Yayati

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 25 Jul 2011 12:56 and updated at 25 Jul 2011 12:56

VISHNU PURANA NOUN

vp.4.6 Parasara. You shall hear from me, Maitreya, an account of the illustrious family of the moon, which has produced many celebrated rulers of the earth; a race adorned by the regal qualities of strength, valour, magnificence, prudence, and activity; and enumerating amongst its monarchs Nahusha, Yayati, Kartaviryarjuna, and others equally renowned. That race will I describe to you: do you attend.
vp.4.10 The sons of Nahusha. The sons of Yayati: he is cursed by sukra: wishes his sons to exchange their vigour for his infirmities. Puru alone consents. Yayati restores him his youth: divides the earth amongst his sons, under the supremacy of Puru.
vp.4.10 Yati, Yayati, Sanyati, ayati, Viyati, and Kriti were the six valiant sons of Nahusha 1. Yati declined the sovereignty 2, and Yayati therefore succeeded to the throne. He had two wives, Devayani the daughter of Usanas, and sarmishtha the daughter of Vrishaparvan; of whom this genealogical verse is recited: Devayani" bore two sons, Yadu and Turvasu. Sarmishtha, the daughter of Vrishaparvan, had three sons, Druhyu, Anu, and Puru 3." Through the curse of Usanas, Yayati
vp.4.10 became old and infirm before his time; but having appeased his father in law, he obtained permission to transfer his decrepitude to any one who would consent to take it. He first applied to his eldest son Yadu, and said, "Your maternal grandfather has brought this premature decay upon me: by his permission, however, I may transfer it to you for a thousand years. I am not yet satiate, with worldly enjoyments, and wish to partake of them through the means of your youth. Do not refuse compliance with my request." Yadu, however, was not willing to take upon him his father s decay; on which his father denounced an imprecation upon him, and said, "Your posterity shall not possess dominion." He then applied successively to Druhyu, Turvasu, and Anu, and demanded of them their juvenile vigour. They all refused, and were in consequence cursed by the king. Lastly he made the same request of Sarmishtha s youngest son, Puru, who bowed to his father, and readily consented to give him his youth, and receive in exchange Yayati s infirmities, saying that his father had conferred upon him a great favour.
vp.4.10 The king Yayati being thus endowed with renovated youth, conducted the affairs of state for the good of his people, enjoying such pleasures as were suited to his age and strength, and were not incompatible with virtue. He formed a connexion with the celestial nymph Viswachi, and was wholly attached to her, and conceived no end to his desires. The more they were gratified, the more ardent they became; as it is said in this verse, Desire" is not appeased by enjoyment: fire fed with sacrificial oil becomes but the more intense. No one has ever more than enough of rice, or barley, or gold, or cattle, or women: abandon therefore inordinate desire. When a mind finds neither good nor ill in all objects, but looks on all with an equal eye, then every thing yields it pleasure. The wise man is filled with happiness, who escapes from desire, which the feeble minded can with difficulty relinquish, and which grows not old with the aged. The hair becomes grey, the teeth fall out, as man advances in years; but the love of wealth, the love of life, are not impaired by age." "A thousand years
vp.4.10 have passed," reflected Yayati, "and my mind is still devoted to pleasure: every day my desires are awakened by new objects. I will therefore now renounce all sensual enjoyment, and fix my mind upon spiritual truth. Unaffected by the alternatives of pleasure and pain, and having nothing I may call my own, I will henceforth roam the forests with the deer."
vp.4.10 Having made this determination, Yayati restored his youth to Puru, resumed his own decrepitude, installed his youngest son in the sovereignty, and departed to the wood of penance Tapovana( 4). To Turvasu he consigned the south east districts of his kingdom; the west to Druhyu; the south to Yadu; and the north to Anu; to govern as viceroys under their younger brother Puru, whom he appointed supreme monarch of the earth 5.
vp.4.11 I WILL first relate to you the family of Yadu, the eldest son of Yayati, in which the eternal immutable Vishnu descended upon earth in a portion of his essence 1; of which the glory cannot be described, though for ever hymned in order to confer the fruit of all their wishes whether they desired virtue, wealth, pleasure, or liberation upon all created beings, upon men, saints, heavenly quiristers, spirits of evil, nymphs, centaurs, serpents, birds, demons, gods, sages, Brahmans, and ascetics. Whoever hears the account of the race of Yadu shall be released from all sin; for the supreme spirit, that is without form, and which is called Vishnu, was manifested in this family.
vp.4.16 The son of Turvasu was Vahni 1; his son was Gobanu 2; his son was Traisamba 3; his son was Karandhama; his son was Marutta. Marutta had no children, and he therefore adopted Dushyanta, of the family of Puru; by which the line of Turvasu merged into that of Puru 4. This took place in consequence of the malediction denounced on his son by Yayati 5.
vp.4.18 Anu 1, the fourth son of Yayati, had three sons, Sabhanara, Chakshusha, and Paramekshu 2. The son of the first was Kalanara 3; his son was srinjaya; his son was Puranjaya; his son was Janamejaya; his son was Mahamani 4; his son was Mahamanas, who had two sons, Usinara and Titikshu. Usinara had five sons, sivi, Trina 5, Gara 6, Krimi, Darvan 7. sivi had four sons, Vrishadarbha, Suvira, Kaikeya, and Madra 8. Titikshu had one son, Ushadratha 9; his son was Hema 10; his son was Sutapas; his son was Bali, on whose wife five sons were begotten by Dirghatamas, or Anga, Banga, Kalinga, Suhma, and Pundra 11; and their descendants, and the five countries they inhabited, were known by the same names 12.
vp.4.24 These were the verses, Maitreya, which Earth recited, and by listening to which ambition fades away like snow before the sun. I have now related to you the whole account of the descendants of the Manu; amongst whom have flourished kings endowed with a portion of Vishnu, engaged in the preservation of the earth. Whoever shall listen reverently and with faith to this narrative, proceeding from the posterity of Manu, shall be purified entirely from all his sins, and, with the perfect possession of his faculties, shall live in unequalled affluence, plenty, and prosperity. He who has heard of the races of the sun and moon, of Ikshwaku., Jahnu, Mandhatri, Sagara, and Raghu, who have all perished; of Yayati, Nahusha, and their posterity, who are no more; of kings of great might, resistless valour, and unbounded wealth, who have been overcome by still more powerful time, and are now only a tale; he will learn wisdom, and forbear to call either children, or wife, or house, or
vp.5.21 asena had resumed his royal seat, Krishna addressed him, and said, Sovereign" lord, command boldly what else is to be done. The curse of Yayati has pronounced our race unworthy of dominion 1; but with me, for your servant, you may issue your orders to the gods. How should kings disobey them?"

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