Skandapurana 6.3.227

Mārkaṇḍeya said:
These have been told to you in brief, focusing on the prominent ones;
I am unable to declare in detail the number of sacred fords, O son of Pāṇḍu.

This pure, clear river is famed throughout the three worlds:
Narmadā, the best of rivers, beloved of Mahādeva.

Whoever constantly meditates upon the Narmadā in his mind, O king,
speedily obtains the supreme fruit of a hundred cāndrāyaṇa penances.

Men lacking faith and nihilists who reside here
fall into a dreadful hell; thus the Supreme Lord has said.

The god Maheśvara himself attends upon the Narmadā constantly;
therefore, she is to be known as a holy river that removes the sin of killing a brahmin.

She is the Gaṅgā of Maheśvara, born from Maheśvara's body;
she is declared to be the southern Gaṅgā of the Bhārata realm, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

The Jāhnavī is the Gaṅgā of Viṣṇu; the Sarasvatī is the Gaṅgā of Brahmā;
this Revā is the Gaṅgā of Maheśvara; there is no doubt about this.

Just as the god assumed a threefold form in the Supreme Being,
called Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśa, and just as there is indeed no difference among them,
so too, O son of Pṛthā, do not conceive any difference in mind among the triad of rivers.

Indeed, sacred fords here are in their tens of millions, hundreds of thousands, O descendant of Bharata,
and likewise in their thousands along both banks of the Revā,

situated in trees, in the atmosphere, and in water and on dry land.
Who is able to determine them all—whether the Lord of Speech or Maheśvara?

By remembering it, the sin born of one birth is destroyed; by seeing it, of three births;
by bathing in the Revā, the sin committed across seven births is destroyed.

Rites to the gods have been performed by him, fires have been offered to according to rule,
and the four Vedas have been studied by him who has immersed himself in the Revā.

The sacred fords have been told to you by me by way of prominence and in brief;
a full account, O son of Pṛthā, cannot be heard or told by me.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:
Tell me the procedure, the restraints, and the observances;
when one goes for the sake of expiation, tell me what the procedure is.

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Well asked, O great king, concerning what is conducive to the highest welfare in the other world.
Listen attentively; I shall tell you according to my knowledge.

With an impermanent body, one should perform permanent action.
For the vital breaths will inevitably depart, like guests.

One should extract the essence from the essenceless body: gift-giving from wealth, truth of speech,
fame and righteousness from one's life, and doing good to others.

In this cauldron of great delusion, with the sun as fire and night and day as fuel,
stirring with the ladle of months and seasons, Time cooks living beings: such is the news.

Knowing the action declared by the ordinance of the scriptures, you should perform it here.
Neither this world nor the next, nor happiness, exists for one whose mind is full of doubt.

In a mantra, a sacred ford, a twice-born, a deity, an astrologer, medicine, and a guru—
whatever disposition one holds, such is the fruition attained.

Whatever is offered in sacrifice, given, performed as austerity, or done without faith / is said to be nonexistent, O Pārtha; it is of no account either after death or here in this world.

He who, having discarded the ordinance of the scriptures, acts according to his own desire, / attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme goal.

There are diverse means here for the purification of men's bodies; / [yet] there is nothing equal to resorting to a sacred ford for the purification of one's body.

Either by penances such as the kṛcchra and cāndrāyaṇa, or secondly by resorting to a sacred ford: / when a man sets out directed toward a sacred ford, O king, / then the gods and ancestors, moving in the sky, follow him.

Filled with supreme joy, they proceed following him. / Having performed an abhyudayika śrāddha and taken leave of the deity,

and of one's dear kinsmen, and of Viṣṇu, and of Śaṅkara together with the lord of the gaṇas, / he should depart, permitted by brahmins, having also undertaken the observances:

eating once a day, celibacy, sleeping on the ground, truthfulness in speech, / abstaining from another's food, and complete avoidance of accepting gifts;

likewise having renounced malice, deceit, and the like, O best of kings, / assuming the dress of a holy man, adorned with humility,

free from hypocrisy and egotism—he enjoys the fruit of the sacred ford. / He whose hands, feet, and mind are well restrained,

and [who possesses] learning, austerity, and fame—he enjoys the fruit of the sacred ford. / Free from anger, O king of kings, devoted to truth, steadfast in his vows,

and looking upon [all] beings as himself—he enjoys the fruit of the sacred ford. / Tonsure and fasting: this is the rule at all sacred fords,

excepting Kurukṣetra, Viśālā, Virajā, and Gayā. / Ritual ablution, worship of the gods, and the offering of piṇḍas in a śrāddha,

and feeding brahmins according to one's means: this is the rule at all sacred fords. / And he who, with a restrained mind, departs for the sake of expiation—

I will tell his rule too; listen attentively, O Pārtha: / eating once a day, celibacy, eating food without salt and pungent spices,

approaching the sacred ford after bathing, eating single meals of sacrificial food (haviṣya), / he should avoid talking with fallen persons, as well as much chatter;

he should avoid slander, another's food, and the company of the low-born; / and he should travel barefoot, wearing two clean garments.

Having formed a resolve in his mind, he should depart with the permission of brahmins. / Going to the sacred ford, bathing there, and worshipping the gods,

he would become free from evil deeds if he is truly repentant. / In the Veda, in a sacred ford, in a god, in an astrologer, in medicine, and in a guru,

whatever one's inner disposition is, such is the perfection he attains. / And concerning the fruits of the sacred fords stated in the Purāṇas and Smṛtis,

abandoning doubt born of [regarding them as] mere praise, O bull of the Bharatas, / having made inquiry according to the scriptures, and having determined [the matter] properly,

for the purification of those physically unable to perform kṛcchra penances, / knowing the specific sacred fords, one should indeed perform the expiation.

Listen to that as appropriate regarding the Narmadā, O great king: / if a man travels for twenty-four yojanas,

he obtains the auspicious fruit of twenty-four kṛcchras. / Beyond that, a pādakṛcchra is prescribed for each yojana.

And within that distance, O great king, whoever travels desiring purification— / the wise consider an expiation [accrued] for him at every yojana.

At the place called Praṇava, O great king, and likewise at the confluence of the Revā and Uri, / and going likewise to Bhṛgukṣetra, that fruit is said to be doubled.

And at the confluence of the river of the gods, [and] at Śūlabheda, O best of kings, / it is double less a quarter; likewise at the Karajā confluence.

Similarly at the Eraṇḍī confluence, and at the confluence of the Kapilā; / some say it is tripled at the confluence of the Kubjā and Revā.

And at Oṃkāra, O great king, that too would be appropriate. / Likewise at the confluences of other rivers with the Revā,

they say the fruit, as stated before, is one and a half kṛcchras, O Yudhiṣṭhira. / One attains a threefold kṛcchra at the confluence of the Revā and the ocean.

A fourfold kṛcchra is declared at Śuklatīrtha, O Yudhiṣṭhira. / Having gone yojana by yojana for twenty-four yojanas, / whoever resides there for a very long time at each place, O best of kings,

engaged in the practice of serving the Revā, endowed with pure intellect, / free from hypocrisy and egotism, he is liberated for the sake of purification.

Thus has been told to you, O Pārtha, the definition of the purpose of expiation, / and the rule of the pilgrimage to the Revā; this is a secret, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Tell me the measure of a yojana, O best of sages, / knowing which there would be certainty in my mind regarding the cause of mental purification.

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Listen, O Pāṇḍava; I will explain the measure of a yojana, / and the specific [merits] arising from kṛcchra in accordance with the specific pilgrimages.

Eight middles of barley grains laid crosswise, or three rice grains lengthwise, / are said to be the measure of a finger-breadth (aṅgula); a span (vitasti) is twelve finger-breadths.

Two spans are a cubit (hasta); a bow (dhanus) is recognized as four cubits. / That very [measure] is called a staff (daṇḍa) by those who know the distinctions, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

Two thousand bows are a krośa, and four krośas are a yojana. / This measure of a yojana has been told to you, O bull of the Bharatas,

by which one who sets out on a pilgrimage knows the measure of fruit earned by himself. / The fruit of a kṛcchra at a sacred ford consisting of water has been declared, O best of kings;

I shall tell you according to each distinction at each previously mentioned place. / Listen to that from me, O protector of the earth, as it is told to one who has faith.

For at whatever sacred ford a fruit such as a kṛcchra has been declared, O king, / even there, by fasting, one obtains an even greater fruit of a kṛcchra.

And from daily recitation (jāpya) according to one's capacity, one obtains the fruit of a kṛcchra. / Having bathed there, and having seen and worshipped the renowned Lord of the gods,

and by bowing down, O Pārtha, an intelligent person obtains the fruit of an arduous penance. / The foremost fruit at a sacred ford comes from ritual ablution, and the second from fasting;

the third from darśana, worship, and the like of the renowned deity; / and the fourth by means of reciting prayers according to one's bodily strength day and night.

The fifth is indeed to be conceived from afar at all sacred fords: / one situated on the bank within a yojana obtains a tenth part of the fruit,

from the declared fruit of that sacred ford, O Pārtha; no doubt should be entertained here.

Indeed, an immersion accompanied by fasting in a great river, / even within a yojana, O Pārtha, gives people the fruit of an arduous penance.

A watercourse flowing for six yojanas is a canal; minor rivers run for twelve; / rivers flow for twenty-four, and great rivers are longer than that.

Thus ends the two hundred and twenty-seventh chapter, named 'Account of the Specific Rules of Pilgrimage and Other Matters', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.