Skandapurana 2.1.36

Now follows the manner of the lifting of the earth by the Boar.

Bharadvāja said:

Formerly, at the end of the Creator's night, awakened, the slayer of Madhu

carefully considered in his intellect the renewed activity of living beings.

"Except for the earth, none others are capable

of bearing the multitude of beings"—such reasoning arose in his heart.

By deep meditation he saw the earth abiding in Pātāla,

shaken by extreme fear and surrounded by vast waters.

He then assumed a form suited for lifting up the earth:

having the preparatory rites as his lips, fire as his tongue, and the roaring of the praṇava;

having the four Vedas as his legs, and expiations adorning his hooves;

having the prāgvaṃśa hall as his body, accompanied by a row of shining darbha grass as his hair;

endowed with the pravargya ceremony as his whorls, possessing the southern fire as his belly;

having the sacrificial ladle as his snout, with the joints of his limbs fully divided by all [sacrificial elements];

having the collection of divine hymns as his mane, and the Supreme Brahman as his head;

endowed with the speed of oblations to gods and ancestors, with pure sacrificial beasts as his knees;

endowed with the strength of the mantras and paths of metres such as uktā and atyuktā;

assuming the divine boar form, consisting of all sacrifices,

he entered into the waters of the ocean to search for the earth.

Forcibly dispelling with the mass of gleaming radiance arising from his tusk-crescent moon

the darkness that had swelled at the time of the end of the kalpa,

making the cave of the cosmic egg resound constantly with roars

surpassing the thunder of clouds, through his deep grunting sounds,

his body lacerated by the movements of the tips of his hooves,

tossing about here and there the sovereign of the serpents,

with the violent winds of his breath making visible the bottomless interior

of the lord of rivers down to Pātāla,

with his exceedingly long vessel sinking and emerging from the ocean,

agitating the waters, he then went within.

Seeing the earth situated beneath the base of the seven Pātālas in the water,

trembling and overcome with fear, his heart was delighted.

Placing her upon the tip of his tusk, he emerged from the ocean,

being praised by the sages residing in Janaloka.

As the god affectionately carried the earth for a moment,

the ocean below became an auspicious bridal ornament.

At the moment of her lifting up by him who had the boar's body, O Arjuna,

the ocean, with its deep roar, became an auspicious drum;

joined by showers of spray cast up by rolling waves,

the heap of pearls took on the appearance of auspicious consecrated rice grains.

Held up by that god and flooded with water, she shone

as though her body were moistened by sweat produced by intense passion.

Having thus lifted the earth from the base of Pātāla,

the Lord firmly established it amid the waters of the ocean.

When the earth was lifted up by him, the water that filled the space between earth and sky

then became bounded by the limits set by him.

Having thus established the earth, for the sake of securing her support

he stationed the directional elephants, the serpent king, and the tortoise.

And as the support for all of them as well, respectfully

the ocean of compassion joined his own power of unmanifest form.

Then, to Hari standing in the boar form after lifting up the earth,

Sanaka and the others residing in Janaloka offered praise.

Then, having worshipped the Supreme Person in the form of the boar,

by his command Brahmā fashioned the world as before.

Arjuna said:

"How does this earth remain submerged in the water at the end of the kalpa?

Beneath the seven worlds of Pātāla, what is its support, O great sage?

How long is this period of a kalpa, and what is its course?"

Now, the description of the advent of the white boar preceded by the description of the events of the kalpa.

"Explain all this in detail to me, O brahmin sage!"

Bharadvāja said:

"From sixty vināḍikās there is one nāḍikā. A day consists

of sixty of them. Thirty days make a month consisting of two fortnights.

Two months are called a season; from six of them there is a year,

having the form of two solstices, embracing cold, rain, and heat.

For the gods and the asuras, this [year] is one day and night, by inversion:

the sun's northern course and southern course are [their day and night] respectively.

By four million, three hundred and twenty thousand human years,

a Mahāyuga is formed, O son of Pṛthā, consisting of the Kṛta and the other [yugas].

The period of seventy-one yugas is an interval of a Manu (manvantara).

Hear of the Manus born in this [kalpa] called the Śvetavarāha kalpa.

The first is Svāyambhuva; after him, the Manu Svārociṣa;

then Uttama, the one called Tāmasa, Raivata, and the one named Cākṣuṣa.

These six past Manus were accompanied by their Indras, gods, and ascetics.

The seventh Manu, Vaivasvata, is current now, O Arjuna.

The hosts of gods at his time are the Ādityas, Vasus, Rudras, and others.

Having performed a hundred horse sacrifices, the radiant [Purandara] attained the status of Indra.

Viśvāmitra, myself, Atri, Jamadagni, Kaśyapa,

Vasiṣṭha, and Gautama—these indeed are the seven seers, O Arjuna.

The sons of the Manu, heroic and mighty, led by Ikṣvāku,

ruled the earth, ever devoted to righteousness.

The five sons of Sūrya, Dakṣa, Brahmā, Dharma, and Rudra,

beginning with Sāvarṇi, Raucya, and Bhauma, will be the future seven Manus.

Fourteen Manus exist in a single day of the Creator.

That is known as a kalpa; at its end, a night of equal duration occurs. Listen:

At the close of Brahmā's day, O son of Pāṇḍu,

a dreadful drought lasting a hundred years occurs on earth.

During that drought, when the earth is depleted of moisture, O Dhanañjaya,

the four kinds of living beings meet complete destruction.

Then, having rays shaped like blazing flames, the sun,

with beams like fire, vomits showers of sparks.

With its villages, cities, mountains, trees, and forests destroyed,

the earth resembles the back of a tortoise, looking like a red-hot lump of iron.

Then, vast clouds arise from the limbs of the Creator,

covering the sky, resounding with thunder.

White, yellow, crimson, dark, and of diverse colors, terrifying,

taking on various shapes such as mountains, elephants, palaces, and trees,

they unleash a torrential downpour for a period of a hundred years.

By that water, the great fire born from the sun is extinguished.

And the great clouds fiercely rain for yet another hundred years.

Swollen with that water, overflowing their shores, the oceans become agitated.

That water discharged by the clouds of the cosmic dissolution encompasses the worlds.

A great darkness envelops the Bhūrloka, Bhuvarloka, Svarloka, and Maharloka.

Then, submerged in water, sunk down to the base of Pātāla,

the earth remains somehow undestroyed, supported by the power of Brahmā.

Then, O Arjuna, the wind born from the breath of Brahmā

disperses all those great clouds that arose at the end of the kalpa.

Thus intensified, the wind blows continuously for a period of a hundred years,

arisen with an irresistible velocity.

Escaping that fierce wind, upon the navel-lotus of Hari,

the lotus-born [Brahmā] enters yogic sleep upon that water.

While that sovereign of the world is engaged in yogic sleep,

the night lasts for as long as the duration of the day, O son of Pṛthā.

When the night has passed, awakened once again with vigor,

he creates all creatures as before, by the command of Hari.

Kalpa after kalpa, Hari protects the universe through appropriate forms.

In this kalpa, he assumed the white form of the sacrificial boar.

Roaming upon the surface of the earth in the body of a boar, the god

resorted to Mount Veṅkaṭa, his own previously designated dwelling.

Wandering for a long time on the bank of the Svāmipuṣkariṇī lake, Adhokṣaja

saw Brahmā, endowed with supreme devotion.

Having worshipped him, Brahmā prayed to that source of all beings:

"O Lord, assume your ancient, divine body."

Accepting his entreaty, he abandoned that boar form

and assumed his own cosmic body, worthy of exclusive worship.

Even after putting forth powerful exertion, [though he] stayed thus on that mountain,

all [beings] were not able to see him, even after a long time. // 62

Arjuna said:

Hari is thus beyond the reach of sight, remembrance, and the rest.

How did he become visible to human beings, O great sage? // 63

Or who, having become a blessing to the worlds, worshiped that omnipresent Lord

and revealed him here? Tell me this story! // 64

Hearing the narrative of Hari destroys sins; may you, who know all sacred traditions, narrate it.

Surely, today the preeminence among the meritorious has come to me, O best of sages! // 65

Thus ends the thirty-sixth chapter, named 'The Proclamation of the Boar Incarnation' in the Praise of the Glory of the Suvarṇamukharī, within the Glory of Mount Veṅkaṭa in the second [book], the Vaiṣṇava Section, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 36