Skandapurana 2.4.4.4_1

2.4.4.4_1

2.4.4.84
purā prabhaṃjanonāma nṛpaḥ mṛgayāyāṃ gulmāṃtare sthitāṃ vatsaṃ pāyayatīṃ mṛgīṃ vivyādha, tadā mṛgī uvāca-he nṛpa tanayasya stanaṃ prayacchaṃtī tvayā hatā . atastvaṃ vyāghrarūpatvamāpnuhi . tadā śāpena trasto rājā prāṃjaliḥ sannuvāca-he mṛgi vyāghrarūpaṃ muktvā mānuṣaṃ kadā prāpsyāmi, tadvadāmṛgyuvāca-he nṛpa, kārtike puṣkare yadā naṃdayā saha tava saṃvādo bhaviṣyati tadā mukto bhaviṣyati evamuktvā sā mṛtā, nṛpo'pi varṣaśataṃ vyāghrarūpeṇa vane .paribhraman kadā muktirbhaviṣyatīti citayannekadā naṃdānāmikāṃ gāṃ dṛṣṭvā khāditumārebhe tadā naṃdā anekavidhasatyapratijñāṃ kṛtvā vatsaṃ pāyayitvā punaḥ vyāghrasamīpamāgatya anekavidhadharmabhāṣaṇenopadeśaṃ cakāra . tadā vyāghra uvāca-he naṃdaḥ, ahaṃ pūrvaṃ mṛgyā śaptaḥ vyāghrarūpo jātaḥ, paraṃ tvadya tvatsaṃparkopadeśena jātasmaraṇaḥ punarnṛpatvamāpannaḥ, nāhaṃ vyāghraḥ, etasminnaṃtare dharmastatrāgatya naṃdāmuvāca-he naṃde tvaṃ naṃdānāma sarasvatī nadī bhaviṣyasi, kiṃca ūrje puṣkare māsamātraṃ snānaṃ kuru tato muktirbhaviṣyati ityuktvāṃ'tarhitaḥ . prabhaṃjano'pi vasiṣṭhopedeśena kārtikasevanānmuktiṃ prāpeti ..84 ..85.. iti kārtikamāsamāhātmyaṭīkāyāṃ caturtho'dhyāyaḥ .. 4 ..

2.4.4.84
Formerly, a king named Prabhañjana, while hunting, shot an arrow at a female deer suckling her fawn standing inside a bush. Then the female deer said: 'O king, you have struck me while I was offering the breast to my son. Therefore, attain the state of a tiger!' Then the king, frightened by the curse, with folded palms, said: 'O female deer, when shall I, having abandoned the form of a tiger, regain human form? Tell that!' The female deer said: 'O king, when in Kārtika at Puṣkara you have a conversation with Nandā, then you will be liberated.' Having spoken thus, she died. The king too, wandering in the forest for a hundred years in the form of a tiger, wondering when liberation would occur, once saw a cow named Nandā and began to devour her. Then Nandā, having made many kinds of oaths of truth and having suckled her calf, returned near the tiger and instructed him with many kinds of discourses on righteousness. Then the tiger said: 'O Nandā, I was previously cursed by a female deer and became a tiger. But today, through the instruction of your company, I have regained my memory and returned to kinghood; I am not a tiger.' In the meantime, Dharma came there and said to Nandā: 'O Nandā, you shall become the river Sarasvatī named Nandā. Moreover, in Kārtika at Puṣkara, bathe for merely a month; then liberation will occur.' Having spoken thus, he vanished. Prabhañjana also, by the instruction of Vasiṣṭha and by serving Kārtika, attained liberation. 84 85. Thus ends the fourth chapter in the commentary on the glorification of the month of Kārtika. 4