Skandapurana 2.1.3

Now begins the description of the Lord becoming visible to all people at the prayer of Agastya.

Śrī Varāha said:

"Well, I shall tell you what happened in the past, O fair-faced one.

Listen, O great goddess, to the holy [account], including what will be and what follows.

In the Vaivasvata interval, O goddess, during the former Kṛta age,

having seen the great austerity of Vāyu, O sinless one, accompanied by Śrī and Bhūmi,

Śrīnivāsa came to the bank of the Svāmipuṣkariṇī.

In this most sacred aerial chariot named Ānanda, on the southern side,

Hari, the beloved of Śrī, doing what pleases Vāyu, will dwell.

From then on, worshipped unceasingly by the commander of the army, Hṛṣīkeśa

will dwell in this aerial chariot invisible until the end of the kalpa."

Dhāraṇī said:

"Being invisible, how will the Blessed One become visible to mortals?

And Śrīnivāsa, the lord of gods, situated on your right side—

tell this, O lord of the suras: how will he be worshipped by people?"

Śrī Varāha said:

"Agastya, having arrived here and seen the eternal God,

having worshipped him for twelve years and gratified him again and again,

begged for his presence there, saying: 'May you become visible!'

Thus addressed, Hṛṣīkeśa, accompanied by Śrī and Bhūmi, O Earth,

the Blessed Lord spoke:

'For your sake, I shall become visible to all embodied beings.

This aerial chariot, O celestial seer, will never be visible;

until the end of the kalpa, O chief of sages, I shall be visible in this; of this there is no doubt.'

Having heard his words, the sage, delighted, went to his own hermitage.

Then that four-armed God became visible to human beings and others,

seated in this aerial chariot conceived by sages, facing the north. // 11

Being worshipped by Skanda, constantly attended by Vāyu,

in this way a great age consisting of four yugas passed away. // 12

Now begins the description of the birth of the son named Ākāśarāja to Mitravarmā.

O Earth, when the twenty-eighth [Dvāpara] occurred, at the end of the Dvāpara [yuga],

when the Bhārata war had passed, and when the Kali yuga had likewise arrived, // 13

kings such as Vikramārka, Śakas, Śūdras, and others,

will go to heaven without knowing Me, O fair-faced one. // 14

Then Mitravarmā, born in the Lunar dynasty, a great car-warrior,

a king in the Tuṇḍīra realm residing in Nārāyaṇapura, // 15

great and blessed with great fortune, will arise, O woman of shapely hips.

While that lord of the earth governs the world of mortals with righteousness, // 16

the earth, bearing crops without ploughing, adorned with all grains,

and all the people became free from plagues and devoted to righteousness. // 17

His wife was a charming Pāṇḍya princess.

To him was born a son, the crest-jewel of his family, indeed named Viyat. // 18

His wife was named Dharaṇī, born of the Śaka race.

Having entrusted the kingdom to him, Mitravarmā, the best of kings, // 19

went to the holy penance-grove near Mount Veṅkaṭa. // 2.1.3.20

Now begins the account of the emergence of Padmāvatī from the surface of the earth.

The one named Ākāśa became a great universal monarch.

A king committed to the vow of monogamy, his heart was devoted to Dharaṇī. // 21

For a sacrifice, he cleared the ground on the bank of the Araṇī.

While the surface of the earth was being ploughed with a golden plough, // 22

as he scattered a handful of seeds, a maiden was seen arisen from the ground,

lying on a bed of lotuses, lovely, endowed with all auspicious marks, // 23

shining like a doll made of refined gold.

Seeing her, the king, his eyes wide with astonishment, // 24

taking [her, thought,] “This is indeed my daughter!” again and again.

He rejoiced with his ministers, and an incorporeal voice said to him: // 25

“Truly she is your own daughter; raise this fair-eyed one.”

Then, delighted in mind, the king entered his own city. // 26

Summoning Queen Dharaṇī, the ruler of the earth said this:

“Behold this [child], given by the gods to me, risen from the surface of the earth. // 27

She will surely be the daughter for both of us who are childless.”

Having spoken thus, King Viyat gladly placed [her] in the hand of the queen. // 28

Now begins the birth of the son named Vasudāna to Ākāśarāja through his wife named Dharaṇī.

When she entered the house, Dharaṇī conceived a pregnancy.

And King Viyat, delighted upon seeing her with affectionate eyes, // 29

said, “O woman of lovely eyebrows, my wish-fulfilling creeper of offspring has borne fruit.” // 2.1.3.30

Then Queen Dharaṇī, lotus-eyed,

at the proper time, at a highly auspicious hour, when five planets were in their exaltation, // 31

and when the sun was in Aries, gave birth to a son.

Divine kettle-drums sounded; a rain of flowers fell upon the house;

a wind pleasant to the touch blew then on the day of his birth. // 32

Highly delighted at the birth of a son, to those who announced the birth of the son,

he made a gift of all his possessions, with the exception of the royal parasol and fly-whisks. // 33

He also made a gift of ten million tawny cows and more than a hundred bulls.

On the twelfth auspicious day, he performed the birth-rites and other ceremonies,

and himself gave [him] the name Vasudāna. // 34

The glorious Varāha said:

O goddess, Vasudāna, the delightful son of Ākāśa,

grew day by day, like the moon, the king of stars, in the bright fortnight. // 35

Invested with the sacred thread, he was disciplined by preceptors who had mastered the Veda;

he also learned from his father missiles and weapons along with their mantras. // 36

He studied the four-limbed science of archery along with its auxiliary branches.

Through him, who was exceedingly mighty, the father became invincible to enemies, // 37

like the clear sky joined with the radiant sun in summer,

like [the sun] at midday in Vaiśākha, unbearable and difficult to gaze upon. // 38

Thus ends the third chapter, named 'Description of the Lord Becoming Visible to All People by the Request of Agastya,' in the conversation between the Earth and Varāha, in the glorification of Śrī Veṅkaṭācala, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.