 499 ] 1-3. Vyâsa said :— O King! Thus getting the boons from the Devî, the Devas and the Risis blazing with their asceticism, all united and consulted with each other; then they went to the excellent Âs’rama of Vritra. There they saw Vritra in a sitting posture and with his own Tejas (fiery spirit in him) as if ready to burn the three worlds and to devour all the Devas. The Risis, then, spoke to Vritra the sweet words full of sentiments for the serving of the Devas’ ends, according to the principle of conciliation.
4-23. “O highly fortunate Vritra! Terrific to all the Lokas! Yo have now established your dominion in all the places over this whole Universe; but your enmity with Indra is the only cause to interrupt you in your happiness; there is no doubt in this. This enmity has increased much the anxiety of you both and therefore has grown very painful. Neither you nor Indra can go to sleep peacefully, there is always that fear hanging on you both, on account of that enmity. And, see! A long long while has passed away since the last battle was fought between you two; yet all the Devas, Asuras, men and other subjects, are feeling a sense [ p. 500 ] of oppression and pain. In this world happiness is the only thing to be sought for and pain is to be avoided; this is the eternal state of things. Never does that man who practises enmity with another, get happiness; this has been ascertained by the wise. It is only those brave warriors, that found taste in warfare, that approve of battles; but the wise that are expert in amorous enjoyments do not like battle as destroying the sensual enjoyments; they do not like fighting with flowers even; what to say with sharpened arrows! In a battle, the victory is doubtful but the shooting of arrows is certain, This world is dependent on Fate (Daiva, i.e., dependent on the cosmic rulers or deities or Devas of the Universe), so is victory or defeat. So knowing this, one ought never to fight. Bathing in proper time, taking food and sleeping in fixed times and having a chaste serving wife, these are the means towards happiness in this world. While in warfares, shooting terrible arrows and striking with fierce axes take place; what happiness can there possibly exist? Rather the enemy finds pleasure there. There is a saying that death in battles leads one to Heaven, but this is merely an enticing statement, inciting one to war! Really it is fruitless. Supposing that happiness comes ultimately to those who pain their bodies by being shot with arrows and who allow their carcasses being devoured by the crows and jackals, then no man, even of dull understanding, will like this, what to speak of intelligent persons! Therefore, O Vritra! Let everlasting peace and friendship be established between you and Indra; both of you in that case will derive everlasting peace and happiness. Moreover if the enmity between you terminates from this instant, then we, the ascetics and Gandharbas will, no doubt, be able to remain in our own respective Âs’rams with great comfort. O Powerful Hero! Owing to incessant wars between you and Indra, the Munis, Gandharbas, Kinnaras and beings are day and night, suffering very much. For the happiness of all peace-loving persons, we, the Munis, the residents of the forest, earnestly desire that there be formed friendship between you two. We desire that you, Indra and all the Jîvas get happiness. O Vritra! We stand as mediators in this treaty between you and Indra; we will make each party swear on oath and thus make it conducive to the happiness of both. Indra will now swear on oath before you on the terms that you will dictate and thus will make your heart cheerful. Know this verily that this earth stands on Truth, the sun rises for the sake of Truth, the winds blow all along for Truth and the boundless ocean never oversteps its limit for Truth. Therefore let your friendship, be established on Truth. Thus tied together by bonds of friendship let you two sleep, play, make sports in water and sit together happily.” [ p. 501 ] 24-28. Vyâsa said :— O King! Hearing the Maharsi’s words, the highly intelligent Vritra began to say :— “Risis! You are possessed with knowledge and many other qualifications and you are ascetics; you are therefore to be respected by me. You are the Munis and therefore you never speak anywhere falsehood; your conduct is good and you practise rite and ceremonies; you are calm; therefore you do not know the causes of pretexts. The intelligent should never cultivate friendship with a knave, licentious person who is void of understanding, an infamous, and a shameless person, specially if he be an enemy. This vicious Indra is shameless, deceitful, licentious, and the killer of a Brâhmana; therefore no faith can ever be placed on such persons. You are saints and added with all good qualifications; therefore your minds never play in the mischievous thoughts of others; it is because your heart is calm and quiet that you cannot understand the minds of the deceitful and treacherous; therefore you ought never to stand as mediators between any two persons.”
29-32. The Munis said :— “O King! All the creatures certainly enjoy the fruits of their Karmas, whether good or bad; how then, can persons, of perverted intellect, obtain peace when they do mischief to others. The treacherous persons certainly go to hell and suffer miseries always. The slayers of Brâhmanas and the drunkards may get liberation; but never the faithless and those who go against their friends get off free; these will have to suffer undoubtedly in the hells. Therefore, O Knower of all things! Give out clearly what is going on exactly in your mind and the exact terms that you want; and the treaty will be made between you and Indra exactly according to those terms.”
33-34. Vritra said :— “O highly fortunate Munis! I can enter into a treaty of peace with Indra only on the condition that Indra with all the other Devas will not kill me in day or in night with any dry or liquid substance or with wood, stone, or thunderbolt and on no other terms.”
35-68. Vyâsa said :— O King! The Risis then gladly accepted his word and brought Indra there and recited to him the terms of the treaty of peace. Indra, then, swore, an oath, before the Munis with Fire as the Witness that he would comply with the terms of the treaty, and was thus freed from his heavy thoughts and felt that he had been rid of a fever. Vritra, then, relied on lndra’s words; became his friend, and began live, play and enjoy with him. They felt pleasure by their union and began to roam sometimes in the Nandana Garden, sometimes in the Gandha Mâdana, sometimes on the shores of oceans, Vritra was very much delighted when they were thus united in friendship; but Indra watched [ p. 502 ] him to find his faults; thus sometime passed. A few years passed away after the treaty had been concluded. And the straight-forward Vritra began to place very much confidence on Indra; but Indra meditated on the means how to kill him. One day Visvakarmâ, knowing that his son Vritrâsura placed implicit confidence on Indra, called his son and said :— “O my son Vritra! Hear my good words. See, it is never advisable to trust anybody with whom there has arisen once the enmity. Indra is your greatest enemy; he always intends evil to you; therefore do not trust him any more. Indra is never to be trusted, who is always covetous, inimical, rejoicing at others sufferings, licentious and addicted to others’ wives; vicious, deceitful, finding faults with others, always jealous, a juggler, and puffed up with vanity. O Child! What more shall I say than this fact that that villain, without fearing sin, easily entered into the womb of his mother and cut the crying child in the womb into seven pieces and then each seventh part again into seven parts, thus altogether into forty-nine parts. Therefore O my son! He is never to be trusted on any account. He who is always addicted to vicious deeds never feels shame in perpetrating again another crime.” Vyâsa said :— O King! Vritra’s death time drew nigh; hence he could not take his father’s words as auspicious, though he was warned by his father in words full of meaning. One day, in the evening time, at a very inauspicious dreadful moment, Indra saw Vritra on the shore of an ocean and began to think of the boon granted by Brahmâ to the Asura thus :— “Now this is the terrible evening time; this cannot be called day nor can it be called night, and this demon is also here alone in this solitary place; it is advisable therefore to effect his death by force, there is no doubt in this.” Thus arguing in his mind, Indra remembered the Undecaying Soul Hari. Bhagavân, the Best of Purusas came there, unseen by anybody, and entered into the thunderbolt; Indra quickly collected himself to kill Vritrâsura; but he thought how he could slay this Demon, unconquerable in the battle; and if he did not slay his enemy then by deceit, then his enemy would continue to live, and it would be impossible for him to get his own welfare. While he was thus thinking, he saw the foam of the waters of the ocean as big as a mountain; thinking that foam not to be dry nor wet and considering that foam not to be any weapon, he easily took that foam and instantly remembered with a heartful devotion the Highest Force Bhuvanes’varî. On Her remembrance, the Bhagavatî infused Her part into that foam and the thunderbolt, instilled with the force of Nârâyana, was covered, too, by that foam. Indra, then, hurled the thunderbolt covered with foam on Vritra; and the Demon, thus struck, instantly fell down like a mountain. When Vritrâsura was thus killed, Indra became very glad; the Risis began to praise [ p. 503 ] him with various hymns. Indra, then, with all the other Devas worshipped the Devî, through Whose Grace the enemy had been killed and they praised Her with various hymns. The image of the Bhagavatî the Supreme S’akti was built of ruby and installed in the Nandana Garden. O King! Since then all the Devas used to worship the Devî thrice a day, morning, midday and evening and since then the S’rî Devî became the tutelary deity of the Gods. Indra worshipped then Visnu also, the Highest of the Gods. When the terrible powerful Vritrâsura was killed, the auspicious wind began to blow gently; the Devas, Gandharbas, Râkhsasas, and Kinnaras began to roam about with great joy. Vritrâsura was deluded by the Mâyâ of Bhagavatî, and Her force entered into the foam; hence Indra was capable to kill him suddenly and it is, for this reason, that the Devî, the Goddess of the world, is known in the three worlds as “Vritranihantrî,” the slayer of Vritra. But at the first sight Indra killed him by means of the foam; hence the people say that Vritra was killed by Indra.
Here ends the Sixth Chapter of the Sixth Book on the slaying of Vritrâsura in the Mahapurânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On Indra’s living under disguise in the Mânas Lake [ p. 503 ] 1-16. Vyâsa said :— O King! Now seeing Vritra slain, Visnu, the Deva of the Devas, went to Vaikuntha; but, with this fear reigning supreme in his mind that it was He that virtually slew him. Indra, too, then became afraid of the sin committed by him and returned to his Heavens. The Munis, too, became very anxious and thought what great sin they have committed in cheating Vritrâsura. It is the company of Indra that now made their name “Munis” as meaningless. The Munis thought thus :— “Oh! Vritra on our words trusted Indra and we have thus turned out today traitors in company with that traitor Indra. Attachment and affection is the cause of all mischief. Fie on that attachment! It is, as it were, tied by the cord of affection that we had sworn falsely on oath and thus deceived Vritra. Those that deliberately guide others to vicious acts or those that advise or incite others to do sinful acts or those that side with the sinners certainly partake of the fruits of the sin committed. Visnu, too, committed the sin, though he had Sattva Guna preponderance, when he entered into the thunderbolt and thus helped Indra in killing Vritra. It seems that henceforth the people, when selfish, won’t [ p. 504 ] hesitate to commit afterwards any sinful act when they will see that Bhagavân Visnu could have done, in concert with Indra, such a vicious thing. Of the four virtues Dharma, Artha, Kâma, and Moksa, Dharma and Moksa are very rare in the three worlds. Artha (wealth) and Kâma (desires) are everywhere recommended as excellent and therefore held very dear; Dharma is now merely in name and is the cause of the vanity of the Pundits (no one now really practises Dharma with devotion). Thus arguing, the Munis became very much afflicted in their minds and went back to their own hermitages respectively, broken-hearted and absent-minded. O Bharata! Hearing of the death of his son by Indra, Vis’vakarmâ wept very much and he become disgusted very much with the affairs of the world. He went to the place where lay his son Vritra and became pained very much to see him in that state; and he performed his cremation and other funeral obsequies according to the prescribed rules. He then bathed, performed his Tarpanam (peace-offering) and funeral ceremonies due to a person in the first year of his death. Then his heart became afflicted with sorrow and he cursed the vicious Indra saying that as Indra had killed his son, enticing him by falsely swearing on oath, so Indra, in his turn would suffer a heavier suffering, to be inflicted by Vidhi (the Great Creator of Universe). O King! Thus cursing Indra, Vis’vakarmâ, very much afflicted due to the loss of his son, went to the top of the Mountain Meru and began to practise a hard tapasyâ.
17. Janamejaya said :— “O Grandsire! First tell me what happiness or pain did Indra derive by killing Vritra, the son of Tvastâ.”
18-40. Vyâsa said :— O fortunate One! What are you asking? and what is the nature of your doubt? The fruit of one’s Karma is certainly to be enjoyed, whether it be auspicious or inauspicious. Be he weak or strong. Be he a Deva, an Asura or a human being, everyone in fact, will have to suffer for one’s Karma, good or bad, to its full extent, whether it be done a little or too much. See! It was Visnu that gave advice to Indra and entered into his thunderbolt and helped him when Indra was ready to kill Vritra; but when there had been Indra’s difficult time, Visnu did not help Indra in any way. Therefore, O King! It is clear that when one’s time is favourable, everybody turns out friends; but when Fate turns adverse, nobody is seen to come forward to help. When Fate is against anybody, one’s father, mother, wife, or brother, servant, friend or one’s own son becomes quite incapable to help anybody. The man, who does good or bad acts, suffers for his deeds. When Vritra was killed, everyone went back to their respective homes; but Indra, the Lord of S’achî, became very much deprived of his energy and brilliancy due to the sin of his kill- [ p. 505 ] ing a Brâhmin; all the Devas, then, blamed him as a Brâhmaghataka (the killer of a Brâhmin). They talked further that no other body would have been able to even indulge the idea of killing a Muni who was an intimate friend and who placed full confidence on him when Indra had sworn on oath that he would be a friend to Vritra. O King! Everywhere then there was this gossip in the assemblages of the gods, in their gardens, at the meetings of the Gandharbas that Indra had deceived Vritra who had relied on him, on the words of the Munis and then killed him by pretext, and so had done, indeed, a horrible crime. Indra had now forsaken the eternal proofs of the Vedas; and he had become a Bauddha; therefore he could have easily killed Vritra. No other body, save Visnu and Indra, could have acted contrary to their words, as clearly evidenced by the manner in which Vritra had been killed. These remarks, similar to those mentioned above, became everywhere current and Indra heard all of them, tending to his own disgrace. O King! Fie on that man’s life that is blamed everywhere! Fie on that man whose fame has been marred amongst the people. Such a person becomes laughed at by his enemies, when seen by them on the way. The royal saint Indradyumna (Râjarsî) was made to get down, though sinless, from Heavens when his good deeds expired. Why, then, would not vicious persons be made to descend? The king Yayâti had to get down from Heavens for his very little fault and had to pass eighteen Yugas in the form of a crab. What more can be said than the fact that even the Bhagavân Achyut Hari had to take several incarnations in the wombs of boar, crocodile, etc., out of the curse from a Brâhmin, due to his cutting off the bead of the wife of Bhrigu. Though omnipresent, yet he had to take the appearance of a dwarf and had to beg from the King Vali’s palace. What more troubles and miseries than this can be inflicted on those that had sinned viciously. O Ornament of Bharata! Râmchandra, too, had to experience, due to the curse of Bhrigu, terrible miseries on the bereavement of Sîtâ Devî. Similarly Indra, too, for his sin of killing a Brâhmin, was so much terrified that he could not get his healthy condition though he remained in his own house, endowed with all sorts of prosperity and wealth. Seeing, then, Indra lustreless, knowledge-less, almost void of consciousness, and overwhelmed with fear, his wife S’achî, the daughter of Pulomâ, spoke to him thus :— “O Lord! Your dreadful enemy has been killed; why are you, then, sighing so much, being afflicted with so much terror? O Lord! You have destroyed your enemy; then why are you so much anxious? why are you then so much remorseful and drawing such deep heavy sighs like an ordinary man? I am not seeing any other powerful enemy of yours; then, why do you look so anxious and bowed down with cares, as if you look quite unconscious.” [ p. 506 ] 41-44. Indra said :— “O Devî! True that I have no other powerful enemy, yet I do not find peace nor any happiness. I fear for the sin Brâhmahattyâ in my house. O Devî! This Nandana Garden, the city of Kuvera, the lord of riches, this nectar forest, the sweet music of the Gandbarbas, the beautiful dance of the Apsarâs, all these now do not give the least pleasure to me. What more can I say than this that the beautiful Lady like you, most beautiful amidst the three worlds, and other beautiful ladies, the Heavenly cow, the Mandâra tree (one of the five trees of the celestial region), the Pârijâta tree (the flower tree), the Santâna tree, the Kalpa tree (yielding all desires) and the Harichandan (saffron tree) and others cannot give pleasure to me. What to do, where to go, so that I get happiness, O Beloved! This thought makes me uneasy. And so I am not able to get happiness in my own thought.”
45-60. Vyâsa said :— Thus speaking to his most distressed wife, Indra got out of his house and went to the exceedingly beautiful lake, named Manasarovara. Indra there entered into the tubular stalk of the lotus, his body becoming very lean and thin out of the fear and sorrow. Nobody could recognise him as he was overpowered by his terrible sin. He then began to behave himself, as regards feeding and enjoying, like a snake; and he became ovewhelmed with thought, helpless, and his organs were out of order, He remained hidden in the water. When Indra, the king of the Devas, thus fled away out of the fear of his Brâhmahattyâ sin, the other Devas became very anxious; everywhere various evil signs manifested themselves. The Risis, Siddhas and Gandharbas were very much panic-stricken, as various disturbances and violent symptoms covered all over the world without any king. Grains began to grow very scanty, due to want of rains; the streams were almost dry and very little water was there in the tanks. In such a state of anarchism, all the inhabitants of the celestial regions, the Devas and Risis consulted and installed the king Nahusa in the place of Indra. O King! Nahusa, though virtuous, became, under the sway of Rajoguna, influenced by lust and thus he got very much addicted to worldly enjoyments. He began to amuse himself in the Garden of Paradise, surrounded by the Apsarâs or celestial nymphs. One day he heard of the excellent qualifications of S’achî Devî, the wife of Indra, and desired to acquire her. Then he spoke to the Risis :— The Devas and you, united, have installed me in the office of Indra; but why does not the Indranî (the wife of Indra), come to me so long? If you want to do what I like, then quickly bring S’achî here before me for my gratification. I am now Indra and therefore the god of the Devas and all the worlds; therefore bring today quickly Indranî to my house. Hearing thus the words [ p. 507 ] of the king Nahusa, the Devas and Devarsîs became anxious and went to S’achî, and, with their heads bowed down, spoke thus :— “O Wife of Indra! The wicked Nahusa is now desiring you; he became angry and told as to send you to him quickly; O Devî! We have made him Indra and are therefore under him; what shall we do now under these circumstances?” S’achî, the wife of Indra, hearing their words, became absent-minded and spoke to Brihaspati, thus :— “O Brâhmana! I now take refuge unto you.”
61-62. Brihaspati said :— “O Devî! Do not be afraid of Nahusa; he has been deluded by Moha. O Child! I won’t forsake the eternal religion and thus I won’t give you over to the hands of Nahusa. No doubt that wretch suffers the severest torments in Hell to the end of Pralaya (the Great Dissolution) who quits and hands over the distressed person under one’s refuge to another. O Good One! Be comfortable; I will never forsake you.”
Here ends the Seventh Chapter of the Sixth Book on Indra’s living under disguise in the Mânas Lake in the Mahâpurânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On S’achî’s praising the Devî [ p. 507 ] 1-11. Vyâsa said :— O King! Hearing that the wife of Indra had taken refuge under Brihaspati, the King Nahusa became very angry towards Brihaspati and spoke to the Devas :— “ O Devas! I hear that the stupid son of Angirasa has given protection to Indra and has kept her in his house; I will therefore kill him quickly.” Seeing the terrible Nahusa thus angry, the Devas and Risis consoled him and said :— O King of kings! Do not be angry; quit this vicious motive yours. See, the Risis in all the Dharma S’âstras, have declared the holding of illicit connection with other’s wives as a very heinous crime and have blamed it very much. You can consider that the daughter of Pulomâ is always chaste, devoted to her husband and very good-natured. How can she, when her husband is alive, take another husband? O Lord! You are now the Lord of the three worlds and hence the Defender of Faith and Religion; and if a person like you act irreligiously, all the subjects will then go to annihilation. One who is a Lord should always observe the rules of good conduct. Besides there are many [ p. 508 ] other celestial women in this Heaven as beautiful as S’achî; you can satisfy your thirst with them. Mutual love is recognised by the wise as the true originator of amorous dealings; ravishing a woman by force destroys all amorous sentiments. O King! And if the mutual love be similar and equal in all respects, then comes the true happiness; you have now got the post of Indra; therefore quit this idea of holding illicit connection with other’s wives and indulge in other good thoughts. Demerits destroy prosperity and merits increase it. Therefore, O King! Leave all these bad thoughts and make your heart take a good turn and be happy.
12-15. Nahusa said :— “O Devas! Where were you all when Indra stole away the wife of Gautama and when the Moon stole away the wife of Brihaspati? It is easy to give advice to others but to act according to that is very rare in this world. O Devas! Let the qualified Devî come to me you will derive much benefit from it and the Devî, too, will get Her highest happiness; there is no doubt in this. I tell you truly that in no other way I will be satisfied; bring Indrânî here quickly, whether by good words or by force.”
16-17. The Devas and Munis heard the words of the king Nahusa, smitten by the Cupid’s arrows, got terrified and said :— “We will bring Indrânî to you by gentle words.” Saying thus, they went to the house of Brihaspati.
18-21. Vyâsa said :— O King! The Devas, going to the house of Brihaspati, spoke thus with folded hands :— O Guru! We know that Indrânî has taken shelter in your house; we will have to hand her over today to the king Nahusa for we all united have made over the post of Indra to Nahusa. Let this beautiful Lady now choose and worship him. Hearing these awful words of the Devas, Brihaspati said to them :— “O Devas! This chaste woman, devoted to her husband, has now taken my shelter; therefore I can never part with her.” The Devas said :— “O Guru! Kindly advise then - if you do not part with S’achî Devî - how the king Nahusa be pleased; if he becomes angry, it will then be very difficult to please him.”
22-31. Brihaspati said :— “O Devas! Let S’achî now go to Nahusa, and tempt him with enticing words and make this condition that when her husband’s death will be known to her, she will then accept Nahusa as her husband. How could she accept another husband when her husband was alive. Therefore let her now go in quest of her high-souled husband. Let S’achî thus make condition with him and, thus deceiving him, let her try [ p. 509 ] her best to bring back her husband. O King! Then, after coming to this conclusion, Brihaspati and other Devas went with Indrânî to the king Nahusa. Seeing them come, especially looking at Indrânî the artificial king Nahusa became very glad and said to Indrânî :— “O Beloved! Today I am become the real Indra. O beautiful-eyed One! Worship me as your husband; see the Devas now have made me to be worshipped by all the gods.” When Nahusa spoke thus, the Devî S’achî became filled with great shame; she began to tremble and said to the king :— “O Lord of the Devas! I desire to ask a boon from you. Better wait till I ascertain whether Indra is dead or alive, there is this doubt in my heart whether he lives or whether he is dead. O King of kings! Let me, first of all, clear my doubts. Kindly excuse me and wait till then. I tell this truly that after I ascertain the fact, I will worship you. I do not know anything whether Indra is dead or whether he has gone any where else.” When S’achî Devî spoke thus, Nahusa became very glad and saying “let it be so” dismissed her.
32-47. Thus having received permission from the King to depart, S’achî hurriedly went to the Devas and spoke to them to try their best to bring Indra back as soon as possible. O King! Hearing these sweet and holy words of Indrânî the Devas intently consulted with each other how they could get back Indra. They then went to Vaikuntha and began to praise with hymns the original Deva, the God Visnu, the Lord of the Universe, kind to those that seek His refuge. The Devas, skilled in speaking, spoke to Visnu with a very troubled heart :— “O Lord! Indra, the Lord of the Devas, is very much troubled with his sin Brahmahattyâ. Where is he staying now, invisible to all the beings? O Lord! He is now overcome with the sin Brahmahattyâ by killing Vritra, the best of the Brâhmins. We ask your skilful and intelligent advice. O Lord! You are the sole refuge of him as well as of us. We are now involved in a great difficulty. Kindly show us the way how we, as well as Indra, can get out of this difficult crisis.” Hearing the pitiful words of the Devas, Visnu said :— Let Indra perform the As’vamedha sacrifice (Horse sacrifice) for the purification of his sins. By this Yajña, that can destroy all sins, Indra will be purified and he will regain his Indraship; there is no doubt in this. The more so because the Devî, the Universal Mother, will be pleased with his Horse sacrifice and will destroy all his sins, Brahmahattyâ and others. Lo! Merely remembering Her destroys heaps of sins; and, if by this Horse sacrifice, She be pleased, what wonder is there that sins of a more grave nature would be destroyed! And let Indrânî worship Bhagavatî daily; happiness will undoubtedly be gained by worshipping that most Auspicious One! By this the King Nahusa will be particularly deluded by the World [ p. 510 ] Mother and will then be quickly destroyed by the sin committed by himself. And Indra, purified by As’vamedha, will soon regain his position and all his wealth. O king! Thus hearing the sweet beneficial words of Visnu of indomitable prowess, the Devas went to the spot, where resided Indra. Brihaspati and the other Devas consoled the distressed Indra and made him celebrate duly in right order, the Horse sacrifice the greatest of all sacrifices. Indra then distributed his sin Brahmahattyâ amongst the trees, rivers, mountains, women, and the earth.
48-51. Thus casting aside his sin on all the above things, Indra became again free from his sin, and, getting rid of his fever and uneasiness, abided by the time and remained there invisible in the tubular stem of the lotus. Doing that wonderful act, the Devas started from there and reached their own abodes. The daughter of Pulomâ, suffering from her bereavements from Indra, spoke then to Brihaspati with great sorrow :— “O Lord! Why is my husband still invisible to me, when he has performed the As’vamedha sacrifice? Kindly show me the way how I can get a sight of him.”
52-62. Brihaspati said :— “O Devî! Worship the most Auspicious Bhagavatî; surely She will make your husband sinless and you will see him. The Devî Ambikâ, the Upholdress of the Universe, will desist the King Nahusa from doing the wrongful act and it is She that will delude him by Her Mâyâ and get his downfall from the Heavens. O King! When Brihaspati spoke thus, S’achî Devî got initiated by him in the Devî Mantram, capable to secure success in any undertaking. Thus getting the Mantram from her Guru, She began to worship the Devî Bhuvane’svarî duly with flowers, sacrificial victims and other necessary articles for worship. Thus Indrânî, with a view to see her husband, performed the worship of the Devî; she quitted all the articles of enjoyment and luxury and assumed the garb of an ascetic; thus some time passed away, when the Devî was pleased and appeared before her on the back of a Swan, in Her peaceful form, ready to grant boons to Indrânî. She looked, then, fiery like thousands of Moons; Her lovely beauty appeared in rays like thousands and thousands of fixed lightnings. The four Vedas personified began to praise Her in hymns from the four sides. Her two hands were adorned with a noose and a goad, and Her two other hands made signs to grant boons and to discard all fear. The Vaijayantî garland of clear crystal-like gems suspended from Her neck up to Her feet. Her face was adorned with smiles and signs as if she would grant favours. She had three eyes and was the ocean of mercy and the Mother of all the Jîvas from a worm up to Brahmâ. Her two heavy breasts were filled with [ p. 511 ] unbounded ocean of nectar-like juice of Peace and Mukti. She was the Goddess of innumerable worlds, the Goddess of all and the Highest, endowed with all the knowledges and the Incarnate of the Undecaying and Immoveable Brahmâ. The Devî, then, began to address S’achî, the wife of Indra, in pleasant words and in voice deep like a rolling thunder.
63-69. The Devî said :— O Darling to Indra! Better now ask your desired boon. I am much pleased with your worship. O Beautiful One! I have come here to grant you boon. To see Me is not an easy task; by the collected merits, acquired in thousands and thousands of births one is able to See Me. Hearing the words of the Devî, S’achî Devî, the wife of Indra, fell prostrate before Her feet and began to speak to the Highest Goddess, the Bhagavatî, Who seemed graciously pleased :— “O Mother! I now desire from Thee, that I may see my husband whom I attained after great difficulty, that I be freed from the fear arising out of King Nahusa and I want that Indra be reinstated as Indra as he was before.” The Devî said :— “O Lady of the Devas! Better go with this My messenger (Dûtî) to Mânasarovara; there is installed My fixed form, named Vis’vakâmâ. You will see your Indra staying there very sorrowful and overwhelmed with terror. I will delude the King Nahusa within a very short period. O large-eyed One! Be calm and quiet; I will fulfil your desires; soon I will delude that king and deprive him of the seat of Indra.”
70-71. Vyâsa said :— The wife of Indra accompanied the messenger of the Devî and quickly reached the presence of her husband Indra. She was very pleased to see her long-wished for husband, in the state disguise.
Here ends the Eighth Chapter of the Sixth Book on the praising of the Bhagavatî by the wife of Indra and on getting the sight of Indra in the Mahâpurânam, S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On Indra’s getting the fruits of Brahmahattyâ and on the downfall of king Nahusa [ p. 511 ] 1-2. Vyâsa said :— Indra was quite surprised to see in this state of solitude his dear wife S’achî, large-eyed and overwhelmed with much sorrow and spoke thus :— “O Beloved! I am remaining here alone this desolate place unnoticed by all the Jîvas; O Auspicious faced One! How have you come to know this! And how is it that you have come here!” [ p. 512 ] 3-5. S’achî said :— O Lord of the Devas! I have been able to know this place where you are staying by the grace of Bhagavatî’s Feet and I will get you back by Her grace. The Devas and Munis all united have installed the King Nahusa in your throne. That fellow says “O fair One! I am now made the King Indra; therefore you worship me as your husband.” And thus oppresses me always. O Destroyer of other’s strength! That vicious one speaks to me thus; I am weak; What can I do to him?
6. Indra said :— “O Beautiful One! I am now here waiting for the proper opportunity; O auspicious One! You should also make your mind calm and remain there, and wait for the proper time.”
7-12. Vyâsa said : — O King! After Indra had spoken thus, S’achî Devî became sorrowful, drew a deep sigh and, trembling, said :— “O Fortunate One! How can I stay there? That vicious man, puffed up with vanity and proud of his position will forcibly bring me under his control. The Devas and Munis say this to me out of his fear :— O Beautiful One! The Lord of the Devas is now very much distressed with the arrows of the Cupid; therefore go and worship him. O Tormentor of foes! How can the Brâhmin Brihaspatî protect me, being himself powerless and under the control of the Devas. O Lord! This is now my grave anxiety; I am a weak woman, having none to protect me and therefore always under the guidance of a man. Fate is now against me; how can I keep myself religious? I am a chaste woman, devoted to my husband; I have got no shelter there; who will protect me when I fall into misery!
13-21. Indra said :— “O Beautiful One! I will now tell you one means which, if you adopt, will no doubt preserve your character in times of crisis. Women cannot preserve their chastity when they are protected by others by thousand and one means; for lust penetrates into their restless minds and carries them to impure ways. It is the good and pure character that preserves a woman from a vicious course; therefore O Smiling One! You adopt this good conduct and character and remain steady in your place. In case that deceitful wicked King Nahusa shows his violence upon you, then take time and secretly cheat him, O Madâlase! Go to him when there will be no other body present and say :—“O Lord of the world! Please come to me on a conveyance carried by the Risis (great ascetics), I will then be very delighted and gladly yield myself to you; this is certainly my vow.” O Beautiful One! When you will say thus, that King, blinded by passion, will engage the Munis for the carriers of his conveyance. The ascetics, then, will be angry and curse him; the [ p. 513 ] Munis will certainly burn him by the fire of their wrath; and the Divine Mother will no doubt help you. He who remembers the lotus-feet of the Ambikâ Devî never meets with any difficulties; and if there arises any difficulty, know certainly that it is for his immeasurable benefit. Therefore worship, with your whole heart, the Mother of the Universe, Who resides in the jewelled island (Mani Dvîpa) according to the words of the Guru Brihaspatî.
22-25. Vyâsa said :— O King! Hearing thus the Indra’s words, S’achî Devî said “Let it be so” and went to Nahusa, filled with confidence and inspiration to carry on the future work. Nahusa was very glad to see S’achî Devî and spoke thus :— “O Sweet-speaking One! Are you all right? I am now completely yours; you have fulfilled my word; therefore I say truly that I am your servant. O Gentle-speaking One! When you have come to me, know that I am very glad. O Smiling One! Do not feel any shame before me. I am now your devotee; worship me. O large eyed One! Speak out what is that dear thing that I can do for you? I will carry that out at once.”
26-27. S’achî said :— “O Lord Vâsava! You have done all the works; now I have got one desire to ask from you, kindly fulfil this and then I will be yours. O One full of auspiciousness! Now fulfil my desire; I am speaking this to you.”
28. Nahusa said :— “O Thou, having a face sweet like the Moon! Speak out your desire; I will carry it out. O Beautiful One with nice eye-brows! Even if that be unattainable, I will give that to you.”
29-31. S’achî said :— “O King of Kings! I cannot trust you; Swear on oath that you will fulfill my desire. O King! A truthful King very rare on this earth; I will speak out my desire when I will be convinced that you are bound by truth. O King! When you will fulfil my desire, I will always remain under your control; this I speak truly to you.”
32. Nahusa said :— “O Beautiful One! On all the sacrifices and gifts that I have ever made, I swear, on all my merits, that I will certainly carry out your word.”
33-37. S’achî said :— “Indra has got for his vehicles the horse Uchchais’ravâ, the Airâvata elephant and the chariot; Vâsudeva has got vehicle Garuda; Yama has got his buffalo; S’ankara his Bull; Brahmâ his Swan; Kartika has got his peacock and Ganes’a has got his mouse. But now, O Lord of the Devas! I want to see your vehicle, never witnessed before: I want to see the Munis and the great ascetics, observing vows, to be your vehicle; this is not Visnu’s, Rudra’s nor of the Devas, and Râks’asas. O King! Let the Munis carry your conveyance, this is my ever burning desire. O King of this earth! I know you the highest of all Devas; let your glory and splendour increase ever and ever; this is the intense desire reigning in my heart.” [ p. 514 ] 38-56. Vyasa said :— O King! Hearing S’achî’s words, Nahusa, weak in intellect, laughed and beguiled by the Mâyâ of Bhagavatî began to praise her and said at once :— “O Beautiful One! Truly you have made a nice suggestion of my vehicle. O One having luxuriant hairs! I will soon carry out your words. O Sweet-smiling One! Whoever is effeminate and of weak virility, he is never able to engage the Munis as his carriers; no doubt, my unbounded strength will be rendered manifest when I come to you on a vehicle carried by the Munis. What wonder is there that the seven Risis (the seven stars of the constellation Great Bear) and all the Devarsis would carry me, knowing me as the most capable and superior in all the three worlds by virtue of my sheer asceticism?” Vyâsa said :— O King! The King Nahusa became very pleased and dismissed S’achî Devî. He, then, with a heart flamed with passion, called the Munis and said: —“O Munis! I am now become Indra and endowed with all powers thereof; therefore you all do my work without being at all surprised. I have got the seat of Indra but Indrânî is not coming to me. I called her to my presence and when I informed her of my desire, She had spoken to me with affection the following words:— O Indra of the Devas! O Giver of one’s honour! Better come to me on a vehicle carried by the Munis and do thus the one thing for me that I like. O Maharsis! To carry out this task is, indeed, difficult for me; therefore do you all unite and, out of mercy, do this for me in all its completeness. My heart is being always burnt, as I am very much attached to the wife of Indra; so I take refuge unto you to do this wonderful work for me.” Though this request was very indecent and greatly humiliating yet the Munis agreed to it, out of pity, and also impelled, as it were, by the great Fate. When the Great Seers, the Munis consented to this proposal, the King, whose heart was very much attached to the daughter of Pulomâ, became very glad and getting on the beautiful vehicle carried by the Munis, told them, move on quickly (Sarpa, Sarpa). Then the King Nahusa, getting very much impassioned, touched with his feet the heads of the Munis, and, being as it were smitten by the arrows of cupid, began to whip frequently the Risi Agastya, the best of the ascetics, who devoured the Râksasa Vâtâpi, who was the husband of Lopâmudrâ and who drank out the ocean, saying move on, move on (Sarpa, Sarpa another meaning of which is Snake). The Muni, then, became very angry, on being thus whipped, and cursed him saying :— “'O Wicked One! As you are whipping me, saying Sarpa, Sarpa, so go and remain in the dense forest as a huge snake. When many years will elapse and when you will crawl on your own limb and suffer intense troubles, after that you will again come to heaven. You will be free from the curse when you will see the King Yudhisthira and hear from him the answers to several questions.” [ p. 515 ] 57-67. Vyâsa said :— O King! Thus cursed, the King Nahusa began to chant hymns to that best of the Munis, and, while praising, fell from the Heavens and instantly turned into a snake. Brihaspatî, then, quickly went to the Mânasarovara Lake and informed Indra everything in detail. Indra became very glad on hearing in detail of the downfall of the King Nahusa from Heaven and remained there gladly. When the Devas and Munis saw this downfall into the earth of Nahusa, they all went to the Lake Mânasarovara where Indra was staying. They then all encouraged Indra and honoured him by bringing him back to the Heavens. All the Devas and Risis installed Indra on the throne and then performed the Inauguration ceremony of the all auspicious Devî. On getting back his own throne. Indra, too, began to sport in the beautiful Nandana Garden with his dear consort S’achî, in the home of the Devas. Vyâsa said :— O King! Indra had to suffer such severe hardships on account of his slaying the Maharsi Vis’varûpa, the Lord of the Asuras. Subsequently through the grace of the Devî, he got back his own seat. O King! Thus I have narrated before you to my best, this excellent story of the killing of Vritrâsura and thus have answered your question. O Ornament of the Kuru family! The fruits will be exactly according to the Karma done. The effects of the Karma done must be borne whether they be auspicious or inauspicious. (So Indra had to suffer for his Karma, the killing of a Brâhmana.)
Here ends the Ninth Chapter of the Sixth Book on Indra’s getting the fruits of his killing a Brâhmana and on the downfall of the King Nahusa from the Heavens in the Mahâpurânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
On the phase of Karma [ p. 515 ] 1-5. Janamejaya said :— “O Brâhmana! You have described in detail the wonderful character of Indra, his displacement from his Heavens, and his suffering many hardships and at the same time, you have described very widely the greatness of the Highest Goddess of the world. But one doubt has arisen in my mind that Indra was very powerful and when he got the lordship over the Devas, which means in other words that no trouble would pain him, how was it that he had to feel pain and agony? He got the Lordship of the Devas and his highest position by performing one hundred Horse Sacrifices; how was it, then that he was again displaced from that position? O Ocean of mercy! Kindly explain to me the causes of all these. You know everything; you are the best of the Munis and the maker of the Purânas; I am your devoted disciple; therefore nothing there can be that cannot be mentioned to me. So, O highly fortunate One! Kindly remove my doubts.” Sûta said :— Thus asked by Janamejaya, Vyâsa the son of Satyavatî gladly spoke, in due order, the following words :— [ p. 516 ] 6-29. Vyâsa said :— O King! Hear, then the causes that are certainly very wonderful. The seers say that Karma is of three kinds :— Sañchita (accumulated), Vartamâna (present) and Prârabdha (commenced). Each of these is again subdivided into three, Sâttvik, Râjasik, and Tâmasik. The accumulated effects of Karmas done in many past lives is called Sañchita, O King! The effects of this Sânchita Karma, be it auspicious or inauspicious, be it for a long or for a short time, must have to be enjoyed by the beings whether they be good or bad. This Sañchita Karma done by the embodied beings in several previous births, can never be totally exhausted even in hundred Koti Kalpas without their being enjoyed. The Karma that is being done by a Jîva and that has not as yet been completed, that is called Vartamâna Karma. The Jîvas do this Vartamâna Karma, auspicious or inauspicious, in their present embodiments. At the time of birth, a part of the Sañchita Karma, the soul takes up for fructification. This part of Sañchita Karma is called Prârabdha Karma. This exhausts only when its effects have been fully borne out by the embodied soul. The beings cannot but bear the effects of this Prârabdha Karma. O King! Know this for certain that the effects of merits or demerits done previously must be borne by anybody, be he a Deva, or a man, or an Asura, or a Yaksa or a Gandharba. The acts done previously go to form the new births of all beings. When the Karma gets exhausted, then no more birth takes place. There is no doubt in this. Brahmâ, Visnu, Rudra, Indra and the other Devas, the Dânavas, Yaksas, Gandharbas, all are under the control of this Karma. O King! Were it not so, how could they get bodies that are the causes of the enjoyments of pains and pleasures of all the beings. Therefore, O King! Out of the Sañchita Karmas done in many previous births, some Karmas get ripe in due time and they manifest themselves; those manifested Sañchita Karmas are called Prârabdha Karmas (those that are being enjoyed by an individual in the present birth). Impelled by this Prârabdha Karma, the Devas and the human beings, all do meritorious acts as well as sinful acts. Thus Indra out of his past meritorious acts attained his Indraship, and, out of his past sinful acts, committed the sin Brahmahattyâ and so he was dislodged from his Indraship. What doubt can exist here? O King! So Nara and Nârâyana, the sons of Dharma, had to take births out of their previous Karmas; again Arjuna and Krisna were born out of their Karmic effects as part incarnations of this Nara and Nârâyana. The Munis describe this Karma as the basis of the Purânas. Know that he is born of a Deva who is very wealthy and prosperous; he who is not born of the part of a Muni, never writes any spiritual treatise on Jñana or Knowledge; he who is not born of Rudra, never worships Rudra; who is not born of a Deva never distributes rice in charity; he who is not born [ p. 517 ] of S’rî Visnu, never becomes the king and lord of the earth. O King! The embodied souls derive their bodies certainly from Indra, Agni, Yama, Visnu, and Kuvera. Indra presides over lordship, Agni presides over energy, Yama presides over anger, and Visnu presides over strength. He who is powerful, fortunate, enjoying many enjoyments, learned, charitable, is said to be born of a Devâms’a. O Lord of the earth! Similarly the Pândavas and Vâsudeva who was as glorious as Nârâyana were born of Devâms’as. O King! Know this as quite certain that the bodies of the Jîvas are the receptacles of pains and pleasures; and the embodied souls (Jîvas) experience alternately pleasure and pain. No Jîva is independent; he is always under the Great Fate. He experiences birth, death, pleasure and pain, not out of his self will, but compelled and guided, as it were, by the unseen Fate.
30-41. O King! How very strong is that Fate can easily be judged by the following. The Pândavas were born in forest; then they went their own homes. They performed the Great Râjasûya Sacrifice by virtue of their own strength. After this they had to suffer their exiles in forest a much greater and more terrible hardship indeed! Next Arjuna performed a very hard asceticism when the Devas, not self-controlled, became pleased and granted him an auspicious boon. Still he could not extricate himself from the hands of the terrible hardship; nowhere could be found the fruits of the merits acquired in the past when he was afterwards remaining in exile in his human body in the forest! The severe tapasyâ that he did in the Vadarikâsrama in his past incarnation as Nara, the son of Dharma, did not bear any fruit in his Arjuna birth. Mysterious and inexplicable are the ways and means of Karma with which the bodies of the several beings are concerned. How could men get an idea of it when the Devas themselves are at a loss to solve it. Bhagavân Vâsudeva had to take birth in the prison, a very critical and dangerous place; he was then carried by Vasudeva to the milkman Nanda’s abode at Gokula; he remained there eleven years and thence came back to Mathurâ where he killed by force Kamsa, the son of Ûgrasena. Then he released his sorrowful father and mother from the bonds of prison and made Ûgrasena, the King of Mathurâ. Afterwards he went to Dvârkâ city, out of the fear of Kâla Yavana, the King of the Mlechchas; thus Janârdana Krisna performed many great and heroic deeds, being impelled by Fate. Then he left his mortal coil at Prabhâsa, a place of pilgrimage, along with his relatives and acquaintances and then ascended to his Vaikuntha abode. All the Yâdavas, sons, grandsons, friends, brothers, sisters and ladies of the houses all died under the curse of a Brâhmin. O King! I have thus described to you the inexplicable ways of Karma.
[ p. 518 ]
What more shall I say than the fact that Vâsudeva was killed by the arrows of a hunter!
Here ends the Tenth Chapter of the Sixth Book on the phase of Karma in the Mahapurânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.