Chapter 139 - Greatness of Citrāditya (Citra-āditya)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Īśvara said:

1-4. Thereafter, O great goddess, a pilgrim should go to the excellent shrine of Citrāditya to the south thereof (i.e. of Tṛṇabindvīśvara) in the vicinity of Brahmakuṇḍa. O goddess of Devas, he has great power. He is the destroyer of all types of poverty.

O goddess, formerly there was a righteous soul named Mitra on the earth He was a Kāyastha, always engaged in the welfare of all living beings.

He used to have close physical intimacy with his wife only during the prescribed days after menstruation. He had two children. O lady of excellent countenance, one was a boy of great refulgence named Citra. He had a daughter called Citrā who was a girl of great beauty and good habits that embellished her.

5. Immediately after the birth of these two, Mitra met with his death. His excellent wife entered the funeral pyre along with him.

6. Those two wretched children were brought up by the sages. They grew up in the great forest engaging themselves in Vratas even while they were yet children.

7. They came to Prabhāsa Kṣetra, installed the great deity Bhāskara, the water-thief (evaporator), and performed an elaborate penance.

8. The righteous-souled (Citra) worshipped the deity with incense, garlands and unguent. He joined his palms in veneration and eulogized Lord Sūryadeva by means of the sixty-eight names enumerated by Vasiṣṭha.

Citra said:

9. I bow down to Lord Bhāskara, the master of the firmament. He is the primordial Lord, the Lord of the universe, the destroyer of sins and ailments.

10. (I bow down) to the thousand-rayed, thousand-eyed god with thousand lustrous rays.

Epithets of the Sun-god and his sacred places:

11. I shall eulogize that Lord endowed with secret epithets. At daybreak, he is Muṇḍīra-Svāmin at the confluence of Gaṅgā and the ocean. At midday he is Kālapriya resorting to the banks of Yamunā.

12. At dusk he is at Mūlasthāna (modern Multan) on the banks of Candrabhāgā (modern Chinab) where Sāṃba (Kṛṣṇa’s son) engaged himself in holy fast and achieved Siddhi.

13. (I eulogize) Lohitākṣa at Vārāṇasī, Bṛhanmukha in Gobhilākṣa and the highly lustrous Vṛddhāditya in Pratiṣṭhāna in Prayāga.

14. (I praise) Dvādaśāditya in Koṭyakṣa, Gaṅgāditya in Caturghaṭa and Naimiṣa and Goghna and Bhadra stationed in Bhadrapuṭa.

15. (I eulogize) Vijayāditya in Jaya, Svarṇavetasa in Prabhāsa, Sāmanta in Kurukṣetra and Trimantra in Ilāvṛta.

16. They know as stationed, Kramaṇāditya in Mahendra, Siddheśvara in Ṛṇa, Padmabodha in Kauśāmbī (Kosam near Allahabad) and Divākara in Brahmabāhu

17. (I bow to) Caṇḍakānti in Kedāra, Timirāpaha in Nitya, Śivadvāra in Gaṅgā-Mārga and Āditya in Bhūpradīpana.

18. (I bow to) Haṃsa on Sarasvatītīra (the banks of Sarasvatī), Viśvamitra in Pṛthūdaka (Pehoa in Karnal District, Punjab), Naradvīpa in Ujjayinī and Amaladyuti in Siddha.

19. (I bow to) Sūrya in Kuntīkumāra, Vibhāvasu in Pañcanadī, (Punjab), Vimalāditya in Mathurā and Saṃjñāditya in Saṃjñika.

20. (I eulogize) Mārtaṇḍa stationed in Śrīkaṇṭha, Daṃśaka in Daśārṇa (Eastern Malwa), Lord Gopāti in Godhana and Karṇa in Marusthala (Marwar in Rajasthan).

21. (I eulogize) Puṣpa in Devapura, Keśavārka in Lohita, Śārdūla in Vaidiśa (Vidiśā) and Vāruṇavāsin in Śoṇa.

22. (I eulogize) Sāṃbākhya in Vardhamāna, Śubhaṃkara in Kāmarūpa, Mihira in Kānyakubja and Mandāra in Puṇyavardhana.

23. (I bow to) Kṣobhaṇāditya in Gandhāra (Kandhar, Afghanistan), Amaradyuti in Laṅkā, Karṇāditya in Campā (Bhagalpur, Bihar) and Śubhadarśin in Prabodha.

24. (I bow to) Pārvatya in Dvārāvatī (Dvārkā, Gujarat), Himāpaha in Himavanta, Mahāteja in Lauhitya (Assam) and Dhūrjaṭi in Amalāṅga.

25. (I bow to) Kumārākhya (one named Kumāra) in Rohika, Padmasaṃbhava in Padma, Dharmāditya in Lāṭa (South Gujarat) and Sthavira in Mardaka.)

26. (I bow to) Sukhaprada in Kauberī, Gopati in Kosala (Oudh), Padmadeva in Koṅkaṇa and Tāpana in Vindhya mountain.

27. (I bow to) Tvaṣṭṛ in Kāśmīra, Ratnasaṃbhava in Caritra, Hemagarbhastha in Puṣkara and Sūrya in Gabhastika.

28. (I bow to) Mujjhāla in Prakāśā, Prabhākara in Tīrthagrāma, Rillakāditya in Kāmpilya (modern Kampil, Farrukhabad District, U.P.) and Dhanavāsin in Dhanaka.

29. (I bow to) Anala on the banks of Narmadā and Gamanādhika everywhere. (Thus the devotee shall repeat) the sixty-eight (shrines) of Lord Bhāskara of unlimited lustre.

30. A man who is pure and powerful and gets up early in the morning and recites these or listens to these (names of the Sun-god) is rid of all sins.

31. One who seeks a kingdom gets a kingdom; one who seeks wealth gets wealth, one who seeks sons gets sons, and one who seeks happiness gets happiness.

32. One who is distressed due to ailments is rid of ailments; one who is in bondage is released from bondage. Yes, the man attains whatever other things he may desire.

Īśvara said:

33. Even as Citra of a soul free from impurities eulogized thus, the Thousand-rayed Lord Sun became pleased with him after a long time.

34. He said, “Dear son, welfare unto you, O devotee of excellent holy vows, choose your boon.”

35. He said “O Lord of hot, severe, blazing rays, if you are pleased with me give me perfection in all activities and knowership as well”

36. O lady of excellent complexion, that was duly assented to by the Sun-god. Thereupon, Citra the scion of the family of Mitra, attained omniscience.

37-39. The God of Death, Dharmarāja, came to know that he had been endowed with extremely remarkable intellect. He thought, ‘If this highly intelligent one becomes my writer (Clerk), I will be able to achieve everything and be extremely carefree.’ O beautiful lady, while Dharmarāja was thinking thus, Citra went to Agnitīrtha in the salt ocean for the sake of his daily ablution. Even as he entered it, he was carried off by the servants of Yama.

40. O great goddess, he was carried off bodily by the servants carrying out the behests of Yama. This Citra came to be known by the name Citragupta. He became the scribe recording the conduct of all mortal beings.

41. Thereupon, O lady of excellent countenance, the deity came to be known by the name of Citrāditya in the world.

42. If a man regulates his diet and worships the deity on the seventh lunar day, he will never meet with poverty and misery in the course of seven succeeding births.

43. There itself, the pilgrim should make the gift of a horse along with a sword in a sheath as well as gold to a Brāhmaṇa. Thus the benefit of the pilgrimage will be realized.