Chapter 125 - The Importance of Māgha As Told by Bhṛgu

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

The sages said:

1-3. O Sūta, O noble Sūta, you, desiring the well-being of the world have narrated the account of Kārtika giving pleasures and salvation. O Lomaharṣaṇi, now tell us about the importance of Māgha, hearing which the great doubt of people diminishes. Tell us who formerly revealed the greatness of the bath in Māgha along with its history, O noble one.

Sūta said:

4-9. Good! good! O best sages, you are greatly devoted to Kṛṣṇa. Since you with joy and devotion repeatedly ask Kṛṣṇa’s story, I shall tell you the greatness of Māgha that increases the religious merit and destroys the sin of those who have bathed at dawn. O brāhmaṇas, once Pārvatī, touching the lotus-like feet of Śaṅkara with modesty, asked him, the benefactor of the world:

Pārvatī said:

O god of gods, O great god, O you who grant fearlessness to your devotees, be pleased, O lord of the universe. Tell me what I ask you now. O master, formerly I heard from you many kinds of religious practices. Now I desire to hear the greatness of Māgha. Tell it. Since you love your devotees, tell me who observed it formerly, what is the mode (of observing it), which is the deity. Tell (me) all that in detail.

Śiva said:

10-24. King Dilīpa, best among kings, whose auspicious rites were performed by the sages after the ablution after a sacrifice, who was honoured by all citizens, went out of his city. The king was interested in hunting. He was full of curiosity, and was surrounded by an assemblage for hunting. He had put on his shoes, a blue turban and had covered his chest. He had a leathern fence fastened round his left arm to prevent injury from the bow string, had a finger-protector, and a bow in his hand and a sword. (He was accompanied) by archers with small swords, so also foot soldiers like that. The young (king), brave like a lion, gladly sported with them in the bowers, looking for game in very charming large thickets in Gandhāra. He crossed great streams. ‘Kill him, kill him; this deer is fleeing.’ Speaking like this to his servants, he himself jumped and killed it. Again he moved here and there observing at places the forest-ground which was crowded with groups of frightened peacocks, that flew to the trees and hid themselves. It was full of fear of the herds of (frightened) female deer. In its various directions young ones of deer were running. It was fierce due to the sharp howls of jackals at places. The forest at places bore the beauty of elephants due to the groups of young rhinoceroses (obscure). At places it was resounding with the hooting of owls resorting to the hollows of trees. At places it was marked with the impressions of the paws of lions. At places it was red due to the blood of the rohita deer, torn apart by the nails of tigers. At places it suggested to the mind (that it was) the ground in the courtyard of the harem due to the groups of the Mahiṣīs (buffaloes/queens) troubled by the burden of their stout (udders) breasts. At places it was covered with dense trees, and was fragrant with wild flowers. It at places had doors in the form of creepers, and was very charming with the humming of bees. It had large holes fearful due to serpents whose sloughs had partly come out. It was fearful due to the large serpents hiding in it, and spreading sloughs. It at places had the flames of wild fire, and very beautiful due to lustre from stones; it was full of the hissing sounds; it was crowded with deer and tigers. At places he let loose the group of his dogs against rabbits. Having rested at the (banks of) ponds he went to another forest.

25-39. When the lord of kings was going like this, and the group of hunters was swaggering, he saw a deer making a loud noise and moving out of a thicket. With hasty strides it crossed the ground having inaccessible paths. At times it jumped into the air, and at times it was seen on the ground. The king, following its footsteps, entered an impassable forest very imperious due to crooked streams and full of thorny trees. The king, going further and further away and from one solitary region to another, had his neck and throat dry due to the excitement caused by (his) not (being able) to see the deer. His palate and face had become red. He was perspiring. His footmen were tired; his voice was wavering. After having passed over long ways, he, oppressed with thirst, saw, when the sun had gone to the middle (of the sky, i.e. at noon), before him a lake that vied with the ocean, on the bank of which there were dense trees, which was a holy place, was clean and auspicious. It was large; the lotuses in it had bloomed; the bees were intoxicated with honey. It was covered with green lotus-leaves like emeralds. The fish in it was leaping at will like the clean mind of a good man. It was full of moving aquatic animals. It was adorned with the rows of waves. Like the mind of the wicked, it was. rough inside due to the groups of crocodiles; at places, it was, due to moss, inaccessible like a miser’s house. Day and night it pacified all the afflictions of various birds. Like donors with all their belongings it destroyed the afflictions of those that resorted to it. With its water it gratified the wild beasts like its own dead ancestors. Like the moon it removed all the heat of the day. Seeing it, he was free from languor like a cātaka on seeing a cloud. Having drunk water there, and having performed the mid-day rites, the king ate, with his companions, the flesh of the game. He, telling charming stories, stayed on its bank, and keeping his arrow fixed to the bow (string), he rested on the bank at night. The hunters, fixing their arrows to the bow strings, blocked the paths of the directions. When the warriors remained like this, having spread the nets, at night on every bank a herd of hogs moved out, and having eaten the bulbs in the lake, jumped (before) the crowd of the hunters.

40-48. The king pierced the hogs; and many were killed by the hunters. In a moment, the hogs that were pierced, fell on the ground. Seeing them, the very proud hunters made an uproar, and running with great joy, gathered where the king stayed. Bringing them through his soldiers, he left the bank of the lake. Desiring to go (back) to his city he saw an ascetic on the way. (He saw) the brāhmaṇa, old Hārīta, well adorned with a conch and disc, with his body emaciated due to restraints difficult to observe and intense. He remained only in bones (i.e. had become skeleton-like), he was highly restrained, and his skin, had become rough. He wore a deer-skin, and put on a soft-bark-garment. He was muttering hymns from the Vedas. He had long nails and hair and matted hair. Seeing that hermit, and giving him passage, the king, with respect saluted him with his head (bent) and the hollows of his hands resembling a lotus joined. The brāhmaṇa (i.e. Hārīta), taking him to be a king from his ornaments, and with a desire for obliging others, and for bringing about his welfare said (to him): “At this meritorious and auspicious time, for what purpose are you going, O king, avoiding (i.e. not taking) a morning bath in the month of Māgha?” Then the king replied, “O best brāhmaṇa, I do not know.

49-57. Tell me in detail what kind of fruit the Māgha bath has.” Hearing these words of the king, the ascetic said: “O king, the glorious sun, removing the darkness, is quickly rising. This is the time for our bath and not the time for a talk. After bathing, go to Vasiṣṭha, and ask him, the master of your family.” Saying so the anchorite, observing silence, went for his morning bath. The hero Dilīpa too, turning back, and bathing there with the proper rite, and full of joy went to his own city. In his harem he again told the account of the anchorite. Having got into a chariot having white horses, and with a white umbrella and white chowries (he went to Vasiṣṭha’s hermitage). Being adorned, having put on good garments and surrounded by his ministers, and repeatedly hearing the cries of victory made by the panegyrists and bards, he remembering the words of the sage, went to Vasiṣṭha’s hermitage. There only he saluted the brāhmaṇa sage with politeness. Being given a seat, he accepted the respectful offering, and was adorned with blessings; and when the sage asked the king about his well-being, the king, delighting the sage’s mind spoke the words. He of a sweet form asked (Vasiṣṭha) about what the anchorite had told him.

Dilīpa said:

58-60. O glorious one, by your grace I have, in detail, heard (from you) about the practices, administration of justice, and the great duties of a king, so also the duties of the four castes and stages of human life; so also gifts, and the manners in which they are given; so also sacrifices and rites; so also the vows told by him, and about Viṣṇu’s worship. Now I desire to know the fruit to be had from Māgha bath along with the manner in which it is done. O brāhmaṇa, O sage, tell it to me.

Vasiṣṭha said:

61-7la. That sage, living in the forest, has properly told the highest bliss, bringing about the good of the three worlds, and removing the sin. Those not defeated by the glances of beautiful women (though) in proximity, desire to bathe in the stream when the Sun is in Capricornus. O dear one, those who desire beatitude without (offerings into) fire, sacrifices, without performing sacrifices and digging wells and doing other acts of charity, go out to bathe every morning in Māgha. O king, those who desire (salvation) without giving (a piece of) land, a cow, gold, rubies, cows fashioned with gold etc. bathe in Māgha. Those who desire (to go to) heaven without parching their bodies with the vows lasting for three weeks, the Kṛcchra and Pārāka, always bathe in Māgha. Viṣṇu’s worship in Vaiśākha, penance and worship in Kārtika, and the three, viz. penance, sacrifice and gifts, excel (everything else). A man having a planned conclusion (of these) would certainly become the lord of the earth, due to which there would again be no idea leading to salvation (obscure). That worship (including) fasting, penance and (giving) gifts in the month of Māgha, O best king, was laid down by those having divine eyes. For (fulfilling) a desire, or for progeny, or for Viṣṇu or (even) without (any of these) one observing the vow of purifying his body (has) four kinds of fruit obtained by bathing. For twelve years Aditi without taking food bathed (daily) in Māgha and obtained twelve sons illuminating the three worlds. Rohiṇī became a favourite wife; Arundhatī became exceedingly liberal; Śacī was endowed with beauty.

71b-86. Those who bathe when the Sun is in the Capricornus sign of the Zodiac, happily live in a palace which has seven storeys, is endowed with beauty due to being cleaned, the courtyard of which is charming with dancers, crowded with beautiful women, which is resounding with singing and musical instruments, which is charming with auspicious practices, which is pure due to the sounds of (the recital of) the Vedas, which is adorned by learned brāhmaṇas, which is constantly used in worshipping deities, which is charming, which is always resorted to by guests. For those who have given much in Māgha, have worshipped and praised Viṣṇu, Māgha always produces religious merit due to their abandoning dear objects and observing restraints. Māgha cuts off the root of their sins; it is the root of desired objects through giving fruits; it without a desire and always gives knowledge. Those worlds which are secured by those disposed to (securing) knowledge, by those living in forests (i.e. anchorites), by devotees of Viṣṇu, are always secured by those who bathe in Māgha. O hero, due to having (exhausted) religious merit, other men return from heaven; but men given to bathing in Māgha never return. A man who, having bathed in Māgha, gives a milch cow (to a brāhmaṇa), is honoured in heaven for as many thousand years as are the small hair on her entire body, O best king. A man who bathes in Māgha and would give sesamum seeds with jaggery, shines spotless, having washed his sin. Of all the heaps of grains sesamum seeds destroy the sins. Therefore, O best king, sesamum seeds should be given with (every) effort. A man bathing in Māgha should feed brāhmaṇas. He, of a pure soul, after gratifying his dead ancestors, goes to the highest position of Viṣṇu. Therefore, with all efforts Māgha is passed in giving gifts (by men). O best king, a man should not pass Māgha without (giving) a gift. Knowing his (i.e. according to his) wealth he should always give gifts in Māgha. He who would bathe in Māgha and who gives sandals and pitchers to brāhmaṇas, certainly lives in heaven. A man practising the excellent penance of bathing in Māgha, should never pass it without (giving) a gift. Heaven is obtained through charity.

87-89. O king, heaven is obtained through giving (gifts). Happiness is obtained through giving (gifts). Blemish due to great sin perishes due to giving (gifts). Penance without giving (gifts) does not shine like the sky without the sun, or a family without progeny, or a house without good practices. There is nothing superior to this, that is pure and that destroys sins. (This) was related to a vidyādhara by Bhṛgu on Maṇi mountain.

The king said:

90. O brāhmaṇa, when did that brāhmaṇa Bhṛgu give him the instruction in the religious practice on the mountain. Tell it to me, (as I am asking it) through curiosity.

Vasiṣṭha said:

91-94. O king, formerly the clouds did not shower (water) for twelve years. People being afflicted and emaciated, went into all the ten directions. When, O king, at that time the region between Himālaya and Vindhya had become barren, was devoid of the utterances of svāhā, svahdā and vaṣaṭ, and the study of the Vedas, when the world was in distress, when piety had disappeared, and when the world had become lustreless, when the globe was void of fruits, roots, food and water, Bhṛgu, along with his disciples, moved out of his hermitage on the charming bank of Revā covered with trees of Vindhya mountain, and went to the Himālaya mountain.

95-110. There, to the west of Kailāsa mountain, stands a mountain, known as Maṇikūṭa—a heap of gold, gems and red arsenic. The mountain is crystal-like white in the lower parts, has dark blue slabs in the middle; and surrounded by grandeur on all sides, and white, it shone like Śiva. It is dark-blue everywhere, and has golden lines in between. It shines like a cloud with the streak of lightning flashing. At the top the mountain has dark blue rocks. Below (it) it has a golden girdle. It shines like Viṣṇu wearing a yellow garment. Appearing very dark green without the girdle, it has white rocks (at places) in the middle. The mountain shone like the sky with stars. It shone like another moon that had secured his own white body, that bore divine herbs, and that diffused great light. The mountain always shone with the music of kinnarīs on its table-lands, with bamboos, and with the banners in the form of the leaves of plantain trees. The mountain was as it were covered with rainbows due to the circles of the rays of lustre of the sharp rocks of green stones, lapis lazuli, and rubies. It was well adorned with gold, full of all minerals, various gems; it was covered everywhere with lofty peaks like flames of fire. Vidyādhara women overcome with sexual desire come to its slopes having grass and big rocks and serve their husbands. The detached ones, having restrained their breath, and having overcome anger, day and night meditate upon Brahman in its caves. Siddhas, with rosaries and (sacred) threads in their hands, with their eyes half-open, propitiate Śiva in the beautiful caves. This (mountain), having rendered fragrant the quarters with the fragrance of the mandāra flowers, is always noisy with the murmuring sound of the water of the mountain torrents. The mountain is always charming due to the young ones of the elephants and the elephants in the forest playing in the lands at its foot, due to herds of musk-deer and charming spotted antelopes, so also due to the sporting flocks of camaras and strange wild beasts, cooing pigeons, cakoras and cuckoos also, so also due to royal swans and peacocks. It is always resorted to by gods, guhyakas and bevies of celestial damsels.

The king said:

111-117. The mountain is full of many wonders; it is the resort of all (kinds of) prosperity. O revered one, what is its height? What is its length? How extensive is it?

The sage said:

At (i.e. up to) its top it is thirty-six yojanas in height. Its length and expanse are ten yojanas. At the foot it is sixteen yojanas. It is adorned with the rows of yellow sandal (trees), mandāra (trees) and mango (trees). It is crowded with devadāru trees, and is adorned with sarala and arjuna (trees). The best mountain, always giving flowers and fruits, shines with kālāgaru trees, clove trees, so also with arbours and bowers. On seeing that beautiful mountain, Bhṛgu who was oppressed with famine, was mentally delighted and lived there only. (On the charming mountain, in its caves and thickets) Bhṛgu well-engrossed in penance, practised penance for a long time. Getting down from the mountain a vidhyādhara couple came (there). Approaching the sage, saluting him, it very much grieved, and stayed there.

118-130a. Seeing them like that the brāhmaṇa spoke sweet words: “O vidyādhara, tell me in a friendly way why you are so much unhappy.” Hearing the sage’s words, the vidyādhara said to the brāhmaṇa: “O best among the ascetics, listen to the cause of my unhappiness. Having obtained the fruit of my religious merit, I reached heaven. Though I got a deity’s (i.e. a divine) body, my face was like a tiger’s. I do not know of which deed (of mine) this effect came up. Again and again thinking like this, I did not obtain pleasure. O brāhmaṇa, listen to this another (thing) due to which my mind is afflicted. This my wife is auspicious, of a sweet voice and beautiful. She is proficient in the arts of dancing and singing; she possesses all good qualities. When she was a maiden, she, the spotless one, playing upon the lute, very much delighted, with the seven strings, sage Nārada skilled in playing upon the lute. This one, having a lovely voice, pleased, even in her childlike state, the lord of gods, conversant with charming tunes. Hearing the fifth note, sweet due to many winding modes (of singing) of her with her body horripilating due to eagerness while playing upon the lute, Śiva nodding his head, and horripilated, was delighted. No other beautiful woman having the grace of good character, generosity, (other) hosts of virtues, beauty and youth, like her, is (to be found) in heaven. ‘What a great disparity is there between this divine-faced female and a tiger-faced male like me?’ O brāhmaṇa, always thinking like this in my mind, I am burning.” Hearing these words, Bhṛgu, Ikṣvāku’s son, having a divine eye, and knowing the three times, laughed and said:

130b-138a. “O best vidyādhara, listen to the strange fruit of (one’s) deeds. Having obtained it, the wise are not deluded, but the ignorant are deluded. As poison, just of the measure of the wing of a bee is dangerous, similarly even a small act, not enjoined, is dangerous in its effect. Having fasted on Ekādaśī, you smeared your body with oil. Due to that you have become tiger-faced in the body of the previous existence on Dvādaśī. Formerly Purūravas, having fasted on the auspicious Ekādaśī but having used oil on the Dvādaśī obtained, like you, an ugly body. Seeing his ugly body, he was pained by that affliction. He went to the lord of mountains on the lake of the deities, and staying there with great joy, he bathed, and being pure, (sat on) a darbha-seat. The king, fasting, and, having controlled all his senses, and reflecting in his mind on Viṣṇu, dark green like a fresh cloud, having large lotus-like eyes, holding a conch, a disc, a mace and a lotus, covered with a yellow garment, shining with Kaustubha, wearing a garland of wood-flowers, practised a very severe penance for three months.

138b-151. Pleased with the small penance, Viṣṇu, remembering his being worshipped by the king during the (previous) seven existences, himself appeared before him on the Dvādaśī of the bright half of Māgha when the Sun was in Capricornus. Having quickly sprinkled that emperor with water from his conch, Viṣṇu, reminding him of his having used the oil, gave him an extremely handsome, lovely, charming form, due to (i.e. seeing) which goddess Urvaśī, the divine lady, loved him. The king who had obtained the boon, being blessed, went to his city. “Knowing the way of one’s acts to be like this, why are you afflicted, O vidyādhara? If you too desire to give up this ugliness of a demon, then, on my words only, quickly take bath in the water of the river Maṇikūṭa which removes old sins, and which is resorted to by sages, siddhas and gods in the month ofMāgha. I shall tell you its manner. Due to your (good) luck, Māgha is near, (commencing) on the fifth day (from today). Beginning with the Ekādaśī of Pauṣa, and sleeping on a bare ground, and going without food, bathe three times (a day) for a month and worship Viṣṇu three times (a day), giving up pleasures and restraining your senses till the Ekādaśī in the bright half of Māgha, O best vidyādhara. Then, O god, O sinless one, having sprinkled you with auspicious water purified with hymns, I shall make the face of you who will have completely burnt your sins, resembling the face of Cupid on the holy day of Dvādaśī. O best vidyādhara, then having the face like that of a god, sport as you like, with this (lady) of an excellent complexion. You who have known the prowess of Māgha, always bathe in Māgha, so that your desires will be always fulfilled.” That noble and omniscient Bhṛgu, having thus spoken to him, recited to him the (following) verse:

152-164. “By means of baths in Māgha, calamities perish. By means of baths in Māgha sins perish. Māgha is superior to all sacrifices, and gives the fruit of (all kinds of) charity. Māgha roars (louder) than sacrifices. Māgha roars (louder) than abstract meditation. And O vidyādhara, Māgha roars (louder) than severe penance. The fruit which men obtain by (observing) restraints for ten years at Puṣkara, Kurukṣetra, Brahmāvarta having profuse water, at Avimukta, Prayāga, confluence of Gaṅgā and the ocean, is obtained by bathing for three days in Māgha. There is no doubt. Those, in whose mind there is, for a long time, interest in heaven, should bathe in water anywhere when the Sun is in Capricornus. Those who desire to have qualities like (long) life, (good) health, wealth, handsomeness, good fortune, should not give up bathing in Māgha. So also those who are afraid of hell, of poverty that is heaped, should by all means bathe in the month of Māgha. O best king, for washing off the mud of poverty, sins and bad luck, there is no other remedy than a bath in Māgha. Acts done without faith give small fruits. (But) a bath in Māgha gives the entire fruit. He who, with or without a desire, bathes anywhere outside (his house) in water, does not have sorrows in this or in the next world. As in the two fortnights the Moon waxes and wanes, in the same way in Māgha sins decrease and the heap of religious merit increases. As various gems come up from a mine, so religious merit of men springs up due to a bath in Māgha. As the desire-yielding cow fulfils the desire, or the desire-yielding gem gives the desired object, so a bath in Māgha fulfils all desires in the world.

165-166. Penance is the best in Kṛtayuga, knowledge in Tretā-yuga, sacrifice in Dvāpara, knowledge (devotion?) in Kaliyuga, and Māgha in all the ages. The bath in Māgha, O king, showers with the streams of merit all the castes and the stages of life.”

Vasiṣṭha said:

167-171. Having heard these words of Bhṛgu, that divine being along with Bhṛgu only bathed according to the manner told (in sacred texts) with his wife in that hermitage on the mountain on the bank of a river in Māgha. Then having secured, through the grace of Bhṛgu, whatwas desired by his mind, he having a divine face, rejoiced on the Maṇi-mountain. Bhṛgu, having favoured him (and so) delighted came (back) to Vindhya. The vidyādhara, merely by bathing on the lord of mountains full of gems in Māgha, had his face and form like those of Cupid. Bhṛgu too, having his body emaciated due to restraints, got down at the foot of Vindhya and came to Revā along with his disciples. O king, this importance of Māgha, the essence in the world, was told by the excellent brāhmaṇa Bhṛgu to the vidyādhara. He who listens to it, wonderful due to various fruits, would always secure all his charming desired objects like a deity.