Skandapurana 5.187

Sūta said: / Then, when the fifth day arrived, those best of twice-borns, / all clad in washed white garments, well-bathed and pure, stood ready. / 1

Admonished by Pulastya, they performed all the rites; / having entered the sacrificial pavilion, they first chose the officiating priests. / 2

Instructed by the adhvaryu, they recited the praiṣa calls in due order / for the sake of the oblation into the blazing fire, through well-concentrated officiating priests. / 3

At that very time, the ritual was undertaken by the udgātṛ, / which is performed with pegs as indicated by the chanting of the Sāman, / 4

seven turns, O best of twice-borns, by him who had entered the sacrificial pavilion, / where all those gods arrive, eager for their sacrificial shares, / 5

especially filled with joy for the drinking of Soma. / Then, when the consuming of the Soma began and the chant composed by the udgātṛ was sung, / 6

a maiden arrived, eager to hear the Sāman chanting, / wise and desirous of seeing the marvel born of the peg-sound. / 7

She was the excellent daughter of a chanter of the Chandoga school named Devaśarman, / called Audumbarī by name, longing to listen to the Sāman. / 8

And she addressed a word to the udgātṛ in the assembly: / 'Just as the pegs indicated by the Sāman are being driven, / 9

go quickly to the Dakṣiṇa fire and make the oblation as prescribed, / by which you will be freed from sin; if not, it will become fruitless.' / 10

O best of twice-borns, having heard her speech fraught with meaning, / he then reflected upon the word that had been spoken. / 11

Then, filled with wonder, the udgātṛ asked that maiden: / 'From where have you come, and whose daughter are you? Tell me!' / 12

Audumbarī said: / 'I am the daughter of Parvata, and [now] renowned as that of Devaśarman; / I remember my past lives, O fortunate one, and have come from the world of the Gandharvas.' / 13

The udgātṛ said: / 'Whose Gandharva’s daughter are you? By whom were you cursed, O daughter? / When will your liberation from human form occur? Tell me!' / 14

Audumbarī said: / 'Nārada and Parvata are two Gandharvas known to men; / and I am the daughter of Parvata, but cursed by Nārada. / 15

That best of sages was seen playing his vīṇā freely; / and not knowing the distinction of the tones produced by the melodic progression, / I laughed heartily at him as he committed a lapse in tone. / 16

Then that best of twice-borns, angered at me, gave a curse: / "Because I have been falsely laughed at, therefore you deserve a curse. / 17

This is the nature of mortals; therefore, become a mortal woman!" / Then, together with my father, that lord of sages was propitiated by me: / 18

"Put an end to my curse, O lord, especially since I am foolish; / and may my human birth be in a good place and in a good family, O omnipresent one, / 19

and my time of death in a good place, in the dwelling of a brahmin!" / Then I was told by him: "In auspicious Camatkārapura, / 20

there is a lord of brahmins, Devaśarman, of noble family and learned in all śāstras. / His brahmin wife is renowned by the name Satyabhāmā. / 21

Entering her womb, undergo human existence! / When a sacrifice to the Grandfather [Brahmā] takes place in that kṣetra, / 22

at the time of the udgātṛ, when there is an error regarding the peg, / then he must be told by you, 'The peg has been placed in the wrong spot.' / In the midst of the assembly of all the gods, liberation will then occur for you." / 23

Look upon this divine, lovely body of mine, O best of twice-borns! / And see the aerial chariot that has arrived, sent by my father!' / 24

The udgātṛ said: / 'I am pleased with you, O large-eyed one, who have prevented an obstacle to the sacrifice; / my darśana should not be in vain, especially since you are of divine origin. / Therefore, choose a boon from me, O Audumbarī, which you desire.' / 25

Audumbarī said: / 'If you grant me a boon, being pleased, O best of brahmins, / then grant it in the presence of all the gods: / 26

"From this day onward, whoever performs a sacrifice on earth, / an image like mine must be placed in the middle of that sacrificial pavilion. / 27

Then, right before me, the movement of the pegs must be performed; / by that being done, there shall be satisfaction for me who dwell in heaven."' / 28

Sūta said: / Having heard her word, the udgātṛ then said to her: / 'From this day onward, whoever performs a sacrifice here, / 29

having placed that [image] in the middle of the sacrificial pavilion and worshipped it with unguents, / garments, ornaments, fragrant powders, and flowers, / 30

shall then perform the movement of the pegs in front of it.' / This statement was spoken by me in the assembly of all the gods. / 31

"It will not be otherwise; good fortune to you! Attain supreme contentment! / Whatever rite of the sacrificial assembly is performed without you, auspicious one,

all of that will be in vain, just like an oblation poured onto ashes. / Whatever woman shall worship you with fruits in the midst of the assembly,

for every fruit, her welfare will be multiplied ten-millionfold. / And all quarters shall be fruitful [for her], of this there is no doubt.

And whatever woman offers garments, ornaments, flowers, incense, and the like / to you, her reward for all that will be ten-millionfold.

Wait for a short while; do not mount the aerial chariot yet! / O goddess, for a certain matter I shall perform your worship."

The gods said: / "A fitting utterance has been spoken by you, O best of the twice-born! / By our word also, this shall come to be true."

Sūta said: / Thus addressed by the Udgātṛ and told, "Wait, wait!", / the goddess, taken up by the excellent aerial chariot, stood in the sky.

At that very time, the daughter of Devaśarman was there. / All the women, O best of the twice-born, [seeing] the goddess staying in the midst of the town,

approached out of curiosity, eager for a darśana of her. / One bringing fruits and another garments with devotion, / she was duly worshipped by all of them, O best of the twice-born.

Hearing [of this] regarding his daughter, that Devaśarman also arrived / together with his wife, delighted in heart, with eyes widened in wonder.

As he along with his wife was about to pay obeisance to her, O best of the twice-born, / he was then addressed and stopped by her:

"Father, father! Do not make an obeisance to me together with mother! / The state of attaining heaven that I have reached will surely come to ruin.

Stay right here with your wife until today ends, O lord. / Taking you together with your wife, I will go to the abode of the thirty [gods] / in this very body, after begging the best of the gods."

Then the two joyful parents remained there, / gazing upon that worship offered by the people to their daughter, / considering themselves then superior to all embodied beings.

Whatever kinsmen he had, all of them too, O best of the twice-born, / praising that daughter, stood near her.

In the meantime, Bhṛgu arrived where the Grandfather [Brahmā] was. / Coming forth from that assembly, he said to him with folded hands:

"O lord, by the Udgātṛ his own path, devoid of the Veda, / has been established by setting a girl in the midst of the assembly, O lord of gods!

Divinity was proclaimed of that Nāgara woman in the presence of the gods. / How can we drink the Soma there together with her?"

Then Brahmā summoned him and asked, O best of the twice-born: / "Who is that maiden, and for what purpose was she placed in the midst of the assembly by you?"

He said: "She is a Gandharva woman fallen by a curse, / descended into a brāhmaṇa's house; her liberation was foretold at Brahmā's sacrifice.

Formerly, O lord, [it was declared] by Nārada in anger, and likewise with joy. / A boon was given to her by me now, being pleased, O lord:

'Your peg-laying shall not be carried out outside anywhere.' / She was brought to consecration by all the gods, O great-grandfather!"

In the meantime, there arrived from Kailāsa, O best of the twice-born, / having heard of the māhātmya born of the audumbarī post on the surface of the earth,

at the sacrifice of the Grandfather born in Hāṭakeśvara, / in that most sacred kṣetra, for the sake of worship, O best of the twice-born:

the delighted host of Mothers, sixty-eight in number, / who are worshipped by Gandharvas, Siddhas, Sādhyas, and the hosts of Maruts.

With diverse forms causing wonder to the worlds, / some dancing, some laughing, and others singing,

hearing their clamor, all the gods headed by Brahmā and Viṣṇu, / together with Indra, were filled with supreme amazement.

Saying, "What is this?", they arose from the sacrificial pavilion. / In the meantime, all of them arrived where the Lotus-Born [Brahmā] was.

Having bowed with their heads, delighted, they then spoke respectfully: / "We have come thus, having heard of your excellent sacrifice,

and invited, O lord of gods, by Vāyu, the life of the universe. / Yet we have no sacrificial shares in the sacrificial rite;

for all these days, we did not come here because of that, O Lotus-Born. / Having heard of the extraordinary audumbarī post, we have therefore come.

She, having been seen, has been worshipped by us with prostrations, / because she is the daughter of the high-souled Gandharva Parvata,

granting all desires to women, consecrated by all the gods. / Show us our dwelling place, O god, Great-Grandfather!

And our host consists of sixty-eight [Mothers]." / Having heard that, the Lotus-Born, knowing the sacrificial pavilion to be crowded,

filled with all the hosts of gods, thirty-three in number, / then called a resident of the city standing in their midst, / endowed with sacred learning and study, like another Bṛhaspati, / breaking his silence, the Grandfather spoke in gentle words:

"Go at my command, and speak to the vipras born of the Nāgara [lineage], / the chiefs of the sixty-eight gotras:

'These hosts of Mothers have arrived, sixty-eight in number. / One chief of each gotra, in proportion to each one,

must now grant a place in their respective divisions of land. / This assistance must be rendered to me by you, O Nāgaras, / showing abundant favor, so that they may attain satisfaction.'"

Then, having gone quickly and assembled those Nāgaras, / he, endowed with modesty, spoke after bowing down to them.

Having heard that, all the Nāgaras attained supreme satisfaction. / They then gave their own place to each single host.

Then all those Mothers, having bowed to the Grandfather, / immediately thereafter [bowed] to Gāyatrī with devotion.

And all of them settled in the place designated by the brahmins, / worshipped and propitiated with various kinds of offerings.

Then, delighted, they sang, danced, and laughed. / Propitiated by the best of brahmins, they then said:

"We will not go to another place; we will stay right here forever, / where all the best brahmins are endowed with such devotion,

and where there is such a great sacred field, originating from Hāṭakeśvara." / At that very time, Sāvitrī was residing there.

As she was going, she was bowed down to and stopped by all the twice-born: / "Do not go to the sacrificial ground of the gods, O Sāvitrī, dear to your husband!

Brahmā has married an excellent woman named Gāyatrī."

Hearing their words, Sāvitrī, her eyes rolling, / filled with sorrow and grief, her eyes troubled with tears,

seeing them dancing and singing as well, / leaping on the surface of the earth, having attained the highest joy,

Sāvitrī then cursed [them] with a voice choked with tears: / "Since you have arrived after worshipping my co-wife,

and have made no obeisance to us, distressed by my sorrow, / therefore you shall never go to any other place!

And worship of you by the Nāgaras shall never happen; / nor shall a temple ever come to exist for you.

In the cold season, by cold, and in the hot season, by the [sun's] rays, / and in the rainy season, by the water, you will suffer intense distress!"

Having spoken thus, the goddess then remained right there, / surrounded by all the excellent women of the Nāgaras,

constantly being consoled by the conduct of the virtuous women. / At that very time, the blessed sharp-rayed [sun]

set, and a great sound arose in the sacrificial pavilion— / the great [sound] of the officiating brahmins, produced by the sacred scriptures.

Thus ends the one hundred and eighty-eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Departure of the Group of Mothers and the Curse Bestowed on the Group of Mothers by Sāvitrī', in the Māhātmya of Hāṭakeśvara Kṣetra, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [book] in the venerable Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses. 188.