Skandapurana 2.1.11

The venerable Sūta said:

Now the destruction of the great sin of Kāśyapa through bathing in Svāmipuṣkariṇī:

Now, therefore, having taken as my subject an auspicious sacred narrative

concerning the auspicious Svāmipuṣkariṇī, I shall relate it, O best of the twice-born.

Formerly, a twice-born named Kāśyapa, in this auspicious, best of sacred fords,

having bathed, was freed from a very great sin that leads to hell.

The seers said:

"O sage, what sin did this one named Kāśyapa commit,

from which he was freed in an instant by bathing here in the best of sacred fords?

Tell this to us who are full of faith, O Sūta, through the power of your compassion;

for us who are sated with the nectar of your speech, there is no thirst at all."

The venerable Sūta said:

"Expounding the māhātmya of the venerable Svāmipuṣkariṇī,

I shall tell an ancient narrative that destroys the sin of those who recite it.

Now the narrative of Parīkṣit:

There was a king, the son of Abhimanyu, Parīkṣit by name.

resided in Hāstinapura, protecting the earth according to dharma.

Once that king wandered in the forest, devoted to the hunt.

The king, sixty years of age, was afflicted with hunger and thirst.

Eagerly tracking a deer that had vanished in the forest,

the best of monarchs saw a sage engrossed in meditation and said:

“O sage, a deer was just now struck by my arrow in the forest.

Was it seen by you, O wise one, as it fled, trembling with fear?”

Fixed in samādhi, because of his silence, he said nothing at all.

Then, with the notch of his bow, upon the shoulder of that great sage,

placing a dead snake, [the king], infuriated, departed for his own city.

Now that sage had a son named Śṛṅgin.

Śṛṅgin had a friend named Kṛśa, an excellent twice-born.

Then that friend named Kṛśa spoke to his friend Śṛṅgin:

“Your father is now carrying a dead snake upon his shoulder.

Do not be arrogant, my friend, and do not be angry at this in vain.”

Śṛṅgin became furious, eager to utter a curse upon the king:

“Whoever placed a dead snake upon my father, foolish in mind—

let him die within seven nights, bitten by the serpent Takṣaka!”

Thus the sage's son cursed Parīkṣit, the son of Subhadrā's son.

His father, named Śamīka, hearing that the king had been cursed by his son,

the eminent sage spoke to his son Śṛṅgin:

“Why have you cursed the king, the protector of all the worlds?

In a kingless world, how shall we safely dwell?

From anger sin arises; through compassion happiness is attained.

He who dispels aroused anger through patience alone,

enjoys supreme happiness in this world and in the next.

For persons endowed with patience attain the highest good.”

Then Śamīka spoke to his own disciple named Gauramukha:

“O Gauramukha, go and tell King Parīkṣit

this curse pronounced by my son: the bite of the serpent king Takṣaka.

Return quickly to my presence, O wise one!”

Thus addressed by Śamīka, Gauramukha went to the king.

Having approached King Parīkṣit, the son of Subhadrā's son, he said:

“Seeing a dead snake placed by you upon his father's shoulder,

Śamīka's son Śṛṅgin, filled with fury, cursed you:

‘On the seventh day from this day, by the great serpent Takṣaka

may the son of Abhimanyu be quickly bitten and burned by poison-fire!’

Thus Śṛṅgin, the son of that sage, cursed you, O king.

His father sent me to your presence to tell you this.”

Having said this to the king, Gauramukha quickly departed.

After Gauramukha had left, the king was overwhelmed with sorrow.

Then, sky-scraping, lofty, supported by a single pillar, very extensive—

a pavilion in the midst of the Gaṅgā the eminent king erected.

With physicians skilled in the great Gāruḍa mantras and skilled in medicinal herbs,

he made concentrated effort to counteract Takṣaka's poison.

Surrounded by many foremost gods, divine seers, and royal seers,

the king, devoted to Viṣṇu, sat in that lofty pavilion.

At that juncture, a brahmin, Kāśyapa, the foremost of mantra-experts,

set out to protect the king from the potent poison of Takṣaka.

On the seventh day, the eminent twice-born, poor and desirous of wealth, [went].

Meanwhile, Takṣaka also arrived, disguised as a brahmin.

Seeing Kāśyapa on the way, he spoke to him:

“O brahmin, where are you going? Tell me today, O great sage!”

Thus questioned, the twice-born Kāśyapa then said to Takṣaka:

“Today Takṣaka with his poison-fire will burn the great king

Parīkṣit; to quell that, I am approaching his presence.”

Thus addressed, Takṣaka said again to that brahmin:

“I am Takṣaka, O best of the twice-born! One bitten by me cannot be cured

even in a hundred years, nor even by tens of thousands of great mantras.

If you now have the power to treat someone bitten by me,

I will bite a tree that is many yojanas high; revive it!

Then, O twice-born, it will appear to me that you are indeed capable."

Having spoken thus, Takṣaka then bit that tree;

and that exceedingly tall tree was reduced to ashes.

Earlier, a man had climbed that very tree;

he too was then burned by the fiery blasts of Takṣaka's poison.

Neither Kāśyapa nor Takṣaka knew of that man.

Then Kāśyapa made a pledge while Takṣaka listened:

"Let all, beginning with the brahmins, witness my mantra power now!"

Having spoken thus, Kāśyapa, the best of mantra-masters,

revived by the power of his mantras that tree reduced to ashes by the fire of poison.

That man was also brought back to life along with the tree.

Then Takṣaka said to that Kāśyapa, skilled in mantras:

"Act in such a way, O twice-born, that the sage's word will not prove false.

Twice the wealth that the king might give you

I shall give you; turn back immediately, O best of the twice-born!"

Having spoken thus and given him priceless jewels, Takṣaka

turned back that Kāśyapa, the brahmin skilled in mantras.

Perceiving through his eye of wisdom that the king was short-lived, Kāśyapa

went silently to his own hermitage, having obtained jewels from Takṣaka.

Summoning all the serpents at that moment, Takṣaka said:

"Go to that king, disguised as sages,

and swiftly offer fruits as gifts to Parīkṣit."

Saying 'So be it,' all these serpents gave fruits to the king.

Takṣaka too, having assumed the form of an insect

in a certain jujube fruit, waited there to bite the king.

Then King Parīkṣit, having distributed to his elder ministers

all the fruits offered by all those disguised as brahmins,

out of curiosity took one large fruit in his hand.

At that moment, the sun too dipped behind the Western Mountain.

"May the seer's word not prove false!"—thus the people there,

all the brahmins and kings, said to one another then.

While all were speaking thus, a very red insect

was seen in that fruit by everyone and by King Parīkṣit.

"Could this worm bite me today?" said the king,

and placed that fruit with the insect on his throat, O best of the twice-born.

Then Takṣaka, who was in the fruit in the form of an insect,

came out of that fruit swiftly and coiled around the king's body as it rested on his throat.

When the king was coiled by Takṣaka, those standing by fled in fear.

Thereupon, O brahmins, by the extremely powerful poison-fire of Takṣaka,

the king, along with his palace, was swiftly burned to ashes.

Having performed the funeral rites for that king, the ministers along with the royal priests,

desiring the protection of the world, consecrated his son

named Janamejaya as king over the kingdom.

The brahmin and excellent sage named Kāśyapa, who had come to protect the king from Takṣaka,

was reviled by all people.

He wandered through all countries, condemned by all righteous folk;

he found no resting place in a village or even in a hermitage.

Whichever lands he went to, there he was driven out by the respectable people

from those various lands; so he went to Śākalya for refuge.

Bowing to the sage Śākalya, Kāśyapa, reviled by the people,

made this request to the great-souled Śākalya:

Kāśyapa said:

"O venerable one, knower of all righteousness, O Śākalya, beloved of Hari!

Sages, brahmins, and other friends revile me.

I do not know the reason for this, why people revile me.

Killing a brahmin, drinking liquor, violation of the guru's bed,

theft, or the sin of associating [with sinners] has never been committed by me.

Nor have other sins been committed by me, O sage.

Even so, people, kinsmen, and others revile me in vain.

If you know, Śākalya, tell me the fault I have committed."

Thus addressed by Kāśyapa, the great sage named Śākalya,

having meditated for a moment, spoke to Kāśyapa, O best of brahmins:

Now the duties stated by Śākalya.

Śākalya said:

"You were coming to protect the great king Parīkṣit from Takṣaka,

but were turned back halfway along the road by Takṣaka.

Though capable of treating someone afflicted with venom, disease, or the like,

he who does not protect [him] in this world—they call him a slayer of a brahmin.

Whether out of anger, lust, fear, greed, malice, or delusion,

he who does not protect a man suffering from venom or disease, O best of brahmins—

even a slayer of a brahmin, a drinker of liquor, a thief, or a violator of the Guru's bed,

or one corrupted by the sin of association [with them]—for him too there is no expiation [like his].

Even for a seller of daughters and likewise for a seller of horses,

and even for an ungrateful person, an expiation is found in the scriptures.

However, he who, though capable, does not protect someone afflicted with venom or disease,

no expiation is prescribed for him even by myriad penances.

A virtuous person should not eat in the same dining line with him,

nor speak with him, nor ever look at that man.

Merely by conversing with him, one becomes an accomplice in a major sin.

That great king Parīkṣit was of sacred renown and righteous,

a devotee of Viṣṇu, a great yogin, and a protector of the four castes.

He had listened to the story of Hari from the son of Vyāsa with devotion.

Because, without protecting that king, at the word of Takṣaka,

you turned back—on that account you are condemned by the best of brahmins and even by your kinsmen.

Even though that great king Parīkṣit had only moments to live,

nonetheless, medical treatment must be administered by the wise until death.

'As long as the vital breaths are in the throat of a dying man,

so long must treatment be given; crooked is the course of time.'

Thus the verse was recited in ancient times by those who have crossed the ocean of medical knowledge.

Therefore, since you, though capable of treatment, gave no medicine

and turned back midway on the path, you are indeed despised on that account."

Thus addressed by Śākalya, Kāśyapa replied:

Kāśyapa said:

"Tell me a means to pacify this fault of mine, O one of good vows,

by which my kinsmen along with friends might accept me back.

Show mercy to me, O Śākalya, dear to Hari!"

Thus addressed by Kāśyapa, Śākalya, the lord of sages,

having meditated for a moment, then spoke thus to Kāśyapa with compassion:

Śākalya said:

"I will tell you the means for the pacification of this sin.

It should be performed quickly by you; do not delay, O brahmin.

On the bank of the Suvarṇamukharī is the dwelling place of the Lord of Lakṣmī,

famed as Veṅkaṭādri, worshiped in all worlds.

On that sacred Śeṣagiri, bowed to by gods and asuras,

which destroys brahmin-slaughter, liquor-drinking, gold-theft, and other [sins],

there is the auspicious Svāmipuṣkariṇī, dispelling all sins,

situated to the north of Śrīnivāsa, bestowing auspiciousness.

Having gone to that Veṅkaṭa mountain, to the auspicious Svāmipuṣkariṇī,

and bathed with formal resolve, [and then] Hari as the Lord Varāha

having worshiped on the western bank, and departed [thence] to the temple of Hari;

having gone there, according to rule, to the dweller on the Golden Mountain,

to Śrīnivāsa, the supreme God, the grantor of fearlessness to his devotees,

to the God holding the conch and discus, adorned with a forest garland—

having seen [him], you will be cleansed of sin; do not doubt, O brahmin."

Thus addressed by Śākalya, Kāśyapa, the eminent sage,

having gone to the lord of mountains, Veṅkaṭa, revered by gods and asuras,

and bathed in the auspicious Puṣkariṇī according to prescribed rules,

the brahmin Kāśyapa, who had crossed the ocean of medical knowledge, was restored to health.

All the kinsmen and brahmins [welcomed] Kāśyapa, the best of brahmins.

having worshipped him according to the injunctions, [said,] “You are worthy of worship, without any doubt.”

Thus has the glory of Mount Veṅkaṭa been related to you, O brahmins.

The man who hears it with devotion is glorified in the world of Viṣṇu.

Thus ends the eleventh chapter, titled “The Cessation of Kāśyapa's Sin,” in the Glory of Svāmipuṣkariṇī on Mount Veṅkaṭa, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.