Narada Describes Varuna's Celestial Sabha to Yudhishthira
Narada continues his tour of the celestial courts, describing the underwater sabha of Varuna, lord of the waters. He details its divine construction, its radiant beauty, and the astonishing assembly of gods, serpents, demons, and rivers who attend and worship Varuna there.
Narada said, “Now, Yudhishthira, I will describe Varuna’s sabha.”
Its radiance was white. Its dimensions matched those of Yama’s court, with white walls and white portals. The divine architect Vishvakarma had built it under the water. It was surrounded by bejewelled trees that yielded flowers and fruit, and carpeted with blossoms of every color—blue, yellow, black, dark, white, and red. Bowery clusters of flowers hung everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of beautiful birds, of varieties impossible to describe, filled the air with sweet songs. The atmosphere of the sabha was pleasant to the touch—neither too cold nor too hot. It was a beautiful, white, many-roomed hall, ruled by Varuna.
There, Varuna sat with his consort Varuni. Both were adorned with celestial gems, ornaments, and attire, bedecked with divine garlands. Around them, the Adityas waited upon the lord of the waters.
So did the serpents. Vasuki was there, and Takshaka, and the serpent named Airavata. Krishna, Lohita, Padma, the valorous Chitra, the nagas Kambala and Ashvatara, Dhritarashtra, Balahaka, Manimana, Kundaladhara, Karkotaka, and Dhananjaya—all spread their hoods, marked with pennants and auspicious circular signs. Without ever tiring, these and many other nagas attended the great-souled Varuna.
The danavas and daityas were there too, all adorned with beautiful earrings, garlanded, crowned, and clothed in divine garments. They had been blessed with boons, were brave, and had all transcended mortality. They observed their vows correctly and worshipped the great-souled god who held them in dharma’s noose. Among them were King Vairochana Bali, Naraka the conqueror of the earth, Prahrada, Viprachitti, and the danavas known as Kalakhanjas. There was Suhanu, Durmukha, Shankha, Sumana, Sumati, Ghatodara, Mahaparshva, Krathana, Pithara, Vishvarupa, Surupa, Virupa, Mahashirsa, Dashagriva, Vali, Meghavasa, Dashavara, Kaitabha, Vitatuta, Samhrada, and Indratapana.
Then came the waters of the world, present in embodied form. The four oceans were there. So were the rivers: the Bhagirathi, Kalindi, Vidisha, Venna, Narmada, Vegavahini, Vipasha, Shatadru, Chandrabhaga, Sarasvati, Iravati, Vitasta, Sindhu, Devanada, Godavari, Krishnavenna, and Kaveri, the best of rivers. These and other rivers, fords, lakes, wells, springs, ponds, and tanks all attended.
The directions themselves were there, and the earth, and all the mountains. All aquatic creatures worshipped the great-souled one. Masses of gandharvas and apsaras, skilled in song and instrument, sat and sang Varuna’s praises. Mountains full of jewels and the juices of herbs stood there in embodied form, paying homage.
“Such, O bull among the Bharatas, is Varuna’s beautiful sabha, which I have seen with my own eyes in my travels,” Narada concluded. “Now hear about Kubera’s sabha.”