Skandapurana 5.122

Sūta said: / Likewise, there is another unsurpassed sacred ford there, Śuklatīrtha, / indicated by white kuśa grass even today, O best of the twice-born.

Formerly, in Camatkārapura, there was an expert bone-setter, / a washerman named Śuddhaka, along with his sons and grandsons.

He stood at the head of all the washermen, / and he cleansed the garments of the prominent brahmins.

Now, at a certain time, fixed in intent, into a vat of indigo / he cast the clothing of the foremost brahmins, [only] realising it after a long time.

Then, troubled in mind, he called his wife / and sons, and, overcome with fear, spoke these words in secret:

"Many priceless fine garments of the great-souled brahmins / have been thrown into the indigo by delusion.

They will undoubtedly carry out punishment such as killing and binding; / therefore, taking advantage of this night, let us go elsewhere."

Having thus made a decision and taken the valuables from the house, / he set out with his wife, fleeing in terror, O best of the twice-born.

Meanwhile, his daughter went to her friend, a fisherman's daughter, / and said: "Forgive me, good friend, whatever wrong action I have done,

whether unwittingly or wittingly while playing with you, / out of affection, childish nature, or through anger or great envy."

Then she, suddenly hearing this, with eyes bewildered by tears, / said: "What is this, good friend, that you speak to me in this manner?"

The friend said: / "My father has thrown the costly garments of the brahmins / into indigo through an error, O fair-eyed one.

Therefore, when they discover it in the morning, they will inflict severe punishment; / keeping this in mind, my father has now set out.

I have come to your presence to see you, O blameless one; / having been permitted by you, I shall depart; therefore, let me go."

Then she, hearing those words, said with a pleasant face: / "If that is so, do not go anywhere, O lotus-eyed one!

Go quickly and stop your father, saying, 'We must not go.' / To the northeast of this place there is a reservoir of water.

Once, a net made of very black hair was cast in there / by my father, and at once it became white.

Then, filled with wonder, he bathed in it himself out of curiosity; / and while he had possessed such a dark body, he became white.

With hair turned bright white at once, an object of dispassion to women, / from that time forward no one, upon learning this, goes there.

Therefore, O fair one, let that father of yours wash the clothes / there without delay; they will attain the highest purity.”

Then she quickly went and reported that advice / to her own father in haste, her face beaming with joy, the virtuous girl [saying]:

“My friend has directed that not far away is a pool of water; / whatever is other than white, when cast in there, becomes white.

Therefore, go to that pool in the morning and wash / these clothes; they will undoubtedly become white.”

The washerman said: / “This will not happen, daughter, that indigo / clinging to a garment would be eradicated; for it has been said by the ancients:

‘The grasp of diamond-cement, of a fool, of women, and of a crab / is single, as is that of fish, and likewise of indigo and wine.’ ”

The maiden said: / “Come there then, having taken the clothes with care! / If they attain purity from the water, only then should we return home,

or else from that place we must all go to another region; / this is what is fixed in my heart.”

Hearing her words, saying repeatedly, “Good! Good!”, / the kinsmen and servants departed that very night,

keeping the fisherman’s daughter in front, filled with utmost doubt, / accompanied by their possessions, O best of brahmins.

Then the fisherman’s daughter showed them the pool of water, / overgrown with many creepers and difficult for embodied beings to enter.

Then the washerman, taking all the clothes, / entered that water, O brahmins, and washed them.

Then those fine garments, dark-hued as they were, instantly / became bright as crystal at that very moment, entirely so.

Then, filled with satisfaction, saying “Well done! Well done!”, / he embraced his daughter and respectfully addressed the fisherman’s daughter:

“Let us deliver the fine clothes to the lords of brahmins in proper order.”

Then, going to his own house, he, rejoiced, / gave back all those clothes in proper order, O best of brahmins.

Then those brahmins, seeing that cleanliness of the garments / and such a washerman turned white, were filled with astonishment.

They asked: “What is this wondrous thing concerning the clothes and [your] hair? / An incomparable thing has occurred; tell us, if you please.”

The washerman said: / “O brahmins, through delusion these fine garments were thrown by me / into the indigo, and were completely ruined.

Then great fear arose, and together with my family / I set out at nightfall for a distant quarter, O best of brahmins.

Then this daughter of ours, deeply stricken with grief, / went to her friend, the fisherman's daughter, eager to see her again.

Having learned from her all the intention and the cause of my grief, / she, standing before her, then showed her own pool of water.

The moment these garments were thrown into it, / they instantly took on such a colour, truly a cause for wonder!

Likewise, my dark hair, as I bathed there, instantly / attained supreme whiteness; this has been clearly told by me.”

Hearing this, those brahmins, filled with curiosity, / went there to test it, and cast in subsequently

many dark substances, hair and the like, by the thousands; / all of that turned white, shedding its dirty hue.

Then those who had white hair especially on account of old age, / and righteous youths as well, bathed there with faith.

Then, having attained whiteness, endowed with fiery energy and vigour / by its power, they reach the highest state.

Then Indra, seeing that Śuklatīrtha which bestows ultimate liberation, / filled it with dust out of fear arising from mortals.

Even today, whatever grass and the like grows there, / all of it turns white due to the power of that water.

Whoever performs a śrāddha with devotion using the kuśa grass grown there,

by means of those white blades would deliver all his ancestors, even those who have gone to hell.

The best of men who, applying to his body the mud originating from that sacred ford, / takes a bath, obtains the fruit of all sacred fords.

The man who with devotion offers a tarpaṇa with that darbha grass / and with wild-grown sesamum seeds, O brahmins, gladdens the ancestors.

Moreover, whatever fruit is obtained from a horse-sacrifice, from a śrāddha at Gayā, / and likewise from releasing a dark-coloured bull, is obtained here, O best of brahmins.

The seers said: / “How did the Śuklatīrtha come to be there? O delight of Sūta, / describe it in detail, for our curiosity is immense.”

Sūta said: / “Śvetadvīpa was brought by the almighty Viṣṇu / to that sacred field, out of fear of the Kali age, so that it might not lose its whiteness.

Even when touched by the Kali age, Śvetadvīpa does not turn / black, O best of brahmins; therefore it was placed there.”

Thus ends the one hundred and twenty-third chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glory of Śuklatīrtha', in the Hāṭakeśvarakṣetramāhātmya in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [section], in the glorious Skandapurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.