Skandapurana 3.1.52

Śrī Sūta said: / Once again I shall declare the majesty concerning the Setu / out of regard for you, O eminent sages; listen! (1) / Even among all holy places, this place is greater; / what is muttered in japa here, offered in oblation, practiced in austerity, or given in charity is said to be inexhaustible. (2) / In this very great place, from plunging into Dhanuṣkoṭi, / the meritorious fruit equal to ten years' residence in Vārāṇasī is obtained. (3) / Having bathed at that site in Dhanuṣkoṭi, and having seen the auspicious Rāmeśvara, / if a man full of devotion resides there for three days, O twice-born, (4) / the merit born of ten years' residence in Puṇḍarīkapura / is his, O chiefs of brahmins, destroying great sins. (5) / Having muttered the six-syllable primal mantra one thousand and eight times / here with devotion, a man attains union with Śiva. (6) / The merit born of living for a year in Madhyārjuna, Kumbhakoṇa, / Māyūra, Śvetakānana, / Hālāsya, Gajāraṇya, / Vedāraṇya, Naimiṣa, (7) / Śrīparvata, Śrīraṅga, / the glorious Vṛddhagiri, / Cidambara, Vālmīka, / Śeṣādri, Aruṇācala, (8) / the glorious Dakṣiṇakailāsa, / Veṅkaṭādri, Haristhala, / Kāñcīpura, Brahmapura, / Vaidyeśvarapura, (9) / and elsewhere in places of Śiva / and places of Viṣṇu, O best of men, / a man joyfully obtains undoubtedly, / if he bathes in Dhanuṣkoṭi in the month of Māgha. (10) / With reference to this Setu, the Śruti passage 'There are two oceans' (11) / exists, O best of brahmins, being ancient and mother-like. / There is another [Śruti passage], O eminent sages, 'That which is wood', (12) / and that which mentions the Setu's glory: 'Beholding the acts of Viṣṇu'; / there is another Śruti, and yet another: 'That [supreme foot] of Viṣṇu'. (13) / The Itihāsas, the Purāṇas, / and the Smṛtis, O rich in austerity, / proclaim the majesty of the Setu in complete consensus. (14) / Performing ablution at the Setu during eclipses of the moon and sun...

one obtains the fruit of ten years of ritual ablution in the Gaṅgā at Avimukta. / The sin committed in ten million births is destroyed in that very instant; // he obtains the unsurpassed fruit of a thousand horse-sacrifices. / At the equinoxes, the solstices, on a Monday, and on a parvan day, // by the mere darśana of the Setu the misfortune earned across seven births / is destroyed, and [such men] attain the heavenly realm, O best of brahmins. / When the sun enters Capricorn in the month of Māgha, just as the sun has slightly risen, // a mortal who bathes for three days at Dhanuṣkoṭi becomes free from sin, / and obtains the merit of bathing in all sacred fords beginning with the Gaṅgā. // A man who performs ritual ablution at Dhanuṣkoṭi for five days, / O best of brahmins, attains the merit of a horse-sacrifice and others; // he gains the fruit of the observance of the Cāndrāyaṇa and other penances, / and likewise the fruit of reciting the four Vedas from beginning to end. // By immersing oneself at Dhanuṣkoṭi on ten days in the month of Māgha, / ten thousand murders of a brahmin are destroyed; there should be no doubt about this. // The person who performs ritual ablution at Dhanuṣkoṭi for fifteen days / in the month of Māgha reaches Vaikuṇṭha. // Performing ritual ablution at Rāmasetu for twenty days in the month of Māgha, / one attains proximity to Śiva and rejoices together with Śiva. // Performing ritual ablution for twenty-five days, one attains similarity of form [with the deity]; / performing ritual ablution for thirty days, one surely attains absorption [into the divine]. // Therefore, O best of brahmins, in the month of Māgha a wise man / should certainly perform ritual ablution at Rāmasetu just as the sun has slightly risen. // During an eclipse of the moon or sun, and likewise at the Ardhodaya yoga, O twice-born, / or at the Mahodaya yoga, performing ritual ablution at Rāmasetu, O best of brahmins, // one does not experience dwelling in the womb fraught with numerous afflictions. / And it is proclaimed as destroying sins such as the murder of a brahmin; // it is proclaimed as warding off all hells, / and it is proclaimed as the source of all prosperities.

Likewise, it grants dwelling in the same world as Indra and all the other worlds. / During an eclipse of the moon or sun, and likewise at the Ardhodaya yoga, O twice-born, // or at the Mahodaya yoga, immersion at Dhanuṣkoṭi is most decisive. / In ancient times, it was constructed by Rāma for the destruction of Rāvaṇa; // it is resorted to by Siddhas, Cāraṇas, Gandharvas, Kinnaras, and serpents, / and attended by hosts of brahmin seers, divine seers, royal seers, and ancestors; // it is served with devotion by the host of deities headed by Brahmā. / O twice-born, whatever person, recollecting the holy Rāmasetu, // should bathe anywhere in a pond or other body of water, / no wicked deed shall ever belong to him. // By offering a mere handful of water in the sacred fords situated within the Setu, / all diseases are destroyed, and likewise [sins such as] the murder of an embryo. // Whoever sees the holy line made by the tip of Rāma’s bow, / for him there is never any return from Vaikuṇṭha. // That which is famed in the world as Dhanuṣkoṭi, destroying sins, / was made by wise Rāma at the petition of Vibhīṣaṇa. // Dhanuṣkoṭi is exceedingly holy; having bathed there with devotion, / one should give gifts of wealth, lands, and cows, // of sesame seeds, rice grains, grains, and milk, / of garments, ornaments, black gram, and cooked rice, // of curd, ghee, water, vegetables, and buttermilk, / of refined sugar, crops, and honey, // and indeed the giving of modaka sweets, cakes, and other things / at Rāmasetu, O twice-born, is declared to bestow all desired wishes. // Therefore, free from greed for wealth, one should give at Rāmasetu. / What is given, offered in fire, practiced as austerity, recited in japa, or observed as vows and the like // at the tip of the bow of glorious Rāma becomes infinite in its fruit. / By that, the Vedas are pleased, and the ancestors are pleased; // all the sages are pleased, as are Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva;

the nāgas, kimpuruṣas, and yakṣas are all surely pleased. / And by beholding Dhanuṣkoṭi, one personally becomes purified; // one purifies all the men born in one's family and one's grandfathers, / and through the darśana of Dhanuṣkoṭi delivers one's entire lineage. // By immersing oneself in the furrow made by the tip of Rāma's bow, / the destruction of tens of millions of major sins surely occurs in that very instant. // Whoever sees the line made by the tip of glorious Rāma’s bow / does not behold dwelling in the womb full of countless afflictions. // By plunging into that pool where Sītā entered the fire, / O brahmins, a hundred murders of an embryo are destroyed in a mere instant. // Just as Rāma is, so is the Setu; just as the Gaṅgā is, so is Hari. / Proclaiming 'O Gaṅgā! O Hari! O Rāmasetu!', / wherever a person bathes outside, through that he reaches the supreme state. // Having bathed at the Setu during an Ardhodaya yoga on Mount Gandhamādana, / whoever presents balls of rice measuring merely a mustard seed dedicated to the ancestors, // his ancestors attain satisfaction for as long as the moon and sun endure. / If a ball of rice measuring the size of a leaf of the śamī tree is given with devotion / dedicated to the ancestors by a twice-born, he is released from all sin; / if [the ancestor] is in heaven, he attains liberation, and if in hell, he goes to heaven. // At the Setu, at Padmanābha, at Gokarna, and at Puruṣottama, / bathing in the water of the ocean is desired at all times. // On the days of Venus, Mars, and Saturn, one desirous of offspring / should never bathe in saltwater anywhere other than the Setu. // Or one who has not performed the funeral rites for a departed soul, or the husband of a pregnant woman— / a wise person should never bathe in the ocean anywhere other than the Setu. // There is no awaiting a proper time for the Setu; constant bathing is praised. / The rules concerning the day of the week, the lunar day, and the lunar mansion apply only outside the Setu, O twice-born. // One should bathe dedicated to the living, but not dedicated to the deceased; / having made an effigy of kuśa grass, one should bathe it with water from the sacred ford.

Reciting this mantra with joyful senses and mind:
‘You are the kuśa grass, you are pure, formerly held by Viṣṇu;
when you are bathed, he is bathed to whom this knot-binding belongs.’
The ocean is everywhere sacred, always on every full- and new-moon day.
At the bridge, at the confluence of the river and the sea, at Gaṅgāsāgara,
and at Gokarṇa and Puruṣottama, daily bathing is indeed prescribed.
One should never touch the lord of rivers on ordinary days elsewhere.
In the hearing of the ancestors, of all the gods, and of the sages,
Rāma, accompanied by Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa, made a solemn vow:
‘The men who bathe here at the bridge made by me,
they all, by my grace, shall not return to rebirth.
All sins are destroyed by merely looking upon my bridge.
The majesty of Rāmanātha and the grandeur of my bridge
I am unable to describe even in hundreds of millions of years.’
Having heard this speech of Rāma, the celestial seers and great seers,
delighted, praised those words, saying, ‘Excellent! Excellent!’
In the middle of the bridge, the Four-faced [Brahmā], accompanied by all the gods,
dwells constantly by command of Īśvara for its protection.
For the protection of Rāma's bridge, indeed, under the name of Setumādhava,
Mahāviṣṇu resides there bound by a chain.
And the great seers, the ancestors, the promoters of the dharmaśāstras,
the gods together with gandharvas, kinnaras, and great serpents,
vidyādharas, cāraṇas, yakṣas, and kimpuruṣas,
and all other beings dwell upon it day and night.
That very Rāma's bridge, O best of brahmins, seen, heard of, remembered, touched, or bathed at,
protects one from all sin.
Ablution at the bridge during Ardhodaya is the cause of attaining bliss,
giving liberation, exceedingly meritorious, and destroying the great hell.
In the month of Pauṣa, when the lord of the day is in the asterism of Viṣṇu, on the day of the Sun, as the sun is just rising,

if the new-moon day is joined without the Nāga tithi, under the conjunction (pāta) and Viṣṇu's asterism, it becomes the meritorious Ardhodaya.
At that Ardhodaya, ablution at the bridge is the cause of sāyujya liberation.
A single new-moon day is considered equal to a thousand vyatīpātas.
If it falls on a Sunday, the merit equals ten thousand new-moon days;
if the asterism of Śravaṇa is combined with a Sunday,
it is known to be truly auspicious from their mutual conjunction.
Even each one individually grants immortality through bath, donation, recitation, and worship;
what need be said here when all five are united?
Śravaṇa is best among asterisms; the new moon is best among tithis;
Vyatīpāta among conjunctions; and Sunday among the days of the week.
The conjunction of all four that occurs when the Sun is in Capricorn:
if a person bathes at Rāma's bridge at that time,
he does not enter a mother's womb, but attains sāyujya liberation.
No time equal to Ardhodaya has been or ever will be.
Similarly, the time of Mahodaya is proclaimed as a time of righteousness.
During these meritorious times, giving donations at the bridge is extolled.
Right conduct, austerity, Vedic study, and hearing the Vedānta,
worship of Śiva, Viṣṇu, and others, and the exposition of the meaning of the Purāṇas:
in whatever brahmin these exist, he is said to be a worthy recipient of gifts.
To that worthy recipient, a twice-born, one should give gifts at the bridge.
If a worthy recipient endowed with right conduct cannot be found at the bridge,
having made a resolution and designated a worthy recipient, one should give [the gift] upon returning to one's village.
Therefore, those desiring the fruit [of gifts] must not give to an unworthy recipient.
The excellent Setumāhātmya should be given to the narrator, and to no one else.
Here I shall relate an incomparable ancient story, uttered by Vasiṣṭha
to the great king Dilīpa, who wished to know about worthy recipients of gifts.
Dilīpa said:
To whom should gifts be given, O son of Brahmā, O family priest?
Explain this to me in truth, O great sage, to your disciple.
Vasiṣṭha said:

The best among recipients is one devoted to Vedic conduct;
even higher than him is the recipient who has no śūdra's food in his belly;
he whose regular practice consists continuously of the Vedas, the Purāṇa mantras,
the worship of Śiva, Viṣṇu, and others, and the observances of the classes and life-stages;
and who is poor and has a family—such a recipient is said to be the foremost.
What is given to such a recipient truly yields righteousness, pleasure, wealth, and liberation.
In a sacred place, a gift given to one who is not a true recipient is especially condemned;
otherwise, one will become a chameleon for ten births;
for three births he will be a donkey, and a frog for two births;
for one birth an outcaste (cāṇḍāla), and then he will become a śūdra;
and after that he is born in turn as a kṣatriya, a vaiśya, and a brahmin,
and there he will be poor and afflicted with many diseases.
Thus many kinds of faults arise from giving to an unworthy recipient;
therefore, by every effort, one should have gifts given to worthy recipients.
If such a recipient is not found, then, with a prior vow,
designating a single worthy recipient, one should pour water onto the ground.
Upon the death of the designated recipient, one should bestow it upon his son;
should his death occur as well, one should offer it to Mahādeva.
Therefore, one should never give to an unworthy recipient, especially at a sacred ford.
Śrī Sūta said:
Addressed in this manner by Vasiṣṭha, that Dilīpa, O best of brahmins,
from that time forward gave excellent gifts to worthy recipients.
Therefore, at this holy place, at the bridge, even here, O foremost of sages,
if a worthy recipient is found, then one should give wealth and the like.
If not, having made a vow, designating an eminent and worthy recipient,
one should pour water upon the earth with devotion.
Having returned to one's own village, one should afterwards offer it to that recipient.
Otherwise, the wealth previously resolved upon will cause a loss of merit.
He does not experience suffering again, but attains sāyujya liberation.

No time equal to the Ardhodaya has existed, nor will there be. / Kumbhakoṇa, the base of the Setu, Gokarṇa, and likewise Naimiṣa, / Ayodhyā, the Daṇḍaka forest, Virūpākṣa, and Veṅkaṭa, / Śāligrāma, Prayāga, Kāñcī, Dvārāvatī likewise, / Madhurā, Padmanābha, and Kāśī, the dwelling of the Lord of the Universe, / all rivers and oceans, and the mountain [called] Bhāskara are commemorated [as such]. / Tonsure and fasting are proclaimed in these sacred fields; / the person who, out of greed or delusion, goes to his own home without performing [them], / sins go with him indeed right into his house. / There are twenty-four sacred fords on Mount Gandhamādana; / there, at the Lakṣmaṇatīrtha, shaving of the head is taught by the sages. / On the shore of Lakṣmaṇatīrtha, avoiding [cutting the other] hair by the command of Śiva, / having shaved only the head and having given a priestly fee, / having bathed at Lakṣmaṇatīrtha and having beheld Lakṣmaṇaśaṅkara, / a man, freed from all sins, goes to Śaṃkara. / At the Ardhodaya one should always perform the ritual ablution at the Setu in this manner. / There is no sacred ford equal to the Setu, there is no austerity equal to the Setu, / there is no merit equal to the Setu, there is no state equal to the Setu. / The Ardhodaya is regarded as equal to a thousand eclipses; / there is no time equal to the Ardhodaya that releases from the cycle of rebirth. / The ritual ablution that takes place at Rāmasetu during that Ardhodaya— / throughout all the scriptures, no merit can ever equal that. / The merit that is pointed out by seers from immersing oneself in the Bhāgīrathī for sixty thousand years— / that merit, O bulls among sages, / is certainly accomplished from a single ritual ablution at Rāmasetu, / especially during the Ardhodaya, and likewise during the Mahodaya. / The merit that a man gains by a thousand ritual ablutions in the month of Māgha at Prayāga that frees from sin, / when the sun is in Capricorn in Māgha, / from plunging into the Rāmasetu during that Ardhodaya, O brahmins,

he obtains that merit with a single time; there is no doubt about this. / Whatever fruit belongs to those who have bathed in the sacred fords situated in the three worlds, / having bathed once at the Setu during the Ardhodaya, one becomes a sharer of that merit. / For those destitute of knowledge of Brahman, for the ungrateful, for the wicked, / for other sinners, and likewise for perpetrators of heinous sins, / purification is assured through ritual ablution at the Setu during the Ardhodaya. / For the ungrateful, there is never any expiation at another place; / even for them there is indeed expiation through ritual ablution at the Setu during the Ardhodaya. / Those who, through delusion, do not perform the ritual ablution at the Setu during the Ardhodaya, / sink down into worldly transmigrations as blind men fall downward. / Having bathed at the Setu during the Ardhodaya, having pierced the solar disc, / they will go to the world of Brahmā; no doubt should be entertained on this point. / But when the Ardhodaya has arrived, having bathed at the Setu that bestows complete liberation, / having bathed, having properly meditated on the Lord of the Universe, Rāghava, along with Sītā, / on Rāmeśvara the Great God, on the monkeys headed by Sugrīva, / and on the gods, the seers, and also the groups of ancestral spirits, / he should also make water offerings to all of them for the sake of release from his own poverty. / One should worship the spotless Lord of the Universe named Ardhodaya; / at the time of the Ardhodaya at the Setu, Keśava is pleased by this. / 'O Maker of the Day, homage to you, mass of splendor, Lord of the Universe! / O you born of the Atri lineage, brother of the goddess Lakṣmī! / Accept this guest-offering, O Blessed One, pitcher of nectar, homage to you! / O great yogin of the Vyatīpāta, destroyer of heinous sins, / O thousand-armed one, Soul of All, accept the guest-offering, homage to you! / O supreme lord, sovereign of lunar days, lunar mansions, and weekdays, / O you whose form is the month, accept the guest-offering, homage to you whose form is time!' / Having offered the guest-offering in this manner with separate mantras during the Ardhodaya, a man / should give presents to brahmins according to his wealth. / Fourteen, twelve, eight, seven, six, or five twice-borns,

he should honor according to his ability with food, drinks, and other things, with separate mantras. / Taking a bronze vessel, or a new wooden one, / placing it before the brahmins filled to the brim with milk, / accompanied by fruit, accompanied by jaggery, accompanied by clarified butter, accompanied by betel, accompanied by a priestly fee, / he should give a sacred thread and a cow with her calf, rich in milk. / To the decorated brahmins, he should say this according to his ability: / 'In the Śravaṇa lunar mansion, O Lord of the Universe, in your birth-star, O Keśava, / whatever has been given by me to petitioners, let that be imperishable for me here! / O lord of the lunar mansions, giver of nectar to the gods, / protect me, beloved of Rohiṇī, homage to you who remain as [digits of] light! / O protector of the wretched, Lord of the Universe, master of the arts, compassion-maker, / let my devotion to your pair of lotus feet be unswerving! / Homage to you, O Vyatīpāta, resembling moon, sun, and fire! / Whatever donation and the like has been made, let that be imperishable here for you! / You are the wishing-tree of petitioners, O Vāsudeva, Janārdana! / O Lord of months, seasons, solstices, and time, pacify my sin, O Hari!' / Having thus worshipped the foremost brahmins, he should then perform the ancestral rites: / an ancestral offering with gold, or uncooked food, or cooked food, / and then he should perform the ancestral ceremony for conjunctions; he must not practice deceit regarding wealth. / Afterward he should worship the preceptor with garments, ornaments, and earrings; / he should present an icon to him, and a cow, an umbrella, and shoes. / In this way, O best of twice-borns, one should perform the observance at the Setu during the Ardhodaya; / by that alone he becomes one who has accomplished his duty; there is nothing whatever left to be done. / In another place also, one should perform this observance in this very manner during the Ardhodaya. / The Setu was constructed in the ocean by Rāma on Mount Gandhamādana; / because of proclaiming its name here as 'Setu, Setu', O wise ones, / at the time of ritual ablution, the crores of sins of men / are destroyed at that very moment, and they will go to the highest abode. / Whatever person stays at the Setu for an instant, or for half an instant...

The servants of Yama are unable to come within his sight. / Then, meditating in mind upon Rāma's bridge, Dhanuṣkoṭi, Rāma, Sītā, Lakṣmaṇa, / Rāmanātha, Hanūmat, the monkeys headed by Sugrīva, / Vibhīṣaṇa, Nārada, Viśvāmitra, the jar-born [Agastya], / Vasiṣṭha, Vāmadeva, Jābāli, and Kāśyapa, / and similarly other devotees of Rāma, / one is freed from all suffering and goes to the supreme abode. / Whatever sins are destroyed by bathing in Satyakṣetra, Harikṣetra, Kṛṣṇakṣetra, Naimiṣa, / Śālagrāma, Badarī, Hastiśaila, Vṛṣācala, / Śeṣādri, Citrakūṭa, Lakṣmīkṣetra, Kuraṅgaka, / Kāñcī, Kumbhakoṇa, and Mohinīpura, / in sacred Śvetācala belonging to Indra, the great site Padmanābha, / at the site named Phulla, Ghaṭikādri, Sārakṣetra, Haristhala, / in the great sacred field Śrīnivāsa, the great site Bhaktanātha, / in the great sacred field named Aliṅda, and Śukakṣetra belonging to Varuṇa, / in Mathurā, Harikṣetra, Śrīgoṣṭhī, Puruṣottama, / Śrīraṅga, Puṇḍarīkākṣa, and other places of Hari, O best of brahmins— / all those sins are certainly destroyed by bathing at the bridge. / Those men who do not bathe at the bridge built by Raghunātha and frequented by great sages / have no cessation of worldly transmigration. / Or whoever do not speak, do not hear, and do not remember the auspicious five-syllable mantra, ‘Namaḥ Śivāya’, O chiefs of sages, / or do not recite or remember the eight-syllable mantra, ‘Namo Nārāyaṇāya’, / endowed with the praṇava, / or similarly, O best of men, do not recite, hear, or remember / the six-syllable mantra of venerable Rāmacandra— / their sins are destroyed by immersing in Rāma's bridge. / Or those who do not fast on the auspicious day of Hari,

and who do not wear ashes by means of the triple mark, dusting, and so forth, / with the seven mantras from the Jābāla Upaniṣad on the head and other parts, / or [who do not worship] Śiva, Keśava, or even other gods,

O eminent brahmins, according to the path declared in the Veda—

their sins are destroyed by immersing in Rāma's bridge.

Incense, a lamp, sandalwood,

and flowers they do not offer with devotion to Śiva, Viṣṇu, and the other gods, O best of brahmins;

those evil-minded men who do not perform the ritual ablution of Śiva, Viṣṇu, and the other gods with the Śrīrudra hymns and the Camaka hymns,

with the venerable Puruṣasūkta, with the Pāvamānī and other sūktas,

with the Trimadhu, the Trisuparṇa hymns, and similarly with the five Śānti hymns and others—

[such] men whose minds are evil,

their sins are destroyed by immersing at Dhanuṣkoṭi.

Prostration and circumambulation of Śiva, Viṣṇu, and the other gods

those whose intellects are ruined by sin do not perform with devotion;

and who do not perform worship at dawn during the month of Dhanus,

preceded by the great food offering to Śiva, Viṣṇu, and the other gods—

their sins are destroyed by immersing in Rāma's bridge.

Those who do not praise the names of Viṣṇu or of Hara;

and those men who, out of delusion, do not worship the discus on the Śālagrāma stone, / the Śivanābha stone,

or the discus from Dvārakā;

and those foolish brahmins who do not apply clay from the Gaṅgā, earth from the tulasī, / and gopīcandana on the forehead and on the chest,

and properly on both arms and the neck, for the pacification of the flood of all sins;

On both arms and on the neck properly, for the calming of the flood of all sins,

the person who does not wear rudrākṣa beads or tulasī wood—

his sins are destroyed by immersing at Dhanuṣkoṭi.

When the brāhmamuhūrta has arrived, abandoning sleep with a serene mind, / [or whoever] O brahmins,

[does not meditate on] the names of Hari and Śaṅkara, or their hymns of praise,

whoever indeed [does not] constantly contemplate a distinguished mantra—

his sins are destroyed by immersing at Dhanuṣkoṭi.

Having gone in the morning to a reservoir of water, having bathed and sipped water with a purified mind, / with a serene spirit, O best of sages, preceded by the twilight adoration,

with a serene mind, O best of sages, preceded by the twilight worship.

whatever man does not worship the Gāyatrī, the mother of the Vedas,

or those who, not free from sloth, do not perform the evening and morning domestic fire worship,

or those whose dispositions are ruined by sin who do not perform the midday rite,

the Vedic recitation, the Vaiśvadeva offering, the worship of guests at midday,

and who do not perform the customary worship of guests in the evening—

their sins are destroyed by immersing at Dhanuṣkoṭi.

Those men who do not offer alms to ascetics at midday;

those evil-minded brahmins who forget the three Vedas after studying them,

or who do not study the three Vedas and the limbs of the Veda again;

those who indeed do not perform the annual śrāddha of their mother and father,

the Mahālaya śrāddha, the daily śrāddha, or the Aṣṭakā śrāddha;

those who do not perform other occasional śrāddhas out of greed;

and those who, on the full moon day of the month of Caitra, for the gratification of Citragupta,

a cooling beverage, ripe bananas, milk rice with sugar,

jaggery, mango fruits, together with jackfruits and other fruits,

betel, sandals, an umbrella, clothes, flowers, and sandalwood,

do not offer to brahmins, their minds ruined by greed—

their sins are destroyed by immersing at Dhanuṣkoṭi.

Whether ill-behaved or well-behaved, whoever attends upon Dhanuṣkoṭi,

his worldly transmigration is severed without rebirth.

Whoever desires to cross the ocean of worldly existence, O eminent sages,

should go without delay to Rāmacandra's Dhanuṣkoṭi.

I speak the truth, I speak what is beneficial, I speak the essence, and what is beneficial again:

go to Rāmacandra's Dhanuṣkoṭi for the attainment of liberation.

One should bathe at Rāmacandra's Dhanuṣkoṭi for release;

there is no other means, O brahmins—I say this again and again.

Those men who take a bath at Rāmacandra's Dhanuṣkoṭi—

for them, the destruction of the fear of worldly existence will be accomplished without effort.

Truth, knowledge, infinite, the full, eternal Brahman—

attainment of that comes from bathing at Dhanuṣkoṭi; there is no doubt of this.

Śrī Sūta said:

Thus has the supreme Setumāhātmya been told to you, O brahmins;

it calms great sorrow, destroys great diseases,

dispels bad dreams, brings merit, and averts premature death,

bringing great peace to men who read or even listen to it,

granting heaven and liberation, meritorious, bestowing the fruit of all sacred fords.

Whoever, being attentive, recites this meritorious [text] or listens to it,

attains the abundant fruit of sacrifices such as the Agniṣṭoma.

Whatever fruit comes from reciting the four Vedas with their auxiliary limbs a hundred times,

that fruit one surely obtains from proclaiming this māhātmya.

By reading or hearing a single chapter here, O lords of sages,

one obtains the complete fruit of a horse sacrifice.

By reciting two chapters, and likewise by hearing them,

one attains the unsurpassed fruit of the sacrifice called Gomedha.

Whoever reads ten chapters, or listens with devotion,

attains the realm of heaven and rejoices with Śakra.

From reading and hearing twenty chapters, O lords of sages,

one attains the realm of Brahmā and rejoices with Brahmā.

From reading and hearing thirty chapters, O lords of sages,

one attains the realm of Viṣṇu and rejoices with Viṣṇu.

Whoever reads or even listens to forty chapters,

attains the realm of Rudra and rejoices with Rudra.

Whoever reads or hears fifty chapters,

attains Hara accompanied by Ambā, Śiva who bears the crescent moon on his crest.

Whoever reads and listens to this entire supreme māhātmya,

attains residence in the same world as Śiva accompanied by Ambā; there is no doubt of this.

Whoever reads and listens to this twice, O best of sages,

goes to proximity with Śiva, seated in an excellent aerial chariot.

Whoever, attentive, reads this three times or listens to it,

attains similarity of form with Śiva, bringing delight to Śiva.

Whoever reads this supreme [text] four times, or hears it,

attains union with Śiva, the lord of the mountain's daughter.

A mortal who reads day after day a verse, or half a verse,

or a quarter, or only a quarter-verse, or a syllable, or even a single letter—