Skandapurana 2.4.2.55_111

2.4.2.55_111

2.4.2.55
yathā brāhmaṇī vivāhātpaṃcamadivase bhartṛmaraṇayogena vidhavā jātā, paraṃtu śāligrāmaśilādānena bhartā jīvanaṃ prāpa tena sadhavā jātā, atra prasiddhā kathā sāroddhāre - godātīre kaścidvaiśyaḥ mahāpāparataḥ durācāraḥ āsīt, sa kadācidṛṇagrāhiṇaṃ brāhmaṇaṃ khaḍgenāghātayat, tataḥ maraṇāṃte rauravanarake patitaḥ atha dharmacāronāma tatputraḥ pitrārjitaṃ dhanaṃ yajñadānavratajapatapaiṣṭāpūrtaparopakārādisanmārgeṇa vyayīcakāra, ekadā dharmacāravaiśyagṛhe lomaśamunirāgatya tvaṃ śāligrāmaśilādānapuṇyena pitaraṃ rauravānmocayetyupadideśa, tadā saḥ śilādānaṃ vyarthamiti matvā ṛṣivacanamanādṛtya tūṣṇīṃ sthitaḥ kālena mamāra ca lomaśo'pi tūṣṇīṃ yayau, sa dharmacāravaiśyaḥ śilāyā anādarādvipravākyasya laṃghanānmanvaṃtaraṃ narakayātanāṃ bhuktvā karmaśeṣeṇā'nekapaśuyoniṃ bhuktvā strījanmāni ca bhuktvā ekādaśe janmani yājakabrāhmaṇasya kanyā abhavat, tadā pitā prāptayauvanāṃ kanyāṃ dṛṣṭvā samānakulagotrāya dattvā vivāhamakarot atha tadbhartā paṃcame'hani vamanarogataḥ mṛtaḥ, tadā yājakaḥ jāmātaraṃ mṛtaṃ dṛṣṭvā jāmātā kena jīvaditi kṣaṇamātraṃ vicārya kārtike śāligrāmasya dānaṃ jīvane kāraṇamiti matvā sulakṣaṇaṃ manoharaṃ śāligrāmaṃ putryā hastena viprāya dāpayāmāsa, tadā tatkṣaṇādeva patiḥ jīvanaṃ prāpaṃ, tataḥ tau daṃpatī cirakālaṃ cikrīḍatuḥ, kālāṃtare sā yājakasutā śālagrāmadānapuṇyena strījanmato vinirmuktā satī viṣṇuyaśonāmakabrāhmaṇajanma labdhvā prativarṣaṃ kārtike śāligrāmadānapuṇyena mokṣaṃ prāpeti .. 55 ..

2.4.2.55
Just as a brahmin woman became a widow on the fifth day after her wedding through the death of her husband, yet through the gift of a śāligrāma stone her husband regained life and thereby she became one whose husband is alive. Here the well-known story in the Sāroddhāra is told: On the bank of the Godāvarī there was a certain vaiśya addicted to great sin and of vile conduct. Once he struck with a sword a brahmin who had taken a debt; therefore, at the end of his life, he fell into the Raurava hell. Then his son, named Dharmacāra, spent the wealth earned by his father on good paths such as sacrifices, gifts, vows, recitation, austerities, public works, and benevolence. Once the sage Lomaśa came to the house of the vaiśya Dharmacāra and instructed him: 'Through the religious merit of giving a śāligrāma stone, release your father from Raurava.' Then, thinking the gift of a stone to be useless and disregarding the ṛṣi's words, he remained silent, and in time he died; Lomaśa too departed silently. That vaiśya Dharmacāra, because of his disrespect for the stone and transgression of the sage's word, endured the torments of hell for a manvantara; by the residue of his karma, having passed through many animal wombs and female births, in his eleventh birth he became the daughter of a priest brahmin. Then the father, seeing his daughter having reached youth, gave her in marriage to one of equal lineage and family. Then her husband died on the fifth day of a vomiting illness. Then the priest, seeing his son-in-law dead, thought for a mere moment: 'By what means might the son-in-law live?' Considering that the gift of a śāligrāma in the month of Kārtika would be the cause of life, he caused a śāligrāma of auspicious marks and charming appearance to be given to a brahmin through the hand of his daughter. Then at that very moment the husband regained life; thereupon the couple sported for a long time. In the course of time, that priest's daughter, freed from female birth by the religious merit of gifting a śāligrāma and having obtained birth as a brahmin named Viṣṇuyaśas, attained liberation through the merit of gifting a śāligrāma every year in Kārtika. 55.