Skandapurana 3.3.15

Sūta said:

"This greatness of Ṛṣabha, the Śivayogin, has been described;

now I shall relate the power of another Śivayogin as well. (1)

And I shall describe in brief the māhātmya of sacred ash,

hearing which sinful people will attain fulfilment. (2)

There is a certain Śivayogin named Vāmadeva, of great austerity.

Free from dualities, devoid of qualities, peaceful, unattached, looking upon all alike,

delighting in the Self, having conquered anger, free from home and wife,

his course unfathomable, silent, contented, without possessions,

his whole body smeared with ashes, adorned with a circle of matted locks,

clad in bark and deer skin, accepting only alms.

Once, wandering in the world intent on bestowing grace upon all,

he entered by chance the Krauñca forest, exceedingly dreadful.

In that desolate forest dwelt a certain brahmarākṣasa,

exceedingly terrifying, constantly agitated by hunger and thirst.

Seeing that Śiva-souled one who had entered, that brahmarākṣasa,

tormented by hunger, rushed swiftly to devour [him].

Seeing him approaching with gaping mouth, of gigantic body,

having dreadful fangs, and terrifying, that lord of yogins did not waver.

Then, rushing with speed, that fierce forest-dweller,

crushing the unshakeable Śiva-yogin with both arms, seized him.

Just by touching his body, his sins destroyed immediately,

that dreadful brahmarākṣasa, dejected, regained [his] memory.

Just as iron turns to gold on touching the wish-fulfilling jewel,

just as clay turns to gold upon reaching the Jambū river,

just as crows attain the state of swans upon reaching [lake] Mānasa,

just as a man attains godhood upon drinking the nectar of immortality once,

even so the great-souled purify immediately those possessed of sins

by sight, touch, and the like; therefore, the company of the virtuous is indeed hard to obtain.

He who previously roamed the forest, afflicted with hunger and thirst, of cruel soul,

immediately attained satisfaction and became filled with bliss.

Penetrated by the particles of white ash clinging to his limbs, his nature [clouded by] the dense darkness of sin instantly dispelled,

having attained the memory of his former birth, he of fierce deeds bowed at his two lotus-feet and spoke:

The rākṣasa said:

Be gracious to me, O great yogin! Be gracious, O ocean of compassion!

Be gracious, O ocean of the nectar of bliss for those tormented by worldly existence!

Where am I, wicked-minded, terrible, causing fear to all living beings,

and where is the darśana of you, of noble character and compassionate nature?

Deliver me, deliver me, fallen into the terrible ocean of suffering!

By your mere presence, great joy increases.

Vāmadeva said:

Who are you, fierce wanderer of the forest, a rākṣasa stationed here?

How did you come to attain this exceedingly terrible and distressing condition?

The rākṣasa said:

I was not a rākṣasa; twenty-five births before this,

I was the valiant protector of the Yavana kingdom, Durjaya by name.

That evil-souled, wicked, self-willed person was I, arrogant with pride,

wielding the rod of punishment, of vile conduct, fierce, merciless, wicked.

Though young and having many wives, I was attached to lust, uncontrolled in senses;

and yet again I undertook this most sinful practice:

Ever desirous of enjoying a different new woman every day,

women were brought from all lands by servants at my command.

Having enjoyed and abandoned one after another day by day,

placing them in the inner apartments, still other women were seized.

Thus, having brought women from my own kingdom and other kingdoms, from regions, mines, villages, cities, and cowherd settlements,

they were enjoyed day by day; once enjoyed, none was ever enjoyed again by me.

And women thus enjoyed by me were not enjoyed by others;

confined in the inner apartments, they grieved day and night.

When women of brahmins, vaiśyas, kṣatriyas, and śūdras were abducted by me,

the brahmins living in my kingdom fled away together with their wives.

Women with husbands, maidens, widows, and menstruating women,

having abducted them, were enjoyed by me whose mind was ruined by lust.

Three hundred brahmin women, four hundred royal women,

six hundred vaiśya women, a thousand śūdra women,

a hundred caṇḍāla women, a thousand Pulinda women,

five hundred actress women, and four hundred washerwomen [were taken].

Innumerable chief courtesans were enjoyed by me, evil-minded as I was;

even so, no satiety of desire arose within me.

Thus attached to vile sense-objects, intoxicated, constantly devoted to drink,

great diseases such as consumption entered [me] even in my youth.

Afflicted with diseases, childless, and oppressed also by enemies,

abandoned by ministers and by servants, I died on account of my own karma.

Lifespan is destroyed, infamy increases, fortune comes to ruin, he goes to an extreme evil state,

and ancient ancestors fall from heaven—assuredly—for a man who has abandoned dharma.

Then I was brought by the servants of Yama to the abode of the son of Vivasvat.

From there I was cast down into a dreadful hell, into that pit.

There in that dreadful hell for thirty thousand years,

drinking semen, tortured by Yama's servants, I dwelt.

Then, through the remainder of [my] sins, in a desolate forest,

I was born as a piśāca with a thousand penises, constantly tormented by hunger and thirst.

Having taken up the condition of a piśāca, a hundred divine years were spent.

In my second birth I was born as a tiger, terrifying to living beings.

In the third, a dreadful python; in the fourth birth I [became] a wolf.

In the fifth, a village pig; and in the sixth, I [became] a chameleon.

In the seventh I [became] a dog, and in the eighth birth a jackal.

In the ninth a fearsome gavaya, and in the tenth birth I was a deer.

In the eleventh, a monkey; and in the twelfth birth I was a vulture.

In the thirteenth I was a mongoose, and a crow in the fourteenth.

In the fifteenth, a bear; in the sixteenth, a wild cock.

In the seventeenth I was a donkey; in the eighteenth birth, a cat.

In the nineteenth, a frog; in the twentieth birth, a tortoise.

In the twenty-first birth, a fish; in the twenty-second, I became a mouse.

In the twenty-third I was an owl; in the twenty-fourth, a wild elephant.

And in this twenty-fifth birth, I was born as a brahmarākṣasa.

Overcome by hunger, destitute of food, I dwell here in this great forest.

Just now, seeing you arrived, I was eager to devour [you].

Merely through the contact with your body, memory of my previous births arose.

Today, in your presence, I remember thousands of past births.

Supreme detachment has arisen, and my heart is clear.

How was such power obtained by you, O noble-minded one?

Was it by severe austerity, or from resorting to sacred fords,

by yoga, by the power of the gods, or by mantras of infinite power?

Tell me truly, O venerable one; I have taken refuge in you.

Vāmadeva said:

This is the great power of the sacred ash clinging to my limbs,

from contact with which you, whose disposition was darkness, now have this noble mind.

Who knows the power of sacred ash other than Mahādeva?

Just as Śambhu's māhātmya is unfathomable, so is that of sacred ash.

Formerly there was a certain brahmin like you, devoid of dharma,

living among the Dravidians, foolish, reduced to the state of a śūdra by his deeds.

Addicted to thievery, deceitful, lusting for pleasure with an outcaste woman,

having once become a paramour, he was slain at night by a śūdra.

When his corpse, for funeral rites, was cast outside the village,

a dog with ash on its paws walked over the body by chance.

Then, as he had fallen into a dreadful hell, the servants of Śiva,

overpowering the servants of Yama, took [him] away, placing him upon an aerial chariot.

Approaching the messengers of Śiva, even Yama asked:

“Why do you wish to carry away this perpetrator of great sins?”

Then those messengers of Śiva said: “Look at this corpse of his!

His chest, forehead, and armpits are marked with auspicious sacred ash.

Therefore we have come to fetch him by the command of Śiva.

You are not able to prevent us; let there be no doubt of yours in this matter.”

Having thus spoken to Yama, the messengers of Śambhu then took that brahmin,

while all the worlds looked on, to the disease-free realm.

Therefore, the supreme purifier instantly of all sins,

the sacred ash, the ornament of Śambhu, is constantly worn by me.

Having thus heard the māhātmya of the ashes, the brahmarākṣasa,

longing to hear it again in detail, spoke thus: // 61

“Hail, hail, O great yogin! Blessed am I by your darśana.

Deliver me, O righteous-souled one, from this terrible, wretched birth! // 62

It appears to me that some merit was formerly performed by me here;

therefore, by your grace, I am liberated today, O best of brahmins! // 63

In that birth as a king, to a single devotee of Śiva

land yielding livelihood, endowed with crops and orchards, was given by me. // 99 [64]

Even by Yama it was said at that very time: ‘In your twenty-fifth birth,

through association with a certain yogin, you will be released from worldly existence.’ // 65

That merit which was acquired in a former life has borne fruit today;

for this reason, your company has been attained in this uninhabited forest. // 66

Therefore, me of terrible sin, wandering in a wretched birth,

uplift, O ocean of compassion, having given the ashes endowed with mantra! // 67

How are these ashes to be worn? What is the mantra? What is the auspicious ritual procedure?

What is the proper time, and what is the proper place? Tell me everything, O guru! // 68

Great souls like you are always devoted to the welfare of the world;

sharing the nature of the wish-fulfilling tree, they do not desire their own benefit.” // 69

Sūta said:

Thus addressed by that terrible dweller of the forest, the lord of yogins,

the knower of reality, once again described the māhātmya of the ashes. // 3.3.15.70

Thus ends the fifteenth chapter, named 'The Discourse on the Māhātmya of the Ashes', in the Brahmottarakhaṇḍa of the third [section] in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. // 15