Skandapurana 2.4.4.4.6

2.4.4.4.6

strīṇāṃ nāstyaparo dharmo bhartāraṃ projjhya kaścana .. 72 ..
kuryātsahasrapāpāni bhartrā''jñāṃ yā samācaret ..
saiṣā dharmavatī loke na jāyeta vratādinā .. 73 ..
daridraḥ patito mūrkho dīno'pi yadi cetpatiḥ ..
tādṛśaḥ śaraṇaṃ strīṇāṃ tattyāgānnirayaṃ vrajet .. 74 ..
kalau vatsa manuṣyāṇāṃ śaithilyaṃ snānakarmaṇi ..
tathāpi kathayiṣyāmi snānaṃ kārtikamāghayoḥ .. 75 ..
yasya hastau ca pādau ca vāṅmanaśca susaṃyatam..
vidyā tapaśca kīrtiśca sa tīrthaphalabhāṅnaraḥ .. 76 ..
aśraddadhānaḥ pāpātmā nāstikaśchinnamānasaḥ ..
hetuvādī ca paṃcaite na tīrthaphalabhāginaḥ .. 77 ..
prātarutthāya yo viprastīrthasnāyī sadā bhavet ..
sarvapāpavinirmuktaḥ paraṃ brahmā'dhigacchati .. 78 ..
snānaṃ caturvidhaṃ proktaṃ snānavidbhirmanīṣibhiḥ..
vāyavyaṃ vāruṇaṃ divyaṃ brāhmaṃ ceti tathā smṛtam ..79..
vāyavyaṃ gorajaḥsnānaṃ vāruṇaṃ sāgarādiṣu ..
brāhmaṃ brāhmaṇamaṃtroktaṃ divyaṃ meghāṃ'bu bhāskaram .. 2.4.4.80 ..
snānānāṃ caiva sarveṣāṃ viśiṣṭaṃ tatra vāruṇam ..
brāhmaṇaḥ kṣatriyo vaiśyo maṃtravatsnānamācaret .. 81 ..
tūṣṇīmeva hi śūdrasya strīṇāṃ caiva tathā smṛtam ..
bālā ca taruṇī vṛddhā naranārīnapuṃsakāḥ .. 82 ..
pāpaiḥ sarvaiḥ pramucyaṃte snānātkārtikamāghayoḥ ..
snātā vai kārtike lokāḥ prāpnuvaṃtīpsitaṃ phalam .. 83 ..
puṣkare tīrthavarye tu naṃdāyāḥ saṃgame purā ..
prabhaṃjanaśca muktobhūttadaiva vyāghrajanmataḥ .. 84 ..*
naṃdāyā vacanenaiva kārtike sā paraṃ yayau ..
evaṃ snānavidhiḥ proktaḥ kiṃ bhūyaḥ śrotumicchasi .. 85 ..

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?