Skandapurana 3.1.53.8

3.1.53.8

5 atha cakratīrthamāhātmyaprasaṃgena vidhūmākhyavasvalaṃbusāpsarovṛttāntavarṇanam, tatra brahma- loke nijasabhāyāṃ sāvitrīsanakaprabhṛtisamastasuramunisiddhavasugandharvaiḥ saha sthitasya brahmaṇaḥ purastādakhilāpsarasāṃ paryāyanṛtyasamāraṃbhe krameṇālaṃbusākhyāyā apsaraso nṛtyamānāyā līlayā vāyunābhyantaravastre samutkṣipte sati spaṣṭorumūlajaghanadarśanena kāmabāṇanipīḍitasya vidhūmanāmakasya vasornirlajjatāṃ nirīkṣya brahmaṇā tasmai manuṣyatvaprāptirūpaśāpapradānam, alaṃbusāyāśca mānuṣītvaprāptirūpaśāpapradānam, vidhūmaprārthanayā brahmaṇā tacchāpāntāvadhikaraṇam, atha bhūtale śatānīkamahī- paterbhāryāyāṃ vidhūmavasoḥ sahasrānīkanāmnā janma, tasya trayāṇāmanucarāṇāṃ ca tanmantrisenānīvayasyānāṃ gṛheṣu janma, alaṃbuṣākhyāyāḥ svarveśyāyā ayodhyā- dhipateḥ kṛtavarmaṇaḥ kanyātvam ,atha śatānīke nṛpe divi daityena saha yuddhe mṛte sati sahasrānīkasya rājyābhiṣekaḥ, anantaraṃ sanaṃdanamahotsave śakranimantraṇavaśāccha-krabhavanaṃ gatena sahasrānīkena śakravacanānnijaśāpāntavṛttāntamājñāya bhuvamāgatya mṛgāvatīpariṇayanam, mṛgāvatīpariṇayottaraṃ kauśāṃbīṃ nagarīṃ prati prasthitasya sahasrānīkasya madhyemārga śakravacanaṃ dhyātvā'nālokitayā tilottamākhyayā'psa- rasā caturdaśasamāparyaṃtaṃ bhāryayā saha te viyogo bhaviṣyatīti śāpapradānam, atha kālena garbhiṇyāṃ mṛgāvatyāṃ daurhṛdaparipūrtyai kausumbhakusumapūrṇavāpyāṃ nimajjane kriyamāṇe suparṇakulasaṃbhavena vikaṭapakṣiṇā haraṇapūrvakamudayācalaśikharopāre naya- nam, tatra jamadagninā śokākulāyā mṛgāvatyāḥ sāntvanapūrvakaṃ svāśrame sthāpanam, atha tatra prasūtāyā mṛgāvatyāḥ putrasya jamadagninodayanetināmakaraṇam, udayanena svamātṛdattakaṃkaṇaṃ pradāya śabaravyādhato mocitena sadyo manuṣyarūpadhṛtā kiṃnarākhya- nāgena saha pātālaṃ prati gatvā dhṛtarāṣṭranāgakanyayā kiṃnaranāgabhaginyā lalitā- khyayā saha vivāhakaraṇam, lalitāyāṃ tasmātputrotpattiḥ, atha lalitāyāḥ śāpato vimuktiḥ, udayanasya lalitāsakāśātputraṃ tāṃbūlīsrajaṃ ghoṣavatīṃ vīṇāṃ ca gṛhītvā svamātaraṃ prati jamadagnyāśrama āgamanam, śabaravyādhasamīpe sthitaṃ nijamudrāṃkita- kaṃkaṇaṃ dṛṣṭvā sahasrānīkena śabarātkaṃkaṇaprāptivṛttāṃtaṃ śrutvā mantribhiḥ saha jama dagnyāśramaṃ prati gamanam, jamadagnitaḥ svabhāryā mṛgāvatī svaputramudayanaṃ svapautraṃ ca prāpya svapurīṃ pratyāgamanam , tata udayanākhye svaputre rājyabhāraṃ nyasya svaśāpa- nivṛttaye mṛgāvatīpatnyā vasaṃtakarumaṇvadyaugandharāyaṇākhyairnijamantriputrādibhiśca saha dakṣiṇodadhitaṭasthacakratīrthaṃ gatvā tatra snānamātreṇa tasya śāpanivṛttipūrvaka rūpaprāptivarṇanam, tatasteṣāṃ caturṇāmapi pūrvasvarūpāvāptivarṇanam, cakratīrthamāhātmya- varṇanam..... .......... ... 10 1

5. Now, in connection with the māhātmya of Cakratīrtha, the account of the Vasu named Vidhūma and the apsaras Alaṃbusā: There, in the world of Brahmā, while Brahmā sat in his assembly together with Sāvitrī, Sanaka, and all the gods, munis, siddhas, Vasus, and gandharvas, and all the apsarases began dancing in turn before him, in due course the inner garment of the apsaras named Alaṃbusā as she danced was playfully tossed up by the wind; seeing the shamelessness of the Vasu named Vidhūma, who was tormented by the arrows of Kāma upon clearly seeing her thighs and hips, Brahmā pronounced a curse upon him to take birth as a mortal, and also a curse upon Alaṃbusā to become a human woman; through Vidhūma's plea, Brahmā set a limit for the termination of that curse; then, on the mortal earth, the Vasu Vidhūma was born to the wife of King Śatānīka by the name Sahasrānīka, and his three attendants took birth in the houses of his minister, army commander, and companion; the celestial courtesan named Alaṃbusā became the daughter of Kṛtavarman, the lord of Ayodhyā; then, when King Śatānīka died in heaven in battle with a Daitya, Sahasrānīka's coronation; thereafter, having gone to the abode of Śakra on the occasion of the joyful festival of Sanandana by invitation of Śakra, Sahasrānīka learned the details of the end of his curse from Śakra's words, returned to earth, and married Mṛgāvatī; after the wedding to Mṛgāvatī, as Sahasrānīka was setting out for the city of Kauśāmbī, he was cursed on the way by an apsaras named Tilottamā, whom he did not notice because he was meditating on the words of Śakra, that: 'For fourteen years there shall be separation between you and your wife'; then, in the course of time, when Mṛgāvatī was pregnant and immersed in a reservoir filled with safflower blossoms to satisfy her pregnancy craving, she was seized and carried away by a giant bird born of the family of Suparṇa to the summit of the Udayācala mountain; there Jamadagni consoled the grief-stricken Mṛgāvatī and settled her in his hermitage; then Jamadagni gave the name Udayana to the son born of Mṛgāvatī there; Udayana, having freed a nāga named Kinnara from a Śabara hunter by giving a bracelet given by his mother, which nāga immediately assumed human form, went with him to Pātāla and married the sister of the Kinnara nāga named Lalitā, the daughter of the nāga Dhṛtarāṣṭra; from him a son was born in Lalitā; then Lalitā's release from a curse; Udayana's return to his mother at the hermitage of Jamadagni, taking the son from Lalitā, a garland of betel leaves, and the vīṇā named Ghoṣavatī; Sahasrānīka, seeing his own signet bracelet in the possession of the Śabara hunter and hearing the account of obtaining the bracelet from the Śabara, went with his ministers to the hermitage of Jamadagni; after regaining his wife Mṛgāvatī, his son Udayana, and his grandson from Jamadagni, his return to his city; then, having placed the burden of the kingdom on his son named Udayana, in order to remove his curse he went with his wife Mṛgāvatī and his sons of ministers named Vasantaka, Rumaṇvat, Yaugandharāyaṇa, and others, to Cakratīrtha situated on the shore of the southern ocean; the account of the removal of his curse and regaining of his [divine] form by merely bathing there; then the account of all four of them regaining their original forms; the description of the māhātmya of Cakratīrtha..... 101