†† This is narrated at Mbh 5.70–129: Krishna travelled to the Kaurava court in a doomed attempt to negotiate a peaceful settlement between the two sets of cousins.
‡‡ Krishna’s promise to Kuntī is narrated at Mbh 5.88.98.
§§ King Nriga’s story is narrated at Mbh 13.69. He angered two brahmins through no apparent fault of his own, and was cursed to be a lizard.
* The revival of Janamejaya’s stillborn father Parikshit is narrated at Mbh 14.65–69.
† This refers to the narration of the Kurukshetra war (Mbh 6–10), and to Krishna’s self-revelation at Bhagavad-Gītā 11 (Mbh 6.33).
* For this detail, compare Hv 3.63 above.
* The month of Vaishākha includes parts of April and May.
* The Shakra festival (stymied by Krishna at Hv 59 above) involves the raising of Shakra’s banner, which is described at Mbh 1.57.17–27, as a kind of decorated pole.
* This image works particularly well if one imagines the shield to be circular.
* Ugrasena’s kidnapping is not mentioned at Mbh 3.15–23 when Krishna describes the events leading up to Shālva’s death, so here in the Harivamsha Krishna must either be presenting a different account of that episode, or referring to a different episode.
* Accounts of this vary. See again Hv 92.62–68 and 105.10 above.
* A ritual of blessing, for success on the trip.
† These types of power are typically obtained only in the advanced stages of yoga practice. They are mentioned at Yogasūtra 3.45, and listed by Vyāsa’s commentary as: miniaturisation, levitation, magnification, extension, power of will, mastery over the elements, creative power, and the realisation of wishes.
* This opinion is not securely attributed. It could be the opinion of Vaishampāyana, or Garuda, or those who were recently praising Krishna, in the sky or on the ground, or Vyāsa, Janamejaya, the storyteller, or Shaunaka.
* Krishna, Rāma, Pradyumna, and Garuda.
* Compare Mbh 12.272–74, which narrates how Fever was created by Shiva, used by Indra in the killing of Vritra, and divided into many different forms at Brahmā’s request.
* See the footnote to Hv 61.44 above.
* See above, Hv 23.137–55 and 31.97–103.
* There is an intertextual irony to Varuna’s words here, since Krishna exhorted Arjuna Pāndava in similar terms in the Bhagavad-Gītā. In the sānkhya philosophy, the unmanifest matrix (on which see Hv 104.9–12 above, and what follows below) consists of three qualities—clarity, passion, and darkness—in equilibrium. The periodic manifestation of the psychophysical universe is a result of their imbalance, and the manifest universe is internally variegated because their proportions vary from place to place. The quality of clarity is conducive to liberation from the cycle of rebirth. On the three qualities, see especially Bhagavad-Gītā 14 and 17–18.
† Varuna certainly predated Vishnu’s manifestation as Krishna. More broadly, Vishnu is usually listed as the youngest of Aditi’s sons (see Mbh 1.59.14–16 and 1.60.35), and so he is Varuna’s younger brother as well as Indra’s.
* For Varuna and the cows, compare the story at Hv 45.20–34 above.
* This refers back to Janamejaya’s long question at Hv 30.
† This seems to refer to the list of Krishna’s deeds that Vaishampāyana gave at Hv 105, which followed Nārada’s enquiries as narrated in Hv 100.
‡ The rite is Janamejaya’s snake sacrifice, whose completion was narrated by the storyteller at Mbh 18.5.27–28. The Harivamsha so far is, as it were, a flashback, which here catches up with itself. The rite is simultaneously the rite of reciting the tale.
§ In many manuscripts the Book of the Marvel seems not just to be an alternative name for the Book of Vishnu, but also to include the backstory of Vishnu’s descent beginning at Hv 30 or 31.
* Here the storyteller addresses Shaunaka and his assembled guests.
The Book of the Future
114. Janamejaya’s Descendants
1 Shaunaka said:
Son of Lomaharshana, who are listed as the sons of Janamejaya? Who carried the lineage of the Pāndava greats?
2 The storyteller said:
The son of Parikshit had two sons from Vapushtamā his Kāshi wife: Chandrāpīda the Moon’s Crown, who became king, and Sūryāpīda the Sun’s Crown, who knew freedom. 3 Chandrāpīda had a hundred sons, all of them great archers, a fighting force known across the land as Janamejaya, the Force that Makes the People Tremble. 4 Strong-armed Satyakarna, the eldest of them, became king in the town that’s named after the elephant, and performed rites that featured generous gifts for the priests.
5 Satyakarna’s son was majestic Shvetakarna. He was the soul of virtue, but he had no son, and he departed for the forest to perform austerities. 6 Then, after he’d gone to the forest, Mālinī conceived his child. Mālinī was Suchāru’s daughter, a Yādava woman with lovely eyebrows and several brothers. 7 But before his child was born, King Shvetakarna followed his forebears in undertaking the exalted great departure,*8 and when she saw that he’d set off, Mālinī of the lovely eyebrows followed along behind him. She gave birth to a lotus-eyed boy in the woods along the way, 9 but she abandoned him there and then, and carried on following the king. She was an illustrious woman, and she was faithful to her husband just as Draupadī had formerly been faithful to her husbands.
10 On the forested hillside, the delicate infant wailed. But the august child’s stormclouds were made manifest in order to prompt compassion. 11 Two Paippalāda brahmins, the sons of Shravishthā, found him, and, filled with compassion, they picked him up and gave him a bath. 12 His two flanks had been rubbed sore from his wriggling, and were streaming with blood. His two flanks had become as dark as those of a goat, 13 and they stayed just like that when they healed, and because he had thus become goat-flanked, the two brahmins named him Ajapārshva, Goat-Flanks.
14 He was raised for the two of them in the house of a weaver. 15 The weaver’s wife raised him because she wanted a son. He became the son of the weaver’s wife, and the two brahmins became his ministers. 16 And the three of them had sons and grandsons who lived side by side in the same way.
This is the established lineage descending from Pūru—the lineage of the Pāndavas.
17 Here’s a verse on this topic that was formerly sung by Nahusha’s wise and happy son Yayāti, at the commencement of his old age:*
18 No doubt about it, even if the broad earth could exist without the moon, the sun, and the planets, she could never for a moment exist without the descendants of Pūru.
115. Janamejaya and Vyāsa
1 Shaunaka said:
You’ve recited the Harivamsha, including every one of its sections, just as they were formerly recited by Vaishampāyana, Vyāsa’s learned disciple. 2 It’s nectar, it’s full of true stories, and as it’s recited it delights us just as nectar would, and destroys all our sins.
3 But son of a storyteller. After King Janamejaya had heard this unsurpassed tale, what did he do then, immediately after the snake sacrifice?
4 The storyteller said:
I’ll tell you what King Janamejaya started doing after he’d heard this unsurpassed tale, immediately after the snake sacrifice. 5 When that sacrifice was completed, Parikshit’s son the king set about making the necessary preparations for offering a horse sacrifice. 6 Summoning his priests, his chief priest, and his teachers, he declared that he was going to offer a horse sacrifice, and ordered the release of the horse.
7 The great Krishna Dvaipāyana Vyāsa,
who knows every precedent and consequent,
discerned his design, and immediately came
to visit the irrepressible son of Parikshit.
8 When Parikshit’s son the king saw that the seer had arrived, he gave him a seat, gave him water for his mouth and his feet, and honoured him as prescribed in the Shāstras. 9 Then, while the two of them were sitting there in the company of Janamejaya’s superintending priests, they told all manner of wonder
ful tales that were based on the Veda, Shaunaka. 10 And when the tales ended, the king questioned the sage, the grandfather of the Pāndavas and his own great-great-great-grandfather. He said:
11 The great Bhārata tale is great in import and great in extent, but it went by in what seemed to me like just a moment, so good was it to listen to. 12 With its profuse and magnificent stories, that tale truly confers glory upon everyone. It’s as if when you put it together, brahmin, you were pouring milk into a conch shell. 13 But just as one can never have enough nectar or enough of the joys of heaven, in the same way, although I’ve heard this Bhārata tale, I haven’t had enough of it. 14 So, with the omniscient seer’s permission, I have a question to ask, my lord.
In my opinion, the cause of the destruction of the Kurus was Yudhishthira’s rājasūya rite. 15 Since the unstoppable warrior-princes have come to ruin and grief, I suspect that the rājasūya was arranged in order to cause the war. 16 For Soma is said to have performed a rājasūya once upon a time, at the end of which there was that great big war over Tārakā; 17 and Varuna also performed one, and at the end of that great and grand rite there was a war of gods and demons that caused the destruction of all creatures;*18 and the royal seer Harishchandra also performed this rite, and on that occasion there was the fight between Ādi and Baka,† which annihilated the kshatriya class. 19 So as soon as the noble Pāndava also performed this formidable rite, the great war of the Bhāratas was stacked up like a bonfire.
20 But if the war that destroyed the world was rooted in the great rājasūya rite, then why wasn’t that rite prevented? 21 For the various aspects of the ritual are hard to accomplish successfully, and so if the rājasūya wasn’t going to be prevented then the destruction of the people became inevitable as soon as one ritual aspect was done badly.
22 You yourself are the grandfather of all our forefathers, you know what’s happened and what’s yet to happen, you’re our creator and our protector. 23 So why did the man who was guiding those sensible people let them fall away from prudence, my lord? For it’s when they’re unprotected and poorly guided that people make mistakes.
24 Vyāsa said:
Now now, my calf. Those grandfathers of yours had been possessed by time. They didn’t ask me what was going to happen, and I don’t reveal it unless I’m asked. 25 I can see that it’s pointless to announce what’s going to happen, for I’ll not be able to alter the course that time’s decided upon.
26 However, since you’ve asked me about this, I’ll describe the future that’s to come. But time is powerful, so hearing this won’t enable you to do anything about it, 27 either out of anger or out of enterprise. You won’t in fact be under human control, for the line that’s drawn by time is as hard to step beyond as the line between land and sea.
28 The horse sacrifice is famous as the supreme ritual of the kshatriyas. This being the case, Vāsava will venture to attack your sacrifice. 29 If there were any way of staving off a divine plan through human action, your majesty, then you ought not to offer that rite. 30 But Shakra won’t be at fault, and nor will your company of teachers, or you as the patron of the rite. In this matter, time will be the paramount lord. 31 You have to understand that the triple-world, together with its contents mobile and immobile, is established by time, ruled by time, and obedient to time. 32 And just as a king who performs rituals will go to heaven, at the end of the age brahmins who sell the rewards of rituals will go to heaven as well.
33 Janamejaya said:
What will cause my horse sacrifice to be interrupted, your holiness? When I’ve heard about the cause I’ll guard against it, if that’s possible.
34 Vyāsa said:
The cause of the interruption will be that the brahmins have been antagonised, my lord. Try to avoid that, and good luck to you if you do. 35 The rite upon which you’ve resolved—the horse sacrifice, scorcher of your foes—will never again be performed by kshatriyas as long as the earth endures.
36 Janamejaya said:
If my horse sacrifice is interrupted and it’s thought to be my fault, then I’ll be in grave danger from the blazing fire that is the curse of the brahmins. 37 And how can a virtuous man like me reach the heavens if he’s fallen into disgrace? That would be like a bird that’s caught in a snare being able to fly off into the sky. 38 But since you’ve perceived that in future the horse sacrifice will fall into disuse, if it will subsequently be reintroduced then you must cheer me up by saying so.
39 Vyāsa said:
The rite was received from the gods in the first place, and it will survive among the brahmins, for brilliance bestowed by brilliance abides only within brilliance. 40 In the kali age a certain army commander, a brahmin descended from Kashyapa, will burst onto the scene and revive the horse sacrifice once again.*41 In the same age the same man from the same family will also offer the rājasūya rite, your supreme majesty, like the destroyer of the world manifesting a white comet. 42 The horse sacrifice will use its power to supply rewards to the people who perform it, and it will persist until it comes to the entrance that leads, surrounded by seers, into the end of the age.
43 From then on, people’s lives will no longer include their former activities. People will abandon their practices, even the people who have a profession. 44 Religion will totter in those days: it’ll be rooted in charity and lax about the four estates, but though subtle it’ll be maximally consequential. 45 In those days people will attain salvation through meagre efforts, Janamejaya, so the people who practise religion at the end of the age are lucky.
116. The End of the Kali Age
1 Janamejaya said:
We don’t know whether that time is close at hand or far away. But since the dvāpara has finished, I’m looking forward to the end of the age. 2 If we’re alive at that time it’s because of our desire for religious merit, because at that time we can attain religious merit for ourselves easily, through meagre efforts.
3 Knower of propriety, you should describe, through its signs, the coming end of the age, when creatures will be put to fright and propriety will be lost.
4 The storyteller said:
When he was prompted like this, his holiness, who knew the progress of the future precisely, listed the harbingers of the end of the age.
5 Vyāsa said:
At the end of the age, kings will rule who take their slice in tax but don’t provide protection, being intent only on protecting themselves. 6 At the end of the age, there’ll be kings who aren’t kshatriyas, brahmins who submit to shūdras, and shūdras who behave like brahmins. 7 At the end of the age, Janamejaya bull of the Bhāratas, offerings will be eaten by brahmin warriors and brahmin scholars all mixed together in one group. 8 At the end of the age, Janamejaya, artisans will be bent on cheating, people will delight in flesh and alcohol, and wives will be enemies. 9 At the end of the age, thieves will play the role of kings, kings will behave like thieves, and servants will take what they haven’t been given. 10 At the end of the age, wealth will be considered praiseworthy, and there’ll be no respect for the behaviour of the honest and no condemnation of the wicked. 11 People will take leave of their senses and wear their hair loose or shave it all off, and boys less than sixteen years of age will become fathers. 12 At the end of the age, the countryside will be studded with watchtowers, all the crossroads will be marked with tridents of Shiva, and the women will have pins in their hair.
13 At the end of the age, everyone will teach the Veda, everyone will follow the Vājasaneya school of the Veda, and shūdras will address members of the other classes informally. 14 At the end of the age, brahmins will sell the Vedas and the benefits of rituals and regimes, the seasons will come in reverse order, 15 and shūdras who follow the Buddha of the Shākyas will practise their religion dressed in ochre robes, with shaved heads, white teeth, and uncowed eyes.
16 When the age comes to an end, there’ll be a notable excess of wild beasts, a dearth of cows, and an absence of delicacies. 17 At the end of the age, the worst kind of people will
live at the centre, and normal people will have to live outside town. All the subjects will be debased somehow. 18 When the age has waned, there’ll be two-year-old bulls that haven’t yet been tamed, ponds will be ploughed, and Parjanya will only rain in patches. 19 When the age is ending, people won’t do their duties. In the kali age the soil will become very salty, there’ll be nothing in the towns but roads, and everyone will be selling something.
20 In those days, sons will be corrupted by greed and lies: they’ll discontinue the duty of giving to the ancestors, and fly towards their own destruction. 21 At the end of the age, when beauty is precarious and jewels have become scarce, women will be decorated by hair alone. 22 When the end of the age comes, householders will be anxious and have no fun, and their wives will be their only pleasure.
23 The end of the age is signalled by a preponderance of vulgar or bad characters, a crust of false appearances, a dearth of men, and a surfeit of women. 24 Places will be full of beggars, and people will give handouts to each other. Oppressed by punishments inflicted by kings, robbers, and so on, the population will be ravaged. 25 When the age has aged, the grain harvest will yield nothing, youths will behave like the aged, and people’s efforts will all be frustrated. 26 At the end of the age, violent and nasty winds will blow during the monsoon season, bringing downpours of gravel, and the existence of the next world will be questioned.
27 When the age is passing away, first brahmins and then royalty will start living like vaishyas and depending on the harvest for their wealth. 28 When the age has waned, contracts and curses will fail and become ineffective, and there’ll be debt and unrest. 29 At the end of the age, joy will bring people no reward, rage will be rewarded, and billy-goats will be kept for their milk. 30 This being the case, the kind of wisdom that prevails at the end of the age won’t be the one set out in the Shāstras. There’ll be no one teaching what the Shāstras say.
Krishna's Lineage Page 52