Skandapurana 2.2.19

Jaimini said:

Then that protector of the earth, having acted in that way, [attended upon Him],

just as the goddess of speech moving in the sky had spoken, so indeed he attended [upon Him].

As day after day passed in this manner, a celestial fragrance was experienced,

and a shower of pārijāta blossoms, hard to find among mortals,

and the sound of celestial music, and charming songs,

and a shower of the celestial Gaṅgā's water, very beautiful with minute drops.

The fragrance of the rut of the elephants beginning with Airāvata,

which is intolerable to wild elephants, was experienced by all creatures as bringing pleasure.

The gods who had arrived for the sacrifice were all relieved of distress;

seeing Hari manifest, the brahmins performed worship, O twice-born ones.

Just as they had previously [worshiped] Mādhava, so they worshiped that branch of Viṣṇu;

during the worships offered to the gods, divine signs appeared.

The God Himself completed [the work] in due course on the fifteenth day:

that Lord manifested in four forms, just as I described earlier.

Such as He was described to you formerly, so He appeared,

seated on a celestial throne together with Balabhadra and Sudarśana.

Janārdana had arms radiant with the conch, discus, mace, and lotus;

holding a mace, pestle, discus, and lotus, [the other had] the form of a serpent,

with seven umbrella-shaped hoods, a crown, and bright earrings;

and Subhadrā was charming-faced, holding the gesture of boon-granting, a lotus, and the gesture of fearlessness.

This Lakṣmī manifested embodying all consciousness.

For she, born from the womb of Rohiṇī in the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa,

assumed the form of Balabhadra from meditating upon the form of Bala;

for she cannot bear to leave Him who descends in sport even for a moment.

There is no difference here, O brahmins, between Kṛṣṇa and Bala;

from being born from the same womb, this worldly convention arose:

this purāṇic tale that she is the sister of Baladeva.

In male form and as female nature, Lakṣmī abides everywhere.

By male name is Lord Viṣṇu [known], and by female name is Kamalālayā;

among gods, animals, humans, and others, there is nothing beyond the two of them.

For who else but the lotus-eyed Lord could uphold

the fourteen worlds with the tip of his hood? He is Ananta, named Bala.

His very power is celebrated as this sister, Śrī;

and that discus, Sudarśana, which is always in Viṣṇu's hand,

stood in the middle of a pillar-like branch—that was the fourth form.

Thus indeed were the four forms manifested by Him.

When the divine form of the Lord was completed in four ways,

for the benefit of the worlds the voice moving in the sky spoke again:

“Covering these images very firmly with cloths, O king,

bring each quickly to its own color through painter’s work with pigments:

Viṣṇu dark as a blue cloud, Bala white as a conch and the moon,

the Sudarśana discus red, and Subhadrā saffron-red,

splendid with various ornaments, section by section in diverse postures.

These, if seen in their wooden nature, become a cause of sin;

they must be concealed with effort using cloths, resin, and bark.

Therefore, first of all, cover these firmly in front

with the bark of that very tree, through artisans skilled in their craft.

And year after year they are to be consecrated anew by removing the earlier consecration,

except for the paste of bark; for that is divine and eternal.

If anyone should inadvertently remove this paste,

there will be famine and pestilence in the realm, and his lineage will perish.

They must never be looked upon by you, O king, when uncovered;

and if seen by mortals, O king of kings, they would become causes of fear.

Therefore they should be seen painted, smeared with a thick coating.

Beholding the beautifully painted, lotus-eyed Lord, full of grace and charm,

one is freed from sins accumulated over ten million kalpas.

Make them beautifully painted, O king of kings; you shall obtain wonderful desires.

The Lord has manifested out of a desire to show you favor.”

Through your grace, he will grant the fourfold aim of life to living beings.

On Nīlādri, one hundred cubits northwest of the wish-fulfilling tree, // 2.2.19.30

in that region, at a very great place, [build] a temple, very firm and vast,

north of Narasiṃha, rising a thousand cubits high. // 31

Having caused it to be built and consecrated, install him there.

He who previously worshipped Mādhava who stayed on this mountain, // 32

a Śabara named Viśvāvasu, best of Vaiṣṇavas—

and previously your priest had friendship with him— // 33

the lineage of those two alone

should be engaged, O great king, in the work of coating and decorating him, and in future festivals.” // 34

Having spoken this, that divine voice fell silent.

Hearing what was instructed by her, with an overjoyed inner self, // 35

the best of kings caused the covering of the great altar to be removed.

Then they all beheld, seated on a jewel-throne, // 36

Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Subhadrā, and Vāsudeva's Sudarśana,

of lovely appearance, with the ornamentation such as coating applied as instructed: // 37

with a smiling face out of compassion, with a broad and elevated chest,

the lord in lifting up the distressed, whose arms hang long down like a cage, // 38

with eyes like blooming white lotuses, with a broad lower lip red with a smile,

destroying the heap of sins of onlookers at mere sight, // 39

Kṛṣṇa, seated in the lotus posture, adorned with celestial ornaments,

surrounded by his own splendor, pure even though in a wooden body, // 2.2.19.40

resembling a dark cloud, the destroyer of all distress.

And he beheld Baladeva, whose lotus face had a loud laugh, // 41

with an expansive canopy of hoods, his eyes rolling from Vāruṇī wine,

risen as the king of serpents, with a plump, elevated, beautiful chest, // 42

slightly bent at the back, his body coiled,

like the peak of Mount Kailāsa, with blooming Kakubha trees in front, // 43

bearing the plow, discus, lotus, and pestle, wearing a forest garland,

brilliant with necklaces, earrings, armlets, diadem, and crown. // 44

Between the two he beheld Subhadrā, Lakṣmī incarnate, embodying auspiciousness, // 45

the fire-drill [that brings forth] all gods, who carries [one] across the ocean of sin,

with a face like a blooming lotus, holding the boon, lotus, and fearlessness gestures, // 46

the abode of beauty and grace, resplendent with ornaments,

her body reddish with saffron, like a second Lakṣmī in person. // 47

And he beheld, stationed to the left of Viṣṇu, formed from the tip of the discus-branch,

resembling the morning sun, with a sharp edge, made of splendor, O twice-born ones. // 48

Seeing her, the king, submerged in the ocean of bliss,

bewildered about what should be done, was not master over his own body. // 49

With eyes slightly closed, merely shedding tears,

with folded hands, the best of kings stood motionless like a pillar. // 2.2.19.50

The best of sages, with a smiling face, said to that lord of the earth:

“That for the sake of which you underwent hardship has now come to you // 51

in visible form, O tiger among kings! You alone are fortunate on earth.

Behold this Jagannātha, with eyes broad as white lotuses, // 52

an ocean of grace toward devotees, Hari, the treasury of all knowledge,

whom yogins constantly strive to see with disciplined minds, // 53

and whom men behold for a moment only through great concentration.

That very Janārdana, having assumed a wooden body // 54

in order to show grace to you, O king, has become visible.

Worship this Lord of the Earth, praise the ocean of compassion! // 55

When praised, O king, he grants all desires residing in the heart.” // 56

Thus ends the nineteenth chapter in the dialogue between the sage Jaimini and [the king], in the Puruṣottamakṣetramāhātmya of the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the second [part of] the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 19