The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 1 (of 4)Valmiki
Religion
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, Vol. 1 (of 4)
Valmiki
Hinduism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800; Religious life -- Hinduism -- Early works to 1800
13. Her feet are planted in the infernal regions, and the hell-pits
ring at her feet like trinkets, tied by the string of evil deeds or
sins (of men).
14. She is painted all over from head to foot by the god _Chitra Gupta_
with ornamental marks prepared by her attendants (the deeds of men),
and perfumed with the essence of those deeds.
15. She dances and reels at the nod of her husband at the end of the
_Kalpas_, and makes the mountains crack and crash at her foot-falls.
16. Behind her dance the peacocks of the god Kumára; and Kála the god
of death staring with his three wide open eyes, utters his hideous
cries (of destruction).
17. Death dances about in the form of the five headed Hara, with the
loosened braids of hair upon him; while Destiny in the form of Gaurí,
and her locks adorned with _Mandára_ flowers keeps her pace with him.
18. This Destiny in her war-dance, bears a capacious gourd representing
her big belly, and her body is adorned with hundreds of hollow human
skulls jingling like the alms-pots of the Kapáli mendicants.
19. She has filled (reached) the sky with the emaciated skeleton of her
body, and gets terrified at her all destructive figure.
20. The skulls of the dead of various shapes adorn her body like a
beautiful garland of lotuses, which keep hanging to and fro during her
dance at the end of a _Kalpa_ age.
21. The horrible roaring of the giddy clouds Pushkara and Avarta at
the end of the Kalpa, serves to represent the beating of her _Damaru_
drum, and put to flight the heavenly choir of _Tumburu_.
22. As death dances along, the moon appears like his ear-ring, and the
moon-beams and stars appear like his crest made of peacocks’ feathers.
23. The snow-capt Himálaya, appears like a circlet of bones in the
upper loop of his right ear, and the mount _Meru_ as a golden areola in
that of the left.
24. Under their lobes are suspended the moon and the sun, as pendant
ear-rings glittering over his cheeks. The mountain ranges called the
_lokáloka_ are fastened like chains around his waist.
25. The lightnings are the bracelets and armlets of Destiny, which move
to and fro as she dances along. The clouds are her wrappers that fly
about her in the air.
26. Death is furnished with many weapons, as clubs, axes, missiles,
spears, shovels, mallets and sharp swords, all of which are sure
weapons of destruction.
27. Mundane enjoyments are no other than long ropes dropped down by the
hand of death, and keeping all mankind fast bound to the world; while
the great thread of infinity (_ananta_) is worn by him as his wreath of
flowers.
28. The belts of the seven oceans are worn about the arms of Death as
his bracelets resplendent with the living sea-animals, and the bright
gems contained in their depths.
29. The great vortices of customs, the successions of joy and grief,
the excess of pride and the darkness of passions, form the streaks of
hair on his body.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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