Pincott. Ocean of Love

Today's free book is The Prema-Sagara; or, Ocean of Love, a literal translation by Frederic Pincott. You can find out more about this book at the Indian Epics UnTextbook.

For the table of contents, check at the bottom of this post below the image.

The book is available at Internet ArchiveHathi Trust, and Google Books.



1. Parikshit becomes King in Hastinapura — He insults the Rishi Lomas — Is cursed by the son of the Rishi — He repents of his sin, retires to the Ganges to die — He is there visited by the saintly Shukadev, who recounts the surprising history of Shri Krishna; the hearing of which confers salvation on King Parikshit — The birth of Kans — His efforts to suppress the worship of Vishnu — The birth of Krishna announced.

2. The marriage of Devaki, Kans's sister, to Vasudev — The death of Kans announced from heaven — His sister's eighth son is to be his destroyer — He attempts to slay his sister — Kills her first six sons — The birth of Balaram

3. Kans persecutes the Yadu family — Balaram, before birth, transferred from Devaki to Rohini, by the miraculous interposition of Vishnu — Devaki conceives Krishna — Kans strictly guards her, to ensure the slaughter of this child

4. Krishna is born — Supernatural manifestations of joy thereat — Vasudev, by divine aid, conveys the child to Gokul, and leaves it with Jashoda, receiving in exchange a girl, miraculously born the same night

5. Kans attempts to destroy the substituted girl — She escapes into space — And derides Kans--He learns that his future destroyer has escaped him — He persecutes the worshippers of Vishnu

6. Rejoicings in the house of Nand over the birth of Krishna — The cowherds seek to propitiate Kans — Vasudev warns them of their danger

7. Kans sends Putana, a demoness, to destroy Krishna — But the latter sucks out her life — She falls dead — The cowherds cut up her body

8. Festivities when Krishna is twenty-seven days old — The demon Shakatasur attempts to destroy him, but is killed by Krishna — The demon Trinawart killed by Krishna when five months old

9. Vasudev sends his family priest to name Balaram and Krishna — Krishna steals the butter-milk — And when caught contrives to escape — He eats dirt — And his mother beholds, instead, the three worlds in his mouth

10. Churning as busily practised in Nand's house — Krishna breaks the churning-sticks — Upsets the butter-milk — His mother ties him to a wooden mortar to stop his pranks

11. Krishna goes to release Nal and Kuvar from a curse pronounced in a former birth — He drags the wooden mortar along with him — He tears up the trees in which the victims are confined — Their gratitude therefor

12. The cowherds find Krishna by the uprooted trees — Nand and his followers escape from Gokul to Brindaban — Krishna, at five years old, slays the demon Bachchhasur, and the demon Bakasur

13. The serpent-demon Aghasur swallows Krishna and all his companions- Krishna swells out monstrously and bursts the serpent

14. Brahma steals away Krishna's companions and the cows, and confines them in a cave — Krishna creates illusive imitations of them — He frightens Brahma by causing his illusions to appear more god-like than the divinities

15. Brahma asks pardon of Krishna — He releases the real kine and cowherds, after a twelvemonth's incarceration

16. Balaram slays the demon Dhenuk, who had assumed the form of an ass

17. Krishna conquers the poisonous snake Kali — He compels him to remove his residence to Ramanaka Dwipa

18. Krishna frightens his companions by producing a conflagration around them — He tranquilizes them by drinking it up

19. Balaram destroys the demon Pralamb, by blows of his fist

20. Krishna provokes and extinguishes a second conflagration

21. Description of the Rainy Season

22. The virtues of Krishna's flute extolled

23. Krishna steals the cowherdesses' clothes while they are bathing — He expounds the spiritual meaning of his action

24. Krishna sends to beg food from the Brahmans of Mathura — They refuse to give when asked — Their wives, on the contrary, run with food — Spiritual reward of the women — The husbands repent

25. Krishna seduces the cowherds from the worship of Indra — He induces them to worship the mountain Gobardhan — He personates that mountain-god for deceptive purposes

26. Indra's anger — He attempts to destroy the cowherds — Krishna protects them by holding the mountain Gobardhan over them, on the tip of his finger

27. The astonishment of the cowherds at this last miracle

28. Indra acknowledges Krishna's superiority

29. Nand is seized by the servants of Varuna while bathing in the Jumna; but is released by Krishna — Varuna acknowledges his superiority — Krishna creates a heaven similar to that of Vishnu, to gratify the curiosity of the people of Braj

30. Krishna dances with the cowherdesses — He takes them to the lake Manasarowar

31. Krishna roams through the forest alone with Radhika — He suddenly deserts her

32. Krishna abandons all the cowherdesses, in order to test the strength of their affection

33. Krishna returns to the cowherdesses, and tells them why he left them

34. Krishna dances with the cowherdesses his special dance — The reason for the dance explained

35. Krishna gives salvation to Sudarsan — He slays Shankhachur, and gives his jewel to Balaram

36. The cowherdesses sing the praises of Krishna

37. Krishna slays an Asura in the form of a bull, and himself bathes at all the places of pilgrimage, miraculously brought together, to expiate the crime — Kails endeavours to entrap him at an entertainment — The mission of Akrur for that purpose

38. Krishna destroys the Asuras Kesi and Byomasur

39. Akrur arrives at Brindaban, and delivers his message

40. Krishna accepts the invitation, and goes to Mathura with Nand and all the cowherds — Akrur, on the road, sees Krishna in his celestial form

41. Akrur celebrates the glory of Krishna

42. Krishna and his companions enter Mathura — Description of the city — Krishna robs the King's washerman, and then kills him

43. Kubja offers service to Krishna, and is promised a reward — Krishna breaks the bow of Mahadev, and slaughters the guard

44. Krishna slays the elephant Kubaliya

45. Krishna and Balaram engage in a wrestling match, and kill their antagonists — Krishna then slays Kans

46. Krishna releases Vasudev and Devaki from prison, places Ugrasen on the throne, and dismisses the cowherds to Brindaban — Krishna and Balaram are invested with the Brahmanical thread, and pursue Vedic studies — He slays the Asura Shankhasur, and takes his shell as his own weapon

47. Krishna sends Udho to Brindaban to comfort the cowherds and cowherdesses

48. Udho delivers his message — The cowherdesses are deeply distressed by it — They reproach Krishna for leaving them, but accept perforce the philosophy of Udho

49. Krishna redeems his promises to Kubja and Akrur

50. Akrur is sent to Hastinapur to inquire after the Pandavas — He finds them tyrannized over by the Kauravas — End of the first half of the story

51. Jurasindhu invades Mathura with a vast army, but is defeated — He attacks seventeen times with fresh armies, and is each time defeated — Narad incites Kalayaman to attack Krishna, and he advances with an army of barbarians — Krishna then abandons Mathura, and retires with his tribe to Dwaraka on the sea

52. Krishna lures Kalayaman into a cave, where he is killed by a glance from the awakened Muchukund — Krishna chased by Jurasindhu up a mountain, where he is supposed to be burnt up; but he miraculously returns to Dwaraka — Jurasindhu occupies Mathura

53. The marriage of Balaram with Rewati — The birth of Rukmini at Kundalpur — Her beauty — Her father discusses in council a suitable husband for her — Krishna is generally accepted — Rukma insists on the choice of Shishupal — Rukmini sends to Krishna to lay her heart at his feet

54. Krishna hurries to Kundalpur to secure Rukmini — He is followed by Balaram with an army — Rukmini's anxiety as to his timely arrival — Krishna, by arrangement, meets Rukmini at a temple of Devi, and carries her off

55. Shishupal and Jurasindhu pursue Krishna with an army, but are defeated — Rukma then attempts an attack, but is taken prisoner — Rukma is shaved and bound to Krishna's chariot — At the intercession of Rukmini he is released — Rukma then abandons Kundalpur, and founds the city of Bhojakatu — The marriage of Krishna at Dwaraka

56. The birth of Pradyumna — He is carried off by Sambar and cast into the sea — He is swallowed by a fish, and brought back to Sambar's kitchen — He is there nourished by Rati, by desire of Sambar — On attaining his majority he slays Sambar and carries off Rati

57. The wondrous jewel Sumantaka is obtained from the Sun by Satrajit — It is lost by his brother Prasen, and falls into the possession of Jamwant, a bear — Krishna recovers the jewel and returns it to Satrajit, and receives Satibhama in marriage as a recompense

58. Duryodhan attempts to murder the Pandavas — Krishna and Balaram hasten to Hastinapur to protect them — Akrur persuades Satadhanwa to revenge himself on Satrajit and to steal the wonderful jewel — Satadhanwa does so, and gives the jewel to Akrur — The latter carries the gem to Prayag, and Balaram goes in search of it — A pestilence rages in Dwaraka; but Akrur returns therewith the jewel and gives it to Krishna, who presents it to Satibhama

59. The adventures of Krishna and Balaram at Hastinapur — Krishna marries Kalindi — He directs the element Fire to satisfy his hunger by consuming a forest — Krishna stops the conflagration at the abode of a demon Maya, who builds a golden house for Krishna in return for his kindness — Krishna carries off Mitrabinda, Satya, and Bhadra

60. Bhaumasur carries off and conceals sixteen thousand one hundred princesses — Krishna slays him and marries the girls

61. Krishna's conversation with his wife Rukmini

62. Krishna's wives have ten sons and one daughter each — Pradyumna carries off Charumati, and has a son by her named Aniruddha — Balaram plays dice with Rukma — He is cheated, and slays Rukma

63. Shiva bestows a thousand arms on Vanasur, who begins to tear up mountains and trees — He wishes to fight with Shiva, but is diverted from doing so by an artifice — Vanasur's daughter falls in love with Aniruddha, and brings him secretly into her apartments — Vanasur discovers the affair, and captures and imprisons Aniruddha

64. Krishna hears of his grandson's imprisonment, overcomes Vanasur, and releases Aniruddha

65. The story of Raja Nrig — He is changed into a lizard, and lives for ages in a dry well — He is released from this state by Krishna

66. Balaram visits Nand and Jasoda at Braj, and dances with the cowherdesses.

67. Paunrik assumes the appearance of Vishnu, and is worshipped as a god — He is accordingly slain by Krishna — His son gets power from Shiva to revenge his father's death — His emissaries set fire to Dwaraka, but he is repulsed and slain by Krishna's discus

68. Contest between Balaram and the monkey Dubid — The latter is slain

69. Sambu endeavours to carry off Lakshmana, the daughter of Duryodhan — He is taken prisoner — Balaram demands his release; and on refusal, drags the city of Hastinapur, with his plough, to the bank of the Ganges, in order to drown the whole inhabitants — He forgives the offence, but leaves the city on the river's bank

70. Narad visits Krishna, and observes his manner of living with his many wives

71. Krishna is solicited to release twenty thousand kings from captivity; and, at the same time, called to a great sacrifice of the Pandavas

72. Krishna goes to Hastinapur, to consult with the Pandavas about the release of the twenty thousand kings

73. Krishna, Bhima, and Arjuna visit Jarasandha in disguise — Krishna relates the stories of Harischandra, Ratidev, and Uddal — Jarasandha is challenged to fight — He fights with Bhima, and after a twenty-seven days' combat, he is slain — Krishna performs his funeral obsequies, and instals his son Sahadev in his place

74. The twenty thousand kings are released by Krishna, and are directed to be present at the sacrifice of the Pandavas

75. Yudhishthira's great sacrifice — Shishupal abuses Krishna, and is slain by the discus — Duryodhan is dissatisfied, but conceals the feeling

76. Explanation of Duryodhan's vexation — He makes himself ridiculous, and retires in anger

77. Shalwa obtains power from Shiva to revenge Shishupal's death — He assaults Dwaraka, and commits great havoc — Krishna comes to the rescue, but falls under Shalway's illusive power — At last frees himself from it, and slays Shalwa

78. Krishna slays Vrikadant and Vidurah — He then goes to Hastinapur to assist the Pandavas against the Kauravas — Balaram proceeds on pilgrimage, and slays Sut Ji, the relater of the Mahabharata, for a slight discourtesy

79. Balaram slays Jalav — He converses with Krishna about the war of the Mahabharata — He is purified from the crime of killing Sut Ji

80. The story of Sudama — He seeks relief in his poverty from Krishna

81. Sudama's self-abnegation is rewarded with riches

82. Krishna and Balaram go to Hastinapur to bathe during an eclipse — Cause of the sanctity of the place — Parasuram avenges Jamadagni's death — The inhabitants of Braj visit Krishna

83. The wives of Krishna relate to Draupadi the process of their respective marriages

84. Vasudev, the father of Krishna, performs a sacrifice

85. Krishna, to please his mother, brings from Yama his six elder brothers, who had been slain by Kans

86. The marriage of Subhadra, and wrath of Balaram thereat

87.The manner in which the Veda glorifies the Deity

88. The story of Vrikasur — Shiva allows him to turn into ashes anyone on whose head he lays his hand — He attempts, by this means, to destroy Shiva — Krishna relieves Shiva from his danger by inducing Vrikasur to destroy himself

89. Bhrigu tests the gods and proves that Vishnu, in the form of Hari, is the most excellent of the gods — Arjuna undertakes to preserve the children of a Brahman, but fails to do so — Krishna redeems his promise for him

90. Description of Krishna's happy life with his numerous wives — His vast offspring, and the schools established for their instruction