Skandapurana 1.4.8: adhyāyaḥ 10

Nārada said: / Having heard these words of the vulture, filled with sorrow and wonder, / Indradyumna took leave of him and prepared to die.

Then, seeing him thus wishing to die, [the vulture] along with Kauśika and the others / reflected, and then spoke of someone having a longer life than himself:

"Do not do so! Listen to [my] word, O good man! There is one older / even than me, and he will clearly know what you desire.

In Lake Mānasa lives a tortoise renowned by the name of Mantharaka; / nothing is unknown to him. Come, let us go there!"

Then, trusting [his words], they—the king, the sage, the vulture, and the crane, / together with the owl—all went, wishing to see the tortoise.

The tortoise, stationed on the shore of the lake, seeing them approaching from afar, / panicked and entered the water very swiftly then.

Kauśika then, laughing, spoke these words himself to him: / "Why, O tortoise, have you fled today and turned away even when guests have arrived?

Fire is the guru of the twice-born, the brahmin of the castes, the husband of women, / the father is the guru of sons, and the arrived guest is the guru of all.

Abandoning this righteousness, why do you turn away from hospitality / and take upon yourself the sin of all? Speak your answer now, O tortoise!"

The tortoise said: / "Being very old, I indeed know how to perform the respectful rites of hospitality, / and reverence towards arrived guests, as determined in the treatises on dharma.

There is a very great reason in this matter; listen, I shall tell it to you. / I have not turned my face away [from anyone] in all these days,

holding the good vow of all kinds of hospitality toward any guest who arrived. / But who is this fifth one among you, seen to have an upright form?

It is King Indradyumna; I fear him exceedingly! / Formerly, when he was the sacrificer in the city named Raucaka,

my back was burnt by the sacrificial fire, and even today it is not free of scars. / Therefore, fear has arisen in me once more: will he now again

burn me on the earth, establishing an enclosure for the pressing of soma?" / At the conclusion of the tortoise's statement, O best of the Kurus,

a shower of flowers fell from the sky, released by groups of apsarases, / and celestial instruments sounded at the restoration of the king's fame.

Astonished, they saw an aerial chariot stationed before them, / occupied at that time by a messenger of the gods for the sake of Indradyumna.

The gods and brahmins bestowed unwaning blessings upon him; / there was a great shout of acclaim in heaven for that king.

Then, clinging to the aerial chariot, the messenger of the gods spoke loudly / this to Indradyumna, while the dwellers of heaven listened:

The messenger of the gods said: / "Now your stainless fame has been renewed, O protector of the earth, / even in the three worlds. Therefore, quickly mount this aerial chariot!

Let it be gone to the world of Brahmā, which endures until the end of the kalpa, acquired by austerity! / I have been sent by him alone for the purpose of bringing you.

As long as a man's fame remains renowned on earth, / so long does he dwell in heaven, when endless merit exists.

The construction of temples, lakes, large wells, wells, and gardens— / indeed for this purpose is it designated as 'pūrta' in the dharma treatises."

Indradyumna said: / "These are my friends: Mārkaṇḍa, the crane, and Kauśika, / and the vulture and the tortoise; this power of theirs has brought about my advancement.

Therefore, if these go together with me to the world of Brahmā, / standing in front, then I shall go to the world of Brahmā, and not otherwise.

He who acts solely for the benefit of others without expecting / any return for what was done is called a true friend by the wise.

Those whose minds are devoted to their own self-interest, though bearing life-breaths, are useless. / When death is the natural state and life is merely an alteration,

the highest gain for living beings is solely friendship with living beings. / The impoverished who are passionate, those who break their promises, those who betray their elders,

those who destroy their friends, and sinners generally adorn hell. / But these five virtuous ones have now spent themselves for the sake of another.

The restoration of my fame is due to the power of these great souls. / If they will go to heaven along with me, / then I too will go, O messenger of the gods, otherwise not."

The messenger of the gods said: / "All these are Hara's attendants who have fallen to earth due to a curse.

At the end of the curse, they will go to the side of Hara, O lord of the earth. / Therefore, leaving these behind, O king, come with me!

Heaven does not please them, forsaking the god Maheśvara." / Indradyumna said: / "If it is so, then go, O messenger! I will not come to heaven.

I shall strive in such a way that I too may become an attendant [of Śiva]. / It is censured by the faults of impurity, decay, and excess;

heaven is ever dependent on Vedic tradition, therefore I do not desire it. / For one stationed there, the fear of falling again does not depart from the mind.

Since there is a fall again for a person, therefore I do not desire heaven. / Even when merit still exists, I was cast down from his own world by him,

and I have been humiliated by the four-faced [Brahmā]—how could I go to him?" / Having said this to that messenger, while the messenger listened in wonder,

the king then asked the tortoise the cause of his lifespan: / "How did this exceedingly long life of yours come to be, O tortoise?

You are my benevolent friend, ally, and elder, by whom my fame has been restored."

The tortoise said: / "Listen, O king, to a divine story that destroys sin upon hearing, / a very sweet story endowed with the glory of Śiva.

Hearing this story also with good faith, O king, a man has his body freed from sin. / Having attained the grace of Śambhu, as [my] life [was spared], so too through his grace this tortoise-state of mine came to be.

Thus ends the tenth chapter, titled “Manifestation of the Earth,” in the Kaumārikākhaṇḍa of the first [section], the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.