Skandapurana 3.1.48

The glorious Sūta said:

Concerning Rāmanātha, a sin-destroying story

I shall proclaim, O best of sages; listen with attentive minds.

Formerly there was a king, the ruler of the Pāṇḍya country, named Śaṅkara,

devoted to brahmins, true to his word, performing many sacrifices, and righteous.

Knowing the truth of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, tearing through enemy armies,

protecting all four stages of life and social classes according to dharma,

devoted to Vedic conduct, well-versed in the Purāṇas and Smṛtis,

a perpetual worshipper of Śiva and Viṣṇu, and a worshipper of other deities as well,

always giving great gifts to noble brahmins.

Once that wise man went to an ascetic grove for hunting,

which was terrifying with cruel creatures—lions, tigers, elephants, and buffaloes—

resounding with the dreadful chirping of crickets, teeming with serpents,

full of fierce wild beasts, terrifying with forest fire.

Having entered that great forest, King Śaṅkara,

accompanied by many soldiers, surrounded by a band of hunters,

with his feet hidden in leather sandals, wearing a red turban and green garments,

with bowman's wrist-guard and finger-guards fastened, holding a bow and arrows,

with a large sword strapped to his side, mounted on an excellent white horse,

splendidly dressed, armored, surrounded by troops of foot-soldiers,

in all the wildernesses, mountains, and caves,

having crossed great torrents—a youth with the prowess of a lion—

roamed along with his forces through the valleys, hunting game.

“Let this one be captured! Let it be killed! The deer runs swiftly in the forest!”

While the soldiers were saying this, Śaṅkara, leaping forward himself,

plunged into the forest tract, and the great king killed the deer.

Lions, boars, buffaloes, elephants, and śarabhas,

and slaying other wild beasts, King Śaṅkara,

in a certain forest region, [spotted] one dwelling inside a cave—

a tranquil sage wearing a tiger-skin, with his mind restrained;

mistaking him for a tiger, he swiftly killed him with a straight-jointed arrow.

With great velocity, O best of brahmins, that arrow

also struck down his wife, who held her husband as her life-breath and sat beside him.

Seeing his mother and father slain in the forest,

their son wept, deeply afflicted with grief, and lamented in distress:

“O father! O mother! Abandoning me, where have you two gone now?

Where shall I go? Who will be my refuge?

Who will teach me the Vedas, or instruct me in the treatises, O father?

O mother, who will give me food along with gentle instruction?

Who will instruct me in proper conduct now that you are dead, father?

O mother, when I am an angry child, who will coax and comfort me?

By what sin today have you two innocent ones, dedicated to austerity,

my very life, my teachers, been slain with arrows in the forest?”

Thus their son wept at the top of his voice, O brahmins.

Then, hearing that wailing as he ranged through the forest, King Śaṅkara,

turning directly toward the sound, immediately went to the mouth of the cave.

The sages dwelling there also swiftly came to that hermitage.

All those sages, seeing the sage slain by an arrow,

and his wife slain, O brahmins, and the king holding his bow,

and beholding the son lamenting, were deeply agitated.

They consoled the grieving son, saying, “Do not weep!”

The sages said:

“Whether toward the rich or the poor, toward the foolish or the wise,

whether toward the stout or the thin, the King of the Dead treats all alike.

Whether in a forest, in a city, in a village, on a mountain, or in another place,

All living beings must indeed pass under the power of death.

O child, living beings constantly—whether still in the womb or born,

the young and the old—must all go to the city of Yama.

Religious students, householders, forest-dwellers, and ascetics—

when the time arrives, this body must be abandoned, O son of a twice-born!

By brahmins, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras, and mixed castes as well,

one must go to the abode of the dead, O son of a twice-born of great intellect!

The gods, the sages, the yakṣas, the gandharvas, serpents, and rākṣasas,

and all other beings, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Hara, and the rest—

all shall meet destruction; you ought not to grieve.

The non-dual, being-consciousness-bliss, which is the Brahman found in the Upaniṣads—

for that there is neither destruction, nor birth, nor growth, O best of men.

In this vessel of filth with nine gates, an abode of pus and blood,

in this body having the shape of a bubble, crowded with swarms of worms,

causing desire, anger, fear, hostility, delusion, and envy,

coveting only another's wife, another's field, and another's wealth,

pervaded by violence, malice, and impurity, a mere receptacle for feces and urine—

whoever should form a good opinion [of it] is a fool and wicked-minded.

In this body shaped like a jar with many holes, ever impure,

how could the stay of the wind called prāṇa be long, O twice-born?

Therefore do not grieve for your mother and father.

Under the power of their own karma, having left this house, they have gone somewhere,

and under the power of your karma you remain on the surface of this earth.

When there is the exhaustion of your karma, then you too shall die.

A ghost about to die grieves indeed for a dead ghost!

At the time when your mother and father were born,

you were not born at that [time]; therefore your destiny is indeed separate.

If your destiny were identical with theirs, O intelligent one,

then upon their death you too would have gone where they have gone.

The relatives of the dead who shed tears on the earth—

those tears indeed the dead spirits drink in the other world.

Therefore, having abandoned grief and gathered firmness, being collected in mind,

perform the Vedic funeral rites for both of them.

Because both your mother and father died from the blow of an arrow,

therefore, for the appeasement of that fault, take their bones

and deposit [them] at Rāmasetu, which grants liberation, in the sacred field of Rāmanātha Śiva,

and likewise [perform] the śrāddha, the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa, and other rites.

Perform [them] right there for the purification of both, O brahmin's son;

by that comes the appeasement of the sin of unnatural death, not otherwise.

Śrī Sūta said:

Having been spoken to thus by the sages, O twice-born, the son of Śākalya,

named Jāṅgala, performed their entire funeral sacrifice.

On the next day, taking the bones, he went to Hālāsya.

Going from there at once to Rāmeśvara, this twice-born Jāṅgala,

in the manner spoken by the sage, at that site of Rāmeśvara,

deposited the bones of his parents and performed the śrāddha and other rites.

And he performed the rites there up to the first annual ceremony;

having dwelt there alone for a year, that son of the sage named Jāṅgala,

on the day at the end of the year, at night in a dream, the brahmin saw

his mother and father bearing conch, discus, and mace,

seated upon Garuḍa, adorned with lotus garlands,

beautified with garlands of tulasī, wearing gleaming makara-shaped earrings,

their chests adorned with the Kaustubha gem, resplendent in yellow garments.

Seeing [them] thus, the sage's son Jāṅgala, his mind very serene,

returned to his hermitage and lived happily, O twice-born.

And that Jāṅgala reported the account of his mother and father seen in the dream

entirely to those brahmins, being exceedingly delighted.

Having heard that news, those sages became joyful in their hearts.

Then, beholding the king, all those great seers—

the brahmins, being enraged, spoke, cursing King Śaṅkara:

"O Pāṇḍya king! O great fool! O killer of a brahmin through cruelty!

Since you have now committed both the murder of a woman and the murder of a brahmin, // 57

therefore, abandon your body in the fire that carries oblations.

Otherwise, you will have no purification, even through hundreds of expiations. // 58

Merely by speaking with you, ten thousand murders of brahmins are incurred.

Depart from our presence, O defiler of the Pāṇḍya lineage!" // 59

Addressed thus by the sages, O bulls among brahmins, the Pāṇḍya [king] Śaṅkara [said]:

"So be it; I shall abandon my body in the fire that carries oblations // 60

in your presence, for the purification of the murder of a brahmin.

O best of sages, bestow your grace upon me, // 61

so that through the abandonment of my body my sin may be destroyed."

Having spoken thus to all the sages, King Śaṅkara of the Pāṇḍyas, // 62

summoning his ministers, spoke these words:

"O ministers, by me, lacking reflection on what should not be done, the murder of a brahmin // 63

and also the cruel murder of a woman, which leads to a great hell, [have been committed].

For the purification of this sin, at the word of the sages, // 64

I will abandon my body in a blazing fire of great flames.

Quickly bring pieces of firewood, and let the fire be kindled with them. // 65

And without delay, install my son Suruci in the kingdom.

Do not grieve, O ministers; destiny cannot be overcome." // 66

Addressed thus by the king, the ministers then wept:

"O lord of the Pāṇḍyas! O great king, affectionate even to enemies! // 67

Indeed, we have always been protected by you like sons.

Without you, we will not enter the city, which is like the city of the gods. // 68

We too will enter the fire kindled with abundant logs!"

Hearing their lamentation, King Śaṅkara of the Pāṇḍyas // 69

addressed all the ministers with soothing words:

Śaṅkara said:

"O ministers, what will you do with me, a great sinner? // 70

Alas, having ascended the throne, it is not fitting [for me]

to directly protect the earth bounded by the four oceans. // 71

Therefore, swiftly install my son Suruci upon the throne.

Quickly bring firewood for me to enter the fire that carries oblations. // 72

O you who are my best ministers, abandon delay now!"

Commanded thus, the ministers brought firewood in an instant. // 73

Seeing the fire blazing with the logs, King Śaṅkara,

having bathed and sipped water, purified in soul, then in the presence of the sages, // 74

quickly circumambulated the fire and also those sages;

having bowed to the fire and to the sages, and having meditated on God, the lord of Umā, // 75

the king, gathering his courage, prepared to leap into the fire.

At that moment, O brahmins, while the sages too were listening, // 76

a bodiless voice arose, resounding frightfully:

"O King Śaṅkara! Do not enter the fire now! // 77

O broad-minded one, let there be no fear in you on account of the murder of a brahmin.

I shall declare an instruction to you, a secret conforming to the Vedas. // 78

Listen attentively, O king, and let that which is spoken by me be done!

On the shore of the southern ocean, on Mount Gandhamādana, // 79

at the most holy Rāmasetu, the destroyer of great sins,

serve the liṅga consecrated by Rāma, Rāmanātha, the Great Lord, // 80

for one year, thrice a day with devotion.

Make circumambulations and prostrations indeed! // 81

Let a great ceremonial bath be performed by you for Rāmanātha,

and let various food offerings be made, O king, day after day. // 82

Worship the liṅga of Rāma with sandalwood, agallochum, and camphor.

And bathe [it] with two bhāras of cow's ghee. // 83

And daily, with the milk of cows measuring two bhāras,

and with a droṇa of honey, bathe that liṅga of the Lord every day. // 84

Daily offer a meal of rice cooked in milk, O king;

and daily perform the worship of lamps with sesame oil. // 85

By this, O chief of kings, of Rāmanātha who bears the trident...

both the sin of killing a woman and the sin of killing a brahmin are destroyed that very instant. 86.

From the darśana of Rāmanātha, hundreds of sins of destroying an embryo,

ten thousand sins of killing a brahmin, likewise ten thousand sins of drinking liquor, 87.

ten thousand sins of stealing gold, O king, ten thousand sins of violating the guru’s bed,

and the faults of associating with these, perish in a moment, O lord. 88.

Whatever sins there are equal to the mortal sins,

they are all destroyed by the service of Rāmanātha. 89.

If humans obtain the great service of Rāmanātha,

what need is there of the Gaṅgā, of Gayā, of Prayāga, or of a sacrifice? 90.

Therefore, go to the bridge of Rāma; worship Rāmanātha day and night.

Do not delay, O lord, and hasten to depart.” 91.

Having spoken thus, that bodiless voice fell silent.

Hearing that, all the sages urged the king: 92.

“Go quickly, O great king, to the bridge of Rāma, which bestows liberation.

Not knowing the māhātmya of Rāmanātha, it was proclaimed by us: 93.

‘Abandon your body now in a blazing fire.’ ”

Thus permitted by the excellent sages, that King Śaṅkara, 94.

having sent his fourfold army back to the city in haste,

bowed to all the sages with a joyous inner self. 95.

Surrounded by a few soldiers, taking with him abundant wealth,

he went to Gandhamādana for the sake of serving Rāmanātha. 96.

He resided for one year at the bridge of Rāma, which grants purity,

eating once a day, with anger conquered and the multitude of senses subdued, 97.

serving Rāmanātha at the three junctures of the day with devotion.

Joyfully he gave ten bhāras of wealth to Rāmanātha. 98.