English Padmapuran-14

Glorification of Gita Chapter XIV

King Vikramavetala, Bitch & Hare

(Chapter 188, Padma Purana, Part-IX)

 The lord said:
O Bhavani, for freedom from the worldly existence, I shall hereafter narrate (the importance of) the fourteenth chapter of the Gita. O you of a pleasing smile, listen to it. On the earth there is a large region of Kasmira; it is the charming capital of goddess Sarasvati. After staying there the goddess of speech goes to Brahma's world after mounting her swan. There the quarter attains importance after serving Sarasvati's lotus-like feet with saffron sent by Savitri and rising from the folds of the wings of the swan. Due to having no interruption the language of gods is in a moment got by men who speak Sanskrit. In the morning the orbs of the moon and of the sun have a tawny tinge due to saffron rising from the courtyard of the house. There was king Sauryavannan, a heap of lustre, who had cut off the circle of his enemies with volleys of bright arrows that were ready. In Simhaladvipa there was a king, brave like a lion, named Vikramavetala, also a treasure of arts. Gradually they increased the friendship of each other by means of heaps (of) excellent (presents) produced in their respective countries. (1-9)

 Once, king Vikramavetala saw a perfect pair of bitches sent with love by Sauryavarman. He sent to his friend Sauryavarman intoxicated excellent elephants, horses, jewelled ornaments and chowries. Once, the king, eager for hunting having got into a palanquin, being fanned by charming chowries, taking the pair of the bitches tied with golden chain, and with a collection of musical instruments and small drums went with the princes to a forest. A hare was taken as a prey for the wager. There was a great noise made by the princes. Then the king laying a high-priced wager with a prince of his age sported with eagerness. Then the king, having taken down the bitch from the palanquin, set her after the hare, running fast. The prince, of great arms, also released his object of love. Having loudly repeated the panegyric or laudatory poem he stopped the bitch. (10-17)

 While all the kings were witnessing, the pair of the bitches was running with a speed that could not be perceived and was jumping. Due to great exertion the hare fell into a great ditch. Though fallen the hare could not be overpowered by the bitch. Then the hare, slowly getting up, vomitting foam, was angrily overpowered and seized by the king's bitch. Then the hare who somehow jumped and was going, tumbled and was seized at the neck by the king's bitch. In the din of the people, talking 'We have won' the hare got out of the mouth of the bitch that was frightened. Then the hare, having blood (on his body) that was dropping and that was caused by the line of the wounds (made) by the teeth (of the bitch), hid in a place rustling (with leaves etc.) and remained (there). He who, being just seen by the king's bitch, smelling that part of the land with great anger, was frightened, and went (from there to a distance) of just a cubit, to a place where the wind coming from the camphor and plantain trees and the bottom of the tiger's caves and kissing the cheeks of the Cola-ladies, blew. There the deer, with their eyes partially closed due to the pollen from the cups of the ketaki flowers that had opened up, confidently resorted to the shade. There the monkeys also, satisfied with the ripe mangoes, fell down along with the coconuts. There even lions played with the young elephants; serpents entered fearlessly into the peacocks' tails. (18-28)

 There in a hermitage a brahmana named Vatsa, who had curbed his senses and was tranquil, lived, constantly muttering the fourteenth chapter. (The hare) going here, with his life just sustained and repeatedly panting, fell into the mud caused by the water (poured) by his disciple while washing his lotus-like feet. The hare, having crossed the mundane existence just due to the contact with that mud, got into a divine aeroplane and went to heaven. Then that bitch also, with her body besmeared with a few drops of mud and free from hunger and thirst, abandoned her canine form, got into a celestial aeroplane charming with divine ladies and adorned with gandharvas, went to heaven. Then his intelligent disciple named Svakandhara, amazed after thinking about the cause of the enmity in the former existence, laughed. The king, an ocean of modesty alone, with his eyes smiling, also saluted him with great devotion and asked him, "O brahmana, tell me the story, how the two ignorant ones, the bitch and the young hare, that had resorted to a mean stock, went to heaven." (29-36)

 The disciple said:
In this forest there is a brahmana named Vatsa, with his senses curbed. He always mutters the fourteenth chapter. O king, I am his disciple, proficient in every (branch of) knowledge. Everyday I mutter the fourteenth chapter, O king. O king, the hare along with the bitch, rolling in the water (used) for washing my feet, went to heaven. (37-39)

 The king said:
O best brahmana, with what intention did you, thinking carefully that it has some meaning, laugh? (40)

 The disciple said:
There was a great city named Pratyudaka in Maharastra. There was a brahmana named Kesava, a leader of gamblers. His wife was Vilobhana, a wanton woman. He through anger, and remembering the enmity of the (former) birth, killed her. Then due to the sin of the murder of a woman, the brahmana was born as a hare, and she due to her birth (full) of deceit, was born as a bitch. They, taking different births, never forgot the enmity practised in the former birth, and each other also.

 The king, full of faith, having understood all this, studied the entire Gita, and got the highest position. (41-45)
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SUMMARY

 After narrating the glories of thirteenth chapter Lord Shiva then asked Parvati to listen attentively to his narration of the glories of the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita.

 Once a king named Vikrama-vetala went to the forest to hunt, with his son and two dogs. Upon reaching the forest, they released a dog to chase a rabbit, which of course ran quickly away. After some time the dog and rabbit reached a beautiful hermitage. There the deer were sitting happily under the shade of trees, monkeys were eating the fruits of those trees, cubs of tigers were playing with baby elephants, and the snakes were crawling over the peacocks. 

 At the hermitage dwelled a great sage named Vatsa, who worshiped Lord Krishna by reciting the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. On this particular day, a disciple of the sage was washing his own feet, while he himself chanted the fourteenth chapter, and the water was moistening the earth. Suddenly the rabbit and dog appeared. Running fast, they both slipped in the mud, gave up their animal bodies, and attained heavenly bodies. An airplane then descended to take them to the heavenly worlds. 

 Seeing these amusing events, King Vikrama-vetala and the disciple laughed, and the king inquired from the disciple how the rabbit and the dog had gone to heaven before their very eyes. The disciple replied, “In this hermitage lives the great sage Vatsa, who has completely conquered his senses and is always chanting the fourteenth, chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. I am his disciple, and I was also reciting the fourteenth chapter. Because the rabbit and dog slipped on the water that had washed my feet, they both attained the higher planets.

 “Now I will tell you why I laughed. Once a brahmana named Keshava and his wife, Vilobhana, lived in the town of Pratyudaka. She was a loose woman, and he was a cruel man. He murdered her because she kept company with other men. Therefore she became that dog in her next life and he became that rabbit.” 

 Thereafter, Lord Shiva said, King Vikrama-vetala also began reciting the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita daily. When he finally gave up his body, he went to Vaikuntha, where he eternally serves the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu.

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 Online Sources:
1a) Padma Purana, Uttarkhandam : West Bengal Public Library Network
1b) Padma Purana, Uttarkhandam : Digital Library of India
1c) Padma Purana, Uttarkhandam : Derived from 1a,b

Hard Copy Source: (scanned "PDF"s from Online Source#1a,b)
"The Padma-Purana (English)" by Veda Vyasa, 1954 & 1956. Translated by Sri N.A. Deshpande, Indian Translation Series of the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, jointly sponsored by UNESCO & Government of India. Part VIII & IX, First Edition. 2906-2970p. Published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt.Ltd., Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi-1110007. Printed by Jainendra Prakash Jain at Jainendra Press, A-45 Naraina Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi-110028.

Online References:
संस्कृत श्लोक - Sanskrit Padmapuran-14

বাংলা অনুবাদ - Bengali Padmapuran-14
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Typed, OCR-ed, edited and uploaded by rk

Acknowledges Keshav Srinivasan for citing the Online Sources#1a,b of Padma Purana.

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