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THE SEVENTH BOOK
Chapter VIII
On the King Revata and the Solar Dynasty
1-5. Janamejaya said :-- “O Brâhmanâ! The King was a Ksattriya; how could he go himself with his daughter Revatî to the Brahmâloka (the abode of Brahmâ)? I entertain a great doubt on this point. I heard of yore while conversing about matters connected with the Brâhmins, that the Brâhmin only who was self-restrained and the knower of Brahmân could alone go to the Brahmâloka. The Satyaloka is very hard for the worldly people to go; so I doubt how the king could have gone with Revatî from the Bhûrloka to the Satyaloka. Man, when he discards his body, can go to the Heavens. So is recited in all the S'âstras. How then, people, while, in their human bodies can go to the Brahmâloka. So cut asunder my doubts how the King Revata could go to the Brahmâloka to ask the Prajâpati on certain matters.”
6-16. Vyâsa said :-- “O King! On the top of the mountain Sumeru, are located the Indra's heavens called Amarâvati (the abode of the Immortals) the Samyamanî city of Yama, the Satyaloka, the Vahniloka, the Kailâsa, Vaikuntha the abode of Visnu, and others. The great archer Arjuna, the son of Prithâ, went to the Indraloka and spent five years there. In ancient times, the Kings Kakutstha and others went to Indraloka, in their human bodies. Even the powerful Daityas used to conquer the Indraloka and resided there at their will and pleasure. In ancient times, when the sovereign of the earth, the King Mahâbhisa went to the Brahmâloka, the most beautiful Gangâ also was coming to the Brahmâloka. On the way the King saw Her. O King! Accidentally at that time her clothings were cast aside by the wind; the King saw her partly in her naked state, and, overpowered with lust, smiled; Gangâ also
smiled. Seeing the states of them, Brahmâ instantly cursed them; and they had to come in this world and take their births. All the Devas, when oppressed by the Dânavas, went to Vaikuntha and sang hymns to Hari, the Lord of Kamalâ. O King! Men can go to all the Lokas; in fact those high-souled men that perform Yajñas or severe asceticism and thus have acquired great merits, those performers of Sacrifices and ascetics surely go to the Heavens. O King! It is only the abundance of good merits that is the only cause of going to Heavens. So you ought not to entertain any doubts on this.”
17-18. Janamejaya said :-- “O Muni! The King Revata went with his daughter Revatî to the Brahmâloka; but what did he do when he went there? What did Brahmâ order him? And to whom did the King betroth his daughter, when ordered by Brahmâ? O Brâhmana! Speak out all these in details to me now.”
19-21. Vyâsa said :-- “O King! Hear. When the King went to Brahmâloka to ask about the proper bridegroom of his daughter, there was going on singing and music; so he waited a while to find an opportunity when the assembly would have a leisure; but he was so very pleased with music that he could not desist from hearing it till the end. When the music was finished, the King bowed down to Brahmâ and shewed him his daughter and informed Him of his intention.”
22-26. The King said :-- “O Deva! This good daughter is mine; now kindly say who will be her bridegroom. O Brahmâ! To whom shall I betroth this daughter? I have come to you to ask on this point I have searched for many princes and seen also a good many of them and none of them is to my liking and so my mind is not at rest. O Lord of the Devas! Therefore I have come to you. Kindly select one bridegroom for her. He is to be a Kulîn (of good family), powerful, religious, liberal, and a prince endowed with all auspicious qualities. This is my prayer.” Vyâsa said :-- O King! Brahmâ, the lotus-born, the Creator of the world, hearing these words, laughed, thinking that a very long interval had passed away. He then said :--
27-43. O King! The princes that you thought would become the bridegroom of your daughter, all died; their sons and grandsons and their friends even have all passed away. The twenty-seventh Manvantara of the Dvâpara Yuga is now going on; so none of the princes of your family are now existing. The Daityas sacked your city. Now Ugrasena, the King of Mathurâ, is reigning in that place. He belongs to the illustrious lunar family of Yayâti. His son, the powerful Kansa,
born of a Dânava, began to do injuries always to the Devas; he threw his own father to the prison. Becoming very haughty, he began to govern himself the countries of other kings and began to tyrranise over the subjects. O King. The Earth became so much troubled by the armies of the wicked Demon Kings, that She became quite unable to bear further loads. So She went to seek refuge to Brahmâ. Brahmâ and the other Devas then began to say :-- “O Earth! To remove your burden the lotus-eyed Nârâyanâ will incarnate Himself as part incarnation in the form of S'rî Krisna. He who is Nârâyanâ practised in ancient times, as the son of Dharma, a very severe asceticism, in company with his brother Nara in the sacred hermitage of Badari. Now this very Deva is born in the great family of Yadu in the womb of Devakî by Vasudeva and is now celebrated by the name of Vâsudeva. O King! He has slain that vicious wicked Kansa and has installed Ugrasena in his place. The very powerful Jarâsandha, the vicious King of Magadha, is the father-in-law of Kansa. On hearing the death of his son-in-law, he became infuriated with rage, came to Mathurâ, and raged a terrible war. Vâsudeva defeated in a battle that Jarâsandha, proud of his mighty valour. Though defeated, Jarâsandha sent Kâlayavana with his host of army to fight again with Krisna. Bhâgavan Vâsudeva, when he heard that the King of Yavanas arrived, sent away all the members of his family and the Yâdavas to Dvârkâ and began to wait with his brother Balarâma for the Yavana King. Then he went alone to the camp of Yavana and led him away to a mountain cave where was sleeping the King Muchu Kunda and had then the Yavana King slain by Muchukunda. Krisna then went to Dvârkâ. The city of Dvârkâ was then a dilapidated condition. Krisna brought together the artists and got built exquisitely the beautiful palaces, forts, and markets and stalls, etc., and so added to the beauty of the place. That Vâsudeva, of mighty prowess, thus improving the city, made Ugrasena the King of that place; and Krisna is now waiting there with his friends. His elder brother Baladeva, the carrier of the plough, is celebrated. Thus he with Musala in his hands is a great warrior and the part incarnation of Ananta Deva. He is the fit bridegroom of your daughter. So give your daughter in marriage, without any delay, according to the rules of the marriage ceremony to Sankarsana Balabhadra. After giving your daughter marriage, go to the hermitage of Badari and practise tapasyâ. That sacred retreat is the (park) recreation ground of the Devas, holy and yielding to human beings the objects of their desires.
44-46. Vyâsa said :-- “O King! Thus ordered by the lotus-born Brahmâ, the King went to Dvârkâ with his daughter. Reaching there he gave over his all auspicious daughter in marriage to Bala Deva
duly according to the rules and regulations. At last, according to Brahmâ's injunction, he became engaged in severe austerities in the Badarikâs'ram and, when the time of death arrived, left off his mortal coil on the banks of the river and went to the world of Gods.”
47-48. Janamejaya said :-- “O Bhagavân! You have uttered one wonderful thing. One hundred and eight Yugas passed away when the King of Revata with his daughter was deeply absorbed in hearing music in the Brahmâloka yet neither the good King nor the daughter did get sufficiently old. How could this be! How could they have lived so long! Were their longevities ordained to be such a long period!”
49-56. Vyâsa said :-- “O King! The Brahmâloka is not touched by any vice nor sin; old age, hunger, thirst or fear of death nothing exists there; nor is there any other cause by which weariness comes. So what doubt there can be that the people there will be long-lived, free from old age and death! When the King S'aryâti went up to the Heavens, his sons were all destroyed by the Râksasas; those that remained, they, terrified left Kus'asthalî and fled on all sides. Vaivasvata Manu sneezed; owing to that, came out of his nose one powerful son; his name was Iksâku. He spread the Solar dynasty and became celebrated. Getting excellent initiation from the Maharsi Nârada, he began to meditate the Devî constantly and practised severe tapasyâ for the spread of his race. O King! Iksâku had one hundred sons; Vikuksi was the eldest; he was powerful and endowed with great strength. Iksâku became king and lived in Ayodhyâ. He sent his fifty sons, the powerful S'akuni and others to Uttarâpatha (Eastern) provinces for governing those countries. That high-souled monarch sent also other eight sons to govern the countries in the South. (Western). O King! He kept the remaining two sons by his side for his own service.”
Here ends the Eighth Chapter of the Seventh Book on the story of the King Revata and the spread of the Solar dynasty in the Mahâpuranam S'rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.