The Story of Vipashchit: A Small Sin's Heavy Price

Verse 1 (markandeya.13.1)

पुत्र उवाच अहं वैश्यकुले जातो जन्मन्यस्मात्तु सप्तमे । समतीते गवां रोधं निपाने कृतवान् पुरा॥ 13.1 ॥

putra uvāca ahaṁ vaiśyakule jāto janmanyasmāttu saptame samatīte gavāṁ rodhaṁ nipāne kṛtavān purā

I was born in a family of merchants; seven births before this one, that life having passed, I had once obstructed cows from a watering trough.

Verse 2 (markandeya.13.2)

विपाकात् कर्मणस्तस्य नरकं भृशदारुणम् । सम्प्राप्तोऽग्निशिखाघोरमयोमुखखगाकुलम्॥ 13.2 ॥

vipākāt karmaṇastasya narakaṁ bhṛśadāruṇam samprāpto’gniśikhāghoramayomukhakhagākulam

As the ripened fruit of that deed, I attained an exceedingly dreadful hell, terrible with tongues of fire and swarming with iron-beaked birds.

Verse 3 (markandeya.13.3)

यन्त्रपीडनगात्रासृक्-प्रवाहोद्भूतकर्दमम् । विशस्यमानदुष्कर्मि-तन्निपातरवाकुलम्॥ 13.3 ॥

yantrapīḍanagātrāsṛk-pravāhodbhūtakardamam viśasyamānaduṣkarmi-tannipātaravākulam

There mud had formed from streams of blood flowing out of bodies crushed by machines, and it echoed with the cries of evildoers being hacked apart.

Verse 4 (markandeya.13.4)

पात्यमानस्य मे तत्र साग्रं वर्षशतं गतम् । महातापार्तितप्तस्य तृष्णादाहान्वितस्य च॥ 13.4 ॥

pātyamānasya me tatra sāgraṁ varṣaśataṁ gatam mahātāpārtitaptasya tṛṣṇādāhānvitasya ca

There, as I was being cast down again and again, more than a hundred years passed for me, tormented by great anguish and consumed by the burning fire of thirst.

Verse 5 (markandeya.13.5)

तत्राह्लादकरः सद्यः पवनः सुखशीतलः । करम्भ-बालुकाकुम्भ-मध्यस्थो मे समागतः॥ 13.5 ॥

tatrāhlādakaraḥ sadyaḥ pavanaḥ sukhaśītalaḥ karambha-bālukākumbha-madhyastho me samāgataḥ

There, all at once, a delightful, coolly pleasant breeze reached me, even as I stood amid the pots of scalding sand and porridge-like mire.

Verse 6 (markandeya.13.6)

तत्सम्पर्कादशेषाणां नाभवद्यातना नृणाम् । मम चापि यथा स्वर्गे स्वर्गिणां निर्वृतिः परा॥ 13.6 ॥

tatsamparkādaśeṣāṇāṁ nābhavadyātanā nṛṇām mama cāpi yathā svarge svargiṇāṁ nirvṛtiḥ parā

By contact with it, the torment ceased for all the men gathered there; and for me too it brought a supreme bliss, as if I were one of the dwellers of heaven.

Verse 7 (markandeya.13.7)

किमेतदिति चाह्लाद-विस्तारस्तिमितेक्षणैः । दृष्टमस्माभिरासन्नं नररत्नमनत्तमम्॥ 13.7 ॥

kimetaditi cāhlāda-vistārastimitekṣaṇaiḥ dṛṣṭamasmābhirāsannaṁ nararatnamanattamam

Wondering, 'What is this?', those men, their eyes wide and fixed with delight, said, 'We have seen approaching us a matchless jewel among men.'

Verse 8 (markandeya.13.8)

याम्यश्च पुरुषो घोरो दण्डहस्तोऽशनिप्रभः । पुरतो दर्शयन् मार्गमिति एहीति वगथ॥ 13.8 ॥

yāmyaśca puruṣo ghoro daṇḍahasto’śaniprabhaḥ purato darśayan mārgamiti ehīti vagatha

And Yama's terrible messenger, rod in hand, radiant as a thunderbolt, pointed out the way ahead, saying, 'Come!' (the verse's final word is textually uncertain/corrupt in both consulted sources).

Verse 9 (markandeya.13.9)

पुरुषः स तदा दृष्ट्वा यातनाशतसंकुलम् । नरकं प्राह तं याम्यं किङ्करं कृपयान्वितः॥ 13.9 ॥

puruṣaḥ sa tadā dṛṣṭvā yātanāśatasaṁkulam narakaṁ prāha taṁ yāmyaṁ kiṅkaraṁ kṛpayānvitaḥ

That man, having then seen that hell thronged with a hundred torments, spoke to Yama's servant, moved with compassion.

Verse 10 (markandeya.13.10)

पुरुष उवाच भो याम्यपुरुषाचक्ष्व किं मया दुष्कृतं कृतम् । येनेदं यातनाभीम् प्राप्तोऽस्मि नरकं परम्॥ 13.10 ॥

puruṣa uvāca bho yāmyapuruṣācakṣva kiṁ mayā duṣkṛtaṁ kṛtam yenedaṁ yātanābhīm prāpto’smi narakaṁ param

'O man of Yama, tell me — what evil have I done, that I have come to this most terrible hell of torments?'

Verse 11 (markandeya.13.11)

विपश्चिदिति विख्यातो जनकानामहं कुले । जातो विदेहविषये सम्यङ्मनुजपालकः॥ 13.11 ॥

vipaściditi vikhyāto janakānāmahaṁ kule jāto videhaviṣaye samyaṅmanujapālakaḥ

'I am renowned by the name Vipashchit, born in the line of the Janakas, in the land of Videha, a king who governed men with true justice.'

Verse 12 (markandeya.13.12)

यज्ञैर्मयेष्टं बहुभिर्धर्मतः पालिता मही । नोत्सृष्टश्चैव संग्रामो नातिथिर्विमुखो गतः॥ 13.12 ॥

yajñairmayeṣṭaṁ bahubhirdharmataḥ pālitā mahī notsṛṣṭaścaiva saṁgrāmo nātithirvimukho gataḥ

'By me many sacrifices were offered; the earth was governed according to dharma; battle was never abandoned, nor did any guest ever go away turned back.'

Verse 13 (markandeya.13.13)

पितृ-देवर्षि-भृत्याश्च न चापचरिता मया । कृता स्पृहा च न मया परस्त्रीविभवादिषु॥ 13.13 ॥

pitṛ-devarṣi-bhṛtyāśca na cāpacaritā mayā kṛtā spṛhā ca na mayā parastrīvibhavādiṣu

'Nor did I ever wrong ancestors, gods, sages or servants; nor did I ever conceive desire for another man's wife or wealth.'

Verse 14 (markandeya.13.14)

पर्वकालेषु पितरस्तिथिकालेषु देवताः । पुरुषं स्वयमायान्ति निपानमिव धेनवः॥ 13.14 ॥

parvakāleṣu pitarastithikāleṣu devatāḥ puruṣaṁ svayamāyānti nipānamiva dhenavaḥ

'At the sacred parvan days the ancestors, and at the tithi days the gods, come of their own accord to a man, as cows come to a watering trough.'

Verse 15 (markandeya.13.15)

यतस्ते विमुखा यान्ति निश्वस्य गृहमेधिनः । तस्मादिष्टश्च पूर्तश्च धमौ द्वावपि नश्यतः॥ 13.15 ॥

yataste vimukhā yānti niśvasya gṛhamedhinaḥ tasmādiṣṭaśca pūrtaśca dhamau dvāvapi naśyataḥ

'From whatever householder they turn away sighing, from him both his merit of sacrifice and his merit of public good works are destroyed.'

Verse 16 (markandeya.13.16)

पितृनिश्वासविध्वस्तं सप्तजन्मार्जितं शुभम् । त्रिजन्मप्रभवं दैवो निश्वासो हन्त्यसंशयम्॥ 13.16 ॥

pitṛniśvāsavidhvastaṁ saptajanmārjitaṁ śubham trijanmaprabhavaṁ daivo niśvāso hantyasaṁśayam

'The merit earned across seven births is destroyed by a single sigh of the ancestors; and the sigh of the gods, without doubt, destroys what has arisen over three births.'

Verse 17 (markandeya.13.17)

तस्माद् दैवे च पित्र्ये च नित्यमेवोद्यतोऽभवम् । सोऽहं कथमिमं प्राप्तो नरङ्क भृशदारुणम्॥ 13.17 ॥

tasmād daive ca pitrye ca nityamevodyato’bhavam so’haṁ kathamimaṁ prāpto naraṅka bhṛśadāruṇam

'For that reason I was ever diligent in rites for the gods and for the ancestors. How then have I come to this exceedingly dreadful hell?'