Krishna's Lineage

by Simon Brodbeck

  30 Well, during the fight he used two arms to pick those two Daityas up out of the water, and he squeezed them, and Madhu and Kaitabha both met their deaths.

  31 Then they were both washed around in the water, and their bodies combined into one. And as they were churned about by the water’s waves, the two Daityas emitted fat. 32 Then the water was absorbed by the fat. Because of those two, it disappeared. And Lord Nārāyana emitted creatures once again.

  33 I was covered in the fat of the Daityas, and hence I’m known as Medinī, the Fatty Lady. And through the power of the lotus-navelled god I was made permanent, for the sake of human beings.

  34 He came another time as a boar, and as Mārkandeya watched, he raised me out from under the waters with one tusk. 35 Then another time, in front of you all, mighty striding Vishnu took me away from Bali Daitya. 36 And since I’m now being stricken again, I’ve come without a protector to the protector of the world, this god here, the mace-bearer. I’ve come to the shelterer for shelter.

  37 They say that gold’s guru is fire, the cows’ guru is the sun, and the constellations’ guru is the moon. Well, my guru is Nārāyana. 38 Though I carry the world of standing and moving creatures all by myself, the mace-bearer carries all this that I carry.

  39 Rāma Jāmadagnya divested me of kshatriyas because he wanted to remove my burden, and in his passion he did it twenty-one times. 40 At an ancestral offering to his father, that Bhārgava raised me up onto the altar, satisfied me using the blood of the kings, and then entrusted me to Kashyapa. 41 Stinking of bone, fat, and flesh, wet with the blood of the kshatriyas, I was handed over to Kashyapa like a nubile young woman. 42 And that brahmin seer said to me: Why are you downhearted, broad one? This is common practice for the wives of heroes. Enjoy it, wife of heroes.

  43 So I said to Kashyapa, who does the world good: Brahmin. The great Bhārgava has killed my husbands. 44 I’m bereft of the kshatriya braves, who lived by the way of the sword. My towns have been emptied, I’m a widow, and I can’t live like this, 45 so I must be given a husband—a king as good as you, your eminence, who would take care of me, with my villages and towns, garlanded by the sea.

  46 His masterful eminence listened to my proposal and agreed to it. Consequently he gave me away to Manu, the leader of human beings. 47 So I went to the great and good Ikshvāku family that comes down from Manu, and for a long time I went from king to king. 48 That’s right, I was given away to Manu, the wise leader of human beings, and I was enjoyed by royal families who were as good as the families of great seers.

  49 Many are the kshatriya champions who won me and went to heaven. When they succumbed inevitably to the will of time, I’m the one they died for. 50 Some of the world’s quarrels over me have been laid to rest, and others are still ongoing, between powerful kshatriyas who don’t turn away from battle. 51 Now I’ve become bowed down because of the sacred business that’s in progress for all of your sakes, and so, for the good of the world, you must create a pretext for destroying the kings in battle.

  52 If he cares about me, the one glorious discus-wielder must protect me by relieving me of my burden. 53 I’m oppressed by the burden, and I’ve come to him seeking shelter, so Vishnu here must tell me if the burden can be removed.

  43. The Gods Descend into their Characters

  1 Vaishampāyana said:

  After they’d listened to the earth’s speech, every single one of the heaven-dwellers reflected about what ought to be done in that matter. Then they said to the Grandfather:

  2 Your lordship, the earth’s burden must be lightened.

  You gave everybody their bodies, you’re the lord of the world. 3 So what should great Indra do, and Yama and Varuna, and Kubera the lord of wealth? What should Nārāyana himself do? 4 What should the moon, sun, and wind do, and the Ādityas and Vasus, and the Rudras who nurture the world, 5 and the two supreme Ashvin gods, and the Sādhyas who live in the third heaven, and Brihaspati and Ushanas, and Death, and Kali too? 6 Brahmā, what should Shiva Maheshvara do, and Guha and Vishākha, and the dark-elves, monsters, light-elves, celestial singers, great snakes, 7 great rocky mountains, great rolling oceans, and the celestial rivers led by Gangā, lord of the gods?

  8 If what you need to do for the earth needs to be done in a war of the earth’s kings, then quickly, master, tell us how the roles are to be allotted. 9 We can all be up in the sky at the same time as being kings on earth. So into what characters shall we make our descent, Grandfather? 10 We must send bodies—including bodies that aren’t born from wombs—onto the face of the earth, into the families of kings, and the families of brahmin superintending priests.

  11 The gods were united in their task. The Grandfather of the world heard this great determination of theirs, and surrounded by the gods he said:

  12 Most excellent gods, I’m delighted that you too have this intention. Send out portions of your own bodies onto the earth, containing your individual energies. 13 Most excellent gods, each and every one of you must descend with your own essence, to refresh the earth goddess and ensure the welfare of the triple-world.

  14 I’ve already anticipated this earthly appearance, within the earth’s Bhārata lineage. Listen to what I’ve done.

  15 In the primordial ocean, gods, I’d gone across to the western shore and was sitting down there with my son, the great Kashyapa. 16–17 And as he was telling these stories and those stories, telling stories of former events according to the people’s knowledge of them, and many different kinds of accounts as per the old lore, the ocean suddenly turned up there, with the Gangā, in a flurry of winds and rainclouds.

  18 Covered with the weird varieties of sea-monster that live in his waters, his gait choppy with waves and sudden lurches, 19 his body shining with shells and pearls and decorated with corals and crystals, his tide full in conjunction with the moon, the ocean growled like a thundercloud 20 and soaked me with sudden streams of salty water, overstepping his own shore and drenching me completely.

  21 The ocean seemed determined to pound that place with water. So in an exasperated voice, I told him to calm down.

  22 As soon as he was told to calm down, the ocean took on a bodily form. Solidifying his mass of waves and billows, he stood there blazing with royal majesty. 23 I then went further and cursed the ocean and the Gangā, but I made the decision to do so for a good reason, seeking your advantage. I said:

  24 Get away, restless ocean. Since you’ve appeared in a form that’s like that of a king, you’ll become a real king, a protector of the earth. 25 You’ll become the people’s provider, the heir of the Bhārata family, but because of your own special energy you’ll maintain your innate playfulness even there. 26 And because when I told you to calm down (shānta) you took on a body (tanu), so you’ll become Shantanu,* your fine body (sutanu) famous across the world. 27 The supreme River Gangā will give herself to you there in a gorgeous form, with tapering eyes and a body magnificent in every feature.

  28 When he heard this, the ocean was furious. He came up to me and said:

  Master. Lord god of gods. Why have you cursed me? 29 I’m obedient to you, made by you, and devoted to you. Why have you cursed me, your own son, of your own accord, with unworthy words? 30 Brahmā, your holiness, it’s by your grace that I’m enlarged in my excitement at full moon. So if I stray, is that my own fault? 31 If you’re sprayed by water that’s tossed in the wind at full moon, your holiness, is that really a reason for cursing me? 32 I’m agitated for three reasons: because of the great winds that are blowing, because of the thickening clouds, and because of my connection with the full moon. 33 So if I’m guilty because of causes that you set in motion, Brahmā, you ought to forgive me. The curse must be rescinded. 34 I’m all alone, undone by the curse. But if you consider the evidence in this way, lord of the gods, you must have mercy upon me. 35 And god, you should also show your kindness to Gangā here. You’ve commanded her to go to the earth, but her offence is the same as mine.

  36 The great restless ocean was
shaken up, knocked to the winds by the curse. He was ignorant of the divine reason for it. I spoke to him in a soft voice:

  37 Calm down. Have no fear, perceptive one, I am merciful. Lord of the rivers, listen to the future reason for this curse.

  38 Lord of the rivers, you must leave your oceanic body behind, go into the Bhārata lineage, and instil your new body with your own distinctive energy. 39 Great ocean, master of waters, you’ll enjoy yourself there full of royal splendour as a master of the earth, protecting the four social classes. 40 Gangā here, the supreme river, will attend upon you, bearing a human form, and at that time her body will be sensational. 41 When you’re taking your pleasure with this daughter of Jahnu as a result of my command, ocean, you’ll forget the wetness of waves.

  42 You must hasten to obey this divine command, ocean, marrying Gangā in accordance with the method of the patriarchs.*43 The Vasus have been expelled from heaven into the world below, and I’ve appointed you to sire them. 44 As her offspring, I’m providing Jahnu’s daughter with those eight babies. They’ll match the sun’s qualities and bring joy to the gods. 45 You’ll soon father the Vasus and make the Kuru family great, and then, ocean, you’ll leave that body behind and enter your oceanic body once again.

  46 Supreme gods, it was for your benefit that I spoke in this way on that occasion, since I was aware of the earth’s future burden, consisting of kings. 47 That’s why I developed the lineage of Shantanu, into which the Vasus, denizens of the third heaven, were born from Gangā on earth. 48 A son of Gangā is still there on earth to this day—the eighth Vasu.† These seven Vasus here have returned. He alone remains.

  49 From a second wife‡ Shantanu’s second self was born: majestic Vichitravīrya. He was a magnificent king. 50 And now there are two sons of Vichitravīrya upon the earth as well: the famous princes Pāndu and Dhritarāshtra, both of them bulls of men. 51 Pāndu there has two wives, both of them glorious, youthful, and virtuous: Kuntī and Mādrī, like two divine maidens on earth. 52 And King Dhritarāshtra has a single wife of comparable conduct: Gāndhārī, famous across the land, always steadfast in her vow towards her husband.

  53 Your characters must be distributed here as two rival parties, and there’ll be a great war between the sons of those two kings. 54 In their war of succession there’ll be a massacre of kings, and there’ll be great distress, just as there is at the end of the age. 55 When the kings and their armies kill each other the earth will be relieved, and her many towns and kingdoms will be spaced out.

  56 As I foresaw in former days, at the end of the dvāpara age the kings on their vehicles of war will go to their destruction by the sword. 57 Then, using fire and the power of his missiles, Shankara’s character* will burn the remaining people while they’re sleeping at night, oblivious. 58 And when this man of cruel deeds—the image of Death—has departed, I’ll declare this third age, the dvāpara, to be over. 59 After that, once Maheshvara’s character has slunk away, Maheshvara’s age will set in: the fourth age, when men are merciless, 60 and people apply themselves to bad behaviour, and there’s hardly any good behaviour, and concern for truth vanishes, and the quantity of falsehood increases. 61 The world’s entire population will follow the two gods Maheshvara and Kumāra, and no one will live to old age.

  62 So this is the best option: the death of the kings on the earth. Gods, you must all descend into your characters without delay. 63 Let’s see. The portion of Dharma the god of duty must surely be assigned to Kuntī and Mādrī, and Kali the god of strife, the root of the conflict, must be assigned to Gāndhārī.†64 Driven on by time, all the kings will become passionate about the earth and, desperate for war, they’ll form into these two camps.

  65 This jewel-bearing earth, the supporter of the world, may now go back to her own home. The plan that’s been arranged will put an end to the kings, and will become famous across the world.

  66 After listening to the Grandfather’s speech, the earth took the god Death with her, left by the way that she’d come, and went to await the destruction of her kings.

  67 For the punishment of the gods’ enemies, Brahmā gave orders to the gods. He gave orders to the ancient seer Nara, to Shesha the bearer of the earth, 68 to Sanatkumāra, to the Sādhya gods, to the gods led by Agni, to Varuna, to Yama, to the sun and moon, to the light-elves and celestial nymphs, and to the Rudras, Ādityas, and Ashvins.

  69 Then every single one of those gods sent a portion of themselves down to earth, as per the descent into characters that I described for you earlier.*70 The gods were born on the face of the earth, some from wombs, some not from wombs, and they became leaders as hard as diamond, killers of Daityas and Dānavas, like forests of palm trees. 71 Some had the strength of ten thousand elephants, some had the force of a flood. They had forearms like iron clubs, and could withstand maces, iron clubs, and spears. They could attack using mountain peaks, so they could certainly all fight using iron clubs. 72 The gods were born in their hundreds and thousands as rulers in the Vrishni lineage, in the Kuru lineage, and among the Pānchālas, 73 and they were also born in families of accomplished brahmin ritualists, as great archers versed in every missile but still intent upon studying the Veda. 74 When angered they could move mountains, break open the earth, fly up in the air, or stir up the great ocean.

  75 So, as mentioned, Brahmā, the master of past, present, and future, gave the gods their orders. And after entrusting the worlds to Nārāyana, he was at peace.

  76 Hear now how Lord Vishnu, the master of the gift of life, descended onto the face of the earth for the welfare of creatures. 77 Since Lord Nārāyana wanted to be famous, he was born into the honourable family of Vasudeva the wise, who hailed from the lineage of Yayāti.

  44. Nārada Reports from Mathurā

  1 Vaishampāyana said:

  Death and the earth had done what they came to do, and had made the appropriate courtesies and departed. The descent of the gods into characters in the Bhārata family had taken place: 2 Dharma and Shakra and the wind had gone down and taken their parts, and the healers of the gods, the Ashvin twins, had taken theirs, as had the sun.†3 Before that, the priest of the gods had gone down with a part,‡ and even before that, the eighth Vasu had gone to earth and into his part. 4 Death had gone to earth and into his part, and Kali the god of strife had gone into his, and the moon and Fire and Varuna had gone to earth into theirs. 5 Shankara had gone into his part, as had the heaven-dwelling Vishva gods; and the light-elves, serpents, and dark-elves had gone into their parts and characters too. 6 After these parts had crossed down from sky to earth, Nārada appeared, concerned about Nārāyana’s part.

  7 With eyes like newly risen suns, he looked like a blazing fire. Sporting a thick knot of dreadlocks that leaned to the left, 8 he was clothed in clothes as bright as moonbeams, wore gold ornaments, and carried a huge vīnā,* like a mistress clinging to his middle. 9 With a black antelope skin for his upper garment, a golden sacred thread, a staff, and a water-pot, he was like a second Shakra there in person.

  10 He’s a learned great seer who knows the lore of the light-elves and divulges secrets on earth. He takes pleasure in quarrels: he’s like a planet whose appearance portends quarrels. 11 He’s a holy brahmin, a singer of the four Vedas, and of the four main priests he’s the chanting priest. He amuses himself with his enemies, like a second god of strife. 12 That immortal brahmin seer Nārada visited Brahmā’s heaven, stood up in the middle of the gods’ assembly hall, and said to Vishnu in some agitation:

  13 Vishnu. Although the thirty gods have made their descent into their characters, this isn’t enough to effect the destruction of the kings. 14 And since royal and military power is dependent upon you, master of methods, it seems to me that this objective calls for Nārāyana to become a man. 15 Isn’t it fitting, god, that a mission for the good of the earth—such as this is, god of gods—should have you participating in it, since you’re the one who understands it and appreciates its true significance? 16 For you’re the sight of those
that see, the laudable master of the masterful, the supreme yogi of the yogis, the motion of those that move. 17 You’re the lord who comes first of all, so why have you watched the portions of the gods leave, without sending your own portion to help the jewel-bearing earth?

  18 The gods’ parts are fashioned from you, and if they’re led by you and urged on by you they’ll be successful upon the earth, proceeding from one task to another. 19 So I’ve come in haste to the gods’ assembly just in order to encourage you, Vishnu. But now listen to the reason why. 20 The Daityas that you defeated in the war over Tārakā have gone down onto the face of the earth, Vishnu. Listen to what they’re up to.

  21 A town has sprung up on earth, going by the name of Mathurā. Located on the bank of the Yamunā, it’s a prosperous town, crowded with people.

  22 There was once a massive Dānava called Madhu, invincible in battle. He had a dreadful forest called Madhu’s Forest, thick with huge trees, where he lived in those days, in great prosperity. 23 He had a massive Dānava son named Lavana who exercised his monstrous power, terrifying all creatures. 24 Amusing himself there for many many years, that wild Dānava drove the people away, and the companies of gods.

  25 When Dasharatha’s son Rāma, who knew his duty and struck fear into monsters, was established in impregnable Ayodhyā, ruling his kingdom, 26 this Dānava, living in his dreadful forest proud of his power, sent an envoy to Rāma with an aggressive message:

  27 I’m from a nearby region, Rāma, and that makes me your enemy, because kings don’t like a neighbour who’s proud of his strength.

  28 If he’s true to his royal vow, wants what’s good for his subjects, and wants his realm to prosper, a king must conquer all his enemies. 29 But if a king whose hair is still damp from his consecration wants to be popular, he must first conquer his senses, for once they’ve been defeated, victory is certain. 30 For advice about behaviour there’s no teacher like the people, especially for a king who wants to do things properly. 31 But in times of misfortune, even a low-ranking king has nothing to fear from his neighbours if he’s intelligent, moderately decent, and has the superior army. 32 Every ruler who lacks resolve is held captive by powerful inborn enemies—the senses—and by follies that bring pleasure to his enemies.