Skandapurana 3.1.53.12

3.1.53.12

9 atha putraśokavyākulasya goviṃdasvāminaḥ svagṛhaṃ pratyāgatya bhāryayā saha vilāpakara- ṇam, aśokadattanāmnā goviṃdasvāmidvitīyaputreṇa pratāpamukuṭākhyanarapateranujñayā dākṣiṇātyamahāmallasya nipātanapūrvakaṃ hananam, atha pratāpamukuṭanṛpaterāśrayeṇā- śokadattasya sthitiḥ, atha kadācidvijane'raṇye nṛpeṇa saha paribhramatā dhairyavatā'śo- kadattena smaśānaṃ gatvā māyikāyā vidyutkeśākhyāyā rākṣasyāḥ pādatalaṃ nigṛhyaikaṃ ratnanūpuraṃ gṛhītvā rājasamīpamāgatya rājñe ratnanūpurasamarpaṇam , tatastaddhairyasantuṣṭena pratāpamukuṭākhyena rājñā'śokadattāya vaivāhikena vidhinā madanalekhākhyanijasutāpradānam, tato nṛpecchāṃ vijñāya dvitīyanūpuraprāptaye'śoka dattasya mahāmāṃsaṃ gṛhītvā smaśāne gamanam, tatra mantrairbhūtānāmāmantraṇe kriya- māṇe rakṣaḥkanyāsamāvṛtāyā viyutkeśākhyarākṣasyāstatsamīpaṃ prati māṃsabhakṣaṇa- lālasayā''gamanam, tatastaddhairyasantuṣṭayā vidyutkeśākhyayā rākṣasyā'śokadattā- khyāya dvijasūnave svapādasthitadvitīyaratnanūpurapradānapūrvakaṃ vidyutprabhākhyanija- kanyāpradānam, tasmā eva ca jāmātre kanyāpradānaprābhṛtatvarūpeṇa suvarṇakamala- pradānam, tatsarvaṃ guhītvā'śokadattasya pratāpamukuṭākhyanṛpasamīpa āgamanam, pratāpamukuṭenāśokadattasya praśaṃsākaraṇam, atha kadācidekānte vidyutprabhāṃ prati tanmātṛdattasuvarṇapaṅkajotpattisthale pṛṣṭe tayā kapālavisphoṭakanāmakavetālabhūpati- divyasarovṛttāntavarṇanam ,atha tayā vidyatprabhayāsahāśokadattasyakapālavisphoṭaka- vetālarakṣitakāñcanakamalasaraḥ prati gamanam, tatra vighnakāriṇo vetālānhatvā kapālavisphoṭakākhyaṃ vetālaṃ hantukāmenāśokadattena vimānārūḍhavijñaptikautukanā- makavidyādharapatidarśanam, taddarśanamātreṇāśokadattasya gālavamaharṣidattamanuṣyatvarūpa-śāpānmuktipūrvakaṃsukarṇākhyasvasvarūpaprāptiḥ,atho vijñaptakautukavidyādharapativacanena vetālatvaṃ prāptasya nijabhrāturuddhārārthaṃ tena saha dakṣiṇodadhitīrasthitacakratīrthaṃ gatvā snānakaraṇam, tattīrthajalakaṇasparśamātreṇa vetālasyavetālatvanivṛttipūrvakaṃ punarvija-yadattākhyadvijaputratvaprāptiḥ, tena vijayadattena punaḥ saṃkalpapūrvakaṃ snāne kṛte sati tatastasya manuṣyatvarūpaśāpanivṛttipūrvakaṃ sudarśanākhyavidyādharatvaprāptivarṇanam, vetālatvamocakatvena tattīrthasya vetālavaradanāmnā prakhyātivarṇanam ..... 18 1

9. Now, Govindasvāmin, distressed by grief for his son, returns to his house and laments with his wife; with the permission of King Pratāpamukuṭa, Govindasvāmin's second son named Aśokadatta throws down and slays a great champion of the Deccan; then Aśokadatta resides under the patronage of King Pratāpamukuṭa; then once, wandering in a solitary forest with the king, the resolute Aśokadatta goes to a cremation ground, seizes the sole of the foot of the illusory rākṣasī named Vidyutkeśā, takes one jeweled anklet, comes into the presence of the king, and offers the jeweled anklet to the king; then King Pratāpamukuṭa, pleased by that courage, bestows his own daughter named Madanalekhā upon Aśokadatta according to the marriage rite; then, knowing the king's desire, Aśokadatta takes human flesh and goes to the cremation ground to obtain the second anklet; there, while the spirits are being summoned with mantras, the rākṣasī named Vidyutkeśā, surrounded by rākṣasa maidens, approaches him eager to eat flesh; then the rākṣasī named Vidyutkeśā, pleased by his courage, gives the second jeweled anklet from her foot and also gives her own daughter named Vidyutprabhā to the brahmin's son named Aśokadatta; and to him, the son-in-law, she gives a golden lotus as a bridal gift; taking all that, Aśokadatta returns to King Pratāpamukuṭa; Pratāpamukuṭa praises Aśokadatta; then once in private, when Vidyutprabhā is asked about the place of origin of the golden lotus given by her mother, she narrates the account of the divine lake of the vetāla king named Kapālavisphoṭaka; then Aśokadatta goes with that Vidyutprabhā to the golden-lotus lake guarded by the vetāla Kapālavisphoṭaka; there, having slain the obstructive vetālas, Aśokadatta, wishing to slay the vetāla named Kapālavisphoṭaka, beholds the lord of the vidyādharas named Vijñaptikautuka mounted on an aerial chariot; upon merely beholding him, Aśokadatta is freed from the curse of human birth given by the great sage Gālava and attains his own true form named Sukarṇa; then, by the word of the vidyādhara lord Vijñaptikautuka, for the purpose of redeeming his own brother who had been turned into a vetāla, he goes with him to Cakratīrtha on the shore of the southern ocean and takes a ritual bath; upon merely touching a drop of water of that sacred ford, the vetāla's state of being a vetāla ceases and he regains the state of being the brahmin's son named Vijayadatta; when that Vijayadatta performs a ritual bath again with solemn resolve, he is freed from the curse of human birth and attains the state of the vidyādhara named Sudarśana; and the proclamation of that sacred ford under the name Vetālavarada, because of its freeing [one] from the state of a vetāla, is related. 18 1