Skandapurana 16.270

Īśvara said: / Then, O great goddess, one should go to where the eastward-flowing Sarasvatī is. / In that place stands the liṅga known as Maṅkīśvara. 1

I shall relate its origin, which destroys all sins. / Hear, O blessed goddess, what a wonder occurred formerly! 2

A seer named Maṅkaṇaka performed supreme austerity. / Coming to the eastward-flowing [river], with restrained food, he was constantly dedicated to sacred study. 3

Many thousands of years passed for him, O radiant woman. / But at some time, O fair-faced one, when he was pierced, 4

vegetable sap issued from his hand due to a blade of kuśa grass—so it is heard by us. / Seeing that great wonder, he was seized with supreme amazement. 5

Believing he had attained the highest perfection, he then danced out of joy. / And as he danced, the universe of mobile and immobile beings 6

danced, O woman of shapely hips, through the power of that sage indeed. / Then the gods led by Mahendra, with Brahmā and Viṣṇu at their head, / said to the slayer of Tripura: 'Act so that he does not dance! 7

The mountains have moved from their place; the ocean is agitated; / the earth is in pieces, O god, and the trees have met destruction. 8

The great rivers have gone astray, and the planets are wandering off course. / The three worlds have been confounded, and will soon meet destruction! 9

Therefore restrain him; no other is capable of restraining [him].' 10

Saying 'So be it,' he approached him. / Assuming the form of a twice-born, he spoke these words to the seer: 11

'What is this ground for joy? Why are you dancing thus, O twice-born? / Therefore speak quickly of the matter; the twice-born is filled with extreme curiosity.' 12

The seer said: / 'Do you not see, O brahmin, the vegetable sap flowing from my hand? / This is why I am dancing; I have attained perfection, there is no doubt about this.' 13

Īśvara said: / Hearing those words of his, the blessed destroyer of Tripura / struck his own thumb with the tip of a finger, O radiant one. 14

Thereupon ashes issued forth instantly, white as snow. / Then, laughing, the blessed creator of beings said to him: 15

'Look, O brahmin, copious ash has issued from my thumb! / Yet I do not dance, nor do I have joy, O best of sages.' 16

Seeing that very great wonder, he was seized with supreme amazement. / With joined palms, he spoke in a voice choked with joy: 17

'I consider no other god [to exist] besides you, whose emblem is the bull. / No one else possesses such power on the face of the earth.' 18

The Blessed One said: / 'I have been recognized by you, O tiger among sages, best among knowers of the Veda! / Choose a boon—may it be well with you—whatever your heart constantly desires.' 19

The seer said: / 'By the grace of the God of gods, O all-pervading lord, let a means be ordained / so that through this great dancing there may be no loss of austerity.' 20

Śambhu said: / 'May your austerity increase a thousandfold by my grace, O vipra! / Following the eastward-flowing [river], I shall constantly dwell here together with you. 21

Sarasvatī is of great merit, and especially in this sacred field. / Whoever abandons his body on the northern bank of Sarasvatī, 22

on the eastern side, O tiger among sages, does not return here again. / Having bathed, one obtains the bountiful fruit of a horse-sacrifice. 23

Drying up their bodies by observances and fasts, / living on water, eating wind, subsisting on leaves—such ascetics— / and likewise those who sleep on the bare ground, and whatever other various restrained persons [there may be]— 24

those who perform ablutions in this sacred ford, endowed with observances, / attain the highest perfection, the supreme abode of Brahmā. 25

And whoever gives even a particle of gold in this sacred ford / to an eminent twice-born, its fruit becomes equal to Mount Meru. 26

And whatever mortals perform an ancestral rite in this sacred ford, / they will surely go to heaven accompanied by twenty-one generations. 27

This sacred ford is beloved by the ancestors; gratified by a single funeral cake, / delivered here by a good son, they will go to the world of Brahmā. 28

And they who continuously give food set out on the path of liberation. 29

Here, those of auspicious deeds who gaze upon Sarasvatī situated in Prabhāsa, / they too will go to the heavenly world, O best of the twice-born. 30

Moreover, those people who are devoted to bathing there with faith, / having reached the world of Brahmā, they will rejoice forever. 31

Whoever gives delightful curds to a brahmin here, / he too, having reached the world of Agni, enjoys exceedingly splendid pleasures. 32

Whoever also gives a woollen garment to an eminent twice-born with devotion, / he too attains supreme perfection, extremely hard to attain by other mortals. 33

And those mortals who enter the water here for the destruction of impurities— / one may readily assign to them the fruit of giving a cow. 34

If any person performs an ablution there with devotion, / freed from all sins, he is glorified in the world of Viṣṇu.' 35

From libation and offering the funeral cake, even those dwelling in hells, / the ancestors, carried across by a good son here, go to heaven.

They attain imperishable worlds named after Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Īśa; / moreover, they grant food [to their descendants], and they attain the path to liberation.

The Sarasvatī, arising as a ladder to heaven in Prabhāsa, / this great river, cannot be attained by men devoid of merit.

Indeed, an eastward-flowing Sarasvatī is rare elsewhere, / [found] especially in Kurukṣetra, Prabhāsa, and likewise Puṣkara.

Whoever, having reached the eastward-flowing Sarasvatī, seeks another sacred ford, / casts away what is held in the hand and tries to act with the elbow.

A ritual ablution on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight is always prescribed there; / whoever offers a funeral cake there, even with oil-cake or inguda-oil, / for him it will be inexhaustible for the ancestors, and he goes to the world of the ancestors.

Whence is there delight equal to dwelling by the Sarasvatī? Whence virtues equal to dwelling by the Sarasvatī? / Having reached the Sarasvatī, men who have gone to heaven will remember the river Sarasvatī again.

Īśvara said: / Having spoken thus, the blessed god vanished right there; / from that time forward, Śaṃkara took up his presence there.

In this regard, a song was formerly sung by all-powerful Viṣṇu, / with a heart wet with affection, addressed to the son of Dharma, O dear one:

“Do not go to the Gaṅgā, O son of Kuntī; do not go to Prayāga and Puṣkara; / go there, O best of the Kurus, where the Sarasvatī flows eastward.”

All this has been told to you, which you asked of me, / as well as the māhātmya of Sarasvatī; what more do you wish to hear?

Thus ends the two hundred and seventieth chapter, entitled “Description of the Māhātmya of Prācīsarasvatī and Maṅkīśvara,” in the first [part], the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, in the seventh [section], the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the Skandapurāṇa containing eighty-one thousand verses.