Skandapurana 3.1.15

Glorious Sūta said: / Having performed a ritual ablution with a concentrated mind in the highly sacred Brahmakuṇḍa, / a man should then go to the pool of Hanūmat, O best of brahmins. / Formerly, when the demons had been slain, when the task of battle was over, / and Rāma and the others had returned to Mount Gandhamādana, / for the benefit of all the worlds, Hanūmat, the son of the Wind, / created the best of all sacred fords bearing his own name. / Knowing the glory of which it is served by Rudra himself, / equal to that sacred ford there has never been, nor will there ever be. / Bathing in which men go to the eternal world of Śiva; / in which highly sacred ford, which destroys great sins, / created by the son of the Wind for the benefit of all worlds, / all the hells became utterly empty for a long time indeed. / Śaṃkara knows the glory of that sacred ford, or perhaps he does not! / Where formerly a king of the Kekaya lineage named Dharmasakha, / having bathed with devotion, obtained one hundred sons. / The seers said: / O Sūta, you ought to tell today the life-story of Dharmasakha, / who, having bathed in the sacred ford of Hanūmatkuṇḍa, obtained one hundred sons. / Glorious Sūta said: / Listen, O seers, to the deeds of that protector of the earth; / today I will relate in brief [the story] of Dharmasakha. / Formerly there was a king named Dharmasakha who had conquered his enemies, was exceedingly righteous, / virtuous, and devoted to the protection of his subjects. / He had one hundred wives, O brahmins, to whom their husband was a deity. / Ruling the earth along with its mountains, forests, and groves, / the king did not obtain in those wives a son to continue his lineage. / Then, for the sake of a son, that protector of the earth made many efforts;

and for the sake of a son, that ruler of the earth made great gifts.

With sacrifices such as the horse sacrifice, he sacrificed to the gods;

he repeatedly bestowed gifts, foremost of which was the balance-scale gift of a man's weight in gold.

Until midnight, to everyone without restriction,

the ruler of the earth gave food with abundant soup and rich in grain.

He also performed ancestral rites according to rule, directed towards the ancestors;

with senses restrained, he muttered mantras that bestow offspring.

The king performed many such righteous acts for the sake of a son.

Constantly performing unmatched righteous acts with a view toward [getting] a son,

with the passage of a long time, the king reached old age.

Once, as that aged king was thus striving,

a delightful son named Sucandra was born to his eldest wife.

When the son was born, all the mothers, free from jealousy,

noble as they were, raised him equally with milk and other foods.

And to the king, to all the mothers, to the citizens, and to the ministers,

this son became the cause of joy to their minds and eyes.

Fondling his son, the king attained the highest joy.

Once, while that son was lying in a cradle,

a scorpion stung him on the foot with its tail blazing with poisonous fire.

From the scorpion's sting, the child cried bitterly.

Then all his mothers began to weep, overcome with grief.

Surrounding the boy, O brahmins, a tumultuous uproar arose.

King Dharmasakha then heard that cry of distress,

as he sat in the midst of the assembly with his ministers and royal priest.

Then the king dispatched a chamberlain to find out.

That chamberlain, going up to the outer gate of the inner apartments,

summoned the elderly eunuchs and spoke these words:

“O eunuchs, why are the women of the inner apartments weeping now?

Go there and find out the cause of their crying.

For this purpose the king sent me from the royal assembly.”

Addressed thus, they ascertained the cause of the crying,

came out of the inner apartments, and reported what had happened to him.

Having heard the words of the eunuchs, the chamberlain went to the assembly

and reported to the king that his son had been stung by a scorpion.

Then King Dharmasakha, having heard such an account,

rose up in haste together with his ministers and priest.

Entering the inner apartments along with sorcerers skilled in removing poison,

he had his son treated repeatedly with medicines and the like.

Then, having fondled his son once he regained health,

and having honored the knowers of mantras with gems, gold, and pearls,

the king came out of the inner apartments, deeply agitated by anxiety,

and sat down in that assembly together with his officiating priests, royal priest, and ministers.

There King Dharmasakha, seated upon an excellent throne,

addressed these fitting words to the officiating priests and the royal priest:

Dharmasakha said:

“Having only one son leads only to grief, O best of brahmins!

Childlessness is surely better for men than having an only son.

Because of constantly being subject to danger, childlessness is indeed better.

Having reflected on this, O brahmins, I married a hundred wives.

And old age has overtaken me along with my wives, O twice-born.

My life-breaths and those of my wives are anchored in this one son.

Upon his death, the death of all my wives is certain.

My own life would also end upon the death of this only son.

Therefore, by what means can I have many sons?

Tell me that means, O brahmins, foremost among knowers of the Veda!

So that I may have a virtuous son with each of my hundred wives,

tell me that rite, looking into the sacred texts according to dharma.

Whether by a great rite or a small one, or even by one difficult to perform,

if that fruit is achievable, I will perform it without doubt.

I will perform the rite prescribed by you, there is no doubt.

Know it as already done; I swear by my merits!

If there is such a rite by which a hundred sons may be obtained,

tell me now where that rite must be performed by me.”

Questioned thus at that time by the king, the officiating priests with the royal priest,

having assembled together, spoke this to the king with complete certainty:

The officiating priests said:

“There is [such a means], O king; we will tell you how a hundred sons

may be born to you from your hundred wives through a great dharma, O king of the Kaikayas.

There is a most holy mountain named Gandhamādana,

which exists in the form of a bridge in the midst of the southern ocean.

crowded with hosts of Siddhas, Cāraṇas, Gandharvas, and celestial seers,

destroying great sins of men merely by being seen or touched.

There is a pool there known in the worlds as Hanumatkuṇḍa,

which relieves great sorrow and grants the fruits of heaven and liberation,

which calms the torments of hell, relieves poverty likewise,

gives sons to the sonless, and gives wives to wifeless men.

There, having bathed with self-restraint, that which grants all desired things,

perform with a concentrated mind the sacrifice for getting sons on its bank.

By that, O king, each among your one hundred wives

will swiftly bear one son; do not have any doubt in this matter."

Thus addressed by the brahmins, the officiating priests, together with the family priest,

the king that very moment, [accompanied] by the officiating priests, his wives, and the family priest,

surrounded by ministers and attendants, equipped with the provisions for the sacrifice,

set out for Mount Gandhamādana in the southern ocean.

Having reached Hanumatkuṇḍa, he bathed there together with his army;

he dwelt on its bank for just a month, regularly performing ritual ablutions.

Then, when spring arrived in the month of Caitra, that best of kings,

accompanied by his family priest, began the sacrifice for sons there.

Those officiating priests along with the family priest properly performed the rites

for the royal seer Dharmasakha together with his wives.

When his sacrifice was completed on the bank of Hanūmatkuṇḍa,

the family priest made the king’s wives consume the remnants of the oblation.

Then King Dharmasakha, in the waters of Hanūmatkuṇḍa,

properly performed the concluding ceremonial bath accompanied by his hundred wives.

He gave innumerable and abundant gifts to the officiating priests,

and the king granted villages to the brahmins, O best of the twice-born.

Accompanied by his ministers, his retinue, and his wives, that righteous

king returned, rejoiced, back to his own city.

Then, after some time had passed, indeed in the tenth month,

the hundred wives gave birth to one hundred most virtuous sons.

Then with a delighted heart, the heroic and great king Dharmasakha,

bathed and purified, having made the resolve, performed the birth-rite at that time.

He gave many cows, lands, sesame seeds, gold, and other gifts to the brahmins.

The senior wife had two sons: an elder and a younger at that time.

All the sons grew up—one hundred and one, O twice-born.

When they had reached maturity, that king, having divided the kingdom among them

and given it [to them], went with his wives to the bridge at Gandhamādana.

Having reached Hanumatkuṇḍa, he practiced austerity on its bank.

A long time passed for that king while he was practicing austerity,

for King Dharmasakha meditating upon the Bearer of the Trident.

Then, when a great amount of time had passed, King Dharmasakha,

righteous and tranquil in mind, went to the law of time there.

The wives of that royal seer also followed their husband at that time.

The eldest son Sucandra too, having performed the funeral rites for his father,

performed the ceremonies up to the ancestral rite with faith.

Because of death here, the king along with his wives went to Vaikuṇṭha.

All those immensely glorious princes, headed by Sucandra,

brothers devoid of envy, enjoyed each their own kingdom.

Thus has the glory of Hanūmatkuṇḍa been told to you, O brahmins,

as well as the most wonderful deeds of King Dharmasakha.

Therefore, for the attainment of all desires, one should bathe in the pool of Hanumat.

The human being who recites this chapter or hears it with a concentrated mind, O twice-born,

attains unending happiness in the next world and shall sport with the hosts of gods in heaven.

Thus ends the fifteenth chapter, entitled 'Description of Dharmasakha’s Attainment of a Hundred Sons' in the Praise of Hanumatkuṇḍa, in the Setumātmyā, in the third Brahmakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.