Skandapurana 5.167

Sūta said:
Having thus renounced his kingdom, O best of dvijas,
Viśvāmitra reached Mount Himavat and performed most dreadful austerity:
sleeping under the open sky during the rainy seasons, standing in water in winter,
and practicing the five fires in summer, he remained for three hundred years.

Subsisting on fruits and roots for the next three hundred years,
he stood contemplating the Supreme Brahman, O best of brāhmaṇas;
after that, he remained for an equal length of time subsisting on withered leaves.

And then he remained for just as long subsisting on water alone;
and then for ten thousand years consuming only air.
Sūta said:
Then, seeing that power of his austerity, Indra thought:
“Surely this best of kings will cast me down from my station!”

Then, having approached, he addressed King Viśvāmitra
with exceedingly pleasant and soothing words, filled with great fear.

Indra said:
“O Viśvāmitra! I am well pleased with this austerity, O king.
Choose a boon—may it be well with you—whatever desired thing is in your heart.”

Viśvāmitra said:
“Grant me the status of a brāhmaṇa, O Śakra, if you are now pleased [with me].
Know, O Puraṃdara, that it is for this purpose that I have performed this austerity.”

Indra said:
“How can a kṣatriya become a dvija in this very body,
[a status] which is born through twice twenty-four sacraments?
Therefore, request something else quickly, whatever remains most desired by you.”

Viśvāmitra said:
“I ask for nothing higher than the status of a brāhmaṇa, O Lord of the gods!

Even the kingship of the three worlds [is nothing to me], what then to speak of other things?
Therefore go, O best of gods, and protect your own kingdom!

I will cast off my body, or I will attain the state of twice-born.”
Having heard those words of his, the king of gods departed for heaven,

surrounded by all the gods, knowing his firm resolve.
Viśvāmitra too performed severe austerity in that same manner.

Then, when a thousand years had passed, O best of dvijas,
for King Viśvāmitra who was consuming only air,

Brahmā himself came, together with holy celestial seers,
and spoke to that ruler of the earth whose sins had been burned away by austerity.

Glorious Brahmā said:
“O Viśvāmitra, I am well pleased with this austerity, O best of men!
Choose a boon—may it be well with you—I shall grant it even if hard to attain.”

Viśvāmitra said:
“If you are pleased with me, O god, if a boon is to be given to me,
grant me the status of a brāhmaṇa, O god; nothing else is most dear [to me].”

Brahmā said:
“How can the status of a twice-born belong to one born of a kṣatriya?
Indeed, it is contrary to Śruti and Smṛti; why do you speak of such a desire,

which has never happened on the face of the earth, nor will ever happen?”

Viśvāmitra said:
“Go to your peerless Brahmaloka, O Lord of the gods of gods!
I shall either surrender my life, or attain the status of a twice-born.”

Then Ṛcīka, standing among the celestial seers, spoke these words:
“For his birth, O god, a sacrificial pot of caru was [prepared] by me with Vedic mantras.

The entire essence of a brāhmaṇa was infused therein by me entirely;
therefore, though born a kṣatriya, he is indeed a brāhmaṇa, O Four-faced One.

Therefore, O Great-grandfather, proclaim him a brahmarṣi!
Even while on the throne, he performed deeds worthy of a twice-born.

Therefore, by the power of the Vedic mantras, address him as a brahmarṣi,
whereby all of us may proclaim Viśvāmitra the best of dvijas!”

Then Brahmā, having meditated for a long time, said to him who had arisen through mantras sacred to Brahmā and through brilliance: "You have been made a brahmin by me. / 25

Abandon quickly at my word this terrible austerity that is hard to perform." / When he was addressed by Brahmā: "You are a brahmarṣi without doubt," / 26

and then spoken to likewise by all the celestial seers, beginning with Ṛcīka, / 27

then Vasiṣṭha, best among sages, standing in their midst, / filled with anger, spoke: "I shall never say it! / 28

Knowing that he was born of a kṣatriya, yet [calling him] a brahmin, O Grandfather, / you speak thus, O Lord, out of courtesy to Ṛcīka." / 29

Though spoken to in various ways by the Grandfather / and in many ways by the sages, beginning with Nārada, Vasiṣṭha, best among sages, / then departed, abandoning all those best of twice-born. / 30

And that best of sages, having come to the country named Ānarta, / in the sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara, near the Śaṅkhatīrtha, / 31

where the sacred Brahmaśilā is, joined with Śvetadvīpa, / where the auspicious river Sarasvatī, which removes sin, flows— / 32

having established a hermitage there, he performed great austerity. / Viśvāmitra too, filled with indignation, arrived to kill him. / 33

Stationed far from his hermitage in the southern direction, / having made a hermitage there, he kept looking for his weaknesses. / 34

He remained for a very long time, but did not see any. / Then a destructive rite was begun by him against him, / 35

which is described in the Sāmaveda according to the rule of the Sāman, aimed at slaying. / As he was offering oblations into the fire with those terrible mantras, / 36

a dread female power emerged, terrifying, with disheveled hair, / mounted on the shoulder of a monkey, making a shrieking sound, / 37

equipped with various weapons, like another tongue of Yama. / She said: "Speak, O prince of brahmins, what act shall I perform for you? / 38

At your command, I will destroy even all the three worlds." / 39

Viśvāmitra said: / "My enemy, the wicked sage Vasiṣṭha, who thinks himself venerable, is stationed here. / Slay him quickly, having gone [there]; you were created by me for that purpose." / 40

Thus addressed by that wise Viśvāmitra, / she set out toward Vasiṣṭha's hermitage, facing north. / 41

At that very time, O twice-born, in Vasiṣṭha's hermitage, / abundant and great ill omens arose. / 42

A great meteor fell, striking the disc of the sun; / likewise, a shower of blood mixed with bones occurred. / 43

A jackal, having turned toward the blazing quarter, wailed. / Having seen those very great portents, Vasiṣṭha, the bull among sages, / 44

just as he beheld a form surrounded by garlands of flames, / then, knowing everything accurately by his divine vision, [realized]: / 45

"This is a female power dispatched by Viśvāmitra to kill me, / having the form of a kṛtyā [produced] by powerful mantras arising from the Sāmaveda." / 46

Told by him, "Halt, halt!", she then became motionless; / and she was paralyzed by him with his own mantras originating from the Atharvaveda. / 47

Then, assuming the form of a woman, she spoke to the bull among sages: / "The Sāmaveda stands as foremost among the Vedas; / I was created according to its rite by the wise Viśvāmitra. / Do not make [it] of no authority; endure my strike, O sage! / I will spare your life with a light touch, O sage." / 48–49

Vasiṣṭha said: / "If it is so, touch me, but do not touch my vital spots, O auspicious one! / And the Atharvan mantras have been withdrawn by me out of pity for you." / 50

Then that dreadful female power dispatched by Viśvāmitra, / having touched a part of his body, fell onto the ground. / 51

Then Vasiṣṭha, pleased, spoke sweet words to her: / "From this day forward, all people, composed / and endowed with supreme devotion, shall perform worship for you, O fortunate one! / 52

In the month of Caitra, during the bright fortnight, on the eighth day, / those who perform your worship endowed with supreme faith, / 53

all of them shall remain free from disease for a year. / Therefore, you must remain right here forever, according to my word." / 54

Sūta said: / Thus addressed by that high-souled Vasiṣṭha, / that goddess remained right there at that very moment, according to his word. / 55

She receives supreme worship, performed particularly by the Nāgaras; / renowned by the name Dhārā, she bestows happiness upon devotees. / 56

Thus ends the one hundred and sixty-eighth chapter, named the Description of the Origin and Greatness of Dhārā, in the Greatness of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skandamahāpurāṇa. / 168