Skandapurana 16.29

Īśvara said: / Then one should go to Agnitīrtha on the auspicious shore of the ocean, / where that submarine fire was released by Sarasvatī, O fair-faced lady.

To the south of Somanātha is the sacred ford known in the three worlds, / named Padmaka by name, which destroys all sins.

At a distance of a hundred bows from Someśa, situated within the water, / is the pool destroying sin, declared to be a hundred cubits in measure; / having plunged into the storehouse of waters, one should perform ritual ablution there,

having first performed shaving near Someśvara; / meditating on Śaṃkara in one’s mind, one should cast off one's hair there; / having removed the hair, one should then perform ritual ablution again.

Whatever sin a man commits, afflicted by livelihood, / that entirely stays in the hair, O daughter of the mountain.

Therefore, with every effort, one should cast off hair there; / doing that in front of Somanātha, the fruit is doubled.

Near Agnitīrtha, located within Kapardidvāra— / right there it is known to be twofold, while elsewhere it is remembered as single.

Tonsure is not commended for women, O fair-faced lady, / whose husbands are alive; hear from me the rule for them right there:

Gathering all the hair, one should cut off two finger-breadths; / then, according to rule, one should make libations to the gods and the ancestral deities.

Shaving and fasting—this is the rule at all sacred fords.

At the Gaṅgā, at Bhāskarakṣetra, upon the death of mother, father, or guru, / at the laying of sacred fires, and at the drinking of soma—shaving is remembered in these seven.

He who performs a thousand thousands of horse sacrifices / does not obtain the fruit that is gained through shaving.

He who performs ritual ablution there without a mantra, O goddess, / rarely obtains welfare, except on a single day of conjunction.

Without a mantra, without a day of conjunction, without the act of shaving, / the great ocean must not be touched by men even with the tip of a kuśa blade, O ruler of gods.

Having thus bathed according to rule, and having offered water to the great ocean, / having worshipped it with flowers, perfumes, garments, and auspicious ointments,

one should throw into it a golden bracelet according to one’s means.

Having thus performed the rite, one should touch the salt ocean / with this mantra, O ruler of gods; then one attains presence.

"Oṃ, homage to Viṣṇu-gupta, homage to you whose form is Viṣṇu! / O Lord of Gods, be present in the ocean, in the salt water!"

"Agni is the semen, and by the Gracious One [Śiva] is the body; Viṣṇu holds the semen, the navel of nectar." / Speaking this true utterance, O Pārvatī, one should then plunge into the lord of rivers [the ocean].

"Oṃ, homage to Ratnagarbha (the jewel-wombed)!" With this mantra, O lovely woman, / one should cast the bracelet there, and then bathe at will.

And then one should offer libations to the gods, the men, and the ancestors / with water mixed with sesame seeds, fully endowed with faith.

Whatever sin a man commits across a hundred thousand births, / having bathed just once in the ocean of salt water, he dispels it.

A bull should be given there when the shaving ritual begins, / and a gift of one's own constitution, as well as yellow cloth.

According to this procedure, one should perform the ritual ablution properly there. / One should touch the submarine fire (vāḍava tejas); otherwise, one would incur fault.

For this boon and curse were formerly given to it by the brahmins.

The Goddess said: / "Everywhere, O Mahādeva, one is purified by bathing in water. / For what reason is fault incurred in the ocean? This is a great wonder!

Where all rivers such as the Gaṅgā have found their resting place, / where Viṣṇu himself lies, where Lakṣmī herself resides—

why was a boon and a curse given to it formerly by the brahmins? / Tell me everything in detail; indeed, great is my doubt in this matter."

Īśvara said: / "Formerly, O goddess, a long sacrificial session was begun by the foremost of the gods, / who had arrived at the Prabhāsa tīrtha, fully endowed with faith.

Then, at the conclusion of the sacrificial session, having bestowed varied gifts / and their entire property upon the foremost brahmins residing in the Prabhāsa sacred field,

meanwhile other brahmins arrived there for the sake of sacrificial fees— / local inhabitants there, by the hundreds and thousands.

And terrified of disappointing their supplication, the gods along with Indra then / vanished. Seeing those gods [flee], the brahmins pursued them.

Formerly, O goddess, the firstborn [brahmins] possessed the great power of flying through the air; / by that means, they all went swiftly wherever the gods' abodes were.

Seeing their ability to go everywhere in this manner, the dwellers of heaven, / frightened, entered the ocean and spoke these words to it:

'We have sought your refuge, seized with fear of the brahmins. / There is no wealth left for giving; therefore, protect us, O great ocean!

On one side are all the sacrifices with the boons and sacrificial fees complete; / on the other side is the saving of the life of a creature terrified with fear. / In particular, the protection of the gods bestows great merit.'

The Ocean said: / 'No fear of the brahmins should be had in any way, O foremost of the gods! / I will protect you; enter inside my belly.'

Then all those deities, delighted by its word, / free from fear, entered the deep belly of that very [ocean].

The ocean, too, having expanded its own form greatly, / gathered hosts of living water-creatures near the shore.

Then it devised a stratagem for the ruin of the brahmins: / having cooked the flesh of fish, it concealed it with great quantities of rice.

Then, having bowed down with joined palms, it spoke to all the twice-born: / 'Bestow your favor, O brahmins, upon me for a moment now!

Just by accepting hospitality from one who is humble and bowed down [you will do so]. / For your sake, this meal has been properly prepared by me. / Let the meal be eaten, and then you may go after the deities.'

Then those brahmins, believing the ocean to be full of faith / and saying to it, 'Very well,' ate from golden vessels.

Tormented by hunger, they did not recognize that hidden meat, which was delicious.

Then, satisfied and freed from hunger, those wise brahmins, / all of praised vows, gave their blessing.

[Saying,] 'Brahmins' [wrath] ends with food, kṣatriyas' [wrath] ends with life, / while the anger of venomous snakes is known to last until death,' / it spurred on the gods indeed, saying to them: 'Depart!'

Then the gods, together with the gandharvas, went swiftly through the sky. / Seeing them going, the brahmins who had been saluted there

flew up in pursuit of the gods for the sake of sacrificial gifts.

Then those twice-born fell suddenly down to the earth again, / indeed because of eating uneatable food, because of eating meat.

Realizing that deed of the ocean, filled with wrath, / assuming terrifying forms, they uttered a terrible curse, O great goddess:

'Since meat, which is strictly remembered as inedible for brahmins, / was served to us by you, well-hidden and mixed with edible food,

on one side are all meats, and the meat of fish on the other; / on one side are all sins, and another man's wife on the other!

Even though we knew thus the fault of meat, / nevertheless we were all deceived, having acted without examination.

Since we were deceived by you of sinful and cruel mind / into eating meat, therefore you shall become undrinkable!

You shall be untouchable for the foremost of brahmins and for other men on earth. / Those mortals of evil intellect who, with your water,

perform a ritual ablution shall go to a dreadful hell, without a doubt. / And whatever realms belong to the ungrateful, whatever realms belong to evil-doers,

those will men on earth attain from touching your water!'

Īśvara said: / "Cursed in this manner by those brahmins, O woman of excellent complexion, / it then became untouchable for a thousand years.

Then, overwhelmed with terror, it said this to them all: / 'This act of the gods was done by me without thought,

desiring the supreme dharma that arises from [protecting] one who has sought refuge. / He who, out of desire, anger, fear, or greed, abandons one who has sought refuge—'

even if out of regard for truth, he should be known as one committing a great sin. / Out of fear of you, the gods of heaven came to me for refuge.

They were protected by me properly, to the best of my ability, by an expedient. / Since I have been cursed out of fierce anger, I shall dry myself up.

"Deprived of the touch of human beings, I cannot bear to exist." / Having spoken thus, O Goddess, the ocean, the lord of rivers, / remaining in great sorrow, began to dry himself up.

Then all the hosts of gods, seeing the great ocean / gradually taking the form of dry land, were seized with great fear.

Going to the lord of the world, the grandfather, the god of gods, they said: / "For our sake, the ocean was cursed by the twice-born, the best of brahmins.

Filled with great grief, he is drying himself up. / Taking water from the ocean, the clouds rain down.

From that grain is produced, and from grain sacrifices come to be; / by sacrifices satisfaction arises for all the dwellers of heaven.

Thus, by his destruction, our own destruction will occur. / Therefore, go and protect him, so that he does not dry up.

Let a policy be devised such that those brahmins are pleased."

At the word of the gods, Brahmā went into the presence of the ocean / and entreatied those brahmins dwelling in the sacred field on behalf of the ocean.

Brahmā said: / "O best of the twice-born, let favor be shown to this ocean! / Act in accordance with my word so that he attains purity.

He will give you jewels of various kinds.

On earth you shall firmly become renowned as 'gods on earth' / by name through my word; this that I have spoken is indeed true."

The brahmins said: / "O Lord of the universe, we do not wish to set aside your word, / nor is our own word false; and you indeed are the authority here.

Therefore, O best of gods, whether it be beneficial or harmful according to our word, / let there be the supreme welfare of the worlds and of all the heaven-dwellers. / Act in such a manner, O Lord of the universe, as to bring about our welfare."

Then Brahmā, the grandfather of the world, said to the lord of rivers: / "Do not dry yourself up; listen to my beneficial words.

That word of the twice-born cannot indeed be undone. / If angered, the brahmins could surely reduce [the world] to ashes by their own splendor.

They could turn gods into non-gods; therefore one should never anger them. / For this reason, contact with you shall be purifying in three ways:

when a festival time has arrived, at the confluence of rivers, / at the bridge [of Rāma], likewise at the Indus, and in connection with other sacred fords.

In all such cases and the like, [your touch is purifying], but not in rituals at any other time. / Whatever fruit is obtained in all sacred fords, whatever fruit in all sacrifices, / that very fruit shall arise merely from touching your water.

Whatever merit lies in an ancestral offering at Gayā, or through dying in defense of cattle, / that very fruit shall arise merely from touching your water.

You shall likewise be undrinkable merely by taste; / yet even a mouthful of water drunk destroys misfortune.

It will promote well-being for men in the world. / Whoever performs the water-offering to the ancestors with your water / according to the previously stated rite—hear the meritorious fruit for him:

As long as you remain in the world, and as long as the moon, sun, and stars endure, / so long will his ancestors remain satisfied with your waters resembling nectar.

And whoever, filled with devotion, bathes continually in the month of Māgha, / shall obtain the fruit of a Pauṇḍarīka sacrifice day after day.

Whether on a pilgrimage or elsewhere, on a festival day or during an eclipse of the moon, / the man who properly bathes here in the ocean of salt water / shall attain the fruit of a thousand horse-sacrifices.

Those men who die in the area between illustrious Someśa and the ocean, / even if they are sinners, shall go to heaven, their impurities shaken off.

Thus it shall always be for you, O lord, by my word. / Bestow jewels of various kinds upon the chiefs of the twice-born.

Pleased by that, they will in turn grant you your desired boon."

Īśvara said: / Hearing the words of the Grandfather, the ocean said 'So be it,' / and, endowed with faith, gave fine jewels to the brahmins.

The brahmins carried out the word of Brahmā in full. / Having undergone the rite of tonsure, all of them took their ritual ablution.

In this way the salt ocean attained sanctity and the status of a sacred ford. / Within it, O great Goddess, are fifty million liṅgas.

In this Manvantara, O Goddess, they were made invisible in the ocean; / and right there is a fire altar, as well as another lake named Padmaka.

Everything in the middle, however, is concealed in this Manvantara, O beloved. / Between Cakra and Maināka, in the southern direction it is declared:

in a jar made of gold, ten thousand bow-lengths in width, / dwelling in the middle of that jar is the one named the submarine fire (Vaḍavānala).

Having a mouth like a needle and an immense body, it constantly drinks the water. / Reaching this interior, it is known as Agnitīrtha.

In the middle of it is the mighty essence where the submarine mouth is, / extending for a distance of one hundred bow-lengths south of illustrious Someśa, / and to the east from northern Mānasa as far as Kṛtasmara.

This is a secret, O fair-hipped lady; it should not be given to just anyone. / Even one who has killed a brahmin would be purified upon hearing this; of this there is no doubt.

Thus, how the curse and the boon were given to the ocean by the twice-born / who were first angered and then pleased—all of that has been told by me.

Thus ends the twenty-ninth chapter, entitled "Description of the Reason for the Ocean's Undrinkability," in the first [sub-section], the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, in the seventh [section], the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.