Skandapurana 2.9.27

Śrī Nārāyaṇa said: / On the ground purified by digging, sprinkling, smearing, and the like, / and beautifully decorated with various colours, one should place a four-legged pedestal. / Facing east, the worshipper should arrange the legs of the pedestal at the corners. / Upon those four [legs] he should install the [principles], beginning with Dharma, in the form of lions: / he should place white Dharma in the south-east, and red Jñāna in the south-west; / yellow Vairāgya in the north-west, and black Aiśvarya in the north-east. / Then on the side-timbers of the pedestal, in the directions beginning with the east, in order, / he should place Manas, Dhī, Citta, and Ahaṅkāra, respectively green, red, white, and black. / The three qualities of Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas—red, white, and black—/ are to be installed, O best of sages, on the upper rim of the pedestal. / Then upon the four side-timbers in the form of the inner organs of mind, / he should place the śaktis beginning with Vimalā, two on each timber: / he should place two fair-limbed ones, Vimalā and Utkarṣiṇī, in the east, / playing a beautiful vīṇā, clad in green garments and well adorned; / he should place Jñānā and Kriyā in the south, clad in yellow garments and shining like dawn, / one playing cymbals and the other the mṛdaṅga drum; / he should place Yogā and Prahvī in the west, dark in complexion and wearing reddish-brown garments, / both playing flutes together, yet individually; / then he should place Satya and Īśānā in the north, gold-coloured, / clad in dark garments, both playing the parivādinī lute; / and one named Anugrahā, with folded hands, is to be placed upon the rim. / All of these [śaktis] should be made two-armed and adorned with fine ornaments. / Above the pedestal he should make a white island with a white cloth; / in the middle of it he should make an eight-petalled lotus with a radiant pericarp. / Leaving aside a twelfth portion beyond the field of the lotus, / he should divide its interior into equal parts with three circles: / the first [circle] there is the place of the pericarp; the middle one belongs to the filaments; / the third belongs to the petals, with the tips of the petals extending outward. / All around it he should construct a city with four gates.

With various colouring substances such as turmeric, saffron, and the like, / or with husked rice-grains, one should make the beautiful lotus and other designs there. / In the middle, the worshipper should make the pericarp of the lotus splendid with a golden colour, / and all around it, O sage, he should make the eight petals in the eight directions red, / or else golden in colour. / He should make the eastern gateway red, and the southern one black, / the western one yellow, and the northern one resembling crystal. / In the space between the city and the lotus having placed diverse flowers, / and having installed Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the middle, he should place Rādhikā on his left. / Then behind this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa he should place Saṃkarṣaṇa, / four-armed, holding an umbrella, fair-limbed, and wearing blue garments. / To the right of the Lord he should place Pradyumna, wearing yellow garments, / four-armed, cloud-dark, standing and holding a fly-whisk. / And to the left of Hari he should place Aniruddha, wearing reddish-brown garments, / dark like a sapphire gem, standing and holding a fly-whisk. / All three of these should be made adorned with various ornaments, / with priceless gem-studded crowns, and enchanting with their youthfulness. / Then he should place the avatars of Hari on the eight filaments in order, / two on each one, thus indeed sixteen upon the eight: / he should install Vāmana and Buddha on the eastern filament in front, / both of them cloud-dark, compassionate, and observant of celibacy, / wearing white garments, holding an open lotus in the right hand / and the gesture of fearlessness in the left hand, peaceful, and wearing sacred threads; / then he should place Kalki and Paraśurāma in the south-east corner, / Kalki holding a sword in his hand there, and the other holding an axe in his hand; / both are to be made fair-skinned, red-eyed, with matted hair, wearing white garments, / wearing sacred threads, and with immense fury cast aside; / and he should install Hayagrīva and Varāha on the southern filament; / Hayagrīva should have the face of a horse, a human body, and four arms.

holding a conch and other attributes, golden-colored, wearing divine white garments. / Varāha, however, should have a boar's face, a human body, and four arms, / holding a conch, discus, mace, and lotus, and wearing yellow garments; / he may be honey-tawny in color, or else two-armed. / Then one should install Matsya and Kūrma in the southwest filament; / below the waist they have their [creature] forms, but above they have human shape, / both holding a conch in the left hand and a mace in the right, / with dark and beautiful bodies, adorned with ornaments. / One should place Dhanvantari and Nṛsiṃha in the western filament; / Dhanvantari wears white garments, is fair-limbed, and holds a pot of nectar. / Nṛsiṃha has a lion's face, a human body, and is endowed with a mane; / he has the hue of a blue lotus, is two-armed, and bears a mace and a discus. / In the northwest one should place both Haṃsa and Dattātreya wearing matted hair, / in the garb of yogins, white, holding a staff and water pot in their hands. / Then one should place Vyāsa and Gaṇapati in the northern filament; / there Vyāsa is large-eyed, dark in color, wearing white garments, / two-armed, holding the Vedas, possessing very reddish-brown matted locks, / wearing a white sacred thread, and equipped with a pavitra ring. / Gaṇapati should have an elephant's face, a single tusk, and be red, / wearing red garments, and possessing a serpent for a sacred thread, / pot-bellied and four-armed, holding a noose, goad, and the gesture of bestowing boons, / and with one hand holding a delightful book and writing pen. / Then the worshipper should place Kapila in the northeast filament, / and the sage Sanatkumāra, a lifelong celibate. / Kapila should be made fair-limbed, wearing charming white garments, / holding a lotus and the gesture of fearlessness with his two hands, with a peaceful form. / The sage Sanatkumāra should be made by the worshipper / resembling a five-year-old child, sky-clad, and bearing small matted locks. / Having thus established the deities in the filaments of the lotus,

the worshipper should place the attendants in the middle of the eight petals. / There, first in the east, one should place Viṣvaksena and Garuḍa; / then in clockwise order, one should place Prabala and Bala, / Kumuda and Kumudākṣa, Sunanda and Nanda, / Śrutadeva and Jayanta, and one should install Vijaya and Jaya; / then Pracaṇḍa and Caṇḍa, and Puṣpadanta and Sātvata. / Thus two by two in regular order one should install them in the eight positions. / All of these are four-armed, bearing a conch, discus, lotus, and mace; / they should be crowned, dark-complexioned, wearing yellow garments, and well-ornamented. / In the intervals between the middles of the petals, one should install the eight supernatural powers, / skilled in order at playing various auspicious musical instruments: / aṇimā, laghimā, prāpti, prākāmya, and mahimā, / īśitā, vaśitā, and the eighth, kāmāvasāyitā. / These have the luster of golden color, are adorned with all ornaments, / hold flutes, vīṇās, and the like in their hands, and are dressed in multicolored garments. / Then on the eight petal-tips one should install the Vedas and the treatises; / there he should install the Vedas in the cardinal directions, and the treatises in the intermediate directions. / In the east one should place the Ṛgveda, holding a rosary, white, / dwarfish, pot-bellied, gentle, lotus-eyed, and clad in white garments. / In the south one should place the Yajurveda, of medium limbs, slender-waisted, / yellow-eyed, thick-necked, yellow-complexioned, and wearing reddish garments, / bearing a garland of beads in the left hand and a thunderbolt in the right. / In the west one should place the Sāmaveda, tall, with the splendor of the sun, / holding a rosary in the right hand and a conch in the left, / dressed in gold cloth, large-eyed, intent on singing. / In the north one should place the Atharva[veda], white-limbed, wearing blue garments, / bearing a rosary in the left hand and a club with a skull in the right, / with the radiance of fire, copper-colored eyes, and aged in years. / In the southeast corner one should place the Dharmaśāstra, seated on a lotus,

white, and bearing with his two arms an incomparable pearl necklace. / In the southwest one should place Sāṃkhya, pot-bellied, with long hair and nails,

holding a rosary and a staff with his two hands, white.

Then in the northwest one should place Yoga, golden-colored, slender-bellied,

with both hands placed upon his thighs, gazing at the tip of his own nose.

Likewise in the northeast, Pāñcarātra, white, wearing a forest garland,

one should place holding a rosary and a plow with his two hands.

The garments of these four should be white, fine, and dense,

and their eyes should be broad like lotus petals.

In the intervals between the tips, the great seers along with their wives

one should install, reciting the Vedas, in order beginning with east and southeast:

Marīci accompanied by Kalā, and Atri with Anasūyā;

Aṅgiras together with Śraddhā, and Pulastya with Havirbhū;

Pulaha joined with Gati, and Kratu together with Kriyā;

Bhṛgu with Khyāti, and one should install Vasiṣṭha together with Arundhatī.

All of these are two-armed, bearing matted locks and beards, lean,

ascetics who are to be depicted carrying staffs and water pots.

Outside the lotus, in the cardinal and intermediate directions,

one should place the eight directional guardians headed by Indra, each according to his direction, along with their mounts.

In the east one should place Indra mounted upon Airāvata, four-armed,

bearing a thunderbolt, goad, lotus, and the boon gesture, resembling gold,

clad in lovely safflower-dyed garments, adorned with various ornaments,

with red-cornered, large eyes, endowed with all auspicious marks.

In the southeast corner one should place Agni, copper-colored, four-armed,

holding in his hands a spear, a lance, a sruc-ladle, and a sruva-ladle,

seated in a golden chariot with four parrots, having the wind as his charioteer,

three-eyed, wearing smoke-colored garments, with tawny beard, matted hair, and eyes.

In the south one should place Yama, dark, with golden garments,

four-armed, carrying a staff, sword, battle-axe, and noose,

mounted upon a frenzied buffalo, adorned with various ornaments.

In the southwest one should install the lord of the south-west (Nirṛti), whose hair stands upright and who has odd eyes,

holding a sword and a noose, two-armed, mounted upon a human corpse;

having a tawny beard, smoke-colored, wrapped in dark garments,

abounding in various golden ornaments, terrifying to non-Vaiṣṇavas.

Then, in the west, [one should place] Varuṇa, who has the lustre of a sapphire,

clad in white garments, four-armed, adorned with a necklace of pearls,

mounted upon a chariot of seven swans, holding a noose with two hands,

and holding a gem-vessel and a conch with the other two—so should one install [him].

In the north-west [one should install] Vāyu, green in color, two-armed, clad in black garments,

seated upon a deer, with disheveled hair, open-mouthed, and holding a banner.

In the north one should install Kubera, gold-colored and four-armed,

bearing a mace, a spear, a trident, and a jewel-vessel;

clad in dark blue, bearded, seated upon a palanquin,

with a yellowish left eye, wearing various ornaments and clad in armor.

Then in the north-east one should install Mahārudra as Ardhanārīśvara;

in the left half Pārvatī is to be made, and in the right half Śaṃkara.

On the side of Īśvara, matted locks adorned with the moon are to be made;

on the side of Umā, a forehead-mark is to be made on the brow, along with a parting of the hair.

One half is smeared with ashes, and the other half is adorned with saffron;

one half has a serpent as a sacred thread, and the other half is adorned with a necklace.

On the left half, a swelling breast covered by a bodice should be fashioned;

on the waist a golden girdle, and on the foot a golden anklet;

a safflower-dyed garment, both hands adorned with bangles,

holding a trident and a rosary, with jeweled rings.

On the right half, a serpentine girdle is to be made, and an elephant hide as garment;

the hands have serpent-bracelets and hold a mirror and a lotus.

Such a Mahādeva, mounted upon a bull, one should install.

In this manner the worshiper should perform the installation of the lords of the eight directions.

Outside the city, then, the worshiper should install the eight planets,

abiding in their respective directions and mounted upon their respective chariots.

In the eastern direction one should install there the Sun, clad in yellow garments,

vermilion-colored, two-armed, with lotuses in his hands, standing upon a chariot.

The chariot of this radiant one has one wheel with twelve spokes,

and seven green-hued horses are harnessed on the left.

Then in the south-east corner Bhṛgu (Venus) is to be placed, white, clad in white,

holding a staff and a water-pot, two-armed, gentle in appearance,

standing in a golden chariot with ten dappled horses.

And in the south one should install Mars, red, clad in red garments,

four-armed, bearing a mace, a spear, a trident, and the gesture of granting boons.

One should make his chariot golden, provided with eight red-brown horses.

And Rāhu in the south-west corner is clad in blue, four-armed,

with a terrible mouth, having the form of darkness, holding a shield, a sword, a spear, and a trident;

he is to be made standing in an iron chariot drawn by eight horses colored like black bees.

And Saturn is to be placed in the west, with a radiance like sapphire,

bearing a bow and a trident, two-armed, with downcast eyes, clad in dark garments,

standing in an iron chariot yoked with eight variegated horses.

Then in the north-west corner one should place the Moon, clad in white garments,

white-hued, holding a mace, two-armed, and seated in a chariot.

On his watery chariot with three wheels of a hundred spokes,

ten horses lustrous like jasmine flowers are yoked on both sides.

In the north, Mercury is two-armed, gentle, his hands granting boons and fearlessness, reddish,

clad in green garments, to be depicted standing in a golden chariot with eight tawny horses.

And in the north-east Guru (Jupiter) is to be placed, golden-colored, clad in white garments,

two-armed, lotus-eyed, holding a staff and a water-pot,

seated in an excellent golden chariot drawn by eight pale-white horses.

In this way the worshiper should install the subsidiary deities of the Lord,

all of them in order in the places up to the pericarp, the mountain, and the city.

A wealthy person should install actual idols of the subsidiary deities of Vāsudeva,

while another may place areca nuts, or flowers and unbroken grains of rice, etc.

Thus ends the twenty-seventh chapter, entitled 'Description of the Rules for Constructing the Worship Maṇḍala' in the Section on Ritual Practice (Kriyāyoga) of the Glorious Vāsudevamāhātmya in the Second Section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.