Skandapurana 3.3.2.46

3.3.2.46

hṛdayaṃ dayayākrāṃtaṃ śriyākrāṃtaṃ ca tadvapuḥ ..
caraṇau yasya sāmaṃtacūḍāmaṇimarīcibhiḥ .. 3.3.2.20 ..
ekadā mṛgayākelilolupaḥ sa mahīpatiḥ ..
viveśa gahvaraṃ ghoraṃ balena mahatāvṛtaḥ .. .. 21 ..
tatra vivyādha viśikhaiḥ śārdūlāngavayānmṛgān ..
rurūnvarāhānmahiṣānmṛgeṃdrānapi bhūriśaḥ .. 22 ..
sa rathī mṛgayāsakto gahanaṃ daṃśita ścaran ..
kamapi jvalanākāraṃ nijaghāna niśācaram .. 23 ..
tasyānujaḥ śucāviṣṭo dṛṣṭvā dūre tirohitaḥ ..
bhrātaraṃ nihataṃ dṛṣṭvā ciṃtayāmāsa cetasā .. 24 ..
nanveṣa rājā durddharṣo devānāṃ rakṣasāmapi ..
chadmanaiva prajetavyo mama śatrurna cānyathā .. 25 ..
iti vyavasitaḥ pāpo rākṣaso manujākṛtiḥ ..
āsasāda nṛpaśreṣṭhamutpāta iva mūrtimān .. 26 ..
taṃ vinamrākṛtiṃ dṛṣṭvā bhṛtyatāṃ kartumāgatam ..
cakre mahānasādhyakṣamajñānātsa mahīpatiḥ .. 27 ..
atha tasminvane rājā kiṃcitkālaṃ vihṛtya saḥ ..
nivṛtto mṛgayāṃ hitvā svapurīṃ punarāyayau .. 28 ..
tasya rājeṃdramukhyasya madayaṃtītināmataḥ ..
damayantī nalasyeva viditā vallabhā satī .. 29 ..
etasminsamaye rājā nimaṃtrya munipuṃgavam ..
vaśiṣṭhaṃ gṛhamāninye saṃprāpte pitṛvāsare .. 3.3.2.30 ..
rakṣasā sūdarūpeṇa saṃmiśritanarāmiṣam ..
śākāmiṣaṃ puraḥ kṣiptaṃ dṛṣṭvā gururathābravīt .. 31 ..
dhigdhiṅnarāmiṣaṃ rājaṃ stvayaitacchadmakāriṇā ..
khalenopahṛtaṃ me'dya ato rakṣo bhaviṣyasi .. 32 ..
rakṣaḥkṛtamavijñāya śaptvaivaṃ sa gurustataḥ ..
punarvimṛśya taṃ śāpaṃ cakāra dvādaśābdikam .. 33 ..
rājāpi kopitaḥ prāha yadidaṃ me na ceṣṭitam ..
na jñātaṃ ca vṛthā śapto guruṃ caiva śapāmyaham .. 34 ..
ityapoṃjalinādāya guruṃ śaptuṃ samudyataḥ ..
patitvā pādayostasya madayantī nyavārayat ..35..
tato nivṛttaḥ śāpācca tasyā vacanagauravāt ..
tatyāja pādayoraṃbhaḥ pādau kalmaṣatāṃ gatau ..36..
kalmaṣāṃghririti khyātastataḥ prabhṛti pārthivaḥ ..
babhūva guruśāpena rākṣaso vanagocaraḥ ..37..
sa bibhradrākṣasaṃ rūpaṃ ghoraṃ kālāṃ takopamam ..
cakhāda vividhāñjaṃtūnmānuṣādīnvanecaraḥ ..38..
sa kadācidvane kvāpi ramamāṇau kiśorakau ..
apaśyadaṃtakākāro navoḍhau munidaṃpatī .. ..39..
rākṣaso mānuṣāhāraḥ kiśoramuninaṃdanam ..
jagdhuṃ jagrāha śāpārto vyāghro mṛgaśiśuṃ yathā ..3.3.2.40..
rakṣogṛhītaṃ bhartāraṃ dṛṣṭvā bhītātha tatpriyā ..
uvāca karuṇaṃ bālā kraṃdaṃtī bhṛśavepitā .. 41 ..
bhobho māmā kṛthāḥ pāpaṃ sūryavaṃśayaśodhara ..
madayaṃtīpatistvaṃ hi rājeṃdro na tu rākṣasaḥ ..42..
na khāda mama bharttāraṃ prāṇātpriyatamaṃ prabho ..
ārttānāṃ śaraṇārttānāṃ tvameva hi yato gatiḥ .. 43 ..
pāpānāmiva saṃghātaiḥ kiṃ me duṣṭairjaḍāsubhiḥ ..
dehena cātibhāreṇa vinā bhartrā mahātmanā .. 44 ..
malīmasena pāpena pāṃcabhautena kiṃ sukham ..
bāloyaṃ vedavicchāṃtastapasvī bahuśāstravit .. 45 ..
ato'sya prāṇadānena jagadrakṣā tvayā kṛtā.
kṛpāṃ kuru mahārāja bālāyāṃ brāhmaṇastriyām .. 46 ..

His heart was filled with compassion, his body with splendor, / and his feet with the rays of the crest-jewels of tributary kings. // 3.3.2.20
Once that lord of the earth, eager for the sport of hunting, / entered a terrible wilderness, surrounded by a large army. // 21
There with his arrows he pierced tigers, gavayas, deer, / ruru deer, boars, buffaloes, and also lions in abundance. // 22
Mounted on a chariot, devoted to the hunt, roaming the dense thicket fully armored, / he slew a night-stalker that possessed the form of blazing fire. // 23
His younger brother, overcome with grief upon seeing it, vanished into the distance; / seeing his brother slain, he reflected in his mind: // 24
“Indeed, this king is invincible even to the gods and the rakṣasas; / by trickery alone must my enemy be conquered, and not otherwise.” // 25
Having thus resolved, that evil rākṣasa in human form / approached the foremost of kings like an embodied calamity. // 26
Seeing him of humble bearing, arrived to offer his service, / the lord of the earth, out of ignorance, made him head of the kitchen. // 27
Then, having sported for some time in that forest, / the king ceased, abandoning the hunt, and returned to his own city. // 28
Of that foremost of mighty kings, a faithful wife named Madayantī / was renowned as beloved, just as Damayantī was to Nala. // 29
At that time the king, having invited the eminent sage / Vasiṣṭha when the day for the ancestors had arrived, brought him to his house. // 3.3.2.30
When the meat dish mixed with human flesh by the rakṣas in the form of the cook / was placed before him, the guru then spoke: // 31
“Fie, fie upon human flesh! O king, by you, a deceitful villain, / this has been offered to me today; therefore you shall become a rakṣas!” // 32
Not knowing it was done by a rakṣas, the guru, having thus cursed [him], / then reflected again and made that curse last for twelve years. // 33
Enraged, the king too said: “Since this was not done by me, / nor known, I have been cursed in vain; I too shall curse my guru!” // 34
Taking up water in his cupped hands and preparing to curse the guru, / Madayantī, falling at his feet, restrained him. // 35
Then, desisting from the curse out of respect for her words, / he dropped the water upon his feet; his two feet became blackened. // 36
From that time forth the ruler of the earth was renowned as Kalmāṣāṅghri; / by the curse of the guru, he became a forest-dwelling rākṣasa. // 37
Assuming a terrible rākṣasa form like the god of death at the end of time, / roaming the forest, he devoured various living beings, beginning with humans. // 38
Once in the forest, somewhere, resembling the god of death, he saw / a youthful, newly-wed sage couple making love. // 39
Feeding on humans, afflicted by the curse, the rākṣasa seized / the youthful son of the sage to devour him, as a tiger seizes a fawn. // 3.3.2.40
Seeing her husband seized by the rakṣas, his beloved, terrified, / weeping and trembling violently, the young woman said piteously: // 41
“Oh, oh, do not commit sin, upholder of the glory of the Solar dynasty! / You are indeed the husband of Madayantī, a lord of kings, not a rākṣasa. // 42
Do not devour my husband, dearer to me than life, O lord; / for you alone are the refuge of the distressed who seek protection! // 43
What use to me, like heaps of sins, are my vile, senseless life-breaths, / and this body, an excessive burden without my noble husband? // 44
What joy is there in this foul, sinful body made of the five elements? / This youth is a knower of the Veda, tranquil, an ascetic, learned in many scriptures. // 45
Therefore, by giving him life, protection of the world will be performed by you; / have mercy, O great king, upon a young brahmin woman! // 46 //”