Skandapurana 4.7

Agasti said:
There was in Mathurā a certain twice-born, the best of brahmins;
his son of great splendor was celebrated as Śivaśarman.
Having studied the Vedas according to rule and having understood their meaning in truth,
having read the treatises on righteousness and mastered the Purāṇas,
having practiced the auxiliary disciplines and examined the systems of reasoning on every side,
having scrutinized both Mīmāṃsās and plunged into archery,
having reflected upon medicine and exerted effort in the art of drama,
having acquired many treatises on governance and the movements of horses and elephants,
having practiced the arts and become learned in the treatises on sacred formulas,
having known the languages of various lands and the scripts originating in foreign countries,
having acquired wealth righteously and enjoyed pleasures at will,
having fathered virtuous sons and divided his wealth among them,
perceiving youth to be fleeting and seeing old age approaching the ears,
the best of brahmins, Śivaśarman, fell into deep worry:
'My time passed in studying and likewise in acquiring wealth;
Maheśāna, who is capable of uprooting past action, was not worshiped!
Viṣṇu, Hari who takes away all sin, was not propitiated by me;
Gaṇeśa, who bestows all desires upon men, was not revered by me!
The Sun, who dispels masses of darkness, was never revered by me;
Mahāmāyā, the bearer of the universe who removes worldly bondage, was not meditated upon!
The gods who bestow prosperity through all sacrifices were not pleased by me;
service to a grove of sacred basil was not performed for the pacification of sin!
Brahmins—who bring relief from misfortunes both here and in the hereafter—
were not satiated by me with sweet, pleasant food and delicious juices!
Trees, endowed with abundant flowers and fruits, good shade, and glossy leaves,
bestowing fruit here and hereafter, were not planted along the road!
Fair women living with their husbands, bestowing a good abode here and hereafter,
were not adorned with pleasing silks, garments, and ornaments for each limb!
Fertile land, which wards off the realm of Yama, was not given to a brahmin;
gold, the supreme remover of wrongdoing, was not given to a virtuous person!

A decorated cow together with her calf was not offered to a worthy recipient—
she who quickly removes sin here and brings happiness through seven births!
No reservoir of water was caused to be built for the removal of debt to my mother;
no guest, who shows the path to heaven, was ever satisfied!
Umbrellas, sandals, and water pots were not presented to a traveler—
those which grant comfort on the path to heaven for one destined to go to the city of Yama!
Nor was wealth ever given by me for the marriage of a maiden—
wealth which brings happiness and prosperity here and bestows celestial maidens in heaven!
Under the sway of greed, I did not bathe at the concluding ablution of the Vājapeya sacrifice,
which gives abundant dainty food and drink in this birth and in another!
I did not erect a temple and install an auspicious liṅga,
upon the installation of which liṅga the entire universe becomes established!
No temple of Viṣṇu, bestowing all prosperity, was built at all;
nor were images of the Sun and Gaṇeśa caused to be made by me!
Neither Gaurī nor Mahālakṣmī was painted even in a picture—
and in the making of their images, one is neither deformed nor unfortunate!
Very fine, colorful, and radiant garments
were not presented to brahmins for an abundance of celestial raiment!
Sesame seeds smeared with clarified butter
were not offered with sacred formulas into a well-kindled fire for the dispelling of all sins!
The Śrīsūkta, the Pāvamānī hymns, the Brāhmaṇa, the Maṇḍalas,
the Puruṣasūkta, and the Śatarudrīya that destroys sins were not muttered!
No service to the holy fig tree was performed, except on Sundays and the thirteenth lunar days,
which immediately takes away sin, nor at night, nor on Fridays!
A bed together with a soft mattress,
endowed with a lamp and a mirror, bringing abundance in all pleasures, was not given away!
Goats, horses, she-buffaloes, ewes, female slaves, black antelope skins, and sesame seeds;
water jars filled with groats, no seat, nor soft sandals;
foot-massage, the gift of lamps, and especially the gift of water-booths;
fans, clothing, betel, and other mouth-perfuming items [were not given]!

The daily śrāddha, offerings to living beings, and the worship of guests— / after giving these and other praiseworthy gifts, men enter the realm of Yama. / 31
Those who possess merit do not see Yama, nor Yama's messengers, nor the torments of Yama; / but even this was not performed by me. / 32
Severe penances such as kṛcchra and cāndrāyaṇa, as well as vows observed at night, / which purify the body, were never performed by me. / 33
The daily food for cows was not given, nor was scratching [their itch] done; / a cow stuck in the mud, bestowing the joy of Goloka, was never pulled out. / 34
Suppliants were not satisfied by me with the things they sought; / in another life I shall be a babbler crying, ‘Give, give!’ / 35
Neither the Vedas, nor the sacred scriptures, nor wealth, nor wife, nor our son, / nor field, nor mansion will follow me as I depart. / 36
Thinking thus, Śivaśarman focused his mind from every side / and resolved in his mind: ‘Thus will it be better for me: / 37
As long as my body is sound, as long as my senses are not agitated, / so long will I undertake a pilgrimage to sacred fords, the cause of my own highest good.’ / 38
Having passed five or six days thus at home, the twice-born / on an auspicious lunar day, an auspicious day of the week, through the power of an auspicious ascendant, the twice-born, / 39
having fasted for one night and performed a śrāddha in the morning, / bowing to Gaṇeśa and the brahmins, and having eaten, the wise man departed, / 40
having resolved thus upon the supreme stairway to the state of nirvāṇa / for all creatures dwelling there. / 41
Then, traversing some distance on the path, that twice-born, / resting for a moment on the road, thought: ‘Where shall I go first? / 42
There are many sacred fords on earth; life is fickle and the mind unsteady; / therefore, let me go to the seven cities, for all sacred fords are there.’ / 43
Going to the city of Ayodhyā and bathing in the Sarayū, / having gratified the ancestors at the respective sacred fords through the offering of rice-balls, / 44
staying for five nights and feeding the brahmins, / the twice-born, filled with great joy, went to Prayāga, the king of sacred fords, / 45

where the white and the black [rivers] flow, best of streams, difficult to reach even for the gods, / immersed in which even a sinful man attains the supreme Brahman. / 46
The sacred field of Prajāpati, hard to attain for all, / is obtained through masses of merit, not otherwise through heaps of wealth; / 47
where, having come, the holy river of heaven meets / the auspicious daughter of Kalinda, who subdues the Kali age and time. / 48
It is celebrated as Prayāga because it is superior (prakṛṣṭa) to all sacrifices (yāga); / those who perform sacrifices return again, but not those whose bodies are moistened at Prayāga; / 49
where Maheśvara himself is visibly present with trident and chisel, / instructing creatures immersed there on the path to liberation; / 50
where there is also the Imperishable Banyan Tree, whose roots reach the seven realms of Pātāla, / climbing which the son of Mṛkaṇḍu lived even at the cosmic dissolution; / 51
he is to be known as Hiraṇyagarbha in person, assuming the form of the banyan tree; / by feeding brahmins near it with devotion, one shares in imperishable merit; / 52
where the Lord of Lakṣmī in person, coming from Vaikuṇṭha, / in the form of Śrī Mādhava leads mortals to the supreme abode of Viṣṇu. / 53
The two excellent streams, the white and the black, are celebrated in the Vedas; / it is certain that those who plunge into them, having bathed, become immortal. / 54
From the realm of Śiva, from the realm of Brahmā, and from the excellent realm of Umā, / from the realm of Kumāra, from Vaikuṇṭha, and from Satyaloka on all sides, / 55
and from Tapoloka, Janaloka, Maharloka, all the dwellers of the celestial realm, / from Bhuvarloka, Bhūrloka, and the entire realm of the Nāgas, / 56
mountains headed by Himavat, trees such as the wishing trees, / all come to Prayāga to bathe at daybreak in the month of Māgha. / 57
Even the maidens of the quarters pray to the breezes of Prayāga: / ‘They too will purify us; what can we do, being lame?’ / 58
The dust of Prayāga and sacrifices such as the horse sacrifice / were weighed in the past by Brahmā: they were not equal to its dust. / 59
Sins that have reached into the marrow, even those accumulated over many lives, / are worn away and greatly shattered merely by hearing the name of Prayāga. / 60

This is truly the sacred ford of righteousness; this is the supreme sacred ford of wealth; / this is the sacred ford of desires, and this is firmly the sacred ford of liberation. / 61
Sins such as the murder of a brahmin roar in embodied beings only so long / as they do not plunge in the month of Māgha into Prayāga, which removes all sin. / 62
‘That supreme abode of Viṣṇu the wise behold forever’— / this, which is recited in the Veda, is indeed Prayāga, time and again. / 63
Here Sarasvatī is the form of passion, the daughter of Kalinda is the form of darkness, / and the Gaṅgā is the form of purity; they lead one to the unqualified Brahman. / 64
This confluence is indeed the ladder for a creature walking the path of Brahman, / whose body is purified, whether immersed with faith or without faith. / 65
A certain woman celebrated in the worlds as Kāśī, whose tremulous eyes are Lolārka and Keśava, / whose two arms are the Varaṇā and the Asi, and whose braid is spoken of here as the site of imperishable bliss. / 66
Agasti said: / O righteous one, who here is capable of describing the virtues / of Prayāga, the king of sacred fords, which is served even by the sacred fords? / 67
Ah! The sins of sinners that have been forcefully washed away / are cleansed when the sacred fords attend Prayāga even more. / 68
Knowing the virtues of Prayāga, the wise brahmin Śivaśarman, / having stayed there during the month of Māgha, then reached the city of Vārāṇasī. / 69
Beholding Dehalīvināyaka right at the entrance, / he anointed him with devotion with mud mixed with ghee and vermilion; / 70
offering five sweetmeats to him who protects his own devotees / from the host of great calamities, he then entered the sacred field. / 71
Arriving and seeing at Maṇikarṇikā the celestial river flowing northwards, / surrounded by hosts of men whose sinful and non-sinful deeds were destroyed, like hosts of pillars; / 72
having bathed with his clothes on in that pure, spotless water, with a mind purified without delay, / having offered libations to gods, ṛṣis, humans, divine ancestors, and his own ancestors, he, who knew the sacrificial ritual, / 73
and having quickly completed the pilgrimage of the five sacred fords, then worshipped Viśveśa according to his means...

Looking again and again at the city of Purāri, he was astonished: "Have I seen this, or not?"

Even the city of heaven, though fair, cannot bear comparison with this city, / just as a different manuscript copy differs because of variations in textual division, through the breaking of good script. / The water here possesses unthinkable majesty; the good nectar residing in heaven is quite useless compared to it. / Likewise, milk from a mother's breast is never drunk again if this [water] has once been imbibed. / People here are free from disease through contemplating the Lord; without Pinākin there is nothing at all. / Even those who perform rituals do not act out of karma; everywhere they imitate the hosts of Śarva.

By whom indeed is this Kāśī not praised? For when a living being dwells here at the time of death,

the moon-crested [Lord], through fully ripened masses of merits accumulated formerly, causes the syllable Oṃ to become Oṃkāra.

Because here the Cintāmaṇi of transmigrating beings, that saving mantra, into the pericarp of the ears of good people,

Śiva immediately whispers at the time of death, therefore it is celebrated as Maṇikarṇikā.

She is the jewel upon the lotus feet of the great seat of the goddess of liberation;

therefore people call this pericarp Maṇikarṇikā.

Creatures born from the womb, from eggs, from sprouting seeds, or from sweat, residing here,

attaining liberation, are not equaled [even] by gods whose liberation is difficult to attain.

"My birth has been in vain, wicked and dull-witted as I am,

since up to this day Kāśikā, the illuminator of liberation, was not seen by me.

Having made that sacred field again and again a guest to his eyes,

wondrous and pure, he did not find satiety.

"Indeed, among the seven cities, I recognize Vārāṇasī

as foremost, skilled in granting supreme nirvāṇa.

Even so, the other four have not been brought into the range of my sight.

Having come to know their power as well, I shall return again."

Making a pilgrimage to sacred fords every day for a full year,

he did not reach all the sacred fords; in Kāśī there is a sacred ford in every sesame-seed-sized space.

Agastya said:

O goddess, even though knowing the supreme qualities of this sacred field,

the brahmin, devoted to various means of knowledge, nevertheless departed! Ah!

For what can the scriptures with all their proofs do, O beautiful woman?

Who is capable of turning back that impending Great Illusion?

Who can turn back an agitated mind or flowing water,

even when situated in a very high place, since the nature of both is restless?

Then Śivaśarman, wandering gradually from country to country,

reached the city of Mahākāla, free from the Kali age and death.

He who in kalpa after kalpa destroys the entire universe by his play—

having subordinated that Time, he truly became Mahākāla.

Because it protects the world from sin, it is called Avantī;

bearing different names in each yuga, in the Kali age it is called Ujjayinī.

Where a living being who has perished, even having clearly become a corpse,

does not acquire a foul stench, nor does it swell at any time.

The messengers of Yama never enter it;

in it there are more than ten million liṅgas at every step.

Hāṭakeśa, Mahākāla, and likewise Tārakeśa—

one liṅga, having become threefold, remains pervading the three worlds.

Those twice-born who see the light of lights here at the Siddhavata,

or who behold glorious Mahākāla, are heaps of merit.

Those afflicted ones by whom that liṅga of Mahākāla has been seen at any time

are not touched by great sins, nor are they seen by the fierce champions of Yama.

The horses whose backs are touched by the tips of Mahākāla's banner

give rest for a moment in the sky to the whip-lash of Aruṇa.

"Mahākāla, Mahākāla, Mahākāla!"—thus constantly

remembering, for one who always remembers, both the creator of love and the destroyer of love [grant grace].

Having thus worshipped Mahākāla, the lord of beings, the brahmin then

went to the city of Kāntī, lovelier even than the three worlds.

The beloved of Lakṣmī himself visibly makes the living beings residing there

truly beloved of fortune, both in this world and in the next, without doubt.

Having seen Kāntī, radiant and attended by resplendent beings,

he too became radiant; there no one is without radiance.

Having performed there whatever duty was to be done, knowing all duties,

and having dwelt there for seven nights, he went to the city of Dvāravatī,

where on every side there are gateways to all four aims of life;

hence it is called Dvāravatī by the wise knowers of truth.

Where even the bones of creatures are marked with the discus—ah!

What wonder is there in a place where [beings] have hands marked with the conch and discus?

The Destroyer repeatedly instructs his own messengers:

"Those who even utter the name of Dvāravatī must be left alone. (6)

Where is there such fragrance in sandalwood? Where is there such lustre in gold?

Where indeed in any tīrtha is there such purity as in that gopīcandana? (7)

Listen, messengers! One whose forehead is marked with gopīcandana,

even like a blazing coal, must carefully be avoided from afar. (8)

Whoever are adorned with tulasī, who chant the name of tulasī,

and who are guardians of tulasī groves—those must be avoided from afar, O soldiers! (9)

Age after age, plundering jewels on all sides from Dvāravatī,

the ocean is even today celebrated in the worlds as 'the treasury of jewels' [ratnākara]. (10)

Living beings who die in Dvāravatī, impelled by Time,

become four-armed, clad in yellow garments in Vaikuṇṭha." (11)

There also, having offered libations to the ancestors, together with the gods, ṛṣis, and men,

he bathed unweariedly in all those sacred fords. (12)

Then he reached Māyāpurī, difficult of access to evil-doers,

where that Vaiṣṇava illusion does not ensnare with the snares of delusion. (13)

Some called it Haridvāra; others after that, Mokṣadvāra;

some also called it Gaṅgādvāra, and some again Māyāpura. (14)

From where the Gaṅgā emerged, renowned as the Bhāgīrathī on earth,

by the utterance of whose name the sin of men departs in a thousand ways. (15)

People celebrated Haridvāra as the sole staircase to Vaikuṇṭha;

having bathed here, men go to that supreme abode of Viṣṇu. (16)

Having observed a fast at the tīrtha and likewise a night-vigil,

and having bathed in the morning in the Gaṅgā, fully gratifying those to be propitiated, (17)

just as that best of brahmins intended to break his fast,

just then he was seized by an ague-fever and trembled, excessively afflicted. (18)

A foreigner, and thus alone, and thus afflicted by a severe fever,

he fell into great anxiety: "What is this that has arrived? (19)

He became submerged in an ocean of worries, having abandoned hope in life and wealth,

like a voyager whose ship is wrecked in the bottomless great ocean: (20)

"Where is my sacred field? Where is my wife? Where are my sons, and where is that wealth?

Where indeed is that wondrous mansion? Where is that collection of books? (21)

Even today my lifespan is not complete; nor is gray hair [yet seen] on me;

this fierce fever has arrived, and it knows its dreadful time. (22)

Death has made his residence upon my head, while my home stands far away.

[To think of that now is as if] one were to have a well dug here after fire has reached upon one's house! (23)

What is the use of these futile anxieties of mine that cause excessive distress?

I shall meditate upon Hṛṣīkeśa, who grants auspiciousness, and upon Śiva alone. (24)

Or rather, the one true means to liberation has indeed been properly performed by me:

these seven cities of liberation have been brought before the purview of my eyes. (25)

Indeed, one of the two—heaven or liberation—must surely be accomplished by a wise man;

if neither of the two is achieved, he is tormented with burning regret later. (26)

Or else, what concern have I with this wretched state?

Death in battle is better, or here at a sacred ford, as is mine. (27)

Shall I now die like an unfortunate man in some roadway?

I die today at the Bhāgīrathī; what anxiety should I have, like a fool? (28)

Surely, by giving up this body, an accumulation of skin and bone,

I shall surely attain through death here the supreme accomplishment of beatitude!" (29)

While he was reflecting thus, his affliction became exceedingly dreadful;

he reached that state which belongs to one stung by ten million scorpions. (30)

Everything to be remembered was forgotten; he did not know where he was nor who he was;

remaining thus for twice seven days, he passed into the dissolution of the five elements. (31)

Just then, an aerial chariot arrived from the world of Vaikuṇṭha,

where an exceedingly raised banner marked by Garuḍa [stood], (32)

occupied by fair maidens clad in golden silk garments,

very vast, with a thousand whose hands were occupied with fly-whisks, (33)

resplendent with the two attendants Puṇyaśīla and Suśīla,

four-armed, pleasant-faced, and garlanded with nets of tinkling bells. (34)

Then, having mounted that aerial chariot, clad in yellow garments, four-armed,

and adorned with divine ornaments, that brahmin graced the path of the sky. (35)

Thus ends the seventh chapter, titled "Description of the Seven Cities," in the first half of the Kāśīkhaṇḍa, in the fourth [book] of the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. (7)