॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
॥ त्रयोदशोऽध्यायः - १३ ॥
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Discourse XIII
Indra's Victory (Preamble)
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श्रीशुक उवाच ।
वृत्रे हते त्रयो लोका विना शक्रेण भूरिद ।
सपाला ह्यभवन् सद्यो विज्वरा निर्वृतेन्द्रियाः ॥ १॥
देवर्षिपितृभूतानि दैत्या देवानुगाः स्वयम् ।
प्रतिजग्मुः स्वधिष्ण्यानि ब्रह्मेशेन्द्रादयस्ततः ॥ २॥
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Śrī Śuka began again : Vṛtra having (thus) been slain, (all) the three worlds with their guardian deities, excepting, of course, Indra, O munificent Parikṣit, were immediately rid of anxiety and felt gratified at heart. (1)
The gods and sages, manes and spirits, the demons and the attendants of the gods (Gandharvas and others) returned to their (respective) realms of their own accord without taking leave of (Indra) and then Brahmā (the creator), Śiva, Indra and other (great) gods (too) dispersed. (2) (1-2)
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राजोवाच ।
इन्द्रस्यानिर्वृतेर्हेतुं श्रोतुमिच्छामि भो मुने ।
येनासन् सुखिनो देवा हरेर्दुःखं कुतोऽभवत् ॥ ३॥
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The king (Parikṣit) said : I long to hear (from you). O (holy) sage, the cause of Indra's unhappiness. Why should there be agony to Indra (the chief of the gods) from something as a result of which the (other) gods felt gratified ? (3) (3)
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श्रीशुक उवाच ।
वृत्रविक्रमसंविग्नाः सर्वे देवाः सहर्षिभिः ।
तद्वधायार्थयन्निन्द्रं नैच्छद्भीतो बृहद्वधात् ॥ ४॥
इन्द्र उवाच ।
स्त्रीभूजलद्रुमैरेनो विश्वरूपवधोद्भवम् ।
विभक्तमनुगृह्णद्भिर्वृत्रहत्यां क्व मार्ज्म्यहम् ॥ ५॥
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Indra said : The sin caused by the slaughter of Viśwarūpa has (since) been graciously shared by women, the earth, water and the trees. (But) how shall I (be able to) atone for (the sin proceeding from) the slaughter of Vṛtra? (5) (4-5)
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श्रीशुक उवाच ।
ऋषयस्तदुपाकर्ण्य महेन्द्रमिदमब्रुवन् ।
याजयिष्याम भद्रं ते हयमेधेन मा स्म भैः ॥ ६॥
हयमेधेन पुरुषं परमात्मानमीश्वरम् ।
इष्ट्वा नारायणं देवं मोक्ष्यसेऽपि जगद्वधात् ॥ ७॥
ब्रह्महा पितृहा गोघ्नो मातृहाऽऽचार्यहाघवान् ।
श्वादः पुल्कसको वापि शुद्ध्येरन् यस्य कीर्तनात् ॥ ८॥
तमश्वमेधेन महामखेन
श्रद्धान्वितोऽस्माभिरनुष्ठितेन ।
हत्वापि सब्रह्मचराचरं त्वं
न लिप्यसे किं खलनिग्रहेण ॥ ९॥
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Śrī Śuka continued : On hearing this the sages replied to the mighty Indra as follows:— "We shall get you to propitiate the Lord by means of a horse-sacrifice and all will be well with you. (Pray) too not be afraid. (6)
Having worshipped Lord Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Spirit, the Inner Controller and Ruler of the universe, through a horse-sacrifice you will be absolved even of the sin proceeding from the extermination of the (whole) world. (7)
Through the (very) utterance of His Name the murderer of a Brāhmaṇa, the slaughterer of a cow, the slayer of one's father, mother or preceptor and any other sinner, (nay,) one who eats the flesh of a dog and even a man of sinful birth are purified (at once). (8)
Propitiating Him with reverence through the great sacrifice, Aśwamedha, which will be performed by us, you will not be touched by sin even after killing the (entire) mobile and immobile creation including the Brāhmaṇa race, much less by the sin that may follow from the subjugation of an evil-doer (like Vṛtra)." (9) (6-9)
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श्रीशुक उवाच ।
एवं सञ्चोदितो विप्रैर्मरुत्वानहनद्रिपुम् ।
ब्रह्महत्या हते तस्मिन्नाससाद वृषाकपिम् ॥ १०॥
तयेन्द्रः स्मासहत्तापं निर्वृतिर्नामुमाविशत् ।
ह्रीमन्तं वाच्यतां प्राप्तं सुखयन्त्यपि नो गुणाः ॥ ११॥
तां ददर्शानुधावन्तीं चाण्डालीमिव रूपिणीम् ।
जरया वेपमानाङ्गीं यक्ष्मग्रस्तामसृक्पटाम् ॥ १२॥
विकीर्य पलितान् केशांस्तिष्ठ तिष्ठेति भाषिणीम् ।
मीनगन्ध्यसुगन्धेन कुर्वतीं मार्गदूषणम् ॥ १३॥
नभो गतो दिशः सर्वाः सहस्राक्षो विशाम्पते ।
प्रागुदीचीं दिशं तूर्णं प्रविष्टो नृप मानसम् ॥ १४॥
स आवसत्पुष्करनालतन्तू-
नलब्धभोगो यदिहाग्निदूतः ।
वर्षाणि साहस्रमलक्षितोऽन्तः
स चिन्तयन् ब्रह्मवधाद्विमोक्षम् ॥ १५॥
तावत्त्रिणाकं नहुषः शशास
विद्यातपोयोगबलानुभावः ।
स सम्पदैश्वर्यमदान्धबुद्धि-
र्नीतस्तिरश्चां गतिमिन्द्रपत्न्या ॥ १६॥
ततो गतो ब्रह्मगिरोपहूत
ऋतम्भरध्याननिवारिताघः ।
पापस्तु दिग्देवतया हतौजा-
स्तं नाभ्यभूदवितं विष्णुपत्न्या ॥ १७॥
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Śrī Śuka went on : Thus urged by the Brāhmaṇas, Indra killed Vṛtra (his enemy). On his being (thus) slain, the sin of having killed a Brāhmaṇa came upon Indra. (10)
Due to (the consciousness of) that sin Indra suffered (untold) agony and no peace of mind returned to him (even for a moment). Even (fortitude and other) virtues fail to bring relief to him who, while endowed with a sense of shame, has incurred obloquy. (11)
He saw the aforesaid sin running after him in human form, resembling that of a pariah woman suffering from consumption, clad in blood-stained clothes, her limbs trembling due to old age, and throwing about her grey hair, crying "Stop ! Stop !!" and befouling (the air of) the road with her breaths stinking like (rotten) fish. (12-13)
Indra (who is possessed of a thousand eyes located all over his body), O Parikṣit (a ruler of the people), ranged through the sky and (then) in all directions and, (finally) betaking himself to the north-east, O king, quickly entered the Mānasa lake. (14)
Pondering within (himself) the means of absolution from the sin of having slain a Brāhmaṇa and getting no subsistence, because he remained under water and had the god of fire (who could not obviously enter water*) for his purveyor (agency conveying sacrificial offerings), Indra lived unperceived (by Brahmahatyā) in the fibres of a lotus-stalk (in the Mānasa lake) for a thousand years. (15)
Till then (the famous king) Nahuṣa (of the mortal world)—who had acquired the capacity to rule over Swarga by virtue of (his) worship, asceticism and mystical powers—ruled over (acted as the regent of) the third heaven† (the celestial region). His intellect (however) having been blinded through arrogance caused by opulence and power, he was cast (through an ingenious device‡) into a sub-human species (the serpent race) by Śacī (the virtuous spouse of Indra, whom he claimed as his wife). (16)
Called by the invocation of the Brāhmaṇas (sages), Indra—whose sin had (in the meantime) been neutralized through meditation on Śrī Hari (the Upholder of truth)-returned after that to heaven; and the sin (of having killed a Brāhmaṇa)-that had been deprived of its force by Śrī Rudra (the deity presiding over the north-east)—could not assail him, protected (as he was) by Goddess Lakṣmī (the divine Consort of Lord Viṣṇu, dwelling in the bed of lotuses in the Mānasa lake). (17)
- A famous commentator of , however, points out that the god of fire does enter water when carrying oblations to Varuṇa (the god of water residing in water), so that it was not impossible for him to enter the Mānasa lake and purvey food to Indra. The Mānasa lake, however being closely guarded by the attendants of Śrī Rudra, he could not easily enter it without disclosing the secret of Indra's hiding there.
† Swarga (Indra's paradise) is called the third heaven inasmuch as it is the third in order of the seven upper spheres of the universe from the earth onwards, the terrestrial sphere (which has also been declared to be a place of enjoyment of the fruit of one's merits, with the exception of Bhāratavarṣa, which is pre-eminently a place for action—Karmabhūmi—vide V. xvii. II).
‡ Having ascended the throne of Indra, Nahuṣa—who was attracted by the extraordinary charms of the former's spouse, Śacī, claimed her as his legitimate wife and invited her accordingly to live with him. Śacī, who was the wedded wife of Indra and was, therefore, exclusively devoted to him, naturally disdained his invitation and sought the advice of the sage Bṛhaspati (Indra's preceptor and family priest, who had since returned and resumed his office) how to elude the grasp of Nahuṣa, whom she could not openly defy because of her forlorn condition. The sagacious Bṛhaspati, who naturally sympathized with the virtuous lady advised her that she should offer to meet Nahuṣa provided he should visit her in a palanquin borne by Brāhmaṇa sages. Nahuṣa, who was blinded with passion, readily agreed and commanded Agastya and other sages to carry him in a palanquin to Śacī's palace. In his eagerness to see the celestial lady, he goaded the bearers to proceed apace, and even touched the venerable sage Agastya with his foot saying "Move on, move on (सई, सई)". Enraged at this insolent behaviour on the part of the arrogant monarch, the sage pronounced a curse against him that he should fall down and be reborn in the serpent race. The execration uttered by the sage could not be otherwise and the king fell down at once from heaven and was transformed into a python and eventually redeemed in the following Dwāpara age by the virtuous king Yudhiṣṭhira.
(10-17)
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तं च ब्रह्मर्षयोऽभ्येत्य हयमेधेन भारत ।
यथावद्दीक्षयाञ्चक्रुः पुरुषाराधनेन ह ॥ १८॥
अथेज्यमाने पुरुषे सर्वदेवमयात्मनि ।
अश्वमेधे महेन्द्रेण वितते ब्रह्मवादिभिः ॥ १९॥
स वै त्वाष्ट्रवधो भूयानपि पापचयो नृप ।
नीतस्तेनैव शून्याय नीहार इव भानुना ॥ २०॥
स वाजिमेधेन यथोदितेन
वितायमानेन मरीचिमिश्रैः ।
इष्ट्वाधियज्ञं पुरुषं पुराण-
मिन्द्रो महानास विधूतपापः ॥ २१॥
इदं महाख्यानमशेषपाप्मनां
प्रक्षालनं तीर्थपदानुकीर्तनम् ।
भक्त्युच्छ्रयं भक्तजनानुवर्णनं
महेन्द्रमोक्षं विजयं मरुत्वतः ॥ २२॥
पठेयुराख्यानमिदं सदा बुधाः
शृण्वन्त्यथो पर्वणि पर्वणीन्द्रियम् ।
धन्यं यशस्यं निखिलाघमोचनं
रिपुञ्जयं स्वस्त्ययनं तथायुषम् ॥ २३॥
इति श्रीमद्भागवते महापुराणे पारमहंस्यां संहितायां
षष्ठस्कन्धे इन्द्रविजये त्रयोदशोऽध्यायः ॥ १३॥
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Brāhmaṇa sages (now) approached him, O Parikṣit (a scion of Bharata), and duly consecrated him, they say, for a horse-sacrifice intended to propitiate Śrī Hari (the Supreme Person). (18)
Now, while the Supreme Person, who embodies in Himself all the divinities, was being worshipped by the mighty Indra in the course of the (aforesaid) horse-sacrifice elaborately performed through the instrumentality of sages who were (great) expositors of the Vedas, even that huge mass of sin in the shape of the slaughter of the demon Vṛtra (son of the god Twaṣṭā), O king, was actually reduced to nothingness by that very sacrifice just as the hoar-frost is melted by the sun. (19-20)
By propitiating the most ancient Person, the Deity presiding over sacrifices, through the (said) horse-sacrifice—which was being elaborately performed according to the scriptural ordinance through the instrumentality of Marīci and other sages—the aforesaid Indra was completely rid of his sins and became great (once more). (21)
This great narrative is (decidedly) instrumental in washing off all one's sins and conducive to the growth of Devotion, replete as it is with the praises of the Lord (whose holy feet enable one to ford the vast ocean of metempsychosis), containing an account of His (great) devotee (Vṛtra) as well as of the absolution and decisive victory of the mighty Indra, nicknamed as Marutvān. (22)
Therefore, the wise should always recite or hear (at least) on every festival this story relating to Indra, which beings wealth, fame and longevity, is a means of ridding one of all sinful propensities, and a source of (all) blessings and helps one to conquer one's enemies. (23)
Thus ends the thirteenth discourse entitled "The victory of Indra" in Book Six of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Sarhhitā. (18-23)
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