Skandapurana 16.3

The seers said: / Primary creation and secondary creation have been described by you, / as well as the history of lineages and the sequence of the Purāṇas, (1)

and the measure of the Manvantaras, the extent of the cosmos, / and the nature of the circle of luminaries have been described as they truly are. / We now wish to hear from you the extent of the sacred fords. (2)

Whatever sacred fords there are on earth that destroy sin and are auspicious, / all of them you should tell in full, as they truly are, O son of Sūta. (3)

Sūta said:
Formerly, this was asked by the Goddess on the supreme peak of Kailāsa,
whose slopes are adorned with various minerals and endowed with diverse jewels,

overspread with various trees and creepers, embellished with various flowers,
crowded with Yakṣas and Vidyādharas, and attended by hosts of apsarases.

There were Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Skanda, Nandin, and the lords of the Gaṇas,
the moon and the sun together with the planets, the lunar mansions, and the circle of the Pole Star;

and Vāyu, Varuṇa, Kubera, the giver of wealth,
Īśāna, Agni, Indra, Yama, and Nirṛti;

all the rivers and oceans, mountains, and serpents;
Brāhmī and the other Mothers, and the seers rich in austerity;

the personified sacred fords, sacred fields, and shrines;
Dānavas, Asuras, Daityas, Piśācas, Bhūtas, and Rākṣasas.
There was a divine throne extending a hundred yojanas,

surrounded by hundreds of thousands and tens of thousands of crores of Rudras.
In its midst was an all-auspicious pavilion with lion-gates and splendid archways,

resembling clear pearls, enclosed by walls and spires,
surrounded by the hosts of gatekeepers [led by] Nandīśvara and Mahākāla,

resounding with networks of small bells, decorated with true banners,
and adorned with canopies, umbrella-cloths, and dangling pearl garlands,

beautified with bells, chowries, and mirrors,
with jars placed at the doorways accompanied by jewel-sprouts,

painted by artists with radiant jewel-powders,
with svastikas, foliage-creepers, and vines showing the origin of the liṅga,

crowded with a hundred thrones, adorned with altars,
and filled with seated throngs of Rudras and multitudes of Rudra-maidens,

adorned with white lotuses endowed with a hundred thousand petals,
crowded with apsarases, spread with heaps of flowers,

perfumed with incense sticks, sprinkled with saffron water,
[resounding] with flutes, vīṇās, mṛdaṅgas, horn-instruments, and mouth-blown instruments,

with the blare of conchs and bherī-drums, with the rumbling of dundubhi-drums,
and with the hosts of Gaṇas roaring with sounds like the rumbling of clouds,

adorned with the praises of the Gaṇas, the chanting of the Sāmaveda,
and spectacular, great shouts accompanied by vocal huṅkāras,

filling all directions with the bellowing of bulls, the neighing and trumpeting of horses and elephants,
and the jingling of waistbands and anklets—

the glorious abode of Śaṃkara, which bestows all prosperity.
It echoed here and there with flutes, vīṇās, and mṛdaṅgas.
And the personified Ṛgveda, having the brilliance of a sapphire,

his body anointed with divine perfumes, adorned with celestial ornaments,
stood to his east, blazing with his own splendor.

To the north stood the Yajurveda, resembling pure crystal,
wearing divine earrings, having a massive body and mighty arms.

Stationed on the western side was the eternal Sāmaveda,
wearing red garments, glorious, having the lustre of a ruby,

wearing garlands, wondrous, adorned with musical embellishments.
Or, Atharvan, dark as collyrium, was likewise stationed to the south,

tawny-eyed, red-necked, yellow-haired, with a massive frame.
The Itihāsas, the six Vedāṅgas, all the Purāṇas,

the Upaniṣads of the Veda, the metrics, Mīmāṃsā, the Āraṇyakas,
the utterances of Svāhā and Vaṣaṭ, and likewise the secret doctrines—

accompanied by these, Brahmā himself stood there.
Along with the mantras bearing the form of Śakti, endowed with the sovereign power of yoga,

marked with thousand-petaled lotuses, worshipped by the gods,
venerated by the Rudras of the Gaṇas, praised by Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Indra,

fanned on all sides with waved chowries and fans,
always glorious, having the splendour of ten million moons,

his soul fully contented with the nectar of knowledge, grantor of the sovereign power of yoga,
a royal swan upon the lotus of the minds of lords of yoga, best of the twice-born,

dispeller of the darkness of ignorance, adorned with the thirty-six principles,
bestower of all happiness—there sat the moon-crested [Lord].

Seated on his lap was the Goddess, possessing the luster of molten gold,
worshipped by throngs of yoginīs, spiritual practitioners, gods, and Kinnaras,

complete with all auspicious marks, decorated with all ornaments,
perpetually bestowing yogic perfections, granting liberation and prosperity,

the root-seed of the plantain of good fortune—Pārvatī.
Looking upon the face of the god, astonished, the lovely-eyed one,

perceiving his state of bliss, his eyes brimming with tears of joy,
the virtuous Goddess spoke sweetly, folding her hands in reverence.

The Goddess said:
For thousands of crores of births and hundreds of crores of births,
you have been sought by me, O Lord of the Universe, by meditation upon your life-breath,

or even by abiding as half your body, longing to meditate upon your face;
yet no limit to you has been found, O Lord of the Universe, O Great Lord!

Praise be to you whose form is infinite, O God of gods! Praise be to you!
Praise be to the secret of the Vedas! Praise to the one praised by the Vedas!

Praise to him who ever delights in the cremation ground, praise to the sky-farer,
to the secret of the Jyeṣṭhasāman, and to the one dear to the hundred Rudras!

Praise to him whose emblem is the bull, and who upholds the Yajurveda,
to the one who wears the garland of crores of clinging universes, whose self is space!

Praise to the bulbous root patterned with gems! Praise to the attainment of all aims!
Praise to the one whose form is the Veda, and who loves the perfection of the twice-born!

Praise to the one whose form has the modifications of male and female, to the crescent-moon bearer!
Praise to Agni together with Soma, and to the Sun and Varuṇa!

To the earth, the intermediate space, the wind, and the consecrated sacrificer;
to union, separation, the creator, the doer, and the destroyer!

To the one holding a blazing trident in his hand, and bearing the staff of Brahmā;
praise to the master of masters, praise to the master of the great!

Praise to Rudra as the fire of time, the dweller in the seven worlds!
You are the refuge of all beings; praise to the master of beings!

Praise to you, O Lord Rudra! Praise to you, O Lord Śiva!
Praise to you, supreme beyond the high! Praise to you, higher than the highest!

Out of the restlessness of my tongue, you have been vexed by me, O Lord;
that should be forgiven, O Great Lord, O divine in knowledge, praise be to you!

Īśvara said:
Seated on my lap, O goddess, why are your eyes clouded with tears? / What is still unfulfilled for you today? I shall do all of that. (51)

Choose a boon, bless you, because of this hymn of praise, O lady of good vows! / I grant it to you without doubt; abandon your grief, O Maheśvarī! (52)

In the partless and in the embodied, O goddess, in the gross and in the subtle, in all that moves and is still, / I see nothing, O ruler of gods, that could exist devoid of you. (53)

I dwell in your heart, O Gaurī, and you abide in my heart; / I am the brother and the son, the kinsman and likewise the husband. (54)

You are indeed my sister, wife, daughter, female relation, and daughter-in-law; / I am the lord of the sacrifice and the sacrificer, and you are faith accompanied by the priestly gift. (55)

I am the syllable Om, the vaṣaṭ-call; I am the Sāman, the Ṛc, and the Yajus; / I am the fire, the invoking priest, and likewise the patron of the sacrifice. (56)

I am the Adhvaryu, the Udgātṛ, Brahmā, and the knower of the Veda; / you, O goddess, are proclaimed as the fire-drill and the sacrificer's wife. (57)

Svāhā and Svadhā, O fair-hipped lady; everything is established in you. / I am the offered great sacrifice; you are called the primeval sacrifice. (58)

I am Puruṣa, O beautiful woman; you are declared to be Prakṛti. / I am Viṣṇu of great prowess; you are Lakṣmī, who causes the world to prosper. (59)

I am Indra of great splendor; you are the eastern quarter, O supreme sovereign. / In the form of the lords of creatures, I exist as all. (60)

You abide in those various forms as their sovereign consorts. / I am the day, O great goddess; you are declared to be the night. (61)

I am the twinkle of an eye and the hour; you are the minute and accomplishment itself. / I am the sun exceeding in radiance; you are celebrated as the twilight. (62)

I am the supreme bearer of the seed, while you are the field, O fair-faced lady. / I am the lord of the forest, the fig tree; you are spoken of as the sacred tree. (63)

I bear the form of Śeṣa, O eternal one, adorned with the jewel on the hood; / you are Revatī, O large-eyed one, with eyes rolling in intoxication. (64)

I am liberation from all sorrows; you, O goddess, are the supreme goal. / I am the lord of the waters, O auspicious one; you, O goddess, are the best of rivers. (65)

I am the submarine fire, O auspicious one; you are proclaimed as its brilliance. / I am the lord of creatures, the maker; you are the creatures and likewise primordial nature. (66)

I am the lord of the serpents dwelling in the realm of Pātāla; / you are the serpent-goddess, and I am the king of serpents adorned with a thousand hoods. (67)

I am the best maker of night [the moon]; you are the supreme illuminator of the night. / I am Kāma, the bestower of desire, O goddess; you are Rati and memory itself. (68)

I am Durvāsas, O auspicious one; you are forbearance walking beside him. / I am greed, delusion, and austerity; you are remembered as desire steeped in darkness. (69)

I am the humped bull; you are the ascetic mother of yoga. / I am also the unmanifest wind; you are its motion, destroyer of the mind. (70)

I am the deliverer in greed; you are the unattached one, O renowned lady. / I am prudence in all affairs; you are policy, O lotus-eyed lady. (71)

I am the food and the eater; you are declared to be the medicinal herb. / I am the fire and the smoke; you are the heat and the flame. (72)

I am the cloud of world-dissolution, and you are its manifold streams. / I appear in the form of the sages; you are proclaimed as their wives. (73)

I am the maker of the cycle of existence; you are the creation, O fair-faced lady. / I am semen, bones, and hairs; you are marrow and strength. (74)

I am the rain-cloud, O highly fortunate one; you are the rain, O supreme sovereign. / I am the year, O goddess; you are celebrated as the season. (75)

I am the Kṛta age, O goddess; you are declared to be the Tretā age. / I am the glorious Dvāpara age; you are the Kali age, O supreme sovereign. (76)

I am space, O auspicious one; you are spoken of here as the earth. / I am the invisible form, and you are called the visible form. (77)

I am the bestower of boons, O lady of beautiful hips; and you are spoken of as the mantra. / I am the seer and the hearer; you are the visible and the heard revelation. (78)

I am the speaker and the delighter; you are that which is to be spoken, O supreme sovereign. / I am the listener and the singer; you are the song and that which is to be sung. (79)

I am the protector and the fragrance; you are the sense of smell. / I am the caresser and the agent; you are the touched and the created. (80)

I am this entire universe, and you are too, O goddess, without doubt. / I am your creator, O ruler of gods, and you create the entire world. (81)

By you and by me, O ruler of gods, this world is woven warp and woof, / in a single form, in tenfold form, and likewise in hundreds and thousands of forms. (82)

Endowed with sovereignty, abiding in all living beings, / I and you, O large-eyed one, are constantly established. (83)

I play sportively with you, O goddess, O fair-faced one! / You are firmness, the earth, fortune, the beloved, and certainly my Prakṛti. (84)

Pleasure, memory, moving at will, and dwelling within my body— / O goddess, what need is there to say much? You are dearer than life itself. (85)

Choose a boon, O ruler of gods, whatever lies in your heart; / pleased as I am, I give that to you, even if it were very hard to attain. (86)

The goddess said:
I am blessed, my merit is accomplished, my austerity has been well performed, / since I have been looked upon by you, O Lord of the universe, with a gaze of joy. (87)

If you are pleased with me, O god, and wish to give me a boon, / then tell me now, O lord of gods, the detailed account of sacred fords. (88)

Whatever sacred fords there are on earth that destroy sin and are auspicious, / you ought to tell of them in full, as they are, O lord of gods. (89)

Īśvara said:
Listen, O goddess, I shall proclaim the supreme māhātmya of sacred fords, / which takes away all sins of mortals, is meritorious, and is honored by divine seers. (90)

The best seers ever praise the darśana of sacred fords, / ritual ablution in them, O ruler of gods, and hearing about them. (91)

On earth is the sacred ford of Naimiṣa, and in the atmosphere Puṣkara; / and Kedāra, Prayāga, Vipāśā, and likewise Urmilā, (92)

Karṇaveṇā, Mahādevī, Candrabhāgā, Sarasvatī, / the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the ocean, and auspicious Vārāṇasī. (93)

Arghatīrtha is proclaimed, and likewise Gaṅgādvāra, / the great sacred ford Himasthāna, and likewise auspicious Māyāpurī,

the most fortunate Śatabhadrā, and the Sindhu, that great river, / the Airāvatī, the Kapilā, and the Śoṇa, that great river,

likewise the Ocean, the Kauśikī, and the auspicious Godāvarī, / Devakhāta, Gayā, and auspicious Dvārāvatī,

and the great sacred ford Prabhāsa, which destroys all sins.

Having seen these and other sacred fords that exist on the face of the earth, / O queen of the gods, one does not undergo rebirth again.

Three and a half crores of sacred fords on this earth / have come into being, pure and removing all sins.

One must visit them, O great goddess, for the increase of one's own dharma. / But since it is impossible to visit them [all] physically, O queen of gods, / they should all be visited mentally by the concentrated.

The goddess said: / O Lord, all living beings are beset with all kinds of distress; / short-lived, they are constantly bound by delusions born of home and family.

If it is so in the Tretā and Dvāpara [ages], what of the dreadful Kali [age]? / Therefore, for their benefit, proclaim that sacred ford / by seeing which the fruit of all sacred fords is obtained.

Thus addressed by Pārvatī, the supreme Lord, smiling, / the master spoke with supreme affection in sweet words:

Īśvara said: / You alone are my moving breath of life, the kindling-stick of the entire universe; / separated from you, O goddess, I cannot bear even a moment.

Between Śiva and Śakti there is no difference, O Pārvatī; / there is nothing, O great goddess, beautiful one, that you do not know.

Without you, where am I? And you are not without me, O goddess— / just as between the moon and moonlight, or heat in fire.

Between you, O goddess, and me here, there is indeed no difference, my beloved; / and I will tell you everything as it truly is, O queen of gods.

This secret of secrets, however, must be guarded with effort; / it must not be given to an atheist, nor to one devoted to sin.

It should be given to one endowed with devotion, to one's own disciple or son. / That which is more essential than the essence was previously proclaimed by me, beloved:

the Secret Doctrines of the sacred fords were proclaimed, likewise the Secret Doctrines of the liṅgas, / and the Secret Doctrines of yoga, O goddess, were formerly told to you.

Pārvatī said: / Though desiring the supreme state, they do not succeed even in the least; / men of atheistic conduct are seen wandering from womb to womb.

They observe vows at sacred fords, yet conviction never arises. / Formerly the world was deluded by false knowledge, O Śaṃkara;

what fruit was yours, O best of gods, when that bewilderment of the world was made?

Tell me, O Lord of gods, if I am dear to you, O master, / that which is more essential than the essence, my Lord, which is as dear to you as life itself.

Thus addressed by that goddess, the Lord Śrīkaṇṭha, leader of the gods, / smiled and spoke these words of profound meaning:

Īśvara said: / Listen attentively, since I am now asked by you; / I will tell you the true nature of things as it is, which is never without result.

Those sacred fords previously spoken of to you, O beauty of the gods, / three and a half crores throughout the cosmic egg of moving and unmoving beings—

among them the sacred ford Prabhāsa has been kept concealed, O woman of good vows.

Thus has the supreme sacred field Prabhāsa been spoken of, O great goddess. / But seeing it, those devoid of proper purifications, deluded by sin in the Kali age,

governed by passion and darkness, their minds afflicted by sin, / men devoted to other men's wives, other men's wealth, and harming others,

fall into supreme agitation and suffer torment here and there. / Self-conceited fools, deluded by false knowledge, / those base men who act contrary to caste and stage of life at a sacred ford,

who undertake a pilgrimage to a sacred ford with deceit and hypocrisy— / even if they die at a sacred ford, those men do not attain perfection, O fair-complexioned one.

For this reason, O goddess, the various sacred fords / and the liṅgas, O shapely-hipped woman, were kept concealed with effort; / they do not grant perfection, O queen of gods, to evildoers in the Kali age.

Those men, however, who have conquered anger, conquered greed, and conquered the senses, / brahmins, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, and śūdras free from deceit and malice,

filled with devotion to me, O goddess, who observe vows and frequent the sacred ford— / for their benefit alone I speak, O renowned one.

The sacred field known as Prabhāsa is praised throughout the three worlds; / deluded by my māyā, they do not recognize that sacred field.

Only those by whom I, the Supreme, have been worshipped with single-minded focus through many births, / know the supreme sacred field Prabhāsa, which destroys sin.

Those imbued with devotion to me, O goddess, who observe my vows— / by them the sacred field of Prabhāsa is known; of this there is no doubt.

Endowed with restraints and observances, free from egotism— / for their sake I will answer your question, which is very hard to obtain. / Formerly it was told by me to Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Indra, and the gods.

That I will declare, O goddess; give ear, O fair-faced one! / Among all the sacred fords on earth, O beauty of the gods,

there is one dear to me: the supreme sacred field Prabhāsa. / And in that great sacred field, worshipped with sacred fords by Soma, / after granting boons to him, I abide perpetually in solitude.

That secret place made by him has been revealed to you, O goddess; / there, as I was absorbed in yoga, a celestial liṅga appeared.

Endowed with celestial splendour, encircled by a girdle of fire, / extending a mere hundred thousand [measures], tranquil, yet difficult for mortals to behold.

And the three powers known as will, knowledge, and action / arose from that liṅga for the purpose of creating the universe.

Into that liṅga this universe of moving and unmoving beings dissolves, / and from that alone it is seen to arise again with its moving and unmoving beings.

It arose as a mystery, and no one knows what lies beyond it. / Through the practice of [many] births, that liṅga is recognized by mortals on earth.

The sacred field is called Prabhāsa, and I am the Knower of the Field without doubt. / There, in this sacred field, O fair-faced lady, I bear the name Someśa.

Those who are born of my portion and are born in this sacred field, / to them this formidable liṅga was known even in a previous kalpa.

Even in other ages, O goddess, this liṅga is very difficult to attain; / in the dreadful and sinful Kali age, it is especially difficult to attain.

There is another illustration in this matter; I shall declare it, O Pārvatī.

In the exceedingly dreadful Kali age, men devoted to sophistry, / greatly sinful and entirely given to heresy, will say:

“All this is falsely made up and proclaimed by fools! / Where is the sacred field, where is its power, and where indeed are the deities?”

“And it is all likewise false, proclaimed by fools!”

Thus the fools will say, and others will mock. / Hell-bound, atheistic people, their minds ruined by sin, / will never attain perfection when the Kali age arrives.

And those who die in the sacred ford, being devoted to reviling Śiva, / are seen born in animal wombs, among all types of wombs.

For this reason, O goddess, even in the sacred ford they are seen to be deeply distressed, / devoid of truth and purity on account of the power of the age.

This is stated as the reason for the concealment of sacred fields. / All this has been declared to you, on account of which perfection is very difficult to attain.

In age after age sacred fords have been praised, O ruler of the gods; / among them, O goddess, the sacred field Prabhāsa is indeed dear to me.

Thus this secret that destroys sin has been declared, O goddess, / the seed of the sacred field, O great goddess. What else do you ask?

Those who will listen to this great majesty of the sacred field, which destroys grave sins, / they too, by my power, shall go to heaven, the abode of the virtuous.

Thus ends the third chapter, named 'Description of the Goddess’s Question' in the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the seventh part of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa.