The Bhagavata Purana 2 by Bibek Debroy

Author:Bibek Debroy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789353053796
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2018-11-30T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8(2)

Shri-Shuka said, ‘O king! There was a best among mountains, famous as Trikuta. It was beautiful, ten thousand yojanas in height, and was surrounded by the Kshiroda ocean. In every direction, its expanse was as much as its height. It had three summits, made of gold, silver and iron, and it illuminated the ocean of milk, the directions and the sky. There were many other peaks, colourful because of ores and jewels. It was covered with many kinds of trees, creepers and shrubs and there were the sounds of waterfalls. In every direction, its feet were washed by waves of milk, which made the ground, studded with emeralds and pebbles, appear dark green. The caverns were full of Siddhas, charanas, gandharvas, vidyadharas, giant serpents, kinnaras and apsaras, who sported there. The caves echoed and resounded with the tones of singing, and proud lions, suspecting the presence of an enemy, roared in intolerance. The valleys were ornamented with herds of many kinds of wild animals. The divine groves had colourful trees and resounded with the calls of birds. There were rivers and lakes filled with sparkling water, with the shores filled with sand mixed with gems. When celestial women bathed in the waters, these became fragrant and the wind bore that scent along. In one of those valleys, there was a grove that belonged to the great-souled and illustrious Varuna. It was named Ritumat and celestial women sported there. In every direction, it was decorated with divine trees that always had flowers and fruit—mandara, parijata, patala, ashoka, champaka, chuta, priyala, panasa, amra, amrataka, kramuka, narikela, kharjura, bijapuraka, madhuka, sala, tala, tamala, asana, arjuna, arishta, udumbara, plaksha, vata, kimshuka, chandana, pichumarda, kovidara, sarala, suradaru, draksha, ikshu, rambha, jambu, badari, aksha, abhaya, amalaka, bilva, kapittha, jambira, bhallataka and others. That lake was radiant with extremely large golden lotuses. It dazzled because of water lilies, white lotuses, blue lotuses and lotuses with one hundred petals. There was the buzzing of intoxicated bees and the calling of birds. The place was full of swans, karandavas, chakravakas and cranes. There were the calls of waterfowl, lapwings and gallinules. 879 The water was filled with the filaments of lotuses and was agitated because of the movement of fish and turtles. The place was surrounded by kadamba, vetasa, nala, nipa, vanjulaka, kunda, kurubaka, ashoka, shirisha, kutaja, inguda, kubjaka, svarna-yuthi, naga, types of punnaga, mallika, shatapatra and nets of species of madhavi. 880 The banks were beautiful with other trees dense with the flowers and fruits of all seasons.

‘Once, on that grove near the mountain, the leader of a herd of elephants wandered around, accompanied by female elephants. It crushed the various kinds of bamboo, cane and reeds, shrubs with thorns and large creepers and trees. At its mere scent, lions, Indras among elephants, tigers and other predatory animals, rhinos, giant serpents, white and black sharabhas 881 and yak fled in fear. However, because of the favours shown by it, wolves, boars, buffaloes, bears, porcupines, gopucchas, 882 hyenas, monkeys and other small animals like deer and hares were not scared and continued to roam around.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.