Goddess Durga

vṛkṣamahimā

(Devi Parvati about Trees in English (IAST))

(daśaputrasamodrumaḥ punaḥ sā krīḍanaṃ cakre putrārthaṃ varavarṇinī)

Also known as vriksha mahatmya · parvati vriksha vachana · dasha putra sama drumah

Uma, childless, plants an ashoka sapling and raises it as a son, performing its rites of passage with Brihaspati and the brahmins. The gods and sages then put the question the passage exists to answer: men are held to reach their end through sons and grandsons, and the childless are thought so by fate — now that she has shown another way, what fruit can these imagined tree-children bear? Her reply sets a scale. One who digs a well where there is no water dwells in heaven a year for every drop of it; a tank equals ten wells, a lake ten tanks, a son ten lakes, and a tree ten sons. That last line is among the most quoted in the Puranas, and she names it here as her own ordinance, fixed for the good of the world.

daśaputrasamodrumaḥ punaḥ sā krīḍanaṃ cakre putrārthaṃ varavarṇinī |
manojñaṃmakuraṃ rūḍhamaśokasya śubhānanā ||1||
varddhayāmāsa taṃ cāpi kṛtasaṃskāramaṃgalā |
bṛhaspatimukhairviprardivaspatipurogamaiḥ ||2||
tato devaiśca munibhiḥ proktā devī tvidaṃ vacaḥ |
bhavāni bhavatī bhavyā sambhūtā lokabhūtaye ||3||
prāyaḥ sutaphalo lokaḥ putrapautreśca labhyate |
aputrāśca prajāḥ prāyo dṛśyante daivahetavaḥ ||4||
adhunā darśite mārge maryādāṃ kartumarhasi |
phalaṃ kiṃ bhāvitā devi kalpitaistaruputrakaiḥ |
ityuktā harṣapūrṇāṅgī provācomā śubhāṃ giram ||5||
devyuvācaevaṃ nirudake deśe yaḥ kūpaṃ kārayedbudhaḥ |
bindau bindau ca toyasya vasetsaṃvatsaraṃ divi ||6||
daśakūpasamā vāpī daśavāpīsamo hradaḥ |
daśahradasamaḥ putro daśaputrasamodrumaḥ |
eṣaiva mama maryādā niyatā lokabhāvinī ||7||

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