HARIDHAMA A GREAT SAGE

 

There was a certain sage named Haridhaman who practiced a difficult penance and always ate leaves only.  He muttered a hymn called Krishna Mantram of twenty letters, giving the fruit quickly.  Then from the (Hymn having) seed of desire, he got upon it only obscure.  There was Maya; in front of her were water, swans, saffron, and a bright moon. 

Then, recollecting and with a salutation (he muttered the hymn) with ten letters and in the charming bower of the jasmine-creeper he meditated upon the Lord who was lying on his back on the beautiful bed of leaves, whose expansive chest was being repeatedly covered by a cowherdess who was greatly overcome with passion and whose eyes were red, with her pair of breasts who (i.e, the Lord) was being kissed on his cheeks, and whose lips were being gratified, who the wonderful one, was with a smile holding beloved with his arms.

That sage, having cast many bodies was born after three kalpas as the daughter having auspicious marks, of a cowherd named Ranga.  She was known as Rangaveni.  She was skilled in drawing pictures.  On her teeth were variegated marks of red colour.

The following stanzas 13-21, from Padmapurana, Patala Khanda, Chapter 72 are narrating this story,

yasyāḥ pṛṣṭhatale divyaṃ vyajanaṃ paridṛśyate |
haridhāmābhidhānastu kaścidāsīnmahāmuniḥ || 13 ||
so'pyatapyattapaḥ kṛcchraṃ nityaṃ patraikabhojanam |
āśusiddhikaraṃ maṃtraṃ viṃśatyarṇaṃ prajaptavān || 14 ||
anaṃtaraṃ kāmabījādadhyārūḍhaṃ tadeva tu |
māyā tatpurato vyoma haṃsāsṛgdyuticaṃdrakam || 15 ||
tato daśākṣaraṃ paścānnamoyuktaṃ smarādikam |
dadhyau vṛṃdāvane ramye mādhavīmaṃḍape prabhum || 16 ||
uttānaśāyinaṃ cārupallavāstaraṇopari |
kayācidatikāmārtta ballavyā raktanetrayā || 17 ||
vakṣojayugamācchādya vipuloraḥ sthalaṃ muhuḥ |
saṃcuṃbyamānagaṃḍāṃtaṃ tṛpyamānaradacchadam || 18 ||
kalayaṃtaṃ priyāṃ dorbhyāṃ sahāsaṃ samudādbhutam |
sa muniśca bahūndehāṃ styaktvā kalpatrayāṃtare || 19 ||
sāraṃganāmno gopasya kanyābhūcchubhalakṣaṇā |
raṃgaveṇīti vikhyātā nipuṇā citrakarmaṇi || 20 ||
yasyā daṃteṣu dṛśyaṃte citritāḥ śoṇabiṃdavaḥ |