{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/db/bk06ch17.htm","path":"hin/db/bk06ch17.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/db/bk06ch17.htm","text":"THE SIXTH BOOK\nChapter XVII\nOn the continuance of the family of Bhrigu\n1-3. Janamejaya said :-- \u201cMunis! How did the Bh\u00e2rgava wives cross this endless sea of troubles and how was the family of Bhrigu re-established on the surface of this earth? And what did the greedy Haihayas, the vilest of the Ksattriyas, do after they killed the Bh\u00e2rgavas? Describe all these in detail and satisfy my curiosity. O Thou, Ocean of austerities! I am not satisfied with the drink of your nectar like\nwords, very holy and leading to happiness in this world and to good merits in the next.\u201d\n4-28. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! I will now narrate to you the sin destroying virtuous story how the Bh\u00e2rgava wives crossed their great hardships and the ocean of troubles, very difficult to cross. The Bh\u00e2rgava wives, when they were very much harassed by the Haihayas, went to the Him\u00e2lay\u00e2s, overwhelmed with terror and disappointment. There on that mountain they erected an earthen image of S\u2019r\u00ee Gaur\u00ee Dev\u00ee by the banks of the Ganges and worshipped Her and, firmly resolved to die, began to fast. The Dev\u00ee Jagadambik\u00e2 appeared to those religious women in their dreams and said :-- \u201cA son will be born of My essence to one of you from one of her thighs; that son will redress all your wants.\u201d Thus speaking, the Dev\u00ee Bhagavat\u00ee disappeared. Those women when they woke up were very glad; one of them that appeared very clever, becoming very much anxious out of the fear of the Ksattriyas; preserved the foetus in one of her thighs for the propagation of the family. Her body became luminous; she then fled, overwhelmed with terror. The Ksattriyas, seeing that Br\u00e2hman\u00ee, came quickly upon her and said :-- \u201cSee! This pregnant Bh\u00e2rgava wife is flying away hastily; seize her and take away her life.\u201d Thus saying, all of them raised their axes, and pursued her. Then that woman seeing them coming, wept out of fear. She cried, out of terror, for the preservation of the child in her womb; and the child seeing her mother helpless and distressed, trembling with fear and with tears in her eyes having no one to protect her and awfully oppressed by the Ksattriyas as if a pregnant deer has been attacked by a lion and is crying about, angrily burst out of the thigh of his mother, and quickly came out like a second Sun. That good looking boy took away the power of sight of those Ksattriyas by his brilliant lustrous light; no sooner the Haihayas saw that boy than they got blind. Like those that are born blind; they then began to roam in the caves of mountains and thought within themselves, what an evil turn of Fate had overtaken them! They thought thus :-- \u201cOh! The mere sight of that boy has turned us blind; what a great wonder is this! Certainly this is due to the influence of the Br\u00e2hmin\u00ee wife; this is, no doubt, the great effect of her virtue of chastity. We have greatly oppressed the Bh\u00e2rgava women. They have become very sorry and distressed; now we cannot tell what more evils do these women, of true resolve, inflict on us!\u201d Thus pondering, those Ksattriyas\ndeprived of their eyes, helpless, and their minds bewildered, took refuge of those Br\u00e2hmin ladies. The ladies, seeing them again come, were the more terrified; but those Ksattriyas bowed down before them with\nfolded hands for the restoration of their sights and said :-- \u201cO Mother! We are your servants. Be gracious unto us. O Auspicious Ones! We are vicious Ksattriyas; O Mothers! What an amount of offence we have committed to you. O Beautiful Ones! We have become blind, no sooner we have seen you. O Angry Ones! No more we can see your lotus-like faces, as if we are born blind; O Mother! The spirit of your asceticism is so very wonderful! We are sinners; therefore by no means we can get our sight; therefore we have taken refuge unto you all; better give us back our eyesight and preserve our honour. O Mother! Blindness is more dreadful than death; therefore do you show your mercy on us. Be pleased unto us and restore our eyesights and make us your slaves; no sooner we get back our sights, we will cease from these vicious acts and go to our homes. In future, we will never commit such heinous acts; from today we all become servants of the Bh\u00e2rgavas and we will serve them. Forgive all our sins that we committed unconsciously; we promise that, in future, there will no more be any enmity between the Bh\u00e2rgavas and Ksattriyas. O good-looking Ones! You pass your days happily with your sons; we ever bow down before you. O Auspicious Ones! Be graciously pleased unto us; no more we will cherish any inimical feelings towards you.\u201d\n29-44. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! The Bh\u00e2rgava lady heard their words and was thunderstruck and seeing those Ksattriyas bowing down before her, blind and distressed, consoled them and said, \u201cO Ksattriyas! I have not taken away your sights nor am I displeased in any way with you. Now hear what is the real cause. This child of Bh\u00e2rgava, born of my thigh, is exceedingly angry towards you and has therefore made your eyesight still and to no purpose. For the greed of wealth, you have slain the close relatives of this boy, those that were quite innocent and virtuous ascetics and you have slain their children that were in their mothers\u2019 wombs; this boy has come to know all those things. O children! When you were slaying the children of the Bh\u00e2rgavas in their mothers\u2019 wombs, I then bore within my thighs this child for one hundred years. This son of mine though as yet in the womb, has mastered all the Vedas within so very short a time for the propagation of the Bh\u00e2rgava clan. Now this Bh\u00e2rgava son is infuriated with anger for your slaying his father and is now ready to kill you all. My son! Whose divine effulgence has destroyed your eyesights, is born of grace of the Highest Goddess, the Bhagavat\u00ee Bhuvanes\u2019var\u00ee; therefore do not consider this boy as an ordinary being. Now bow down with humility before this my son Aurvya (born from the thighs); this son may be pleased by your bowing down and may restore you your eyesights.\nVy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! Hearing thus the words of the Br\u00e2hmin lady, the Haihayas began to praise the boy with hymns. With great humility, they bowed down to the best of the Munis, born of the thighs. The Risi Aurvya, then, became pleased and spoke thus to the Haihayas who were deprived of their eyesights :-- \u201cBetter go back to your own homes. O Kings! And read these following words derived from my this story. Whatever is inevitable and created by the hands of gods must come to pass. Knowing this, no one ought to be sorrowful on any such matters. Let you all regain your eyesights as before and forego your anger and go to your own homes respectively at your own will. Let the Risis, too, get peace and happiness as before.\u201d When the Maharsi Aurvya ordered thus, the Haihayas got back their eyesights and went at their leisure to their own homes; on the other hand the Br\u00e2hmin lady went to her own hermitage, with her Divine-spirited child and began to nourish him. O King! Thus I have described to you the story of the killing of the Bh\u00e2rgavas and how the Ksattriyas, actuated by greed, did so very vicious acts.\n45-48. Janamejaya said :-- \u201cO Ascetic! Hearing this exceedingly heart-rending act of the Ksattriyas, I come to know, that greed is the sole cause of it and both the parties had suffered so much, simply out of this insatiable greed. O King of Munis! I want to ask you one more question in regard to this point. How the sons of the Kings came to be known Haihayas in this world? Amongst the Ksattriyas, some are called Y\u00e2davas for they ware descended from the family of Yadu; some were known as Bh\u00e2rata, for they were descended from Bh\u00e2rata. But was some king named Haihaya born before in their family or were they known as such on account of other actions? I desire to hear of it. Kindly describe\nthis to me and oblige.\u201d\n49-56. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! I am describing in detail to you of the origin of the Haihayas. Hear. The sins are destroyed and the merits accrue on hearing this story. O King! Once on a time Revanta, the son of the Sun, very beautiful and of boundless lustre, was going to Visnu in Vaikuntha, mounted on the beautiful Uchchais\u2019rava, the jewel of the horses. When he was going on horseback with a desire to see the God Visnu, the Goddess Laksm\u00ee saw that child of the Sun. The Goddess Laksm\u00ee, born out of the churning of the ocean, on looking at the beautiful appearance of her brother Horse, also born out of the churning of the ocean, became very much astonished and steadily gazed on him. The Bhagav\u00e2n Visnu, capable to show both favour and disfavour, saw the beautiful Revanta, of good figure, coming on horseback; and lovingly asked Laksm\u00ee :-- \u201cO Beautiful One! Who is coming here on horseback, as\nit were, enchanting to the three worlds!\u201d At that time, the Goddess Laksm\u00ee was accidentally looking intently on the horse; so she did not reply, though repeatedly asked by the Bhagav\u00e2n.\n57-68. The Laksm\u00ee Dev\u00ee, always restless, was very much intent on the horse and was enchanted and She was looking steadily with great affection on the horse. Seeing this, the Bhagav\u00e2n became angry and said :-- \u201cO Beautiful-eyed One! What you are looking at so intently? Are you so much enchanted with the sight of the horse that you are not speaking to me a single word, though I am repeatedly asking you so often! You lovingly dwell on all the objects; hence your name is Ram\u00e2; your mind is also very restless, therefore you would be known as Chanchal\u00e2 Dev\u00ee (the restless Dev\u00ee). O Auspicious One! You are restless like ordinary women; you can never stay steadily for a certain time at any one place. While sitting before Me, you are enchanted with the sight of a horse; then you be born as a mare in that world of men, full of dreadful troubles, on the surface of the earth. The Goddess Laksm\u00ee became very much affrightened at the sudden curse given by Hari, a matter as it were ordained by the Devas, and began to cry aloud, shuddering with pain and sorrows. Laksm\u00ee Dev\u00ee, then of sweet smiles, frightened, bowed down with great humility to her own lord N\u00e2r\u00e2yana and said thus :-- O Deva of the Devas! O Govinda! You are the Lord of this world and the Ocean of mercy. O Kes\u2019ava! Why have you inflicted on me so dreadful a curse for such a minor fault of mine! O Lord! I never saw you before so very angry; Alas! Where has now gone that affection, so natural and undying, that you showed towards me! O Lord! It is not proper to hurl a thunderbolt on one\u2019s own relations; but it is advisable to cast it on the enemies. I am always fit for receiving boons from you. Why have you made me now an object, fit for curse. O Govinda! I will quit this life in Your presence. I will never be able to live, separated from You. O Lord! Be graciously pleased and say when shall I be free from this dreadful curse and regain Your happy companion?\n69. The Bhagav\u00e2n said :-- \u201cO Dev\u00ee! When you will get a son in the world like me, you will no doubt come again to be my companion.\u201d\nHere ends the Seventeenth Chapter on the continuance of the family of Bhrigu in the Sixth Book in the Mah\u00e2pur\u00e2nam, S\u2019r\u00ee Mad Dev\u00ee Bh\u00e2gavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vy\u00e2sa.","title":"The Devi Bhagavatam: The Sixth Book: Chapter 17","type":"page"}