Skandapurana 5.176

Sūta said: / Likewise, there is another Gaurī there, consisting of five lumps, / established by Lakṣmī when she assumed human form. 1

By merely beholding her, a woman will obtain good fortune in marriage. / In the month of Jyeṣṭha, during the bright fortnight, when the sun is in Taurus, 2

the woman who places over her a water-dripping device, / trickling day and night, shall attain supreme good fortune. 3

Whatever fruit a woman obtains by all prescribed vows / dedicated to Gaurī, and by gifts given out of desire for that fruit, / she obtains all that fruit through the water-dripping device. 4

Therefore, for the sake of good fortune, with every effort / women must diligently arrange a water-dripping device over Gaurī in Jyeṣṭha. 5

What use are vows or observances to women, O best of brahmins, / or other recitations and fire-offerings that cause great toil? 6

When a water-dripping device is placed by women, O tigers among brahmins, / over Gaurī with true devotion while the sun is in Taurus, 7

she does not become barren, she does not become one who bears only a single child, / and she is not afflicted by misfortune for seven successive births. 8

The seers said: / Gaurī is described as having four arms, seen as the Supreme Goddess; / how did she become five lumps? Speak to us and resolve this doubt. 9

Sūta said: / When the dissolution is to take place, then, O brahmins, she makes herself / consist of five lumps, assuming an excellent form. 6.177.10

She is that supreme Śakti, pervading everything, the sovereign of the gods; / by her all this threefold world, moving and unmoving, is pervaded. 11

Earth, water, fire, wind, and space— / she preserves them for the purpose of creation; hence she exists as five lumps. 12

Whatever [fruit] arises when she is worshipped in visible form, / that becomes three thousand times greater where she consists of five lumps, 13

especially in the month of Jyeṣṭha, through worship with a water-dripping device. / In this regard, I shall tell you an ancient story, 14

of what happened to the wife of the king of Kāśi, O best of the twice-born, / and what was told formerly by Lakṣmī when questioned by Viṣṇu. 15

Lakṣmī said: / Formerly, there was a king of Kāśi known as Jayasena; / he had a thousand wives endowed with beauty. 16

Then another beloved, very beautiful wife was obtained by him, / who was a portion and digit of me in a human state, / the daughter of Viṣvaksena, the wise sovereign of Madra. 17

Rising in the morning and going to the auspicious bank of the Gaṅgā, / she fashioned Gaurī out of clay, consisting of five lumps. 18

Then she worshipped [her] with five mantras, / and then with excellent fragrances, garlands, incenses, and very beautiful garments, 19

with food offerings and sweet rice, with songs, dances, and musical instruments. / Then, bidding farewell to that goddess, in her honour 6.177.20

she gave abundant gifts to twice-born women dedicated to Gaurī, / and then returned home amid the sounds of many musical instruments. 21

The more she performed that worship of Gaurī, / the more her good fortune increased, 22

and her good fortune became greater than that of all her co-wives. 23

Now, all her co-wives were filled with distress / seeing that increase in her good fortune day by day. 24

Some said: “This rite that she constantly performs, / taking earthen clay and worshipping the five lumps— 25

[is it that?]” Others, O great seers, said she was perfected by mantras; / others said it was her merits acquired in a previous life. 26

Thus a long time passed for those deeply distressed women. / Then, after some time, having consulted with one another, 27

they came near to her at that very pool of water / where she was worshipping Gaurī, having fashioned her into five lumps. 28

Then, seeing them all, leaving the worship of Gaurī, / she quickly went to face them and stood with folded palms: 29

“Welcome to you, fortunate ladies, and again a hearty welcome to you! / Tell me quickly your business, so that I may immediately perform it.” 6.177.30

The co-wives said: / “All of us have come near you out of curiosity, / consumed by the fire of ill-fortune born of your good fortune. 31

Therefore tell us, O fortunate one, why do you daily worship / [Gaurī] made of clay in five lumps, which increases good fortune? 32

What is the reason for this, or does this power arise from mantras? / Tell us, O fortunate lady, if it is not a secret to be kept from us.” 33

Padmāvatī said: / “It is a supreme secret, a hidden mystery about which I am asked, O fair-faced ladies; / yet, though it should not be spoken, I will tell it to you. 34

Since you have arrived at the time of Gaurī's worship, / you are all my sisters, and I harbor no jealousy.

Formerly, I was a maiden in the city named Kusuma, / [daughter] of the wise merchant's son Vīrasena, a śūdra. / In accordance with dharma, that noble-minded man gave me in marriage.

Then, at the time of marriage, for my prosperity / five excellent syllables were given [to me] by an elderly woman along with initiation, / and thereafter I was instructed regarding the worship of Gaurī:

“O daughter, as long as you do not worship yourself with these syllables, / you must never drink water under any circumstances.

By virtue of that, you will attain whatever you desire.” / O fair-faced one, I said “So be it” to her.

Then, when the marriage was completed, I went with my husband / where my father-in-law resided, as well as my exceedingly harsh mother-in-law. / She continually forbade me from performing the worship of Gaurī. / Terrified with fear, yet devoted to Gaurī with devotion, / whenever I went to the reservoir of water for the purpose of fetchng water,

then, taking clay and using those five mantras, / devoted to devotion, I worshipped Gaurī with those very [mantras].

Then I would throw [the clay image] into the water and go home. / Then, after some time, my good husband set out / for another country on merchant business, taking to that road.

Traveling by the desert road and taking me along out of affection, / he reached a waterless region, the exceedingly terrifying desert tract.

At that most frightful time, with the lord of the day stationed in Taurus, / the entire caravan rested in the midst of that barren ground.

Relying on a single well, deep as a cloud— / at that very time, a nearby [place] having the appearance of water / was seen by me in the desert region, and it was thought in my mind:

“As for that abundant water which is seen standing nearby, / having bathed there, become pure, and worshipped Gaurī with devotion, / I will afterward drink the sweet water born of the pool.”

Then, setting out, as I advanced step by step, / the further I went, the more it was a mirage.

Meanwhile, the sun reached the middle of the sky; / stationed in Taurus, it scorched me from above, O fair-faced women,

while below [I was scorched] on all sides by the scorching sands. / Tormented by thirst, I then became distressed in that desert land.

Then I fell to the ground, covered with blisters. / Thereupon, a story originating in the Mahābhārata was remembered in my mind:

how a sacrifice was performed by Nṛga using sands / thrown into the well, devoid of grass, clods, and water.

The gods, pleased by devotion, were satisfied with that noble soul. / Therefore, I will worship the beloved of Hara with sands.

Pleased by this, that goddess will grant me sovereignty / now, when another body is attained, and an unending desire of the heart.

Then, with those five mantras brought back to memory, / the goddess was worshipped with five handfuls made of sand.

Then I met my death at that time, O noble women, / and was born in the world-renowned abode of the ruler of Daśārṇa.

Endowed with remembrance of past lives through the grace of that goddess, / though the youngest among you, I stand as the foremost in good fortune.

For this reason, having fashioned these five lumps out of clay, / I worship Gaurī day after day, setting [other things] aside.

This secret has been declared by me to you without doubt. / By this truth, may Gaurī grant the desire of my heart.

Lakṣmī said: / Then all those co-wives stood with folded hands / and spoke to me with modest speech, bowing down again and again:

“Bestow favor upon us and let the set of five mantras be given [to us], / that very one by which that goddess, the Supreme Mistress, was pleased with you.”

And all of them were told by me: “Ask according to your wish; / I shall grant everything; this is my true word.”

Then, O Lord, that set of five mantras was spoken by me to them / after they were accepted as disciples through deeds of speech, mind, and body.

Viṣṇu said: / Tell me also, O Queen of the gods, what kind of set of five mantras was that / which was formerly practiced by you and revealed to them by her?

Lakṣmī said: / “Salutations to the Earth, the Ruler of patience! Salutations to the Auspicious One composed of water! / Salutations to you, O Radiant One! Salutations to you whose form is wind!

O you who are endowed with the form of space, you who have five forms, salutations, salutations!”

With these mantras the Supreme Mistress was worshipped by me in the past; / through that, I attained sovereignty, which is very difficult for all women to obtain.

And then, having made an auspicious [image] out of jewels, / the goddess was established by me there in the sacred field of Hāṭakeśvara, O lord of gods.

Whatever woman worships her immediately becomes beloved to her husband, / freed from all sins; of this there is no doubt.

Thus ends the one hundred and seventy-seventh chapter, entitled “Description of the Māhātmya of the Origin of the Five Lumps” in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa.