Skandapurana 1.4.37: adhyāyaḥ 39

Nārada said: / "With an extent of seventy thousand [yojanas] mutually are the subterranean realms: / Atala, Vitala, Nitala, Rasātala,

Talātala, Sutala, and Pātāla is the seventh. / Their grounds are black, white, reddish, yellow, gravelly, rocky, and golden,

Adorned with excellent mansions, O descendant of Kuru. / In them dwell Dānavas, Daiteyas, and serpents by the thousands.

They are more delightful than even heaven, as seen by me many times; / where serpents possess various gems that bring delight.

Filled with the daughters of Daityas and Dānavas of magnificent beauty, / in Pātāla, who would not feel joy, even one who is liberated?

Where there is neither heat nor cold, neither rain nor misery, / and where the time is spent in great enjoyment of food and delicacies.

And in the seventh subterranean realm is the liṅga Śrī-Hāṭakeśvara, / erected by Brahmā, O son of Pṛthā, a thousand yojanas in height.

The temple of that golden liṅga measures ten thousand yojanas, / celestial, made of all jewels, adorned with various wonders.

And the best among various serpent-kings worship that liṅga. / Below that is abundant water, and below that, the hells are remembered,

Into which sinners are cast down; hear of them, O great-minded one. / There are fifty-five crores, and twenty-one are chief [hells]:

Raurava, Śūkara, Rodha, Tāla, as well as Viśasana, / Mahājvāla, Taptakumbha, Lavaṇa, and Vimohaka,

Rudhirāndha, Vaitaraṇī, Kṛmiśa, Kṛmibhojana, / Asipatravana, Kṛṣṇa, and the dreadful Lālābhakṣya,

Likewise the sinful Pūyavaha, Vahnijvāla, and Adhaḥśiras, / Saṃdaṃśa, Kṛṣṇasūtra, Tamas, and Avīci,

Śvabhojana, Visūci, and yet another Avīci. / A false witness goes to Raurava, and one who confines cows and brahmins to Rodha;

A wine-drinker goes to Śūkara; a killer of men through deceit goes to Tāla; / a violator of the guru's bed goes to Taptakumbha; and one who ruins a devotee goes to Taptaloha;

One who despises gurus is cast into Mahājvāla; / a destroyer of scriptures goes to Lavaṇa; and a transgressor of bounds to Vimohaka;

A hater of the gods goes to Kṛmibhakṣya, but a performer of evil sacrifices goes to Kṛmiśa; / one who eats before [offering to] ancestors and gods goes to Lālābhakṣya;

One who opposes a false livelihood, and a maker of deceitful weapons goes to Viśasana; / one who accepts evil goes indeed to Adhomukha; one who eats alone goes to Pūyavāhaka;

And a rearer of cats, cocks, dogs, and birds goes [to hell]; / one who sets fire to houses of the deaf and blind, to fields, grass, grain, and the like,

And a person who lives by astrology or the stage goes to Vaitaraṇī; / one who is arrogant through wealth and youth, and a stealer of wealth, goes to Kṛṣṇa.

He who fells trees in vain goes to Asipatravana (the Forest of Sword Leaves); / all those who live by deceit fall into the blaze of fire.

He who approaches another man’s wife and consumes another man’s food goes to Saṃdaṃśa (the Pincers); / and so do those devoted to daytime sleep and those intent on breaking vows.

And those intoxicated by bodily pride go to Śvabhojana (Dog-Food); / those who do not respect Śiva and Hari go to Avīci itself.

Through sins such as these, by resorting to the multitude of unscriptural ways, / [people] fall by thousands into terrible hells.

Therefore, a wise man who desires deliverance from these / should worship both gods, Hari and Hara, according to the Vedic path.

In the lower portion of the hells resides the one called Kālāgni; / beneath him is Haṭṭaka, and beneath him Ananta is remembered.

On the tip of whose head this entire universe acts like a mustard seed; / because of his endless (ananta) power, he is celebrated as Ananta.

There are the elephants of the quarters: Padma, Kumuda, Añjana, and Vāmana; / beneath them is the cosmic egg-shell, and Ekavīrā is there.

Four hundred and ninety thousand [yojanas]; / the water [there] is recorded to be of that very measure.

Beneath that are hells numbering crores; then a great fire of two crores; / beneath that, darkness is spoken of as extending forty thousand [yojanas].

Then further are forty-four crores, / eighty-nine lakhs, / and eighty thousand [yojanas].

Beneath that is the cosmic egg-shell, another [layer] measuring one crore; / the goddess Kapālīśā is there, holding a staff in her hand,

surrounded by crores upon crores of goddesses, ruling there; / the scorching fire propelled by the exhalation of Saṃkarṣaṇa,

drives Kālāgni, and the world is burned at the end of the kalpa. / In this manner, O Bhārata, the lower thread has been laid out.

Hear from me of those guardians in the central thread and in the cosmic shell: / Vasudhāman is stationed in the east, and Śaṅkhapāla in the south;

Takṣakeśa stands in the west, and in the north Ketumant; / Harasiddhi, Suparṇākṣī, Bhāskarā, Yoganandinī—

accompanied by crores upon crores of goddesses, the goddess protects this. / Thus by whom this greatly wondrous brahmāṇḍa has been established,

to them I constantly bow: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara. / The world of Viṣṇu and the world of Rudra are proclaimed to be outside this.

And Brahmā is not able to describe it, nor are people like us; / where the liberated go, constantly dedicated to Hari and Hara.

This brahmāṇḍa is enclosed on all sides by an egg-shell, / just as the seed of a wood-apple is firmly enclosed by its shell.

It is surrounded by water ten times [its size], and that by fire; / fire by air, air by space, and that by egoity;

egoity by the intellect, and that by primordial matter (prakṛti); / all these six are said to be tenfold [the former], and the seventh is that.

The realm of primordial matter, O Pārtha, is proclaimed to be infinite; / there are thousands, myriad thousands of cosmic eggs,

hundreds of crores upon crores of such eggs here; / all of them are indeed of this kind, such as has been described.

To that Sadāśiva whose majesty is such, O Pārtha, I bow! / Ah, dull and sinful is he—who could be more mindless than he,

who does not worship Śiva, the deliverer from such delusion? / Now I shall proclaim to you the measure of time; understand that.

Fifteen nimeṣas are called a kāṣṭhā, and thirty kāṣṭhās are reckoned a kalā; / thirty kalās make a muhūrta, and thirty of those make day and night together.

There are five periods in a day, each of three muhūrtas; hear them: / morning (prātar), then mid-morning (saṃgava), midday (madhyāhna), afternoon (aparāhṇa),

and the fifth is evening (sāyāhna); and there are fifteen muhūrtas [in a day]. / Fifteen days and nights are termed a fortnight (pakṣa).

A month is spoken of as consisting of two fortnights; two months born of the sun form a season (ṛtu); / three seasons make a solstice (ayana), and two solstices are called a year.

They declare the month to have four varieties, and the year to have five varieties: / the first is saṃvatsara, the second parivatsara,

the third is idvatsara, the fourth is anuvatsara, / and the fifth is named yuga; this is indeed the determination of the reckoning.

A month of humans is a day and night of the ancestors: / the dark fortnight is declared their day, and the bright fortnight their night.

A human year is known as a divine day: / the northern solstice (uttarāyaṇa) is the day, and the southern solstice (dakṣiṇāyana) is the night.

A year of the gods is considered a day of the seven seers; / and a year of the seven seers is known as a day of Dhruva.

Seventeen lakhs and twenty-eight thousand years of humans / make the Kṛta [Yuga]; then the Tretā Yuga

is further twelve lakhs ninety-six thousand; / eight lakhs and sixty-four thousand is the Dvāpara;

and the Kali is recorded as four lakhs and thirty-two thousand. / These four together are called a yuga of the gods.

The lifespan of a Manu is a little over seventy-one yugas; / and by the time of fourteen Manus a day of Brahmā [is completed].

With a thousand such yugas [there is] a kalpa; hear them: / Bhavodbhava, Tapabhavya, Ṛtu, Vahni, Varāhaka,

Sāvitra, Āsika, Gāndhāra, Kuśika, / Ṛṣabha, Khaḍga, Gāndhārīya, Madhyama,

Vairāja, Niṣāda, and Meghavāhana as the fifth [of that set]; / Citraka, Jñāna, Ākūti, Mona, Daṃśa, Bṛṃhaka,

Śveta, Lohitarakta, Pītavāsas, the Lord Śiva, / and Sarvarūpa; this makes a month, and thus up to the span of a hundred years.

The first half (pūrvārdha) and the second half (parārdha)—this is recorded as the measure of Brahmā; / and of Viṣṇu and Śaṃkara, I am not capable of describing [their span].

Where am I, of little intellect, O Pārtha, and where are the other two, Hari and the Three-Eyed Lord? / Even in the Pātālas, [time] is reckoned solely by divine measure.

Thus has it been indicated to you by intellect; listen again to that which belongs to Prakṛti.

Thus ends the determination of Brahmā's [lifespan].
Śrī Nārada said:
There was one named Ṛṣabha, by whose name various heretical doctrines / will arise in the Kali age, O Pārtha, deluding the worlds.

His son was Bharata, and Śataśṛṅga was his son. / To him were born eight sons and one daughter.

Indradvīpa, Kaseru, Tāmradvīpa, Gabhastimān, / Nāga, Saumya, Gāndharva, Varuṇa, and Kumārikā.

And the face of the maiden, O Pārtha, had the form of a she-goat. / Hear the entire cause of that, full of great wonder:

Up to the confluence of the Mahī and the ocean, adorned with rows of trees, / dense with thickets of jālī-shrubs and creepers, in the vicinity of Stambhatīrtha,

A certain she-goat, wandering from the midst of a flock of goats, / wandered and arrived at that impassable region.

Wandering here and there within the jālī-thicket on all sides, / she was unable to get out, afflicted with hunger and thirst, fair though she was.

Entangled in the jālī-thicket, she then met her death. / After some time, her [body] below the head severed,

fell on a new-moon day into the confluence of the Mahī and the ocean, / which consists of all sacred fords and frees from all sins.

Her head, remaining in that very state, stayed there intact; / caught in the jālī-shrub, it did not fall into the water.

Because the rest of the body fell into the confluence of the Mahī and the ocean, / by the power of that sacred ford, O best of the Kurus, that she-goat

became the daughter of King Śakaśṛṅga among the Siṃhalas. / Clearly, her face was born resembling that of a she-goat.

In the rest of her body, the auspicious girl shone as a divine, beautiful woman. / To the previously childless king, she was equal to a hundred sons,

a daughter born with joy, increasing the delight of her kinsmen. / Then, seeing her face with the form of a she-goat,

all those royal attendants were seized with astonishment. / The king, together with his inner quarters, was plunged into profound dejection.

All the subjects were grieved at seeing such a form. / Greatly amazed, the citizens said, “What wonder is this?”

Then, having reached youth, resembling a veritable daughter of the gods, / she looked at her own face in a mirror and remembered her previous birth.

By the power of that sacred ford, she informed her parents: / “Grief should certainly not be felt on my account, dear father!

Do not grieve, mother; this is the fruit earned in a previous birth.” / Having spoken thus of her own former history, that maiden

petitioned her parents to travel to that region / where her body from the previous birth had fallen.

“Dear father, I shall go to the confluence of the Mahī and the ocean. / O king, act in such a way that I may reach that place.”

Then her father, Śataśṛṅga, promised her accordingly. / The king arranged her conveyance in boats laden with gems.

Then she too, having reached Stambhatīrtha accompanied by boatmen, / made abundant gifts, presenting all her possessions.

Searching within the jālī-thicket, she then saw her own head / reduced to bones and skin; taking it with great effort,

she cremated it in the vicinity of the confluence and cast the bones into the confluence. / Then, by the power of the sacred ford, her face became radiant like the moon.

Neither celestial maidens, nor serpent women, / nor mortal women had such a face as her face became.

All gods, asuras, and mortals were captivated by her beauty. / They wooed her in many ways, but she did not desire a husband.

Joyfully, she undertook difficult and severe austerity there. / Then, when a full year had passed, the god of gods, Maheśvara,

appeared before her eyes and said, “I am the giver of boons.” / Then, having worshipped him, the maiden spoke these words:

“If you are pleased, O Lord of gods, if a boon is to be granted to me, / then establish your presence here for all time, O Śaṃkara.”

When Śarva said, “So be it,” the maiden was delighted. / Where the head of that she-goat was cremated, O best of the Kurus,

there she installed Śiva Barkareśa at that time. / Hearing this great wonder from my mouth, from Talātala

the lord of serpents named Svastika came to see the maiden. / As he traveled with his head, where the earth was cast up by him,

northeast of Barkareśa, a well named Svastika came to be, / filled with Gaṅgā water, O Pārtha, granting the fruit of all sacred fords.

Beholding the liṅga installed, Śiva was pleased and granted a boon: / “Those whose dead bodies are cremated here,

and whose bones are likewise cast into the ocean, shall attain an imperishable state. / Having dwelled in heaven for a very long time and returning here,

they become glorious kings, complete with all prosperity. / And whatever mortal worships Barkareśa with devotion,

after bathing in the water of the ocean and the Mahī, shall obtain his heart's desire. / Endowed with faith on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight in Kārttika,

a man who bathes in the well, offers oblations to his ancestors, / and worships Barkareśa is freed from sins associated with serpents.”

Having obtained all these boons in this manner, she returned again to Siṃhala / and related her history to her father, Śataśṛṅga.

Hearing that, the king and all the people, O Phālguna, / were astonished, praised the Mahītīrtha, and went there with deep devotion.

Having bathed and given various gifts, they then / returned once more to Siṃhala, delighted by the greatness of the sacred ford.

When the maiden did not desire a boon and wealth, listen, O king, / to what else the king then gave out of affection:

Dividing this Bhāratakhaṇḍa into nine parts, / he gave eight to his sons, and likewise the ninth to the maiden.

I shall describe their divisions adorned with mountains; / listen from me to the realms named after the sons and to the mountains.

Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Śuktimat, the Ṛkṣa mountain, / Vindhya, and Pāriyātra: these are the seven family-mountains here.

Beyond Mahendra, Indradvīpa is spoken of; / and this side of Pāriyātra, the Kaumārīka section is remembered.

All these sections measure one thousand [yojanas] each. / Hear also in brief, O Phālguna, the origin of the rivers:

The rivers headed by Vedasmṛti are considered to arise from Pāriyātra; / the rivers beginning with Narmadā and Sarasā have come forth from the Vindhya;

those beginning with Śatadrū and Candrabhāgā arise from the Ṛkṣa mountain; / those beginning with Ṛṣikulyā and Kumārī arise from the foothills of Śuktimat;

Tāpī, Payoṣṇī, Nirvindhyā, Kāverī, and the Mahī river, / Kṛṣṇā, Veṇī, and Bhīmarathī are remembered as originating at the foothills of the Sahya;

those headed by Kṛtamālā and Tāmraparṇī arise from Malaya; / those beginning with Trisāmā and Ṛṣyakulyā are remembered as originating from Mahendra.

Having thus distributed [the realms] to his sons and to the maiden, the lord of the earth, / Śataśṛṅga, went to the mountain in the north and performed austerity.

Having performed fierce austerity there, on the best of mountains, Śataśṛṅga, / that best of kings, Śataśṛṅga, went to the world of Brahmā—

where you were born, O son of Kuntī, of Pāṇḍu together with your brothers. / And the noble maiden, the virtuous woman residing at Stambhatīrtha,

performed austerity giving gifts with the wealth produced from her section. / Then, in the course of time, from the eight brothers

nine sons each were born, possessing great prowess, strength, and vigour. / Gathering together, they approached the maiden and said:

“You are our family goddess; show us favour, O auspicious one. / Divide our eight sections yourself / and give them to us seventy-two, so that there will be no division among us.”

Addressed thus, she who knew all duties and was equal to Brahmā in knowledge / made the nine sections into seventy-two divisions.

Their names, villages, cities, O Phālguna, / seacoasts, and their counts I shall describe to you in truth:

There were forty million villages in the province [of ...]; / the country called Bālāka [consists of] twenty-five million villages.

They know twelve and a half million villages in Purasāhaṇaka; / and four hundred thousand villages are remembered in Andhaka.

One hundred thousand villages is proclaimed in Nepāla; / the measure of thirty-six hundred thousand is proclaimed in Kānyakubja.

Seventy-two hundred thousand villages are remembered in Gājaṇaka; / likewise eighteen hundred thousand villages in the Gauḍa country.

In Kāmarūpa nine hundred thousand villages are proclaimed; / in Ḍāhala, named Veda, there are nine hundred thousand villages.

Just nine hundred thousand villages are proclaimed in Kāntipura; / and likewise nine hundred thousand are proclaimed in Mācipura.

So also in the Oḍḍiyāṇa country nine hundred thousand are proclaimed; / in the Jālandhara country nine hundred thousand are proclaimed.

In the Lohapūra country nine hundred thousand are declared; / and seven hundred thousand villages are proclaimed in Pāmbīpura.

Seven hundred thousand villages are proclaimed in Raṭarāja; / and Harīāla is measured as five hundred thousand villages.

Three hundred and fifty thousand are declared in the realm of Draḍa; / three hundred and fifty thousand are likewise declared in Vambhaṇavāhaka.

Twenty-one thousand villages are in Nīlapūraka; / likewise in the Amala realm, O son of Pṛthā, [there is] one hundred thousand villages.

In the country named Narendu [there is] one hundred and twenty-five thousand; / and in the Atilāṅgala country one hundred and twenty-five thousand is declared.

One million eight hundred and ninety-two thousand [villages are] in Mālava; / in the country Sayambhara one hundred and twenty-five thousand is declared.

And in Mevāḍa one hundred and twenty-five thousand is declared; / and Vāguri is proclaimed as eighty thousand.

Gurjarātra is proclaimed as having seventy thousand villages; / and likewise the Pāṇḍar realm has seventy thousand.

Jahāhuti [has] forty-two thousand; / the region of Kāśmīra is declared as sixty-eight thousand.

They know thirty-six thousand villages in Kauṅkaṇa; / Minor Kauṅkaṇa has one thousand four hundred and twenty.

Sindhu is proclaimed as having ten thousand villages.

The Kaccha region has one thousand four hundred and twenty; / Saurāṣṭra is said to have fifty-five thousand villages.

The Lāḍa country is proclaimed as having twenty-one thousand; / Atisindhu is said to have ten thousand villages; / and Aśvamukha, O son of Pṛthā, is said to have ten thousand.

Ekapāda is proclaimed as having ten thousand.

Likewise, the Sūryamukha country is remembered as having ten thousand; / the Ekabāhu country is said to have ten thousand.

The country named Sañjāyu [has] ten thousand; / the country named Śiva is remembered as having ten thousand; / likewise Kālahayañjaya is known to have ten thousand.

The Liṅgodbhava country has ten thousand; / and Bhadra and Devabhadra are remembered as having ten [thousand] each.

Caṭa and Virāṭaka are remembered as having thirty-six thousand; / Yamakoṭi is proclaimed as having thirty-six thousand.

The Rāmaka country is said to have one hundred and eighty million; / and these three—Tomara, Karṇāṭa, and Yugala—

each is declared to have one and a quarter lakh villages. / Strīrājya is proclaimed to have five lakh villages. // 39.153

The realm of Pulastya is said to have ten lakhs. / The two lands of Kāmboja and Kośala each have ten lakhs. // 39.154

Bālhika is proclaimed to have four lakh villages. / The land of Laṅkā is proclaimed to have thirty-six thousand. // 39.155

The land of Kuru is proclaimed to have sixty-four thousand. / Kirātavijaya, [also called] Jaya, is said to have one and a half lakhs. // 39.156

They declare five lakh villages in Vidarbhā. / Vardhamāna is proclaimed to have fourteen thousand. // 39.157

The island of Siṃhala is said to have ten thousand. / The land of Pāṇḍu has thirty-six thousand villages. // 39.158

Bhayāṇaka is declared to have one lakh of villages. / The land of Māgadha is said to have sixty-six thousand. // 39.159

The land of Pāṅgu has sixty thousand villages. / Varenduka is said to have thirty thousand villages. // 39.160

Mūlasthāna is proclaimed to have twenty-five thousand. / Yāvana is remembered as having forty thousand villages. // 39.161

Pakṣabāhu is declared to have just four thousand. / These seventy-two lands have been proclaimed with their numbers of villages. // 39.162

Thus, in this Bhāratakhaṇḍa, ninety-six crores / and seventy-two lakhs of cities are proclaimed, // 39.163

along with thirty-six thousand coastal shores, O descendant of Bharata. / Having thus divided the sections, she gave nine to her brothers' sons, // 39.164

and her own [portion] as well, even though they were unwilling; / for brothers become angry, [saying] that a sister should be respected. // 39.165

Reflecting thus toward her brothers, the auspicious lady gave [it to them]. / Having done that and gained their consent, she went to Stambhatīrtha. // 39.166

Then, among those lands, Kumārīśvara was declared / the best of all means for attaining the four aims of life. // 39.167

There too, that Kumārikā knew this secret field. / In the secret field, she, observing great vows, worshipped Kumāreśa. // 39.168

Bathing at the confluence of the six [rivers], she remained there. / Then, with the passage of time, the temple built by Skanda // 39.169

having decayed, she had a new one made of gold. / Thereupon Mahādeva, pleased, highly gratified by her devotion, // 39.170

arose visibly from the liṅga of Kumāra and spoke to her: / ‘O fortunate lady, I am pleased with your devotion and your wisdom. // 39.171

This decayed temple has been restored; I am pleased by that. / O Kumārikā, I shall become famous by your name. // 39.172

The maker and the restorer are both considered equal in merit. / Therefore, people will call me Kumāreśa [and] Kumārīśa. // 39.173

Whatever boons were given at Barkareśa, they are granted forever. / Your time too has arrived near, O fair-complexioned lady. // 39.174

For a woman without a husband there is neither heaven nor liberation, / just as [it happened] to the aged maiden on the auspicious bank of the Sarasvatī. // 39.175

Therefore, here at this sacred ford, choose as your husband the one known as Mahākāla, / who has attained perfection, O auspicious, fair-complexioned lady.’ // 39.176

Then, at the word of Rudra, she chose him as her husband / and went to Rudra's world together with Mahākāla. // 39.177

There Pārvatī embraced her and, delighted, said to her: / ‘Because, O auspicious lady, you drew the earth like a picture, // 39.178

therefore become my friend under the name Citralekhā.’ / Then that auspicious lady became her friend named Citralekhā, // 39.179

by whom Aniruddha was described as an excellent husband for Uṣā, / she who was the foremost of yoginīs and the beloved of Mahākāla. // 39.180

In the waters she drank a droplet of rain when a hundred years were complete; / performing austerity, she is therefore called an apsaras in heaven. // 39.181

Such was the maiden, O Phālguna, who established this liṅga / that bestows auspiciousness, known as Barkareśvara. // 39.182

Therefore, the cremation of men and the casting of bones here / are declared superior to Prayāga, according to the word of Maheśa.” // 39.183

Thus ends the thirty-ninth chapter, entitled “Description of the Māhātmya of Barkareśvara,” in the Kaumārikākhaṇḍa of the first [section], the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses. // 39