Skandapurana 2.1.14

Now begins the story of the twice-born named Sumati.

The glorious Sūta said:

O all you whose wealth is austerity, dwellers of the Naimiṣāraṇya,

I shall relate once more the māhātmya of the Svāmitīrtha.

Formerly, through contact with a Kirātī woman, a brahmin named Sumati

drank wine; bathing in the puṣkariṇī, he was liberated from sin.

The seers said:

Whose son was this Sumati? How did he drink wine?

How did he become attached to a Kirātī woman, O Sūta, best of Purāṇa reciters?

Tell all of this in detail now out of compassion.

The glorious Sūta said:

In the region called Mahārāṣṭra, there was a certain pious brahmin

named Yajñadeva, who had mastered the Vedas and Vedāṅgas.

He was compassionate, hospitable, and a worshipper of Śiva and Nārāyaṇa.

To that Yajñadeva was born a son named Sumati.

Abandoning his father and his devoted wife,

he went away to the country of Utkala, devoted to the company of rogues.

A certain Kirātī woman living in that country, charming to young men,

had long been taking all the wealth of youths by enticing them.

Sumati, the lowest of brahmins, went to her house,

and that Kirātī woman received Sumati, though the twice-born was penniless.

Now begins [the narration of] the twice-born named Sumati incurring the great sins from association with the Kirātī woman.

Joined with her, Sumati, intent solely on union with her,

continually stole much wealth here and there,

and giving it [to her], sported with her for a long time and ate in her house.

From a single cup he drank wine together with her.

Sporting thus with her for a long time,

sick with sensual desire, he did not remember his parents or his own wife.

Once, along with the Kirātas, he went to commit theft;

wearing the guise of a Kirāta, he too [went] into the house of a certain brahmin.

Reckless, sword in hand, he went to steal property;

recklessly killing the master of that house, a brahmin, with his sword,

and taking much wealth, he went to the house of the Kirātī woman.

As he went, the terrifying Brahmahatyā pursued him:

dreadful, wearing blue garments, with extremely red hair,

roaring with loud laughter, and making heaven and earth tremble.

Pursued by her, he wandered over the surface of the earth.

Wandering over the whole earth in this manner, once Sumati himself,

that vile-minded relative of brahmins, went out of terror to his own village.

Pursued by her, terrified, he went towards his own house.

Brahmahatyā also pursued [him] and entered the house along with him.

Sumati went to his father for refuge, crying: "Protect me! Protect me!"

Saying to him, "Do not fear!", the father prepared to protect him.

Then that Brahmahatyā spoke to his father:

Brahmahatyā said:

"Do not accept him, O Yajñadeva, best of the twice-born!

He is a wine-drinker, a thief, a killer of a brahmin, and a committer of mortal sins.

A traitor to his mother, a traitor to his father, an abandoner of his wife, and a sinner,

corrupted by association with a Kirātī woman—release this evil-minded one!

If you accept this son, a committer of mortal sins, O brahmin,

your wife, his wife, you, and this son, O twice-born,

as well as your lineage, I will devour; therefore release this son!"

"If you abandon this son, I will release you all right now.

You ought not to destroy your lineage for the sake of one person, O noble-minded one."

Thus addressed by her there, Yajñadeva spoke to her:

Yajñadeva said:

"Affection for my son torments me; how can I abandon him?"

Hearing what the brahmin said, the brahmahatyā then spoke to him:

The brahmahatyā said:

"He indeed has fallen, cast out from the classes and stages of life.

Do not show affection toward this son; even the sight of him is despicable."

Having spoken thus, while Yajñadeva watched,

that brahmahatyā struck his son named Sumati with the palm of her hand.

He wept repeatedly, crying out to his father: "Father, father!"

Now the means of liberation from brahmahatyā spoken by Durvāsas to Sumati.

Then Sumati's father, mother, and wife also wept.

At that moment, Durvāsas, a portion of Śaṃkara,

a yogin, righteous, and the best of sages, arrived there by good fortune.

Seeing that sage who was an incarnation of Rudra,

Yajñadeva praised and bowed to him, and sought refuge for the sake of his son:

"You are Durvāsas, O great yogin, an evident portion of Śaṃkara.

Darśana of you never happens for the meritless.

My son has become a slayer of a brahmin, a drinker of liquor, and a thief.

The brahmahatyā has also come to strike him.

Tell that means by which this son of mine may be freed from the great sin,

and how this terrible brahmahatyā may quickly come to an end;

show compassion toward my son today!

For this alone is my son; I have no other child, O sage.

If he dies, my lineage will be cut off completely at the root.

Then there will certainly be no giver of rice balls to the ancestors.

Therefore, show grace to us, O venerable sage!"

Thus addressed, Durvāsas, a portion of Śaṃkara,

having meditated for a long time, then spoke to Yajñadeva, the best of brahmins:

Durvāsas said:

"O Yajñadeva, an extreme sin has been committed by your son.

There can be no pacification of this sin even through tens of thousands of expiations.

Nevertheless, for the pacification of that sin of your son,

I will proclaim an expiation. Listen with an undivided mind, O brahmin!

On the holy mountain Veṅkaṭādri, which destroys all sins,

there is [a pool] called Svāmipuṣkariṇī that brings auspiciousness.

Now Sumati's release from brahmahatyā through bathing in Svāmipuṣkariṇī.

If this son of yours bathes [there], he will be freed from the sin in an instant."

Hearing these words of the sage, the noble-minded Yajñadeva,

taking his son Sumati, went to Svāmipuṣkariṇī.

He bathed his son Sumati, who was afflicted by the murder [of a brahmin].

A voice from the sky spoke in a sweet tone to that brahmin:

"O highly fortunate Yajñadeva, steadfast in vows, by this ritual ablution

your son has been purified; have no doubt, O brahmin!"

Such is the power of that sacred ford, an axe to the tree of sin.

Thus has this ancient history been told to you, O brahmins;

those who hear or read it shall obtain the fruit of a Vājapeya sacrifice.

Thus ends the fourteenth chapter, named 'The Description of the Greatness of the Svāmipuṣkariṇī Sacred Ford' in the Veṅkaṭācalamāhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the Skandapurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses.