Skandapurana 3.1.33

Śrī Sūta said:

Once again I shall proclaim the majesty of Dhanuṣkoṭi,

most wonderful, secret, the sole purifier of all worlds.

Formerly, a brahmin named Parāvasu, foremost among knowers of the Vedas,

incurred the murder of a brahmin by killing his father out of ignorance.

Even he, having bathed at Dhanuṣkoṭi, was instantly freed from that fault.

The seers said:

How did Parāvasu kill his father formerly, O Sūta?

Or how did his liberation come about at the tip of the bow, O sage?

You ought to tell this in detail to us who have faith.

Śrī Sūta said:

There was a king named Bṛhaddyumna, a universal emperor of great strength.

He protected the earth ending at the oceans in accordance with righteousness.

He worshiped the gods headed by Indra with a sacrificial session.

His officiating priest was Raibhya, learned and supremely righteous.

He had two sons, Arvāvasu and Parāvasu,

knowers of the Vedas with their six limbs, skilled in Vedic and traditional rites,

expert in the systems of Kaṇāda and Jaimini, in Sāṅkhya, and in that of Vyāsa,

and skilled in Gautama's [system], the Yoga treatise, and Pāṇini's grammar,

adept in the law-books of Manu and others, learned in all treatises.

They were requested by Bṛhaddyumna for assistance in the sacrificial session.

Permitted by their father Raibhya, the two brothers went

to the sacrificial session of Bṛhaddyumna, both handsome like the two Aśvins.

Raibhya stayed in the hermitage with his eldest daughter-in-law.

The two brothers, having gone there to the excellent sacrificial session of the king,

officiated for King Bṛhaddyumna at the sacrificial session.

There was no error by the two brothers in the rites with their auxiliary elements at the sacrificial session.

While this sacrificial session of King Bṛhaddyumna was being performed,

all the sages arrived, invited by the king to witness it:

Vasiṣṭha, Gautama, Atri, Jābāli, then Kaśyapa,

Kratu, Dakṣa, Pulastya, Pulaha, the sage Nārada,

Mārkaṇḍeya, Śatānanda, Viśvāmitra, Parāśara,

Bhṛgu, Kutsa, then Vālmīki, Vyāsa, Dhaumya, and others,

accompanied by numerous, innumerable disciples and grand-disciples.

Seeing them arrived, King Bṛhaddyumna

respectfully honored all the sages with water offerings and other gifts.

Arrived from various quarters, accompanied by fourfold armies,

kings, bringing presents, [came] out of respect to view the sacrificial session.

Vaiśyas and Śūdras, thus all four classes, came together.

Religious students, householders, forest-dwellers, and mendicants

also came to see that sacrificial session of Bṛhaddyumna.

The best of kings honored all of them according to their worth,

and gave food to everyone, with clarified butter, soup, and other dishes,

and garments, gold, necklaces, and countless jewels.

In this way, the king extended hospitality to those who had gathered at the sacrificial session.

Then, O brahmins, the two sons of Raibhya, Arvāvasu and Parāvasu,

performed the rituals of the sacrifice and other rites without any error.

Seeing that skill of the two sons of Raibhya,

all the sages, headed by Vasiṣṭha, praised them while nodding their heads.

Having caused certain rites to be performed there, Parāvasu,

at the end of the third pressing, in order to attend to household matters,

set out in the evening for his own hermitage without Arvāvasu, O twice-born.

At that moment, [seeing] Raibhya covered with a black antelope skin,

Seeing his father wandering in the forest, mistaking him for a deer,

clouded by drowsiness at night, in the dense, blinding darkness,

thinking, "This deer is coming to kill me,"

that Parāvasu struck down his father in the great forest.

Wishing to protect his own body, unintentionally by him,

his father was killed in the night, O brahmins, by that committer of a heinous sin.

Approaching nearby, he looked upon him who was slain;

recognizing his own father in the night, his senses deeply distressed, he grieved.

Then, having performed all the funeral rites for his father, Parāvasu—

Parāvasu returned once again to the king's sacrificial session.

Then he related that entire deed of his to his younger brother.

Hearing that his father was dead, he too became overcome with grief.

Then the elder brother spoke these words to the younger, O best of brahmins:

"A great sacrificial session of King Bṛhaddyumna has begun;

as for you, a boy, you have not the ability to bear [the burden of] this rite.

And our father has been slain by me at night, mistaking him for a deer;

an expiation must be performed for purification from the sin of killing a brahmin.

Dear younger brother, observe the practice of that vow on my behalf;

I alone am able to bear the burden of the sacrificial session's rites."

Thus addressed by his elder brother, Arvāvasu said to him:

"So be it, elder brother; I shall observe the excellent vow.

Bear the burden of the sacrificial session for the sake of purification from the sin of killing a brahmin."

Having said this to his elder brother, the younger departed from that sacrificial session;

when he was gone, the elder caused the rites to be performed in the sacrifice.

The younger also, having observed for twelve years the vow for the sin of killing a brahmin, O brahmins,

came back joyfully to this sacrificial session.

Seeing his brother, the elder said to Bṛhaddyumna:

"This Arvāvasu, a killer of a brahmin, has come to your sacrificial session;

drive him away quickly from this sacrificial session, O best of kings,

otherwise, there will be the loss of the fruit of the sacrificial session."

Thus told, he had him expelled from the sacrifice by his attendants.

While being expelled, Arvāvasu then said to the king:

"This killing of a brahmin was not committed by me, O sinless Bṛhaddyumna;

rather, that killing of a brahmin was indeed committed by my elder brother, O lord.

And the vow for the sin of killing a brahmin has just now been observed by me on his behalf."

Though addressed in this way, that king, on the word of Parāvasu,

promptly expelled Arvāvasu from his sacrificial session.

Reproached by the brahmins, he then went silently to the forest.

Having reached an ascetic forest filled with a multitude of sages,

Arvāvasu performed austerity very difficult even for the gods to perform.

While performing austerity, he worshiped the sun with focused mind.

Embodied, of flawless intellect, he himself, through his great austerity,

manifested, illuminating the surface of the earth with his radiance—

the witness of deeds, the eye of the world, Bhāskara, the foremost of deities.

And the gods manifested, placing the husband of Śacī at their head;

then the gods, Indra and others, spoke to Arvāvasu, O brahmins:

"O Arvāvasu, you are superior through austerity, through celibate studenthood,

through conduct, and also through sacred learning, through instruction in the Vedas, śāstras, and the like.

You were greatly rejected with disdain by Parāvasu;

nevertheless, endowed with forbearance, you do not become angry, because,

since the elder killed your father, you, O noble-minded one, did not do violence,

and since the vow for the sin of killing a brahmin was observed by you on his behalf,

therefore, we accept you, but we cast off Parāvasu."

Having spoken thus, all the dwellers of heaven headed by the slayer of Bala

chose him as the foremost and rejected Parāvasu.

Again the gods, Indra and others, placing the sun at their head,

said this to Arvāvasu: "Choose a boon!"

And he requested the rising again of his father,

and from the gods that his father have no memory of his own slaying.

The gods said, "So be it," and again spoke these words:

"And we shall grant another boon; choose, O highly wise one!"

Thus addressed by the gods, Arvāvasu said: // 56

"May my brother be free from evil, O dwellers of the thirty-fold realm!"

Hearing Arvāvasu's words, the thirty gods spoke again: // 57

"From the slaying of his father, a brahmin, Parāvasu has incurred a great sin.

For indeed, regarding a sin committed by another, through an expiation performed by someone else // 58

there can be no pacification among the five great sins.

Moreover, for the killer of a father and a brahmin, there is by no means an expiation. // 59

Even through an observance performed by oneself, that evil deed is not [removed];

therefore, for your brother Parāvasu, there is certainly no release. // 3.1.33.60

Hence, freedom from evil cannot be granted to him by us."

Arvāvasu spoke again to the gods headed by Indra: // 61

"Nevertheless, through your greatness, and likewise through your favor,

O best among the thirty gods, for my brother, the slayer of his father and a brahmin, // 62

tell how there may be expiation, filled with compassion as you are."

Having thus heard the words of Arvāvasu, those dwellers of the thirty-fold realm, // 63

after meditating for a very long time and having determined [it], said this:

"We shall tell you a means that removes that sin. // 64

In the sacred southern ocean, at the liberating Rāmasetu,

there is a liberating sacred ford renowned as Dhanuṣkoṭi. // 65

It destroys the slaying of a brahmin, the drinking of liquor, and the theft of gold;

it also destroys the sins of violating the guru's bed and association [with such sinners]. // 66

Even if one bathes without desire, it grants the fruit of liberation;

it destroys bad dreams, brings good fortune, and removes the suffering of hell. // 67

It is the cause of attaining the realm of Kailāsa and others, granting the highest truth;

it fulfills all desires of men and destroys debts and poverty. // 68

From the mere utterance, 'Dhanuṣkoṭi, Dhanuṣkoṭi, Dhanuṣkoṭi,'

it grants heaven and liberation to men, bestowing the fruit of great merit. // 69

If your brother Parāvasu goes there and bathes,

at that very moment your elder brother will be freed from the sin of slaying a brahmin. // 3.1.33.70

This supreme secret of an expiation has been spoken [to you]."

Having spoken thus to Arvāvasu, the gods departed to their own city. // 71

Then Arvāvasu, taking his elder brother Parāvasu,

went to Rāmacandra's Dhanuṣkoṭi, the giver of liberation. // 72

Having made the ritual vow at the bridge with restraint, Parāvasu,

along with his brother, bathed at Dhanuṣkoṭi for purification from the sin. // 73

To him as he emerged after bathing at Dhanuṣkoṭi, a bodiless voice said:

"O Parāvasu, destroyed is your [sin] born of the slaying of your father and a brahmin, // 74

the exceedingly terrible slaying of a brahmin that causes the suffering of hell!"

Having spoken thus, that bodiless voice fell silent. // 75

Then Parāvasu, O brahmins, accompanied by his younger brother,

bowed with devotion to Rāmacandra's Dhanuṣkoṭi, // 76

and, having bowed with devotion to Rāmanātha, the Great God,

freed from sin, O brahmins, went to his father's hermitage. // 77

Then Raibhya, having risen from death, upon seeing his two sons arrived,

dwelt happily at heart in his own hermitage with his two sons. // 78

His sin destroyed by bathing at Rāmacandra's Dhanuṣkoṭi,

all the sages then accepted this Parāvasu. // 79

Thus has been recounted to you, O eminent sages, Parāvasu's release

from the slaying of a brahmin by the mere bath at Dhanuṣkoṭi. // 3.1.33.80

O brahmins, [sins such as] drinking liquor and others are indeed destroyed by plunging here.

It is spoken with arm raised: true, true, and true again! // 91

Even multitudes of great sins would be destroyed by plunging here.

Whoever recites this chapter on the release from the slaying of a brahmin, // 82

the slaying of a brahmin would be destroyed instantly; there is no doubt.

Even [sins such as] the drinking of liquor and others would immediately be pacified for him. // 83

Thus ends the thirty-third chapter, entitled 'Release of Parāvasu from the Slaying of a Brahmin' in the Praise of Dhanuṣkoṭi in the Setumāhātmya in the Brahmakhaṇḍa, the third [section] of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. // 33