Skandapurana 2.5.2: adhyāyaḥ 2

Brahmā said:

You have spoken of Mārgaśīrṣa, combined with rules, as bestowing You.

What is its rite, O Lord of gods? Tell me everything, O Keśava. // 1

The Blessed Lord said:

Rising at the end of the night, having touched water according to the rule,

and bowing to one's guru, one should remember Me unweariedly. // 2

Pure and with restrained speech, one should chant [My names] with devotion through the thousand names.

Having evacuated urine and feces outside the village according to rule, // 3

having performed purification according to proper custom, having sipped water, restrained and pure,

and having performed ritual ablution according to rule after first cleaning the teeth, // 4

taking soil from the root of a tulasī plant together with its leaves,

consecrating it with the root mantra or with the Gāyatrī, O wise one, // 5

having smeared one's limbs with the mantra itself, one should bathe in the waters for the expiation of sins.

Ritual ablution is prescribed either with uncollected waters or with drawn waters. // 6

A wise man, knowing the mantra, should imagine a sacred ford with this mantra:

'Om, obeisance to Nārāyaṇa' is stated to be the root mantra. // 7

With darbha grass in hand, according to rule, having sipped water, facing front, pure,

having marked out a square measuring four cubits on all sides,

the discerning one should invoke the Gaṅgā with these mantras: // 8

'You are born from Viṣṇu's foot; you belong to Viṣṇu; Viṣṇu is your deity;

protect us from this sin extending from birth to the end of death. // 9

Vāyu has spoken of thirty-five million sacred fords;

those, O Jāhnavī, belong to you in heaven, on earth, and in the atmosphere. // 10

Nandinī indeed is your name among the gods, and Nalinī,

the daughter of Dakṣa, soaring in the sky, all-pervading in the view of yogins, // 11

Vidyādharī, Suprasannā, and likewise Lokaprasādinī,

Kṣemā, and Jāhnavī, Śāntā, and Śāntipradāyinī.' // 12

One should always recite these holy names at the time of ritual ablution;

the Gaṅgā who flows through the three paths is ever present there. // 13

With [the soil] consecrated seven times, held in cupped hands,

having folded one's hands at the head, three, four, five, or seven times,

one should in like manner perform ablution with earth, having addressed it according to the prescribed rule: // 14

'O bearer of wealth, traversed by horses, traversed by chariots, traversed by Viṣṇu!

O earth, take away my sin, whatever misdeed has been done by me! // 15

You were raised up by Varāha, by black [Viṣṇu] of a hundred arms.'

Homage to you, the producing fire-drill of all beings, O faithful one! 16

Having bathed thus, and then having sipped water according to the rule,

rising and putting on two white garments on the bank, 17

having sipped water, he should make water-offerings to the gods, the ancestors, and the seers.

Having wrung out his cloth, sipped water, and wrapped himself in a clean-washed garment, 18

taking pure and pleasing clay, O best of the twice-born,

and consecrating it with a mantra, the Vaiṣṇava should then

unweariedly apply the vertical marks on his forehead and other limbs according to their proper number. 19

O Brahmā, a brahmin should always wear twelve marks;

four marks are prescribed for kings, O son, and two for vaiśyas; 20

and one mark is ordained for women and śūdras. 20

On the forehead, belly, chest, hollow of the throat,

on both flanks, both arms, both ears, the back, the sacrum, and the head:

twelve tilakas are declared, O sinless one, always for a brahmin. 21

A kṣatriya should wear marks on the forehead, chest, and both arms;

a vaiśya on the forehead and heart; on the forehead alone for śūdras and women. 22

He should meditate on Keśava on the forehead, then on Nārāyaṇa on the belly,

on Mādhava on the chest, and on Govinda on the hollow of the throat, 23

on Viṣṇu on the right flank, and on Madhusūdana on the arm,

on Trivikrama at the base of the ear, on Vāmana on the left side, 24

on Śrīdhara on the left arm, and on Hṛṣīkeśa on the [left] ear;

Padmanābha should be on the back, and he should place Dāmodara on the sacrum. 25

With the water used for washing the hands, [he should meditate] on Vāsudeva on the head.

Thus should it be done for a brahmin; learn now for a kṣatriya: 26

He should meditate on Keśava on the forehead, and on Mādhava on the chest,

and, O child, he should remember Madhusūdana on both arms. 27

The rule for a kṣatriya has been stated; hear the duty of a vaiśya:

He should meditate on Keśava on the forehead, and on Mādhava on the heart. 28

A woman and a śūdra should remember Keśava on the region of the forehead.

According to this rule, one should apply the marks for my satisfaction. 29

Black is said to bring peace, and red brings subjugation;

they say yellow brings prosperity, and white brings auspicious liberation. 30

Single-minded devotees, highly fortunate, devoted to the welfare of all the world,

make a mark having an intervening space, in the shape of Hari's foot. 31

Endowed with an opening in the middle, this is indeed Hari's temple:

upright, gentle, straight, slender, well-proportioned at the sides, and charming. 32

The vile twice-born who makes a vertical mark without a space

casts out me together with Lakṣmī who reside there. 33

Those vile twice-born who make a solid vertical mark without an opening

have imprinted a dog's foot on their forehead—there is no doubt. 34

Therefore, endowed with a space, with a generous opening, and auspicious,

a brahmin should constantly wear the mark for the sake of attaining Hari's realm. 35

Thus ends the second chapter, entitled “The Explanation of the Rule for Applying the Marks,” in the Mārgaśīrṣamāhātmya of the dialogue between Brahmā and Viṣṇu, in the second Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skandapurāṇa containing eighty-one thousand verses. 2