Skandapurana 2.1.13

Now, the description of the deeds of Dharmagupta:

The glorious Sūta said:

I will tell once more of the majesty of the Svāmitīrtha,

to you with respect, O dwellers of Naimiṣāraṇya. (1)

There was a great king named Nanda, born of the lunar dynasty;

he ruled with righteousness this earth bounded by the oceans. (2)

He had a son known as Dharmagupta.

Nanda placed the yoke of kingdom-protection upon his son, (3)

and, with senses conquered and food restrained, he entered the penance-forest.

When his father went to the penance-forest, the king named Dharmagupta, (4)

knowing righteousness and intent upon wise conduct, protected the earth.

He sacrificed with various sacrifices to the gods led by Indra. (5)

He gave wealth and many fields to the brahmins.

All people were devoted to their own duty while that king was ruling. (6)

At no time were there afflictions arising from thieves or the like under him.

Once, this Dharmagupta, having mounted an excellent horse, (7)

entered the forest, O best of brahmins, curious and fond of hunting.

With quarters filled with tamāla, tāla, hintāla, and kurava trees, (8)

he roamed about in that forest terrifying with lions and tigers,

whose directions were reverberating with the humming of intoxicated swarms of bees, (9)

crowded with groves of red lotuses, kalhāra, white lotuses, and blue water-lilies,

at a pond full of water, adorned by ascetics. (10)

While king Dharmagupta was wandering in that forest,

the night fell, O brahmins, its quarters enveloped in darkness. (11)

The king also, endowed with modesty, having performed the evening worship,

chanted the Gāyatrī, the mother of the Vedas, there in the forest. (12)

When he had taken shelter in a certain tree out of fear of lions, tigers, and others,

a bear, tormented by fear of a lion, approached that prince. (13)

A solitary forest-dwelling lion ran after that tree.

Pursued by the lion, the bear climbed up the tree. (14)

Having climbed the tree, the bear saw the lord of the earth,

the great-souled one stationed in the tree, possessing great strength and valor. (15)

Having seen the king, that bear living in the forest said:

“Do not fear, O best of kings! We two shall spend the night here. (16)

Endowed with great courage and a huge body, possessing massive fangs,

this very terrible lion has arrived at the foot of the tree. (17)

Sleep for half the night, being protected by me, who am ready.

Then, O wise one, protect me while I sleep for half the night.” (18)

Having heard those words, while Nanda's son was asleep, the lion

said to the bear: “Cast down to me this sleeping king!” (19)

The righteous bear said to that lion, O best of the twice-born:

“You do not know righteousness, O forest-dwelling king of beasts! (20)

Ah, great suffering befalls those who betray trust in the world.

Indeed, the sin of those who harm a friend cannot be destroyed even by ten thousand sacrifices. (21)

There may somehow be expiation for sins such as the slaying of a brahmin,

but the sin of betrayers of trust cannot be destroyed even in ten million births. (22)

I do not consider Meru to be a great burden on earth, O lion;

I consider this person who betrays the trust of people to be the great burden.” (23)

Spoken to thus by the bear, the lion became silent indeed.

When Dharmagupta awakened, the bear slept in the tree. (24)

Then the lion said to the king: “Abandon this bear to me!”

Addressed thus by the lion, the king, without hesitation, (25)

cast that sleeping bear onto the ground, whose head was resting in his lap.

Being thrown down then by the king, clinging to the tree, (26)

the bear, by the power of merit, did not fall to the ground from the tree.

That bear approached the king and spoke these words in anger: (27)

“Capable of assuming forms at will, O king, I was born in the lineage of Bhṛgu.

Named Dhyānakāṣṭha, I assumed the form of a bear. (28)

Why did you abandon me, sleeping and innocent, O king?

By my curse, wander on the earth exceedingly fast as a madman!” (29)

Having thus cursed the king, the sage then addressed the lion:

“You are not a lion; formerly you were a great yakṣa, a minister of Kubera. (30)”

Once, having gone to the Himavat mountain accompanied by your wife,

you indulged in amorous sport joyfully out of ignorance near Gautama.

Gautama too, coming out from his hut by chance to gather sacrificial firewood,

saw you naked and pronounced a curse:

"Since you have remained without clothes today in my hermitage,

therefore you will surely become a lion this very day, without doubt."

Thus, by Gautama's curse, you became a lion long ago.

In the past you were a yakṣa named Bhadra, a minister of Kubera.

Kubera is indeed virtuous in conduct, and his servants are likewise so.

Therefore, why do you kill me, a seer dwelling in the forest?

All this indeed I know through meditation, O king of beasts!

Addressed thus by Dhyānakāṣṭha, he quickly cast off his state of being a lion,

and assumed the divine form of a yakṣa, the minister of Kubera.

With folded hands, bowed down, he said to the sage Dhyānakāṣṭha:

"Today I have known everything of my past deeds, O great sage!

At the time of the curse, Gautama also told me the end of the curse:

'When you have a conversation with Dhyānakāṣṭha in the form of a bear,

then, having shaken off your lion-state, you will regain your yakṣa form.'

Thus Gautama, the foremost among sages, spoke to me, O brahmin.

Now, because my lion-state has been destroyed, I recognise you, O great sage,

who are named Dhyānakāṣṭha, pure, and capable of assuming any form at will."

Having spoken thus and then bowed down to Dhyānakāṣṭha, that lord of yakṣas

mounted an excellent aerial chariot and departed for the city of Alakā.

Seeing that best of kings looking like a madman,

the ministers brought that best of kings to the presence of his father on the bank of the Revā.

They reported to him the loss of his son's mind.

Upon learning the account of his son, the father, Nanda,

Now follows the cure of Dharmagupta's madness upon bathing in the sacred ford Svāmitīrtha according to Jaimini's words.

swiftly took his son and went to the presence of Jaimini.

He related the entire story of his son to him from the beginning:

"O venerable Jaimini, today my son has fallen into madness.

Speak of a means for the destruction of his madness, O great sage!"

Being questioned thus, Jaimini, the foremost of sages, meditated for a long time.

Having meditated for a very long time, he spoke to King Nanda:

"Your son has indeed become mad due to the curse of Dhyānakāṣṭha.

I shall tell you a remedy for release from that curse.

On the bank of the Suvarṇamukharī, on the mountain named Veṅkaṭa,

which removes all sins, is meritorious, and is fashioned of various minerals,

there is a most great sacred ford called Svāmipuṣkariṇī,

the purest of the pure and the most auspicious of auspicious things,

established by the Vedas, highly meritorious, and purifying the murder of a brahmin and other [sins].

Taking your son there today, O wise one, bathe him.

His madness will perish that very moment; there is no doubt."

Addressed thus, he bowed down to Jaimini, the foremost of sages.

Taking his son, Nanda went to the Svāmipuṣkariṇī.

And there he bathed his son in accordance with the prescribed rules.

Immediately upon the mere bathing, the son had his madness destroyed.

Nanda himself also bathed in the water of the Svāmipuṣkariṇī.

Then, having dwelt there for one day, the father along with his son,

having worshipped Veṅkaṭeśa, Śrīnivāsa, the storehouse of compassion,

Nanda took leave of his son and departed to the forest for austerity.

When his father had departed, the son, King Dharmagupta, O twice-born ones,

gave vast wealth to Veṅkaṭeśa with devotion.

He then gave money, grain, and fields to brahmins.

Thereafter he departed to his own capital together with his ministers.

He ruled according to righteousness the kingdom, whose thorns had been eradicated,

inherited from his father and grandfather, O brahmins, being exceedingly righteous Dharmagupta.

Whatever men are seized by forms of madness, by epilepsy,

and by malevolent spirits, O best of brahmins, they too, by plunging here

into the puṣkariṇī, become liberated: I speak the truth, the truth!"

Whoever, forsaking the Svāmipuṣkariṇī, goes to another sacred ford,

forsakes rich cow's milk and begs for the sap of the spurge.

"Svāmitīrtha, Svāmitīrtha, Svāmitīrtha!"—O twice-born,

reciting this three times, in whatever body of water

men bathe, all those men will surely go to the abode of Brahmā.

Thus has the auspicious narrative of Dharmagupta been told to you, O brahmins,

by the mere hearing of which the sin of killing a brahmin is destroyed.

Thus ends the thirteenth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glory of the Svāmipuṣkariṇī', in the Venkaṭācala-māhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].