Book Title: Development of Hinduism
Author(s): M M Ninan
Publisher: M M Ninan

Previous | Next

Page 319
________________ 14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS The two vicious Daityas became fascinated by the side-long glances of the Devî and took great pleasures in them; being extremely agitated by these amorous darts, looked with one steady gaze towards the Devi, of spotless lustre. Bhagavân Hari, too, saw the wonderful enchanting pastime of the Devî. Then Hari, perfectly expert in adopting means to secure ends, began to speak smiling and in voice like that of the rambling cloud, knowing the two Dânavas enchanted by Mahâmâyâ, thus:-- O two heroes! I am very glad at the mode of your fighting. So ask from me boons. I will grant that to you. I saw many Dânavas before, fighting; but never I saw them expert like you, nor I heard like this. I am therefore, very much satisfied by your such unrivalled powers. Therefore, O greatly powerful pair of Dânavas! I wish to grant both of you any boon that you want. Seeing the Devi Mahâmâyâ, the gladdener, of the Universe, the two Dânavas felt themselves amorous; and therefore they became proud on hearing Visnu's those words and told Visnu, with their lotus-like eyes wide open, thus:-- O Hari! what do you like to give us? We are not beggars; we do not want anything from you. O Lord of the Devas! Rather we will give you whatever you desire; we are donors; not receivers. So O Vasudeva! Hrisi Kesa! We are glad to see your wonderful fight; so ask from us any boon that you desire. Hearing their words, Bhagavan Janârdan said :-- " If you both are so much pleased with me, then I want this that both of you be killed by me." Hearing these words of Visnu, Madhu Kaitabha became very much wondered and thinking "we are now cheated" remained for some time merged in sorrow. Then reflecting that there is water everywhere and solid earth nowhere, they said : -- "O Janârdana Hari! We know that you are truthful; therefore now we want this desired boon from you that you wanted to grant us before now grant us this desired boon of ours. O Madhusûdana! We will be slain by you; but kill us, O Madhava! on a solid earth, free from any water; and thus keep your word. S'ri Bhagavân Hari laughed and remembering His Sudarsan disc said : -- "O two highly fortunate ones! Verily, I will kill both of you on the vast solid spot without any trace of water. Thus saying, the Devadeva Hari expanded His own thighs and showed to those Dânavas the vast solid earth on the surface of water and said :-- "O two Dânavas! See, here is no water. Place your two heads here; thus I will keep my word and you would keep your word." Hearing this, Madhu Kaitabha thought over in their minds and expanded their bodies to ten thousand Yojanas. Bhagavân Visnu Hari also extended his thighs to twice that amount. Seeing this, they were greatly, suprised and laid their heads on the thighs of Visnu. 315

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582