Skandapurana 4.25.74.1

4.25.74.1

.. vyāsa uvāca .. ..
śṛṇu sūta pravakṣyāmi kathāṃ kalaśajanmanaḥ ..
yāmākarṇya naro bhūyādvirajā jñānabhājanam .. 1 ..
giriṃ pradakṣiṇīkṛtya śrīsaṃjñaṃ kalaśodbhavaḥ ..
sapatnīko dadarśātha ramyaṃ skaṃdavanaṃ mahat .. 2 ..
sarvartaṃ kusumāḍhyaṃ ca rasavatphalapādapam ..
susevya kaṃdamūlāḍhyaṃ suvalkalamahīruham.. 3 ..
nivītaśvāpadagaṇaṃ sasaritpalvalāvṛtam ..
svaccha gaṃbhīrakāsāraṃ sāraṃ sarvabhuvaḥ param .. 4 ..
nānāpatatrisaṃghuṣṭaṃ nānāmunijanoṣitam ..
tapaḥsaṃketanilayamivaikaṃ saṃpadāṃ padam .. 5 ..
lohito nāma tatrāsti giriḥ svarṇagiriprabhaḥ ..
sukaṃdaraprasravaṇaḥ svasānu śikharaprabhaḥ ..6..
kailāsasyaikaśakalaṃ karmabhūmāvihāgatam ..
tapastaptumiva proccairnānāścaryasamanvitam.. 7 ..
tatrādrākṣīnmuniśreṣṭho'gastyaḥ sākṣātṣaḍānanam ..
praṇamya daṃḍavadbhūmau sapatnīko mahātapāḥ .. 8 ..
tuṣṭāva girijāsūnuṃ sūktaiḥ śrutisamudbhavaiḥ ..
tathā svakṛtayā stutyā prabaddha karasaṃpuṭaḥ .. 9 ..
agastiruvāca .. ..
namostu vṛṃdārakavṛṃdavaṃdya pādāraviṃdāya sudhākarāya ..
ṣaḍānanāyāmitavikramāya gaurīhṛdānaṃdasamudbhavāya ..4.1.25.10..
namostu tubhyaṃ praṇatārtihaṃtre kartre samastasya manorathānām ..
dātre rathānāṃ paratārakasya haṃtre pracaṃḍāsura tārakasya .. 11 ..
amūrtamūrtāya sahasramūrtaye guṇāya guṇyāya parātparāya ..
apārapārāya parāparāya namostu tubhyaṃ śikhivāhanāya .. 12 ..
namostu te brahmavidāṃvarāya digaṃbarāyāṃbara saṃsthitāya ..
hiraṇyavarṇāya hiraṇyabāhave namo hiraṇyāya hiraṇyaretase .. 13 ..
tapaḥsvarūpāya tapodhanāya tapaḥphalānāṃ pratipādakāya ..

Vyāsa said: / "Listen, O Sūta, I shall tell the story of the pot-born sage, / hearing which a man becomes free from passion and a vessel of knowledge. / Having circumambulated the mountain named Śrī, the pot-born sage, / accompanied by his wife, then beheld the vast, delightful forest of Skanda, / filled with flowers in all seasons and with trees bearing luscious fruits, / pleasant to dwell in, rich in roots and tubers, with trees possessing fine bark, / frequented by herds of wild beasts, surrounded by rivers and pools, / with clear, deep lakes, the highest essence of the whole earth, / filled with the cries of various birds, inhabited by diverse sages, / like a single designated abode of austerity, an abode of auspicious treasures. / There is a mountain there named Lohita, resembling the Golden Mountain, / with excellent caves and waterfalls, shining with its peaks and slopes, / like a single fragment of Kailāsa that had arrived here in the land of ritual action, / as if to perform austere tapas, endowed with many wonders. / There Agastya, the best among sages, saw the six-faced one face to face; / prostrating like a stick upon the earth together with his wife, the one of great tapas / praised the son of the mountain-born goddess with hymns arising from the Vedic scriptures, / and also with a eulogy composed by himself, folding his hands in reverence. / Agastya said: / 'Homage be to the lotus feet praised by the multitude of immortals, the maker of nectar, / to the six-faced one of boundless valour, the born joy of Gaurī's heart! / Homage to you, the dispeller of distress of those who bow, the accomplisher of all desires, / the giver of chariots, the rescuer of others, the slayer of the fierce asura Tāraka! / To the unmanifest and manifest, to the thousand-formed, to virtue and the possessor of qualities, to the higher than the high, / to the shore of the shoreless, to the superior and inferior, homage to you whose mount is the peacock! / Homage to you, best among knowers of the absolute, clad in the directions, abiding in the firmament, / golden-complexioned, golden-armed, homage to the golden one of golden semen, / who is the nature of tapas, rich in tapas, the bestower of the fruits of tapas!'