Skandapurana 17.11

Īśvara said: / Hearing the words of the brahmin Sārasvata, King Bhoja, / his face losing its color, grasped his feet and spoke these words: 1 .

O sage, you must not speak like this; I have resolved that I must go. / Tell me how the pilgrimage that grants merit to mortals is performed. 2 .

What is to be taken and what is to be discarded? What is to be given and what is not given? / Fasting at the sacred ford, ritual ablution, the proper order for twilight ritual ablutions, / worship, sleeping, and recitation at night—tell me all this in brief. 3 .

Sārasvata said: / If you must go to the land of Surāṣṭra and to Mount Raivataka, / O king, I shall declare the rules of pilgrimage; listen with a focused mind. 4 .

Having obtained the strength of Bṛhaspati, and having properly gratified the sun, / having placed all [auspicious things] to the left and back, and having purified the day; 5

having determined the lunar ascendant from the planets, and from the strongest birth sign, / and having obtained an auspicious omen, kings should set forth, O king. 6

One may go to a sacred ford at any time; indeed, all months are auspicious, / and all lunar days are excellent for ritual ablution, giving gifts, worship, and the like. 7

On the eighth and fourteenth [lunar days], at the month’s end, on the full moon day, / at a solar transit, and during an eclipse—these times are declared [best] for worshipping Bhava. 8

Leaving Mount Kailāsa, the Goddess, and the assembled gods, / Bhava broke through the earth and emerged on the fifteenth [day] of Vaiśākha. 9

On that very day, the divine river Svarṇarekhā, destroying all sins, / rose from the subterranean realm, having reached the path of Vāsuki. 10

The great mountain Ujjayanta, trodden by the feet of Airāvata, / poured forth abundant pure water born from the elephant's feet. 11

All the gods, beginning with Brahmā, and likewise the rivers, beginning with the Gaṅgā, / gathered in the great sacred field of Vastrāpatha with devotion to Bhava. 12

Hear, O king, the extent of the sacred field of Vastrāpatha: / As Hara abandoned his vestment and ornament, it fell upon the earth; 13

that extent is recorded as the sacred field, designated Vastrāpatha by the gods. / To the north is the river Bhadrā, and to the east it extends two yojanas; 14

to the south lies the place of Bali, and Ujjayanta along the river; / to the west, beyond the city of Vāmana, is the confluence of the rivers. 15

This sacred field of Vastrāpatha bestows enjoyment and liberation; / the extent of the sacred field is known to be four yojanas. 16

On the fifteenth [day] of Vaiśākha, O king, Bhava is worshipped with devotion; / he [who does so] dwells in the world of Śiva for a day of Brahmā. 17

Therefore, when spring has arrived, make the journey, O king, / observing restraints, pure, bathed, and with senses subdued. 18

The person who abandons elephants, horses, and chariots, and walks on foot, / goes to the abode of Śiva in the Puṣpaka aerial chariot. 19

[Living] on a single meal, on an evening meal, or on unasked-for food, / or if [living] on food obtained by begging, on water, or on fruits; 20

whoever goes fasting, performing kṛcchra penance, or subsisting on vegetables, / he goes to heaven fanned by celestial women and attendants. 21

Without a cleansing bath on the way, devoid of foot-anointment, / bearing dust, his body emaciated, a staff in hand, with senses subdued; 22

afflicted by cold, heat, and rain, devoted to remembering Śiva— / if a man journeys thus, he pierces the solar orb and ascends. 23

Even if the ancestors are in hell, O king, / he leads seven on the mother's side and seven on the father's to the imperishable abode of Śiva. 24

If a man goes rolling on the ground, clad in a deer skin, / or measuring the ground by the length of a staff; 25

in a forest, in a waterless place, distressed by lack of water, / making Śaṃkara his refuge, with his mind steady; 26

having gained the earth possessing seven continents, girdled by the ocean, O king, / through many sacrifices, and having given away the earth in sacrifice; 27

seated in a seven-storeyed aerial chariot, possessing a divine body, bearing the form of Hara, / looking down gently upon the earth, adorned with auspicious ornaments; 25

with swollen breasts pressed against him in the embrace of deer-eyed women, / entertained by song and instrumental music, such a man goes to Satyaloka. 29

Or walking slowly, pacing out his steps with speed of arms, / in silence, shedding delusion, a human being goes to the abode of Śiva. 30

Whether a killer of a brahmin, a drinker of liquor, a thief, or one who violates the teacher’s bed, / or an ungrateful person, he is freed from sins, and dying, he attains liberation. 31

Leaving mother, father, country, brothers, kinsmen, and relations, / village, land, and home, and exercising restraint of the senses; 32

having received the rites of Śiva, a man wanders upon the earth / to see many sacred fords and holy shrines. 33

At some auspicious sacred ford, cutting the bondage of cyclic existence, / giving the gift of fearlessness, repeatedly uttering 'Śiva, Śiva'; 34

if he stays in a secluded, deserted place, devoted to remembering Śiva, / they come to bow to him, O lord of men. 35

All the deities come to see his mark, [wondering:] / 'When is this best of men to be borne away in hosts of aerial chariots?' 36

When in time he meets with death and his body is borne on the shoulders of men, / he is watched by celestial beauties languid with passion as he is carried off. 37

Worshipped by the lord of the gods, the Sun, Fire, the Lord of Wealth, and the Rudras, assuming the form of Śiva, / that devotee of Rudra swiftly leaves the worlds of the gods and remains in the abode of Śiva. 38

Thus ends the eleventh chapter, titled 'Description of the Rules for Pilgrimage to Vastrāpatha', in the Vastrāpathakṣetramāhātmya, the second [part] of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, the seventh [book] of the glorious Skandamahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. 11