Skandapurana 3.2.14

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

"O ocean of compassion, highly fortunate one, all-pervading lord of gods!

When indeed was austerity performed here by Viṣṇu of immeasurable brilliance?

And it was narrated to Skanda by the great-souled Śarva;

do you yourself tell everything in proper sequence."

Vyāsa said:

"Listen, my child, I will explain, O best of kings: in Dharmāraṇya,

once austerity was performed here by Viṣṇu of immeasurable brilliance."

Skanda said:

"How is it called Devasaras, [and] Pampā, Campā, and Gayā,

and superior to Vārāṇasī? And how did Hari become horse-faced?"

Īśvara said:

"Here Lord Nārāyaṇa practiced austerity very difficult to perform

for three hundred divine years, and he became one endowed with a beautiful face.

Mahāviṣṇu practiced austerity for the sake of a handsome form, O son,

when Hari had the face of a horse there in that abode of perfections of great splendor."

Skanda said:

"Tell now the reason why Hari became horse-faced,

he who is the slayer of the great foe, the god of gods, the lord of the universe!

By whose name, O highly fortunate one, even numerous sins

are dissolved swiftly, just like darkness at the rising of the sun;

whose deeds are heard to be wondrous, truly wondrous;

the Supreme Lord, the cause of all living beings!

How could that god, whose nature is the breath of life, have the form of a horse?

He is proclaimed to have one uniform nature throughout all the treatises,

attainable through devotion by those possessed of virtue, having the nature of bliss, ever pure,

though beyond the qualities, yet eternal, all-pervading, and qualityless,

the creator, the protector, the destroyer, the unmanifest [essence] of all embodied beings,

benevolent, of great brilliance—why did he become horse-faced?"

from whose hair-pores arose the gods, trees and other beings, serpents and mountains;

from whose body the entire universe is born in every aeon;

he alone is the source of the universe, he alone is the ultimate cause;

by whom the lores and the sacrifices that had perished in the cosmic dissolution were brought back again;

that wicked demon was slain, and an effort was made for the sake of the Vedas;

such was Mahāviṣṇu—how did he become horse-faced?

By whom the earth bearing gems was effortlessly held upon his back;

and the entire world, both stationary and moving, was set in proper order;

how did that god of universal form truly become horse-faced?

He who, having assumed the form of a boar, became the slayer of Hiraṇyākṣa;

the exceedingly pure one of great splendor, entering into the waters of the ocean,

lifted up the entire earth along with its oceans and mountains;

surely the earth was effortlessly lifted up on the tip of his tusk by him,

having assumed the tawny form of a boar that destroys sorrow—

how did that god, the Lord, come to have a horse's neck?

And that Lord, for the sake of Prahlāda, having assumed a terrifying form,

the great deity Narasiṃha, who wards off all wicked beings,

protected that best of devotees who stood amidst mountains, fire, and the sea;

he slew the wicked Hiraṇyakaśipu at dusk,

and installing him on the throne of Indra, bestowed happiness upon Prahlāda;

he who indeed assumed the state of man-lion for the sake of Prahlāda;

he then became a beggar before the son of Virocana;

and at the horse sacrifice, he was worshipped by Bali;

the earth was taken from him, heaven and earth having been covered in three strides;

by whom, through his universal form, Bali was consigned to Pātāla;

by whom the kṣatriyas on the face of the earth were slain thrice seven times;

and by that one of exceedingly great splendor, having slain them, the earth was given to the brahmins;

the Haihaya king was slain by him, and his own mother was killed;

by whom, while still a boy on earth, the evil-doer was slain,

the rākṣasī named Tāḍakā, by the grace of Kauśika;

and at the sacrifice of Viśvāmitra, by him who playfully assumed a human body,

fourteen thousand rākṣasas were forcefully slain;

by whom Śūrpaṇakhā was mutilated and Triśiras was struck down;

who, having slain Vālin, gained Sugrīva as an ally;

who, having built a bridge across the ocean and slain the ten-headed one in battle,

arrived at Dharmāraṇya and worshipped the brahmins;

having given a royal charter and many villages to the best of the twice-born,

and having bathed in the Dharmavāpī, he gave generous gifts of cows;

protecting the virtuous and restraining the wicked—

thus other deeds on the surface of the earth are heard of.

How did that god, who performed them playfully, become horse-faced?

He who was born in the Yādava lineage, [slayer of] Pūtanā, Śakaṭa, and others,

the demon Ariṣṭa, Keśin, Vṛkāsura, Bakāsura,

Śakaṭāsura, the great demon Tṛṇāvarta, and Dhenuka,

the wrestler [Cāṇūra], Kaṃsa, and Jarāsaṃdha likewise;

and the slayer of Kālayavana—how indeed did he become horse-faced?

Having conquered Tārakāsura in battle, and likewise the city of sixty thousand,

and sixteen thousand maidens were married by him;

having performed such superhuman deeds, how did he become horse-faced?

He who is the protector of all devotees and the slayer of all wicked beings,

and who, having established righteousness, is Kalki abiding in Viṣṇu's state;

this is indeed a great wonder that you have revealed.

Tell me all this reason, O destroyer of Tripura!

Śrī Rudra said:

Well asked, O mighty-armed one! I shall tell the reason for it;

listen with a one-pointed mind regarding the horse-necked Kṛṣṇa.

Vyāsa said:

Formerly, a sacrifice was undertaken on the surface of the earth by the gods.

In order to summon [him] with Vedic mantras, all the gods led by Rudra

all went to Vaikuṇṭha, his own abode in the ocean of milk.

Having gone again even to Pātāla, they did not obtain a sight of Kṛṣṇa.

Then, overcome by bewilderment, they all ran here and there;

Janārdana, whose nature is Brahman, was not seen by them at all.

All those gods, led by Indra, reflected:

"Where has that Mahāviṣṇu gone? By what means can he be seen?"

Bowing their heads to the god, the lord of speech, they spoke with respect:

"O god of gods, kindly tell [us] about Mahāviṣṇu."

Bṛhaspati said:

"I do not know for what purpose the great-souled one has mounted yoga;

Viṣṇu has assumed the form of yoga—Hari, Acyuta, the lord of yogins."

Meditating for a moment on his own Self, Hari was revealed by Dhiṣaṇa.

All the gods went there, where the god, the lord of the world, was.

Then Mahāviṣṇu was seen—that Janārdana absorbed in meditation,

[…] having meditated on the slayer of the Daityas, arrow in hand.

Having seen him in complete absorption, he undertook a means to awaken [him].

And he said to the termites then: "With effort, [eat] the bowstring;

if they cut it, Hari will wake up of his own accord by that sound."

The gods said:

"Do eat the string, so that this Hari may awaken.

We, seeking the sacrifice, O termites, entreat the Lord."

The termites said:

"Disturbing someone's sleep, interrupting a story, breaking the friendship of a married couple,

or causing separation between an infant and its mother—one who does this goes to hell.

The lord of the universe has mounted yoga; he is absorbed in deep concentration, endowed with great strength.

We certainly will not cause an obstacle to that glorious Lord of the Universe."

Brahmā said:

"You will become all-devouring, if the work of the gods is done.

Therefore, O termites, it must be done, so that the sacrifice may be accomplished."

Then, my child, the queen of the termites spoke thus again:

The termite said:

"The lord of the universe is difficult to attain, like the Malaya breeze;

how can he, worshipped by the gods, be awakened by us, O Brahmā?

I have no need of a sacrifice, nor indeed of the gods;

let the gods give me a share in all sacrificial rites."

The gods said:

"We shall always give a share in sacrifices to the termite;

it has been granted by us for the sake of the sacrifice; carry out our word!"

"So be it," said Brahmā also, and the termite set to work.

The act of devouring the bowstring and the rest was all performed by her, O king.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

[Why did] the gods [attempt] to awaken him by snapping the string during his deep absorption?

This is a wonder, O brahmin-seer, truly, O son of Satyavatī!

Vyāsa said:

All the gods, their minds agitated, drew Hari's bow—

I do not know for what reason—deluded by the illusory power of Viṣṇu.

Rejoicing, they released the anthill before Hari;

then the anthill, resembling a mountain, was brought to the edge of the bow-tip.

And when that string was eaten through and severed that very instant,

along with the recoil of the bow-tip the head was severed and went to heaven.

When the head was gone, those gods, their minds greatly distressed,

all ran in every direction to look for the head.

Thus ends the fourteenth chapter, named 'The Loss of Viṣṇu's Head,' in the Dharmāraṇyamāhātmya, in the first part of the third section, the Brahmakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].