Skandapurana 6.3.118

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then, O best of kings, one should go to the exceedingly splendid sacred ford / renowned as Indratīrtha on the southern bank of the Narmadā.

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / 'How did Indratīrtha come to be on the southern bank of the Narmadā? / I desire to hear, O best of brahmins, in full detail from beginning, middle, to end.'

Having heard this speech of the wise son of Dharma, / he narrated to him that ancient history as it happened.

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Having inspired confidence for a very long time in that mighty enemy of righteousness, / and having conquered and killed Vṛtra, Śacī's husband was departing;

as he was proceeding along the road, the dreadful guilt of killing a brahmin (brahmahatyā), / untiring day and night, pursued [him through] the three worlds.

Wherever the slayer of a brahmin went by conveyance with the gods / toward any splendid quarter, the murder would not release him from that direction.

For killing a brahmin, drinking liquor, theft, and intercourse with a guru's wife, / an expiation for sins is found, but not for betrayers of trust.

Looking upon the visage of a sinful act, a woman or a man / is purified by bath and charity, but never the betrayers of trust.

Hearing these and other words spoken by men like him, / the king of gods fell into deep dejection.

Abandoning his kingship along with the gods, he set out for supreme austerity. / Children, wife, house, kingdom, and various wealth—

these fruits of dharma bring glory to a lord of men. / Thinking, "Let [him] enjoy the fruit of dharma," friends, kin, and relatives [gather];

while all these watch, sin is suffered alone. / Forsaking supreme pleasure and emaciating his body,

that king of gods wandered to sacred fords and temples: / to all the sacred fords of the Gaṅgā, and likewise to those of the Yamunā,

to all those belonging to Sarasvatī, and to the oceanic ones one by one, / to rivers, divine lakes, ponds, and pools.

The sin did not leave him, even in the subsequent assembly of the gods. / Along both banks at the sacred fords along the course of the Revā,

worshiping Mahādeva, he reached Skandatīrtha. / Staying there, with fasts, the kṛcchra and cāndrāyaṇa penances, and the like,

emaciating his body, he found no peace anywhere. / In the summer standing in the midst of five fires, in the rains sleeping on the bare ground,

and in winter wearing wet clothes, he practiced vast austerity. / While Indra, whose self was known, was thus practicing austerity,

ten thousand years passed, O Bhārata. / Then, when the eleventh year arrived, O best of kings,

suddenly the blessed god, the supreme lord, was pleased, / and likewise the brahmin-seers and perfected ones, headed by Brahmā and Viṣṇu.

All the gods came there where the god Śatakratu was. / Seeing the gods and the seers assembled, the wise

priest of all the gods bowed down and said: / "It is known to all of them how the slaying of Vṛtra was done,

and formerly by your command, O Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara. / Nevertheless, considering him a slayer of a brahmin who committed a sin,

as he wanders among all the sacred fords, the murder of a brahmin does not leave him. / The entire world, the three worlds with all that moves and is still, does not rejoice:

just as [the sky] is bereft of the moon and sun, so is a kingdom without a ruler. / Therefore, O best of gods, listen now to my petition:

let all the great seers and [gods] make Śakra free of fault." / Hearing those auspicious words uttered from the mouth of Bṛhaspati,

the blessed Brahmā, grandfather of the worlds, then spoke: / "This exceedingly dreadful sin born of the murder of a brahmin,

I shall cast in four portions among deities and beings." / Having spoken thus, the wise one cast [a part of] the sin upon the water;

hence water must be drunk by the wise [only] after plunging in, not otherwise. / The lotus-born one cast the second portion upon the earth;

on that account the earth has become at all times unfit for food. / Casting half of that half upon women on their second day, O Yudhiṣṭhira,

the blessed god spoke further again: / "Because of this, a menstruating woman has become untouchable, truly untouchable,

for four days by the wise, because of the greatness of the great sin." / Then, having divided the fourth portion, the supreme lord [cast it]

upon a twice-born man engaged in agriculture, cattle-rearing, trade, and serving Śūdras. / Then all the gods and great seers congratulated

the lord of the gods, standing in the waters of the Narmadā, with agreeable words. / Then Maheśvara, being pleased, offered him a choice of boon:

"I will grant a boon, O lord of gods; choose a boon as you desire."

Indra said: / "If you are pleased, O lord of gods, if a boon is to be given to me, / I will establish [a liṅga] here; be present here forever."

Saying to him, "So be it," Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara / went, entering the sky, praised by the great seers.

When the gods of gods had departed, the king of gods, Śatakratu, / established Mahādeva and went to the abode of the thirty [gods].

Whoever bathes at Indratīrtha and offers libations to ancestors and gods, / even if joined with major sins, is freed from all sins.

Whoever bathes at Indratīrtha and worships the supreme lord / obtains the abundant fruit of a horse sacrifice.

All this excellent māhātmya of the sacred ford has been told to you, / by merely hearing which men are freed from sins.

Thus ends the one hundred and eighteenth chapter, titled "Description of the Greatness of Indratīrtha," in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth [section], the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.