Skandapurana 5.151

The seers said: / Innumerable sacred fords have been described by you here, O son of Sūta, / both those produced by gods and men, and abodes of the deities, / as well as those produced by monkeys and installed by rākṣasas.

Tell us, O son of Sūta, by seeing and touching which [deities or sacred fords] / the complete and desired fruit of all of them is obtained here?

Sūta said: / This is true, O venerable ones; there is no counting / of the sacred fords, the liṅgas, and the hermitages there.

Whoever, with composed mind, takes a ritual ablution there in the Śaṅkhatīrtha, / particularly on the eleventh day, obtains the fruit of all of them.

The man who with devotion beholds the eleven Rudras there, / has beheld all the great lords equal to Siddheśvara.

He who beholds Vaṭāditya, especially on the sixth day in the month of Caitra, / has beheld all the sun-gods residing there.

Likewise, whoever, endowed with faith, beholds the goddess Māhitthā, / by him all those Durgās are seen; there is no doubt about this.

And he who beholds Gaṇeśa, the bestower of heaven's gateway to men, / by him all Vināyakas have been seen; there is no doubt about this.

Whoever beholds the elder Gaurī installed there by Śarmiṣṭhā, / by him all those Gaurīs are seen, O best of the twice-born.

And whichever man, having risen in the morning, beholds Cakrapāṇi, / by him all the Vāsudevas there are beheld.

The seers said: / O Sūta, you have not described to us in that manner / Cakrapāṇi who is situated there. How is that? Was he forgotten? Tell us! / At what time especially is he to be beheld by the wise?

Sūta said: / He was installed in this very sacred field by Arjuna, O eminent vipras. / On the sleeping day and the awakening day, having risen in the morning,

whoever, having taken a ritual ablution, beholds Cakrapāṇi with true devotion, / his sins, such as the killing of a brahmin, perish at that very moment.

To remove the earth's burden and to establish righteousness, O brahmins, / both Nara and Nārāyaṇa were made to descend by Brahmā.

At that time, at the end of the Dvāpara age, O best of the twice-born, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna / descended onto the surface of the earth, united by mutual affection; / these two, Nara and Nārāyaṇa, were stationed there in person.

Just as Rāma, the son of Daśaratha, descended onto the surface of the earth / to destroy the rākṣasas, so too did the other, Kṛṣṇa.

When Pārtha set out on his pilgrimage to sacred fords, O twice-born, / by the order of Yudhiṣṭhira, from the foremost city of Śakraprastha,

having seen his twice-born brother in secret together with Draupadī, / Arjuna bowed down and, bent in modesty, spoke:

Arjuna said: / 'I have come right now for my weapons, O best of kings. / Give me your command, O king, to rescue the brahmin's cows.'

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / 'Go quickly, Arjuna, to where the cows of the excellent brahmin / are being led away by thieves; rescue them, O Dhanaṃjaya!

Then depart on a pilgrimage to sacred fords for twelve years; / then, freed from sin, you will return to my presence.

A wise man who looks upon any man together with his wife in private / would become exceedingly sinful; how much more so upon his own kinsman?

Therefore, one who desires good for himself should never gaze upon anyone / who is in private with his wife, and especially not upon a kinsman.'

He promised, 'So be it,' swiftly mounted his chariot, / took his bow and arrows, and immediately set out

along the path by which those cows were being led away by force by thieves / who had insulted all the brahmins, bearing sharp weapons, O twice-born.

Then, having slain the thieves in an instant, he brought back all the cows himself / and restored them, each to their own, to the noble brahmins.

Then, having seen many sacred fords and temples, / the son of Pāṇḍu arrived at this very sacred field to perform his ritual ablution.

That sacred field had already been seen by him previously, / when he had come there accompanied by Duryodhana.

Then he worshipped with flowers, incense, and ointments the liṅga / that had been established earlier, called Arjuneśvara,

[as well as those] of the other lordly Kauravas, and especially of the Pāṇḍavas.

Then the son of Pāṇḍu reflected in his mind: / 'I am Nara directly in person, and Kṛṣṇa is Nārāyaṇa himself.

Therefore, I will establish here [an image of] the Discus-Armed Lord, the ruler of the gods, / and a human temple such as does not exist on the surface of the earth.

Even at the end of a kalpa, there would never be destruction of this sacred field; / so too shall the temple remain in this sacred field.'

Having made such a resolution in his own mind, the younger brother of the Pāṇḍava / then built a temple to Viṣṇu, O best of the twice-born.

Then, having summoned the brahmins born in Camatkārapura, / relying on their judgment, he caused the consecration to be performed,

giving many gifts and numerous title-deeds; / and afterwards he gave other things that brought them satisfaction.

Then, standing with folded palms, he said to all of them: / 'I am Nara, born of a brahmin to Pāṇḍu, who has attained this earth;

leaving that auspicious Badarī in this human form, / this temple has been built by me here for fame, / named Nara after my own name, with a mind purified by faith.

Therefore, O twice-born, this [form of the Lord] must always be celebrated / by you as Cakrapāṇi, by which my name shall be illuminated,

and the renown shall extend to the world of Viṣṇu as long as the moon and the sun endure.

Likewise, a great festival should be celebrated at the sleeping and waking of Hari, / especially in the month of Caitra when the day of Viṣṇu arrives.

Leaving this Badarī among these three worlds, / I myself will perform the worship of this Viṣṇu, O best of the twice-born.

Whatever mortal performs worship of Him on that day / will be freed from all sins and will go to the world of Viṣṇu.

Likewise, for those who are stationed anywhere in the sacred field of Vāsudeva, / seeing them is auspicious; and having seen [the deity], one will always attain it.'

Sūta said: / Addressed by them with 'So be it,' the son of Pāṇḍu, [kin to] the Dāśārhas, / entrusting that responsibility to them with a peaceful mind, / went on to other sacred fords, having achieved his purpose thereafter.

Thus the god, bearing the form of the Discus-Armed Lord, stayed there, / Hṛṣīkeśa himself, the destroyer of sins of living beings.

Even today, a portion of Viṣṇu [is present there]; and when the triad of Ekādaśīs arrives, / He should always be worshipped and especially saluted / with the procedure spoken of earlier by those endowed with faith.

Thus ends the hundred and fifty-second chapter, named 'The Description of the Māhātmya of Cakrapāṇi', in the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [section], in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.