Skandapurana 16.202

Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O great goddess, to the unsurpassed Rāmeśvara, / to the south of Maṅkīśa and to the southeast of Kṛtasmara, / but to the east of the Sarasvatī, consecrated by Balabhadra,

where Rāma, indeed, was freed from the killing of a brahmin, O goddess; / from that sin he plunged into the Sarasvatī flowing upstream.

The goddess said: / How was he freed from the sin? How did the sin occur formerly? / How was that liṅga installed, and what is its power? Tell me.

Īśvara said: / Listen, O goddess, I shall tell the story that destroys sin, / hearing which, O goddess, a mortal is freed from the ocean of worldly existence, / and constantly obtains all desires dear to his heart.

Formerly Rāma, the plow-wielder, having shown supreme affection to Kṛṣṇa, / thought in many ways: 'What good deed could be performed?

Without Kṛṣṇa I will not go to Duryodhana; / or, taking refuge with the Pāṇḍavas, how [could I go against] King Duryodhana?

How shall I cause the king to be slain, my son-in-law and likewise my disciple? / Therefore I will not go to Pārtha, nor to King Duryodhana.

I shall bathe myself in tīrthas by my own self, / so long as it tends toward the destruction of the Kurus and Pāṇḍavas.'

Having thus instructed Hṛṣīkeśa, and Pārtha and Duryodhana as well, / Śauri went to Dvārakā, surrounded by his own troops.

Having arrived at Dvārāvatī, filled with glad and contented people, / the weapon-of-a-plow-wielder drank wine along with the women of his own inner apartments.

Having drunk the liquor, he then went to the flourishing Raivata garden, / taking his mace in hand, accompanied by Revatī and others.

Standing in the midst of a multitude of women, he walked, stumbling like one intoxicated; / and the hero beheld the forest, delightful and unsurpassed,

abounding everywhere with flowering trees, teeming with troops of monkeys, / endowed with groves of flowers and lotuses, a great forest with pools,

hearing wild, charmingly melodious, auspicious sounds / that produced pleasure, delightful to the ear, and very sweet, uttered by happy birds.

He saw trees rich in precious fruits on every side, / bright with blossoms on every side, celebrated by birds:

mangoes, āmrātakas, bhavya trees, coconuts with tindukas, / ābalvanas, and pītas, pomegranates, bījapūrakas, / jackfruits, lakucas, plantains, and lovely tāpas, / pālevatas, kusaṅkullas, nalinas, and canes,

marking-nut trees, myrobalans, and large-fruited tindukas, / ingudas, karamardas, and harītakas and vibhītakas.

These and other trees the son of the Yadus saw, / and likewise aśoka, punnāga, ketakī, and bakula,

campakas, saptaparṇas, karṇikāras, fine mālati creepers, / pārijātas, kovidāras, mandāras, and blue water-lilies,

flowering trumpet-flower trees, plantains, and devadāru trees, / sāl trees, palmyras, tamālas, niculas, and vañjulas,

covered with cakoras, hundred-feathered woodpeckers, and bhṛṅgarājas, / with cuckoos, sparrows, green pigeons, and jīvañjīvaka birds,

occupied by priyaputras, cātakas, parrots, and other birds / that cooed delightfully to the ear and very sweetly,

and lakes with lotus blossoms and delightful water, / with white water-lilies, puṇḍarīka lotuses, and bright blue utpalas.

Covered all around with kahlāra and lotus flowers, / and likewise with kadamba birds, cakravākas, and waterfowls,

teeming with kāraṇḍavas, plavas, swans, tortoises, and frogs, / as well as other [creatures] and various aquatic animals.

Moving about by degrees and beholding the delightful [scene], / Rāma, followed by women, reached an unsurpassed bower of creepers.

There he saw twice-borns who had mastered the Vedas and Vedāṅgas: / Kauśikas, Bhārgavas, Bhāradvājas, and Gautamas,

the best of twice-borns, born in various lineages, / sitting eager to hear stories, high-souled,

on black antelopeskins used as upper cloths, on grass seats, and on cushions; / and, in their midst, Sūta narrating auspicious tales,

the ancient deeds and actions of the primordial divine seers. / Seeing Rāma with eyes reddened from drinking wine,

thinking, "He is intoxicated," all the twice-borns rose up in haste, / paying homage to the wielder of the plough, except for that descendant of the Sūta lineage.

Then, overwhelmed with anger, the mighty plough-bearer, / with rolling eyes, having agitated all Dānavas, struck Sūta dead.

When that Sūta, who occupied the seat of a brahmin, was struck down, / all those twice-borns wearing black antelopeskins departed from the forest.

Deeming himself thus humiliated, the wielder of the plough / reflected: "A very great sin has been committed by me!

For it was one seated on the seat of a brahmin, Sūta, who was struck down! / And indeed, seeing me, all these twice-borns have departed!

And the smell of my body is unpleasant like that of iron; / and I realize that I am vile, a slayer of a brahmin!

Fie on my wealth, on wine, and on renown that brings no fame, / possessed by which such a great sin was committed by me!

I shall perform for you an expiation as prescribed by the legal treatises in accordance with rule; / indeed, Manu has declared expiation and the rest in proper order:

'Japa and remorse are the purifier of hidden sins; / austerity and knowledge of the inner self; spiritual knowledge of the intellect.'

Purification is deemed supreme from the direct knowledge of the lord of the field; / but purification of the body is by various kinds of expiations.

Therefore, from today I shall undertake a twelve-year vow, / proclaiming my own deed, performing unsurpassed expiation.

This purification is for one who unintentionally strikes a twice-born out of ignorance; / for intentionally killing a brahmin, no expiation is prescribed.

If a man should intentionally commit a great sin in any way, / no expiation is seen for him except throwing oneself from a cliff or into fire.

The wise know of expiation when a sin is committed unintentionally; / some say it is valid even when done intentionally, on the evidence of Vedic revelation.

That is the rule for the first time; for a second time, one should perform twice as much; / for a third time, threefold is declared; for a fourth time, there is no expiation.

One who gives medicine, oil, or food to cows, brahmins, and others, / if death should occur while it is being given, he is not tainted by sin.

If any twice-born should give up his life without cause, / the fault would belong only to him, not to the one who gives it to him.

When a qualified brahmin, having struck himself, dies / without merit, suddenly out of anger on account of a house, land, and the like,

one should observe a three-year vow, or go to Sarasvatī flowing upstream / for the sake of purification from that sin; this is determined.

Having struck [him] out of anger with an intention, if one placates him and allows him to dwell again, / if he dies after mutual proclamation is made, there is no fault.

If one kills an impotent brahmin, one should observe the vow for killing a śūdra. / When many bearing weapons have a common purpose,

if one among them kills, they are all remembered as killers. / When an expiation is resolved upon, if the doer should die,

sin would attach to him in this world and in the next. / What then shall I do, vile-souled as I am? Where shall I go?

Fie on me of sinful conduct, a committer of great evil deeds!"

Īśvara said: / While he was lamenting in this manner, his mind agitated by sorrow, / an incorporeal voice arisen from the sky spoke:

"O Rāma! You must not feel anguish in any way! / Go to the sacred field of Prabhāsa, where the goddess Sarasvatī resides.

Having five streams, she is present there, the destroyer of the five great sins; / she is the foremost of rivers, Sarasvatī identical with Brahman.

On the one side are all the sacred fords in the cosmic egg containing the moving and unmoving, / such as the Gaṅgā, O best of men; yet holy is Sarasvatī beyond them!

Sins such as killing a brahmin roar only so long / as the goddess Sarasvatī situated at Prabhāsa is not seen.

Therefore, go to that very place where the goddess Sarasvatī is; / you cannot be made free of sin by thousands of other sacred fords!

So do not delay; go to the shore of the great ocean; / in Prabhāsa, plunge into the great goddess flowing upstream!

Worship the all-pervading Lord Īśvara there in the form of a liṅga; / having installed [him], you will be released from the great bodily sin."

Having heard these words, Rāma, filled with supreme bliss, / noble-minded, set his mind upon going to the sacred field of Prabhāsa.

Then, accompanied by his own army and equipped with materials and provisions, / he came to the great sacred field known as Prabhāsa.

Beholding the charming sacred ford at the confluence of Sarasvatī and the ocean, / he formed the resolve in his heart to bathe [in her waters] flowing upstream.

Having summoned the brahmins dwelling in the sacred field of Prabhāsa, / the powerful lord made a pilgrimage there according to the proper rules of pilgrimage.

To whichever various sacred fords there were in the sacred field of Prabhāsa, / situated within twelve yojanas, he made a pilgrimage to them.

And at each of them he gave various gifts; / likewise, down at the confluence of Sarasvatī and the ocean, he set [his camp].

having performed the ritual rites of sacrifice before the great liṅga in the eastern part. / When this was done, O great goddess, he became freed from sins.

His body purified, O goddess, he then stayed for ten days. / Then, having bathed in her, he went upstream by degrees, / from the ocean up to the Plakṣā descent called Hima.

Thus freed from the flood of sins, Rāma became famous, O beloved, / by the power of that liṅga and through the grace of the Sarasvatī.

Whoever worships that liṅga which removes the fear of sin, O goddess, / called Rāmeśvara, he too is freed from sin.

Especially on the eighth day, according to the rule of brahmakūrca, / whoever does [so] there, O goddess, obtains the fruit of an horse sacrifice.

Having bathed there, O woman of fair hips, at the confluence of the Sarasvatī and the ocean, / and then fully worshipping Śaṃkara named Rāmeśvara, / the gift of a cow should be given there by those desiring the full fruit of the pilgrimage.

Thus has the great majesty of Rāmeśvara been told, O goddess; / hearing this with faith, a man attains heaven.

Thus ends the two hundred and second chapter, named 'Description of the Rāmeśvarakṣetra-māhātmya', in the first [part], Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, in the seventh [section], Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].