Skandapurana 14.41

Pulastya said: / Then, O best of kings, one should go to the hermitage of Mārkaṇḍeya, / where formerly austerity was performed by the great-souled Mārkaṇḍa. 1

Anciently there was a brahmin named Mṛkaṇḍu who strictly observed his vows. / At an advanced age, a very handsome son was born to him, 2

endowed with all auspicious marks, tranquil, possessing the radiance of the sun. / Then, after some time, O king, at the precinct of his hermitage 3

came a wise, auspicious brahmin who knew the signs of the body. / Then, as that five-year-old boy was playing, 4

he gazed at him for a long time from the tip of his nose to the crest of his hair. / Then suddenly he laughed; and Mṛkaṇḍu noticed him. 5

Then [Mṛkaṇḍu] said: 'You looked at my son for a long time, O twice-born, / and then you laughed. Tell [me], what is the reason for this?' 6

When questioned repeatedly by Mṛkaṇḍu, that best of the twice-born, / yielding to importunity, disclosed the truth to him: 7

'The marks that exist on the body of this boy, O best of the twice-born— / by those a person would indeed become ageless and immortal. 8

[Yet] within six months, death will certainly come to this boy. / For this reason laughter was made by me, O best of the twice-born. / An untruth has never been spoken by me before, even to enemies.' 9

Pulastya said: / Having spoken thus, that wise man, after dwelling there for the night / and being given leave by Mṛkaṇḍu, departed to his desired region. 10

Mṛkaṇḍu, too, having learned that his son had a short lifespan, O king, / though he was only five years old, afflicted with grief, invested him with the sacred thread. 11

[He said:] 'Endowed with the study of the scriptures, whomever you see before you, / to him an obeisance must be made constantly by you, my son.' 12

Then the student of the Veda carried out the command of his father with special care. 13

Whomever he sees with his eyes—a child, an old man, or a youth— / to every such brahmin he bows down, endowed with modesty. 14

Then, after some time, in the vicinity of his hermitage / arrived the seven seers, intent on a pilgrimage to sacred fords. 15

Then, having approached quickly, O ruler of the earth, the boy, endowed with humility, / bowed to all of them in due order. 16

'May you be long-lived,' said those [seers] who were pleased with him to the boy; / and having dismissed that boy, they set off to their desired region. 17

Among them was one named Aṅgiras, endowed with divine knowledge. / By him the boy was examined with subtle insight, O scorcher of foes. 18

Then, somewhat amazed, he spoke to all those sages: / 'This boy whom you have pronounced long-lived is not long-lived. 19

This young boy will go to destruction on the fifth day. / Therefore, our words should not be untruthful, O best of the twice-born. 20

A plan should be devised so that he may live long.' / Then those sages, afraid of an untrue word, O ruler of the earth, 21

taking that boy, went then to the world of Brahmā. / Having seen the four-faced one there, the lords of sages bowed down. 22

Immediately after them, the boy made his obeisance to him. / To him also Brahmā said, 'May you be long-lived, O boy.' 23

Then the seven seers rejoiced in their hearts, O best of kings; / [and Brahmā] spoke to those eminent sages who were seated comfortably and rested: 24

Brahmā said: / 'Ask; what is to be done? Whence have you come here?' 25

The seers said: / 'Wandering over the surface of the earth in the course of a pilgrimage to sacred fords, / we went to the sacred fords on the mountain named Arbuda. 26

Then this boy, coming swiftly from afar, bowed to us. / "May you be long-lived" was thereupon pronounced to him by many. / Yet on the fifth day his death will occur, O god. 27

Devise something, O god, so that we, together with you, / do not become untruthful on his account, O four-faced one.' 28

Then Brahmā, his soul delighted upon seeing that sage's boy, / said: 'By my grace this boy shall live for an eon.' 29

Then those sages, delighted, taking him, set out towards home / from the world of Brahmā, having bowed down to the four-faced one. 30

Then his father, Mṛkaṇḍu, the best of sages,
together with his wife, wailed in great sorrow:

Weeping piteously, 'Alas, my son, my son!' the lover of righteousness [cried]:
'Without taking leave of me, why have you set out on the long road?

Without even performing the rites that ought to be done, how have you fallen into the power of Death?
Without you, my son, I cannot live in any way.'

As he was wailing thus in manifold ways, O best of kings,
the boy returned to the place where he had stayed before.

Then that boy walked on with an inner self filled with delight;
and his father, seeing him on the path, became exceedingly joyful.

Lifting him onto his lap, he asked the reason for his long absence.
Thereupon he related all the actions of the sages, / the sight of Brahmaloka, and the boon granted by the Lotus-born [Brahmā].

The boy said: / 'Father, I have been made free from old age and death by the Self-manifest [Brahmā];
therefore, truly on my account, let this fever of your mind depart.

I shall likewise worship the Four-faced [Brahmā],
having established a delightful hermitage on Arbuda, the best of mountains.'

Hearing that speech of his son dripping with nectar, that twice-born
Mṛkaṇḍu, filled with joy, spoke these words to him:

Mārkaṇḍa too, having gone swiftly to delightful Mount Arbuda,
performed vast austerity, meditating upon the god, the Grandfather [Brahmā].

In his holy hermitage, O king, in the month of Śrāvaṇa,
whoever offers water to the ancestors especially on the full moon day / obtains the entire fruit of an ancestral sacrifice, without a doubt.

Whoever propitiates excellent brahmins there through the sage-conjunction,
O king, attains a long residence in Brahmaloka.

Whoever performs ritual ablution there, endowed with full faith,
no fear of untimely death arises anywhere in his lineage.

Thus ends the forty-first chapter, entitled 'Description of the Origin of the Hermitage of Mārkaṇḍeya,' in the Arbuda Section, the third [part] of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].