Skandapurana 3.2.13

Vyāsa said:

And to the west of Śambhu, the son of Kaśyapa was installed.

That [place] is there, O illustrious one; it is called Ravikṣetra.

There were born two exceedingly divine beings, endowed with beauty and youth,

the Nāsatyas, the two Aśvin gods, renowned as the destroyers of diseases.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

Grandfather, O illustrious one, please tell me out of grace

how the birth of the two Aśvins came about in the world of mortals.

How was Sūrya brought down to the earth from the realm of Ravi?

Please tell all this carefully out of grace,

hearing which, O illustrious one, one is freed from all sins.

Vyāsa said:

You have asked well, O king, about the narrative of the higher world,

hearing which, O tiger among men, one is freed from all diseases.

The daughter of Viśvakarman, Saṃjñā, was chosen [as wife] by radiant Ravi.

Seeing Sūrya, Saṃjñā would always restrain her eyes.

Because of that, the sun became angry and said these words to Saṃjñā:

Sūrya said:

Because you always restrain your eyes when looking at me,

therefore, O foolish woman, Yama, the restrainer of creatures, will be born!

Then the goddess looked upon him restlessly and agitated with fear.

Seeing her unsteady gaze, Ravi spoke to her again:

Because your gaze has now become unsteady when looking at me,

therefore, O Saṃjñā, you will give birth to an unsteady daughter!

Vyāsa said:

Then, indeed, by that curse of her husband, there were born to her

Yama, and this Yamunā who is renowned as a very great river.

And that noble lady Saṃjñā, unable to bear the brilliance of Ravi

without great distress, then thought within her mind:

“What shall I do? Where shall I go? And having gone where will there be relief?”

would be mine? How might the anger of my husband, the sun, perish?"

Having reflected thus in many ways, the Prajāpati's daughter then,

the illustrious one, deemed it best to take refuge with her father.

Then, having resolved to go to her father's house, the renowned lady,

that goddess, the beloved of the Sun, called forth her own shadow (Chāyā)

and said to her: "You must stay here with the Sun just as I [did].

You must behave properly toward the children, and likewise toward the Sun.

Even if wrong is done, you must not speak [ill], so that I am held in high esteem.

You must only say, 'I am that very Saṃjñā', O sinless one!"

Chāyāsaṃjñā said:

"Until my hair is seized, and until a curse [is spoken], I shall indeed

carry out your word; I shall disclose [it only] upon the pulling of my hair."

Having been spoken to thus, the goddess then went to the house of her father.

There she saw Tvaṣṭṛ, whose sins had been washed away by austerity.

And honoured with great respect by Viśvakarman,

that blameless woman remained in her father's house for some time.

Then her righteous father, Viśvakarman, spoke with love

and high esteem to his daughter, who had stayed not too long:

"As I look at you, my child, even very many days

seem equal to a moment; but righteousness is impaired.

A long stay among relatives does not bring renown to women.

[It is merely] the desire of relatives that a wife stay in her father's house.

You are wedded to a husband who is the lord of the three worlds, the Sun;

you ought not to live for a long time in your father's house, my daughter.

Therefore, go to your husband's house; I have seen you, and you have honoured me.

A return visit should be made [later] for darśana, O woman of auspicious eyes!"

Vyāsa said:

Addressed thus, she then quickly said, "So be it," O sage!

And having honoured her father, she departed for the Northern Kurus.

Not desiring the heat of the Sun, and afraid of his splendor,

she performed austerity even there, having assumed the form of a mare.

Thinking her to be Saṃjñā, the lord of the sky, on that second [woman],

begot two sons and one charming maiden.

As Chāyā behaved with affection toward her own children,

she did not behave so toward Saṃjñā's daughter and two sons,

[showing] partiality day after day in pampering and in foods.

Manu endured that from her, but Yama did not endure it from her.

Then, out of anger, his foot was raised by him to strike [her].

Becoming patient-minded again, however, he did not bring it down upon her body.

Then Chāyāsaṃjñā, out of anger, cursed Yama, O king,

her lip slightly trembling and her sprout-like hand shaking:

"Since you violently raise your foot against me, your father's wife,

therefore this foot of yours shall fall to the earth this very day!"

Hearing this curse, Yama, deeply terrified regarding his mother,

approached his father and spoke, preceded by a prostration:

"Father, this is a great wonder, never seen anywhere,

that a mother, who should be affection incarnate, gives a curse to her son!

As a mother is described to me, she is not such a mother to me.

Even towards sons who lack virtue, a mother should not be devoid of virtue."

Having heard these words of Yama, the blessed dispeller of darkness,

then called Chāyāsaṃjñā and asked, "Where has she gone?"

And she said: "I am Saṃjñā, daughter of Tvaṣṭṛ, O Sun,

your wife; these children were begotten by you through me."

When, though Vivasvat asked her repeatedly in this manner,

she did not confess, then the radiant Sun, enraged, prepared to curse her.

Then she told Vivasvat everything as it had happened.

Having learned the matter, the Blessed Lord went to the abode of Tvaṣṭṛ.

Then Tvaṣṭṛ worshipped the one adored by the three worlds:

"O Sun, why have you arrived at my house bereft of your power?"

He asked about Saṃjñā; the knower of truth related [everything] to him.

“She has come here to my dwelling, sent by you, O Sun.”

Absorbed in meditation, the Sun saw her

bearing the form of a mare, performing austerity in the Northern Kurus.

Unable to endure the Sun's brilliance, deeply tormented by it,

abandoning her own form that resembled fire and leaving behind her shadow-form,

she came to Dharmāraṇya and practiced very severe austerity.

Having seen Śani, the son of the shadow, and also Yama and the other, O king,

the Sun was astonished upon beholding the two wicked sons,

and meditated in order to understand; having reflected for a moment and discerned the cause—

that that faithful wife, her body burned by the heat of his rays, had performed austerity

so that, through that austerity, she could endure seeing me:

“Fifty years having elapsed, she went to the earth and practiced austerity.”

Thinking thus, Pradyotana, swift as thought, quickly went

to the excellent and holy Dharmāraṇya, where Saṃjñā was engaged in austerity.

Seeing that the Sun had arrived, she became a mare.

Saṃjñā was always the Sun's wife, and the Sun then became a stallion.

Union occurred between the two of them, with [his] liṅga introduced into her nose.

Then the twin Aśvins were born upon the earth.

Water manifested there by his right hoof

when that region of earth was struck open; there a pool appeared.

A second pool, moreover, arose from his hind foot.

The fruit of [bathing in] Kāśī with its northward-flowing stream, Kurukṣetra, and the like,

equal to [that of] the city of the Gaṅgā, has been declared by the sage to be in this pool.

One attains that fruit at Taptakuṇḍa, without doubt;

performing a ritual ablution right there, one is freed from all sins.

One's body is not born again afflicted by diseases such as leprosy.

This has been told to you, O king: the cause of the birth of the twin Dasras.

Then Brahmā and the other gods came there, O king;

they granted Saṃjñā an auspicious boon, indeed surpassing what she had imagined.

Having installed the Sun there as lord of the grove named Bakula,

they worshipped Saṃjñā then; at that time she assumed her former form.

The queen was installed there, along with the two youthful twins.

I shall declare the fruit of this sacred ford; listen, O king of great intellect!

It is the primordial place, O best of Kurus, difficult to attain even for the gods.

A man who has bathed in Ravikuṇḍa, endowed with faith and with senses conquered,

delivers all his ancestors, even those who have gone to the great hell.

Whoever drinks the water with faith, having gratified the ancestral spirits and the deities,

whether it be little or much, all becomes multiplied ten-millionfold.

On the seventh day of the lunar fortnight, on a Sunday, during an eclipse of the moon or the sun,

those who have bathed in Ravikuṇḍa indeed do not enter a womb.

At a solar transit, at Vyatīpāta, on Vaidhṛti and other conjunction-days,

on the full moon, on the new moon, and on the fourteenth day of the bright or dark fortnight,

whoever has bathed in Ravikuṇḍa obtains the fruit of ten million sacrifices.

If a man worships Bakulārka with a single-minded heart,

he goes to the supreme abode as long as the sun shines.

His fortune is surely enduring; he attains offspring and happiness;

the host of his enemies goes to ruin through the grace of the Lord of Day.

Indeed he has no fear from fire, none from tigers, and none from tusked elephants;

and nowhere is there fear of snakes, nor dread of ghosts, spirits, and the like.

All the evil spirits that seize children—Revatī, Vṛddharevatī—

all of them go to destruction: 'O Bakulārka, salutations to you!'

His cows multiply, as do wealth and grain;

his lineage will not be broken when Bakulārka is bowed to.

A woman who bears only one child, one who is barren, one whose children die,

the barren woman, the deformed woman, and women who are poison-damsels—

bathing in the pool, O king, they are freed from such afflictions;

she attains good fortune, women, sons, and beauty in every respect.

Even a mortal seized by disease—a human being for six months

who has properly bathed in Ravikuṇḍa is freed from all illness.

One who indeed performs the rite of releasing a dark bull in the sacred field of the Sun

his ancestors attain satisfaction until the dissolution of all beings.

And whoever performs the gift of a maiden in this sacred field, O dear son,

having his soul purified through marriage, is exalted in the world of Brahmā.

The gift of a cow, a bed, coral, and likewise a horse,

female slaves, buffaloes, bells, and sesame combined with gold;

whoever gives a cow made of sesame seeds in this sacred field, O Bhārata,

as well as sandals, an umbrella, and protection against the cold;

likewise [the offering of] a hundred-thousand oblations, the Rudra, and the Rudrātirudra—

whatever one gives in that place endowed with faith,

the fruit of each single one I will declare, dear child; listen in truth.

Through giving, one obtains enjoyments in this world and in the next.

A mortal obtains sovereignty, and men, having performed marriage,

obtain righteousness, desire, and wealth through a wife; there is no doubt here.

From worship, one obtains happiness in birth after birth.

Whoever remembers Bakulārka on a Sunday falling on the seventh lunar day,

has no fear of fever and the like, nor of enemies, nor of disease.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

"How did the Sun come to have the name 'Bakulārka', O sage?

O best of speakers, you ought to declare this truth to me."

Vyāsa said:

"When Saṃjñā, O king of kings, with single-minded devotion for the sake of the Sun,

practiced austerity beneath a bakula tree for the pacification of her husband's brilliance,

having seen the manifestation of the Sun, she became a mare.

The lord of rays became completely calm near the bakula tree;

then the queen gave birth to two divine, charming sons.

Because of that, this name of the Sun became renowned as 'Bakulārka'.

Disease does not afflict one who performs ritual ablution there;

he obtains righteousness, wealth, and desire—there is no doubt here.

After six months a man attains perfection and obtains liberation.

This majesty of Bakulārka has been told, O great king."

Thus ends the thirteenth chapter, titled "Declaration of the Greatness of Bakulārka," in the narration of Dharmāraṇya, in the first part of the third Brahmakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.