Skandapurana 16.84

Īśvara said: / Then, O great goddess, one should go to Hari, Ādinārāyaṇa, / on the eastern side of her, who destroys all sins,

endowed with a pedestal of sandals, the destroyer of all demons. / Formerly, in the Kṛta age, O goddess, there was a demon named Meghavāhana,

of great strength, of immense body, ten thousand yojanas in extent, / invincible to all the gods, causing the destruction of the three worlds. / A boon was given to him by Brahmā when he was pleased, O fair-faced lady:

“When Viṣṇu slays you in battle with a sandal, / only then will your death occur; otherwise there is no death for you.”

Having obtained this boon, the demon tormented the earth / for one crore of yugas, together with gods, asuras, and humans.

Having tormented [them] in many ways, O goddess, he went to the southern ocean; / there he destroyed the hermitages of the seers.

Then all those seers, whose circle of hermitages had been destroyed, / took refuge in Keśava, the god of gods; / knowing him to be invincible, they praised the god whose banner bears Garuḍa.

The seers said: / “Salutations to the yogin of the self, who is supreme auspiciousness and good fortune, / to the god Janārdana, the bearer of Śrī, and the Creator.

Salutations to him who wears a golden crown like the filament of a lotus, / to Keśava, who is exceedingly subtle; salutations, salutations to him of vast form!

To the Great Soul, the most excellent, salutations to the lotus-naveled one! / Homage be to Hari, the remover of illusion, to Hari, the creator of Hari!

To him whose womb is Hiraṇyagarbha, the soul that is the cause of the universe, / to Acyuta be homage, to the eternal, to Ananta, salutations, salutations!

Salutations to the Great Soul, the sustainer of the world veiled by the mantle of illusion, / the bestower of the boat of knowledge for crossing over the ocean of saṃsāra, / of unimpeded intellect, the creator whose deeds are the emission, maintenance, and end [of the world].

Just as sin is destroyed when the name ‘Vāsudeva’ is uttered, / so may this demon Meghavāhana perish!

Just as Viṣṇu removes the sin abiding in his devotees, / so may this evil-doing demon meet destruction!”

Just as Viṣṇu, the moment he is remembered, removes all sin, / so may this demon Meghavāhana meet with destruction! 15

May blessings arise! May all evils of the whole world perish / when Vāsudeva, the Lord of the Supreme Lord and creator of the world, is remembered with undivided devotion! 16

Whatever multitudes of living beings are on the surface of the earth, in heaven, in the intermediate space, or in the underworld, / may they, best among men, attain success when Vāsudeva, the creator of the world, is remembered! 17

Whatever living creatures exist anywhere here within the cosmic egg or beyond it, / may supreme and faultless perfection be theirs when Vāsudeva, the creator of the world, is praised! 18

Īśvara said: / Thus praised then, O goddess, Hari, the primeval Nārāyaṇa, / knowing that matter which was to be accomplished and mounting his wooden sandal, 19

the destroyer of sins became visible before the eyes of those seers. / He said to all those who bowed low: “What matter resides in your hearts? 20

Let it be told; I shall do it, pleased by your hymn of praise.” 21

Thus addressed, all the seers, standing with folded hands, / with bowed heads spoke to Hari, the primeval god: 22

The seers said: / “You know all, O God, and nothing is unknown to you. / Slay this immensely powerful demon, O Mahādeva, / so that this entire universe may be free from fear, O Lord!” 23

Thus addressed by them, Viṣṇu then challenged the demon to battle, / and struck that demon in the chest with his wooden sandal, O fair one. 24

Struck down, the demon fell dead into the great ocean. / Having slain the foremost of demons, the god took up his abode in that place, / seated on the sandal-throne, even to this day, O fair-faced goddess. 25

Whatever best of men worships him with devotion on the eleventh day, / attains the fruit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice and rejoices in heaven like a god. 26

The fruit a man obtains by giving a hundred thousand cows to a brahmin, / that very fruit he obtains upon beholding Govinda, the primeval god, with devotion. 27

For those in whose heart the divine primeval Nārāyaṇa resides, / the Kali age is the Kṛta age, and their distress is greater than happiness. 28

Having bathed in the waters of the Saṃnihitā on a Sunday that is the eleventh day, / and having worshipped the primeval Nārāyaṇa, one is released from the bondage of worldly existence. 29

Thus has the māhātmya pertaining to the deity Viṣṇu been told to you, O goddess. / Heard by men, it removes sins and destroys a multitude of miseries. 30

Thus ends the eighty-fourth chapter, entitled ‘Description of the Māhātmya of the Primeval Nārāyaṇa,’ in the first [sub-section], the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, of the seventh section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. 84