Skandapurana 2.4.4

Brahmā said: / When two nāḍīs remain of the night, one should go to a reservoir of water, / bringing tulasī and clay, and carrying a water-pot with a cloth, O sage. (1) / Having arrived near the water and placed the pot on the bank, / having washed one's feet, one should recite the place, time, and so forth. (2) / One should remember the Gaṅgā and other rivers, and deities headed by Viṣṇu and Śarva. / Standing in navel-deep water, one should utter this mantra: (3) / 'In Kārtika, I shall perform the morning ritual ablution, O Janārdana, / for your pleasure, O Lord of gods, O Dāmodara, along with [you]. (4) / Having performed my regular and occasional duties in Kārtika, O destroyer of sin, / I shall offer a bath and water of oblation; make it free from obstacles, O Keśava.' (5) / And one should offer water of oblation and the rest in order to the deities of the sacred ford and others: / 'Accept the water of oblation offered by me together with Rādhā, O Hari! (6) / Homage to the lotus-naveled one! Homage to you who recline on the waters! / Homage be to you, Hṛṣīkeśa! Accept the water of oblation; homage be to you! (7) / For me, a practitioner of vows who have bathed according to the rule in the month of Kārtika, / accept the water of oblation offered by me, O slayer of the chief of Danujas! (8) / May Kiraṇā, Dhūtapāpā, and Sarasvatī of holy waters, / and Gaṅgā and Yamunā—the five rivers—purify me.' (9) / And one should offer water of oblation to other rivers according to the rule. / A man should make remembrance of Jāhnavī in all sacred fords; (10) / but at Jāhnavī, no other sacred ford should ever be remembered. / Having uttered these mantras, one should perform the bath for cleansing dirt; (11) / and then the bath with clay, the bath for the ancestors, and the bath for the guru. / Then one should sprinkle one's head with the Pāvamānī hymns. (12) / Having performed the Aghamarṣaṇa rite and the water-libation as an ancillary of the bath, / one should then sprinkle water on one's head with the Puruṣasūkta. (13) / Then, having come outside, one should place the water of the sacred ford upon one's head; / having sipped the holy water three times, taking a tulasī leaf in hand, (14) / then having stepped out of the water, one should wring out the hem [of the cloth] outside: (15cd)

'Since the water was defiled by me with accumulations of bodily impurities, (15ab) / for the sake of removing that fault I make an offering to consumption.' / Having wrung out the cloth, one should apply the tilaka mark and the rest. (16) / Sūta said: / Listen, all you seers, to the fruit arising from the Kārtika ritual ablution, / which was spoken in detail by Sūrya to Aruṇa. (17) / Aruṇa said: / At which sacred ford or in which sacred field is the fruit arising in Kārtika / particularly [great] through conjunction with ritual ablution? Tell this, O Lord. (18) / Sūrya said: / Wherever it may be, the ritual ablution of Kārtika should be performed in water; / anywhere in Kārtika, a bath should be taken with hot water [if needed]; (19) / from that, the merit is tenfold through immersion in cold water; / a hundredfold greater than that is the merit obtained in the water of an outdoor well; (20) / the fruit is a thousandfold that of a well from pouring water from a step-well; / tenfold greater than that is the merit that arises from bathing in a pool; (21) / from that, the merit is tenfold through immersion in mountain streams; / far greater than that is the merit of river bathing in Kārtika; (22) / bathing at a sacred ford is said to be tenfold that of a river, O best of birds; / tenfold greater than that is the merit where there is a confluence of two rivers; (23) / at the confluence of three rivers there is no end to the merit. / The Sindhu, Kṛṣṇā, Veṇī, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī, (24) / Godāvarī, Vipāśā, Narmadā, Tamasā, Mahī, / Kāverī, Śarayū, Śiprā, and also the Carmaṇvatī river, (25) / Vitastā, Vedikā, Śoṇa, Vetravatī, Aparājitā, / Gaṇḍakī, Gomatī, Pūrṇā, Brahmaputrā, Sarovara, (26) / Vāgmatī, and Śatadru, and likewise Badarikāśrama— / these sacred fords are difficult to attain in Kārtika; now learn of them from me. (27) / Above all places, Āryāvarta is indeed the giver of merit; / Kolhāpurī is superior to that; after that, the two Kāñcīs are remembered, (28) / the abode of Anantasena, and also the Varāhakṣetra. (29ab)

Cakrakṣetra is more meritorious than that, and Muktikṣetra is higher than that; / Avantikā is better than that, and Badarikāśrama is beyond that; / Ayodhyā is better than that, and Gaṅgādvāra is higher than that; / Kanakhala tīrtha is beyond that, and superior to that is Madhupurī. / Even for a single month of Kārtika in the waters of the Yamunā at Mathurā, / those who bathe indeed dwell in Vaikuṇṭha for a long time. / Rādhādāmodara himself bathed there in Kārtika; / therefore Madhupurī is supreme, and especially the Yamunā. / Dvārāvatī is even better than that; there Keśava bathes every day, / accompanied by sixteen thousand women together with the Yādavas. / The man who wears on his forehead a tilaka made from the clay of Dvārakā / is to be recognized as liberated while alive; there is no doubt. / The māhātmya of bathing at Dvārakā cannot be fully told by me; / for those whose minds are offered to Govinda, it shines like the sun of merit. / Superior to that is the Bhāgīrathī where she unites with the Vindhya; / ten times the merit of that arises here in the King of Tīrthas. / At the end of ten thousand [years] of the Kali age, Viṣṇu will abandon the earth; / at half that [time], the waters of Jāhnavī, and at half that [time], the hosts of deities. / As long as the Gaṅgā remains here, so long do the tīrthas exist, / and just so long do they take away the sin of men each in its own place. / When the Gaṅgā is lost, who indeed will take away that sin? / Considering thus, the excellent tīrthas will depart from the surface of the earth. / Therefore, O chief sages, as long as the Jāhnavī remains, / so long let dharma be practiced; thereafter let one withdraw into the earth, / having assumed a very firm samādhi, until the Kṛtayuga comes. / Otherwise, the wise man would be brought to ruin by the age of Kali. / Greater than that is Kāśī, of which no destruction takes place; / taking refuge in which, even the Gaṅgā washes away all sin. / There is no destruction of Kāśī even when Brahmā has died.

For the darśana of which even the Gaṅgā turned and flowed northwards. / In it is the tīrtha of Pañcanada, renowned in the three worlds. / When the month of Kārtika arrives, the ancestors who have gone to the Raurava hell / cry out: ‘In our lineage there will arise / someone, the foremost among the fortunate, who will go to auspicious Pañcanada / and perform an offering of water for us, delivering us from the ocean of hell!’ / When the month of Kārtika arrives, the King of Tīrthas and the other tīrthas / come to Pañcagaṅgā for ritual ablution; there is no doubt. / Even after committing a hundred thousand sins, by bathing at auspicious Pañcanada / and worshipping Bindumādhava, they instantly vanish. / For those who have bathed even once in auspicious Pañcanada during the month of Kārtika, / the fruit becomes ten million times that of bathing performed at all [other] tīrthas. / Brahmā said: / In the month of Kārtika, whoever desires to take a ritual ablution in the Kāverī, / by that alone is freed from sin and attains union with Viṣṇu. / Who could describe the supremely excellent māhātmya of the Kāverī? / In this regard, I shall narrate to you an ancient tale. / Listen with an attentive mind, O brahmin, regarding the Kāverī: / On the northern bank of the Gautamī is she who was born from the lotus-foot of Viṣṇu, / the Gaṅgā, destroyer of the sins of the three worlds, worshipped by the world. / Once, filled with misgivings about sin, that Gaṅgā reflected: / ‘All people come and cast their sin upon me; / but how will that sin go away?’ So, overcome with concern then, / she went to Kailāsa to ask Bhava, the beloved of the mountain’s daughter. / Beholding the great Rudra there, she who was born from Hari’s foot spoke: / Gaṅgā said: / O great Rudra, obeisance to you! I have come to ask you: / all people come and cast their sin upon me; / that sin cannot be endured by me, O husband of Pārvatī! / Tell me that means by which that sin may not come to me.

Hearing this speech of the Gaṅgā, the supreme Lord replied: / Rudra said: / In the beginning, for the eradication of sin, you emerged / from the lotus-foot of Padmanābha, O goddess! Why are you distressed? / Sovereignty over the destruction of sin was ordained for you by Viṣṇu. / Even so, I shall tell you the means for the eradication of sin. / The daughter of Kavi, the divine Kāverī, is the best of rivers; / and she is the most supreme of all through the force of Hari’s power. / In her lies the capacity for the destruction of all sins. / The man who performs ritual ablution in the Kāverī during the month of Kārtika / is freed from sin and goes to the supreme abode of Viṣṇu. / Therefore, go to her, O goddess; then you will be liberated from sin. / Thus addressed, she then went to the Kāverī, which removes sins. / By the mere touch of its water in Kārtika, she who was born from Viṣṇu’s foot, / her sins cleansed, the Gaṅgā went to her own abode. / Every year in Kārtika, with devotion the Gaṅgā comes to the Kāverī, / the purifier of the three worlds, which removes sin, in order to bathe. / By the mere touch of its water in Kārtika, she who was born from Viṣṇu’s foot, / her sins cleansed, the Gaṅgā went to her own abode. / Therefore, the Tulā ablution in the Kāverī is recommended and praised by the wise. / The one who performs the Tulā ablution in the Kāverī with devotion, O sage, / is immediately released from wickedness and then goes to the supreme state. / Therefore, bathing in the Kāverī in the month of Kārtika is praised. / Having heard this ancient tale, one devoted to the vow of Kārtika / obtains the fruit of bathing in the Kāverī and the supreme state. / Ablution at the close of night is supreme, pleasing to Viṣṇu; / at sunrise it is intermediate; as long as Kṛttikā has not set, / just so long is the ablution valid; otherwise, it is not of Kārtika. / Ablution must be performed by women having received the permission of their husband; / a religious act done without asking one’s husband leads to loss.

For women there is no other duty whatsoever apart from their husband. / She who follows the husband's command, even if she should commit a thousand sins, / is righteous in the world; she would not become so through vows and the like. / Even if the husband is poor, fallen, foolish, or wretched, / such a one is the refuge of women; from abandoning him, she would go to hell. / In the Kali [age], child, people show laxity in the rite of bathing. / Even so, I shall describe the bathing in Kārtika and Māgha. / He whose hands and feet, voice and mind are well controlled, / and who possesses learning, austerity, and renown, enjoys the fruit of sacred fords. / The faithless person, the sinful soul, the atheist, one of vacillating mind, / and the sophist—these five do not share in the fruit of sacred fords. / A brahmin who, having risen in the morning, always bathes in sacred fords / is freed from all sins and attains the supreme Brahman. / Bathing is declared to be fourfold by the wise who know bathing: / it is remembered as Vāyavya (airy), Vāruṇa (watery), Divya (celestial), and Brāhma (spiritual). / Vāyavya is bathing in the dust of cows; Vāruṇa is [bathing] in the ocean and the like; / Brāhma is enjoined by brahmin mantras; Divya is the water of the clouds in sunshine. / And among all bathings, the Vāruṇa bath there is superior. / A brahmin, a kṣatriya, and a vaiśya should perform the bath with mantras. / For a śūdra, however, it is remembered as done silently, and likewise for women. / A girl, a young woman, an old woman, men, women, and eunuchs— / are freed from all sins through the bath in Kārtika and Māgha. / Having bathed in Kārtika, people surely attain the desired fruit. / Formerly, at the auspicious Puṣkara, at the confluence of the Nandā, / Prabhañjana was freed at that very moment from his birth as a tiger. / Through the word of Nandā herself, she went to the highest [abode] in Kārtika. / Thus the rule for bathing has been declared. What more do you wish to hear?

Thus ends the fourth chapter, named 'Description of the Rules for the Kārtika Bath' in the glorification of the month of Kārtika, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skandapurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. 4

2.4.4.84
Formerly, a king named Prabhañjana, while hunting, shot an arrow at a female deer suckling her fawn standing inside a bush. Then the female deer said: 'O king, you have struck me while I was offering the breast to my son. Therefore, attain the state of a tiger!' Then the king, frightened by the curse, with folded palms, said: 'O female deer, when shall I, having abandoned the form of a tiger, regain human form? Tell that!' The female deer said: 'O king, when in Kārtika at Puṣkara you have a conversation with Nandā, then you will be liberated.' Having spoken thus, she died. The king too, wandering in the forest for a hundred years in the form of a tiger, wondering when liberation would occur, once saw a cow named Nandā and began to devour her. Then Nandā, having made many kinds of oaths of truth and having suckled her calf, returned near the tiger and instructed him with many kinds of discourses on righteousness. Then the tiger said: 'O Nandā, I was previously cursed by a female deer and became a tiger. But today, through the instruction of your company, I have regained my memory and returned to kinghood; I am not a tiger.' In the meantime, Dharma came there and said to Nandā: 'O Nandā, you shall become the river Sarasvatī named Nandā. Moreover, in Kārtika at Puṣkara, bathe for merely a month; then liberation will occur.' Having spoken thus, he vanished. Prabhañjana also, by the instruction of Vasiṣṭha and by serving Kārtika, attained liberation. 84 85. Thus ends the fourth chapter in the commentary on the glorification of the month of Kārtika. 4