THE VISHNU PURÁNA: A SYSTEM OF HINDU MYTHOLOGY AND TRADITION. TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL SANSKRIT, AND ILLUSTRATED BY NOTES DERIVED CHIEFLY FROM OTHER PURAŃAS, BY THE LATE H. H. WILSON, M. A., F.R.S., BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, EDITED BY FITZEDWARD HALL. VOL. V. LONDON: TRÜBNER & CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1870. 4 1423614 VISHNU PURÁŃA. BOOK V. (continued). ་ CHAPTER XVII. Akrúra's meditations on Krishna: his arrival at Gokula: his delight at seeing Krishna and his brother. AKRÚRA, having set off in his quick travelling-car, proceeded to visit Krishna at the pastures* of Nanda; and, as he went along, he congratulated himself on his superior good fortune, in having an opportunity of beholding a descended portion of the deity. "Now,' thought he, "has my life borne fruit; my night is followed by the dawn of day: since I shall see the countenance of Vishnu, whose eyes are like the expanded leaf of the lotos. I shall behold that lotos-eyed aspect § of Vishnu, which, when seen only in imagination, takes away the sins of men. I shall, to-day, behold that glory of glories, |, the mouth of Vishnu, ¶ whence proceeded *Gokula. Namely, Chakrin, in the original. Here follows, in the Sanskrit, a stanza left untranslated: अद्य मे सफले नेत्रे अद्य मे सफला गिरः । यन्मे परस्परालापो दृष्ट्वा विष्णुं भविष्यति ॥ Śridhara gives this stanza; but Ratnagarbha does not appear, from my MSS. of his commentary, to recognize it. § Literally, "the lotos-eye." || YNA YTATA Variant, preferred by the commentator Ratnagarbha धाम देवानां, “light of the gods". The original has Bhagavat. the Vedas and all their dependent sciences.* I shall see the sovereign of the world, by whom the world is sustained; † who is worshipped as the best of males, as the male of sacrifice § in sacrificial rites. I shall see Keśava, who is without beginning or end; by worshipping whom with a hundred sacrifices, Indra obtained the sovereignty over the gods. That Hari, whose nature is unknown to Brahmá, Indra, Rudra, the Aswins, the Vasus, Adityas, and Maruts, will (this day,) touch my body. The soul of all, the knower of all, he who is all, and is present in all, he who is pcrmanent, undecaying, all-pervading, will converse with me. He, the unborn, who has preserved the world in the various forms of a fish, a tortoise, a boar, a horse,1 The commentator || explains this to mean Hayagriva,—or Vishnu with the neck and head of a horse,-who, it is said, in the Second Book of the Bhagavata, appeared at the end of a great To render vedánga. † Akhiládhára. Purushottama. See Vol. I., p. 16, note . § Yajna-purusha. See Vol. I., p. 163, note *. The words of the commentators are, in common, simply qua: But I show, presently, that they must be wrong The passage referred to is Chapter VII., 11, where Brahma is the speaker. The original and Burnouf's translation are subjoined: सत्त्रे ममास भगवान्हयशीर्षाथो साक्षात्स यज्ञपुरुषस्तपनीयवर्णः । छन्दोमयो मखमयोऽखिलदेवतात्मा वाचो बभवुरुशतीः श्वमतोऽस्य नस्तः ॥ "Dans mon sacrifice, Bhagavat lui-même fut Hayaçîrcha, le mâle du sacrifice, dont la couleur est celle de l'or, dont les Vêdas et les sacrifices sont la substance, et les divinités l'âme; quand il respira, de ses narines sortirent de ravissantes paroles." Professor Wilson's view of the meaning of the stanza just quoted is more than usually imaginative. a lion,* will, this day, speak to me. Now, the lord of the earth, who assumes shapes at will, has taken upon him the condition of humanity, to accomplish some object cherished in his heart. That Ananta, who holds sacrifice performed by Brahma, and breathed from his nostrils the texts of the Vedas. The fourth Avatára is always, elsewhere, said to be the Vámana, or dwarf. + In the Bhagavata-puráňa, VIII., XXIV., 7, 8, it is said, that, as Brahma slumbered, the Vedas slipped out of his mouth, and Hayagriva came, and furtively carried them off. Hari, or Vishnu, it is subsequently stated, at last slew Hayagriva. According to Vol. II., p. 125, Vishnu is worshipped, in Bhadráśwa, as Hayasiras, the Hayasirsha of the verses cited above, and of the Bhagavata-puráňa, V., XVIII., 1. For Aswasiras, as an epithet of Náráyana, or Vishnu, see the Mahabharata, Śánti-parvan, él. 13100, &c. With this divinity Professor Wilson has confounded the demon Hayagriva, for whom see Vol. II., p. 70, note §, and p. 210, note 1. Aśwagríva, mentioned in the Mahabharata, Adi-parvan, & 2533, is, presumably, identical with the latter, who has a fellow in Aśwaśiras,-ibid., s. 2531 and 2646. The passage in Vol. I., Preface, p. LXXXVI., where "Vishnu, as Hayagriva" is spoken of, I have not yet been able to verify. In the meantime, it may pretty safely be surmised that there is a mistake. Hayaśirsha, Hayaśiras, and Aśwaśiras are, being interpreted, 'Horseheaded'; Hayagriva and Aśwagriva, 'Horse-necked.' In the Sabdakalpadruma, the first definition of Hayagriva makes him. an epiphany of Vishnu, for the sake of recovering the Vedas, which had been carried off by Madhu and Kaitaba. The passage there quoted— • Mahábhárata, Śȧnti-parvan, §l. 13497-13503,-does not, however, mention Hayagriva at all, but Aśwaśiras. My friend Mr. C. P. Brown informs me, that, in the Madras Presidency, Hayagriva is a not uncommon name for a Brahman to bear. The fact is noteworthy. Hayagrivahan, "Slayer of Hayagriva," is an epithetical designation of Hayaśirsha, i. e., Vishnu. * Simha; which here denotes nŕi-simha, the commentators say. See Vol IV., p. 277, text and note ‡. † See Vol. III., p. 18, text and note 1. |