Skandapurana 16.81

The Lord said:
Then, O great goddess, one should go to the Lord of the gods, Daityasūdana, / the destroyer of sins of all living beings residing in the Prabhāsa sacred field,

an abode without beginning through the ages, granting all desires, auspicious, / stationed like a boat for crossing over in the terrifying ocean of saṃsāra.

All other things perish at the end of a kalpa, on the day of Brahmā, / except these, O queen of gods: the banyan tree lasting seven kalpas,

likewise the wish-fulfilling tree, the house, the best mountain of beryl, / the divine Lord Daityasūdana, and the great sage Mārkaṇḍeya.

These are imperishable and immutable for seven kalpas, O beautiful lady. / O goddess, what is the use of speaking much, of describing [this] again and again?

Except for the holy Daityasūdana, O goddess, there is no other deity on earth. / His sacred field is shaped like a barleycorn and destroys sin,

frequented by seers, perfected beings, yakṣas, vidyādharas, and serpents. / I shall tell you the boundary of this Viṣṇu-kṣetra, O spirited lady:

extending to Yameśvara in the east, to the holy Someśa in the west, / to Viśālākṣī in the north, and to the lord of rivers (the ocean) in the south.

This sacred field of Viṣṇu, shaped like a barleycorn, destroys sin.

Those men who die in this sacred field, even if they are sinners, / certainly all go to heaven, just as good and virtuous men do.

Whatever is given here, offered into fire, muttered, or the austerity practiced, / all of that is declared to be imperishable for seven kalpas, O beloved.

Whoever feeds even a single brahmin there, O goddess, / according to rule for the sake of Viṣṇu, ten million [brahmins] are fed.

A man who undertakes a fast there, endowed with devotion, / obtains the fruit of ten thousand fasts by a single fast alone. / Having bathed at Cakra-tīrtha, fasting, with senses subdued,

on the twelfth day in the month of Kārttika, a man should give gold to brahmins; / having worshipped Viṣṇu according to rule, he is freed from all sins.

The goddess said:
Why was he proclaimed with the name ‘Daityasūdana’? / And at what time, O Lord of the gods? Tell me that in detail.

The Lord said:
Listen, O goddess; I will tell you the sin-destroying māhātmya, / the ancient and glorious event concerning the god Daityasūdana.

O goddess, his names exist kalpa after kalpa; / they are truly without beginning and without end, arising again and again.

In the first kalpa he was surrounded by Śrī; in the second, Vāmana; / Vajrāṅga in the third; in the fourth, the beloved of Kamalā;

in the fifth, the remover of sorrow; in the sixth, Puruṣottama; / and in the seventh kalpa the god is remembered as the holy Daityasūdana.

I shall tell you the origin of his name precisely as it is.

Formerly, in the battle between the gods and the asuras, when all the deities were vanquished / by the dānavas, the thorns of the gods, they went to Hari for refuge. / Standing prostrate before the god dwelling in the ocean of milk, they praised him.

The gods said:
Victory, O God, Lord of the universe, crusher of daityas and asuras! / Having assumed the boar form, the earth was lifted up by you.

The Vedas were rescued from the midst of the ocean in the form of a fish. / Likewise, having become the tortoise form, the churning of the ocean of milk [was done],

and by you, O Lord of the universe, Śrī was raised up; homage to you! / Lord of Śrī, bearer of Śrī, the god who destroys the suffering of the afflicted!

In the form of Vāmana, Bali was bound by you, the enemy of the Asuras; / the great Daitya Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu were slain.

In the form of Narasiṃha he was held in the mid-air by you. / O source of the gods, O Mahādeva, the world was delivered by you!

Without you, O Lord of the World, the world was rendered lustreless, / as if overwhelmed by the sun [or rather] by darkness, by the Dānavas.

Hearing this hymn of praise, O goddess, the lotus-eyed Viṣṇu, / awakened on the ocean of milk, spoke to the gods headed by Brahmā:

"Cast off all fear, O gods, with regard to the Dānavas! / Within a short time indeed I shall destroy the Dānavas."

Having spoken thus, Janārdana came forth together with them. / He destroyed the Dānavas individually with his discus.

Afflicted with fear, all the Dānavas intent on flight / reached the sacred field of Prabhāsa and turned towards the ocean.

Then, seeing the Daityas perishing, he, the destroyer of the Daityas, / wiped out with his discus all those Dānavas without remainder.

When all the Daityas were slain, for the gods, brahmins, and ascetics / auspicious well-being ensued; the world became peaceful and free from turmoil.

From that time onwards, the god bore that name 'Daityasūdana' (Slayer of the Daityas). / This peerless māhātmya has been related to you, O lovely one: / the great glory and vast exaltation of Lord Daityasūdana.

Upon seeing him, a person is not born dumb, blind, destitute, or suffering / for seven lifetimes; this is true, truly so, O fair-faced one!

Observing with effort the meritorious Śravaṇadvādaśī and the auspicious Rohiṇī-aṣṭamī, / as well as the Śayanī and Utthāpanī [Ekādaśīs],

a man attains the fruit of ten thousand fasts / from each single fast in the presence of Daityasūdana; there is no doubt in this.

Even a Caṇḍāla or an outcaste dog-cooker, or one born in an animal womb, / when he yields his life there, shall reach the imperishable realm of Acyuta.

And if one should fast for one month in the months of Kārttika and Vaiśākha, / abiding in the midst of Daityasūdana, endowed with full faith,

by each single fast one obtains ten million times [the reward] respectively; / he gains all that fruit by the power of Viṣṇu's sacred field.

Whoever offers a lamp there for a month or for a fortnight / obtains the fruit of ten million lamps by the gift of each single lamp.

Having bathed the god of gods, the four-armed one, with the five nectars, / fasting on the Ekādaśī and worshipping him, one becomes imperishable.

Whoever observes the four-month vow according to rule in the presence of Daityasūdana / with strict restraint, Keśava is pleased with him.

Whatever [merit] is gained by performing millions of four-month vows in other sacred fields, / all that fruit one obtains from the darśana of Daityasūdana.

Whatever meritorious fruit one may obtain by giving away the entire universe, / all that merit one obtains from the darśana of Daityasūdana.

The man who keeps a night vigil there on an Ekādaśī / with songs, dances, musical instruments, and suitable spectacles, / goes to the realm of Viṣṇu, from which, having gone, he does not return.

Tens of thousands of killings accumulated here, and thefts of gold beyond count— / all those committed in the past by anyone are destroyed, O auspicious lady, by a vigil through the night.

Neither those paths, nor the city of the spirits of the dead, nor the messengers, nor that sky-ranging forest of sword-like leaves / do those men ever see even in a dream whose night, O auspicious lady, has passed in vigil.

If one gives a thousand maidens in marriage according to rule, adorned with jewels, with the thought of fulfilling one's duty, / or a thousand cows in the land of Kurujāṅgala, superior to those is keeping vigil for Viṣṇu.

And having observed a fast, whoever eats on the Dvādaśī day / food offering mixed with tulasī destroys ten million killings.

Thus has been related to you, O goddess, the sin-destroying māhātmya / of Lord Daityasūdana; what else do you wish to ask?

One should offer yellow garments, a cow, and gold to the deity; / having bathed at the excellent sacred ford of the discus, one is released from all sin.

Thus ends the eighty-first chapter, entitled 'Description of the Māhātmya of the Glorious Daityasūdana', in the first Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya, in the seventh Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, of the Skandapurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses.