Skandapurana 3.3.4

Sūta said: / Once again I shall speak of the supreme, wondrous glory of Śiva, / which destroys all sins for those who listen and releases them from the bonds of worldly existence. / For embodied beings drowning in the impassable ocean of wickedness, / no raft has been pointed out other than the worship of Śiva. / The wise man should always perform the worship of Śiva in this world; / if unable, he should view the worship that has been performed, his mind bowed with devotion. / Even one who performs the worship of Śiva, which grants liberation, without faith, / or merely views it, in course of time reaches the supreme abode. / In the Kirāta regions there was a king named Vimardana, / heroic, extremely unassailable, one who had conquered his enemies, and endowed with majesty. / Always addicted to hunting, stingy, pitiless, mighty, / an eater of all kinds of meat, cruel, surrounded by women of all castes. / Nevertheless, he constantly, without indolence, performed the worship of Śambhu, / especially on the fourteenth day of both the light and dark fortnights. / Having performed worship endowed with great magnificence, he rejoiced; / seized with great joy, he danced, praised, and sang. / As that all-devouring, ill-behaved king lived thus, / his queen was tormented by his conduct. / That queen, named Kumudvatī, who was endowed with good character and virtues, / once approached her husband in secret and asked him about it: / 'O king, this conduct of yours is a cause of great wonder! / Where is your great wicked conduct, and where is devotion to the supreme Lord? / You are always an omnivore, craving women of all sorts, / intent on all forms of violence, and cruel; how then do you have devotion to the Lord?' / Questioned thus, the king, having reflected for a long time, / knowing the three times, laughed and spoke to her, full of curiosity. / The king said: / 'In a previous life, O fair-faced one, I was a dog; / dwelling in the city of Pampā, I roamed about everywhere. / As time passed in this way in that best of cities, / I once went to a delightful temple of Śiva. / While worship was underway on that great tithi of the fourteenth day, / from afar, stationed at the outer gate, I watched the festival. / Then, chased by men with sticks in hand who were extremely angry, / I fled from that place, intent on saving my life. / Then, circumambulating the delightful temple of Śiva, / I reached the entrance again, and once again I was driven away. / Circumambulating that same temple of Śiva again, / out of greed for the balls of sacrificial food and the like, I approached the door once more. / Having thus made circumambulations there again and again, / while I sat in the entrance area, they struck me with sharp arrows. / With my limbs pierced, suddenly losing my life at the door of Śiva, / I was born into a line of kings through the power of Śiva's presence. / Because I witnessed the worship on the fourteenth day and looked upon the rows of lamps, / through that great merit, O lovely lady, I know the three times. / And due to the impressions of my previous birth, I am an omnivore and pitiless; / for the nature formed of past impressions is hard to overcome even for the wise. / Therefore on the fourteenth day I worship the Lord, the guru of the universe. / You too, O blessed one, worship the god Pinākin with faith.' / The queen said: / 'You know the three times, O king of kings, by the grace of the husband of Girijā; / you ought to tell me truly the story of my own previous birth.' / The king said: / 'In a previous life, you were a female pigeon flying in the sky; / somewhere or other, by chance, you obtained a piece of meat.

Then, seeing the meat taken by you, a certain strong vulture, / being meatless himself, rushed fiercely with great speed.

Then, terrified at the sight of him, you fled, O fair-faced lady, / pursued by that terrible one who wished to seize the lump of meat.

By good fortune reaching Śrīgiri, exhausted, you circumambulated / the temple of Śiva there and perched upon the top of the flagstaff.

Then, having pursued you swiftly, that sharp-beaked bird / struck you down, caused you to fall, took the meat, and departed.

Because you went around the god of gods, the wielder of the trident, / and because you died right in front of him, you have been born here as a king's wife.

The queen said: / I have heard in full everything about my deeds in that previous birth, / and great wonder and devotion have arisen in my mind. / Now I wish to hear another thing, O wise one, knower of the three times: / Abandoning this body, what state shall we attain next?

The king said: / In the second birth from this one, I will be born as a king of the Sindhu region.

You, indeed, as the daughter of the king of the Sṛñjayas, will obtain only me. / And in the third birth, I will become a king in Saurāṣṭra.

You, as the daughter of the king of Kaliṅga, will become my wife. / In the fourth birth, I will become a ruler of the Gāndhāra realm.

There you will be my wife, as a princess of Magadha. / In the fifth subsequent birth, I will become the lord of Avantī.

You alone, as the daughter of the king of the Dāśārhas, will be my beloved. / In the sixth birth from this one, I will become a king in Ānarta.

Having become a maiden born in the lineage of Yayāti, you will come to none but me. / In the seventh birth, I will be a prince of the Pāṇḍyas.

There, none will equal me in beauty, generosity, virtue, and the like, / knowing the truth of all the scriptures, mighty, and possessing steadfast prowess.

Endowed with all auspicious marks, delighting the minds of all people, / renowned as Padmavarṇa, radiant like the sun, the friend of the lotus.

And you will be a princess of Vidarbha, matchless in beauty on earth, / renowned by the name Vasumatī, radiant with beauty of form and limbs,

gladdening the minds and eyes of all princes. / That very you, in your svayaṃvara, having forsaken all the sons of kings,

will choose only me as husband, just as Damayantī chose the king of Niṣadha. / Then I, having conquered all the kings and having won you, O fair-complexioned one,

abiding in my kingdom, will enjoy all pleasures for many years. / And having worshipped with various auspicious sacrifices such as the horse sacrifice,

having gratified the ancestors, gods, and seers, and the best of the twice-born with gifts, / having worshipped the lord of the god of gods, Śaṃkara, who brings welfare to the world,

and having laid the burden of royalty upon my son, I shall go to the forest for austerity. / Having attained the knowledge of Brahman there from the best of sages, Agastya,

I shall go together with you to the supreme abode of Śiva. / Having thus worshipped Śaṃkara on every fourteenth day [of the lunar fortnight],

kingship will belong to you across seven births, O fair-faced woman! / Such great merit was obtained merely from witnessing the worship! / Where a wicked-hearted dog, and where, alas, such good fortune!

Sūta said: / Thus addressed by her own lord, that queen of auspicious marks,

overcome with supreme astonishment, worshipped him with joy. / That king too, having enjoyed with her desired pleasures as he wished, / went at the end of the seven births to that supreme abode of Śambhu. / Whoever hears or even proclaims this most wondrous māhātmya of the worship of Śiva, / he shall go to the supreme abode. / Thus ends the fourth chapter, named 'The Description of the Māhātmya of the Fourteenth Day', in the Brahmottarakhaṇḍa, in the third [part of] the venerable Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].