Skandapurana 2.1.25

Now begins the description of the māhātmya of Jābālitīrtha.

Śrī Sūta said:

"O all you whose wealth is austerity, dwellers of Naimiṣāraṇya!

On the holy Veṅkaṭa mountain, the destroyer of all sins,

I shall now describe the māhātmya of Jābālitīrtha,

Where, having bathed, a [brahmin] named Durācāra became liberated, O twice-born ones."

The sages said:

"Who was this one named Durācāra, O Sūta, knower of true principles?

And what sin was committed by that Durācāra, O sage?

Or how was he freed from his sin by the power of bathing in this sacred ford?

Tell this to us in detail, as we wish to hear it, O sage."

Now begins the account of the twice-born named Durācāra who lived on the bank of the Kāverī.

Śrī Sūta said:

"O sages, hear the sin of that Durācāra,

And how he was freed from the sin by bathing in Jābālitīrtha.

There was a certain sinful twice-born named Durācāra,

A brahmin who lived on the bank of the Kāverī, ever engaged in cruel deeds.

Corrupted by continual association with killers of brahmins, drinkers of liquor,

Thieves, and defilers of the Guru's bed, he lived with them, O twice-born ones.

By the fault of association with those who commit great sins,

All the brahminhood of this twice-born was completely destroyed, O best of the twice-born.

Whatever twice-born should dwell respectfully for even a single day

With perpetrators of great sins, from that very moment, of that twice-born,

One part of his brahminhood is indeed destroyed—there is no doubt.

From serving, touching, seeing, or sleeping [with them] for two days,

And from eating in the same row with perpetrators of great sins, O twice-born ones,

The second part of his brahminhood would be destroyed—there is no doubt.

From three days, the third part is indeed destroyed—there is no doubt;

And from four days, the fourth part certainly dissolves away.

Beyond that, by sleeping, sitting, and dining together with them,

He who associates with perpetrators of great sins becomes an equal sinner to them.

Therefore, this twice-born named Durācāra was bereft of brahminhood...

was seized, as if by a mighty, terrifying serpent.

Fallen under its control and exceedingly tormented by that vetāla,

that brahmin wandered from country to country and from forest to forest.

Through the ripening of former merit and the working of destiny, that brahmin,

[came to] Mount Veṅkaṭa, supremely meritorious and destroying all sins.

Now, the release of Durācāra and the vetāla from the mortal sins and other [evils] through ritual ablution in the Jābālitīrtha.

Pursued by the piśāca, the vetāla, the brahmin reached [it].

That vetāla submerged him into the destroyer of mortal sins,

into the Jābālitīrtha, O foremost brahmins, [the brahmin] who had associated with a mortal sinner.

In that very instant he arose, freed by the vetāla.

Having emerged from that purifying sacred ford, O brahmins,

restored to health, that brahmin reflected: “What is this [mountain] near the Svarṇamukhī?

Oh, how have I, an inhabitant of the banks of the Kāverī, come here?”

Disturbed by this thought, [seeing] that excellent sacred ford of Jābāli

and the great-souled Jābāli, the best and highest of lordly yogins,

that Durācāra approached, bowed down, and spoke:

“O venerable brahmin, I do not know this mountain; tell me now!

I am indeed an inhabitant of the bank of the Kāverī, named Durācāra.

Out of compassion, tell me, O brahmin: how did I come here?”

Thus questioned by that Durācāra, the sage of good vows,

that treasure-house of compassion, meditated for a moment and spoke to Durācāra.

Now, the recounting of the fault of not performing the pārvaṇa-śrāddha, as related by Jābāli.

Jābāli said:

“Because of your association with a mortal sinner, O Durācāra, in the past,

your brahminhood was lost; then a vetāla seized you.

Possessed by him, bewildered in mind and helpless, you came here.

The vetāla submerged you in this exceedingly purifying sacred ford.

By mere immersion here, you have been freed from sin.

Those mortals who perform a meritorious ritual ablution in the Jābālitīrtha,

their accumulated five mortal sins are truly destroyed.

By merely bathing in this meritorious sacred ford, an instrument for good deeds,

your guilt arising from contact with a mortal sinner has dissolved.

The vetāla who seized you was previously a brahmin.

He did not perform the ancestral śrāddha on the day of death with the pārvaṇa rite.

Cursed by his own ancestors because of that, he attained the state of a vetāla.

Even he, through the power of ritual ablution in the waters of the Jābālitīrtha,

abandoned the state of a vetāla and attained the world of Viṣṇu.

A man who does not perform the śrāddha on the day of his parents' death,

quickly reaches the state of a vetāla and afterward experiences hell.”

Śrī Sūta said:

Even that great sinner Durācāra, by merely bathing in this sacred ford,

attained the world of Viṣṇu, from which there is no return.

Thus the meritorious deliverance of Durācāra has been related to you.

Therefore it is the most meritorious, auspicious sacred ford, removing all sins,

where Durācāra was delivered by merely bathing.

It destroys even those sins for which there is no expiation.

If a brahmin bows to a liṅga or to Viṣṇu worshipped by a Śūdra,

no expiation is prescribed for him in the smṛtis by the supreme seers;

yet even that sin of his is destroyed in the sacred ford named Jābāli.

And for those who revile brahmins, no expiation is found;

for betrayers of trust and ungrateful people, no expiation,

and for those engaged with a brother’s wife, no expiation is found.

For them, purification will surely come from ritual ablution in the Jābālitīrtha.

Thus the grandeur of the sacred ford of Jābāli has been recounted to you, O brahmins,

hearing which a mortal on earth is liberated from all sins.

Thus ends the twenty-fifth chapter, entitled “Description of the Greatness of the Jābālitīrtha,” in the Venkaṭācalamāhātmya in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skandamahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.