Yadhavabhyudhaya-chapter18continued-Himalayas and the Ganges

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Description of Himalayas and Ganges

 

Krishna pointed out the pleasure garden of Parvathi which excelled that of Kubera.

 

During the daytime the luster of the blue sapphire stones created a dark hue and in the night the medicinal herbs emitted their lustre which created brightness and hence the celestial beings who were there consider both day and night as the same.

 

Alupthameghadhuthih indhraneelaih

vajraih asou nithya thatithprakASah

pravrtthagangAsthanitho dhaDhAthi

prAvrdguNAn preeNitha neelakantah

(Yad.18.37)

 

In this sloka Himalayas is compared to the rainy season because the blue sapphire stones in the mountain give the hue of the clouds and the diamonds create the appearance of lightning and the sound of Ganges flowing simulate that of torrents of rain and above all else it pleases Siva, Neelakanta , as the rainy season pleases the peacock, which is also known as neelakanta, due to its blue coloured neck.

 

Krishna compares the Ganges, which fell on the peaks of the mountain (when Siva let fall the river from his locks) and divide itself in four streams going in four directions, to the four Vedas which came out in streams from the four faces of Brahma. The Ganges dissolves all sins of the world like the Vedas, and thus serves as the ladder to dharma.

Krishna here flattered Sathyabhama by saying that the ocean, though has many wives(rivers) from different sources, gets its status of being the husband, nATha, only by Ganges as He , Krishna is with sathyabhama.

 

Krishna further extolled Ganga, saying that the source of Ganga was the water that washed the feet of the Lord when He took Thrivikramavathara and spread into three streams to wash off the sins of the three worlds. The reason that the sea was not dried up by the vatava fire is due to the never ceasing floods of the Ganges, and thus the river acted as nectar inducing immortality to the ocean and also by giving divine forms to the sons of Sagara for whose salvation it was brought to earth by BhageeraTha.

 

The next sloka seems to compare the river to Desika himself since he gives a description of kavithva.

 

sthAnAnuroopam prasrthAih pravAhaih

mahadhbhireshA maDhurAvadhAthaih

prAleyaSailAth praThithAnubhAva

pravarthathe vAg iva vaSyavAchah

(Yad.18.47)

 

Krishna describing the Ganges said that the great floods of the river from the Himalayas which spread according to the place it occupies and pure and sweet, resembled the words of a kavi, who has Sarasvathi within his grasp. The eloquence of such a kavi flows like the floods of the river, sweet sounding and suited to the occasion, the description of which fits perfectly Desika as a kavi.

 

Then they neared the Badhrikasrama where Narayana along with Nara shows moksha to the world as it were. Narayana was doing thapas and produced UrvaSi from His thigh who put to shame those celestial damsels sent by Indra to distract Him. Near the Badarikasrama there was another, where Vamana took the gift of three feet of land from Mahabali and grew to become Thrivikrama. There the sages were performing yajnas. Krishna said that the sacrificial fires took in the ghee, cooked rice, milk etc. which were offered and give them out as smoke. It seemed that they emit the sins and the ignorance of those who approach them, which they imbibe as a medicine taken to kill the disease which is then expelled.

 

(This must be the siddhasrama where Visvamithra was doing yajna which was protected by Rama.)

 

Krishna further said that the parrots that reside in the nests near the asrama repeat the Vedas they learnt along with the students there. Then Krishna showed Sathyabhama the asrama of Sandeepani, his guru, where he learnt the three Vedas which lighted a permanent lamp in his heart, by which he knew all that is to be known.

 

Krishna praised the land between the Himalayas and Vindhya mountain and said that this land, Aryavartha, was decorated by gem-like noble souls as the sea is decorated with the precious stones and the sky with stars. Then Krishna pointed to the Kurukshethra where Parasurama gave ablutions to his ancestors after destroying the khasthriya race. Krishna said that for those who leave their body in this place never go in the southern direction, meaning the abode of Yama. That is, they either go to heaven or attain moksha. ( This is why kurukshethra is called dharmakshethra)

 

Then Krishna showed to Bhama the city of Ayodhya on the bank of Sarayu. He said `dhayA vipAkena charAcharANAm dhivyam padham yathra dhidheSa Ramah, the place where Rama created a Vaikunta for his people due to mercy.

 

They neared the Kalindha mountain from which the river Yamuna flows. Desika the poet reigns supreme in the sloka describing the caves of the mountain which reminds one of Kalidasa describing Himalayas.

 

The caves in the Kalindha mountain are always dark even in the daytime when they become darker as during midnight because of the shadow of the trees around. This is described poetically by Desika thus:

 

dhivAkareNa athra bileshu noonam

bhandheekrthANAM bahula kshapANAm

cchAyAviSeshaih prachithaih thadharhAm

ApyAyanAm Arachayanthi vrkshAh

(Yad.18.67)

 

The trees are nourishing the dark nights of the dark fortnight which were imprisoned by the Sun inside the caves of the mountain. The darkness provided by the trees is the nourishing food for the night inside by making them grow. Utthamur swamin says in his commentary that it is but natural that the trees which were scorched at the top by the Sun became favourably inclined towards the nights on the basis that enemy of enemy is a friend.

 

Now as a diversion let us see the sloka in Kumarasambhava which is parallel to this.

 

dhivAkarAth rakshathi yo guhAsu

leenam dhivAbheetham iva andhakAram

kshudhre api noonam SaraNam prapanne

mamathvam ucchaih SirasAm sathi iva

(KS.1.12)

 

Kalidasa describing the Himalyas says that Himavan gives shelter to the darkness which is afraid of the Sun in his caves because when one surrenders, even if he is a mean person, the noble souls accept him as their own.

 

Then Krishna makes a brief mention about the Kaliyamardhana by saying that the river Yamuna starting from the Kalindha mountain became impure for a short while due to the poison of Kaliya but purified (when Krishna defeated Kaliya and made him withdraw his poison) and joined with her friend Ganga and approached the ocean.

 

Appayyadhikshitha commenting on this sloka says that it is like a woman of noble birth who becomes contaminated, leaves her father and does some expiatory rites and goes to her husband with the company of some female friend as befitting her status. It is to be noted that the river Yamuna reaches the sea only after it joins with Ganga.

 

Krishna then mentions the city of MaDhura as yaThArThanama, justifying its name since it is delightful. The present city of MaThura is mentioned in Srimadbhagavatham as maDhura only. But in some other works it is known as MaThura.

 

They have almost reached their abode and Garuda descended to the earth. Desika describes the descent of Garuda and the land near the west coast and the sea, in the forthcoming slokas.