Skandapurana 14.5

The seers said: / Tell us in detail the māhātmya of Arbuda. / Curiosity has arisen in us, O Sūta; relate it properly and auspiciously. 1

Sūta said: / Long ago there was an excellent seer, the venerable sage Pulastya. / He went to the house of Yayāti, and having bowed to him, the king said: 2

Yayāti said: / “Welcome to you, O best of sages! My life is fruitful today. / By your grace, relate the story concerning the origin of Arbuda. 3

Regarding the mountain named Arbuda, celebrated on the surface of the earth, / declare the order of pilgrimage to it and its fruit, O best of the twice-born! 4

Tell everything in detail, devoted as you are to pilgrimage to sacred fords! / Therefore speak, O best of sages, so that I may undertake the pilgrimage.” 5

Pulastya said: / “O king, Arbuda, the best of mountains, abounds in many religious duties. / It is impossible to speak [of it] in full even in hundreds of years. 6

I shall declare to you concisely the principal sacred fords there. / The first among them is Nāgatīrtha, which grants all desires to human beings, 7

and especially bestows sons and good fortune upon women. / Listen, O king, to an ancient event that is most extraordinary and excellent. 8

A brahmin woman named Gautamī, chaste, virtuous, devoted to her husband, / attained widowhood in her childhood and became devoted to pilgrimage to sacred fords. 9

She arrived at Arbuda and entered Nāgatīrtha. / Submerged in that water, she came there long ago to bathe. 10

A woman accompanied by her son arrived at that sacred ford. / She performed various kinds of service for her [mother], O king, 11

with all the requisites, darbha grass, and various kinds of flowers. / Then that Gautamī, grieved for want of a son, thought: 12

‘Blessed is this son of hers, who always renders service [to her]! / Truly she is blessed, having a son; fie upon me, who am devoid of a son! 13

Separated from my husband, devoid of a son, I am sorely afflicted.’ / Then she emerged from that water, O best of kings. 14

Even without union with a husband, she immediately became pregnant. / Endowed with the signs of pregnancy, she was filled with shame before virtuous people. 15

She resolved upon death and kindled a fire. / Just at that time, an incorporeal voice spoke: 16

The voice said: / “O Gautamī, you should not enter the fire of the funeral pyre! / There is no fault in you in this matter, by the power of this sacred ford. 17

Whatever a man desires in his mind while standing in the water, / or a woman, that desired thing they obtain; there is no doubt about this. 18

Having seen her son, a longing for a son was formed by you in your heart. / Surely a son has entered your womb, O daughter, and he shall be born. 19

Therefore desist, may good fortune be yours; you are free of fault, O devoted wife!” / Thereupon the virtuous Gautamī desisted from death, O king. 20

Having heard the voice in the sky spoken by a divine messenger, / and seeing the pregnancy without a husband, she spoke this word: 21

‘Ah, the power of this sacred ford appears extraordinary to me, / where pregnancy occurs in women without semen and menstrual blood! 22

I shall not go anywhere leaving behind this excellent sacred ford.’ / Having spoken thus, the virtuous woman lived right there forever.” 23

She indeed gave birth to a son endowed with all auspicious marks. / There, O tiger among kings, during the dark fortnight of the month of Āśvina,

whoever performs a śrāddha, his lineage does not perish; / no ghost is ever born in his family, O king.

A man who, devoid of desire, takes a ritual bath there / and performs a śrāddha, O best among kings, his realms are eternal.

A woman who casts flowers and fruits into this sacred ford / becomes blessed, possesses sons, and attains good fortune.

Free from desire, she attains heaven, hard to reach even by the gods. / Therefore, with all effort, one should undertake a pilgrimage to it.

Thus ends the fifth chapter, titled "Description of the Māhātmya of Nāgatīrtha," in the third Arbudakhaṇḍa of the seventh Prabhāsakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].