Skandapurana 5.191

Sūta said: / Then, hearing the loud noise of musical instruments approaching, / Nārada went forward, knowing that it was his own mother.

Bowing low, miserable and bathed in tears, / his throat choked with weeping, he spoke in a faltering voice.

To protect himself from a curse and to increase her anger, / the brahmin who delights in strife then stood before the divine women.

With a voice deep as a thundercloud, faltering at every step, [he said]: / 'O goddess, you were summoned by me, and after that by Pulastya.

Resorting to the nature of women, you did not come even at the time of consecration.

Then, by the command of the Creator, another was fetched by Śakra: / a certain maiden born of a cowherd, possessing divine form.

Having made her enter through the mouth of a cow, / she was immediately drawn out through the secret passage, O fortunate lady, and brought at once.

She was then approved by Viṣṇu for marriage, / and Īśvara gave her the name Gāyatrī, subservient to you.

All the brahmins said, "Let her be a brahmin lady. / At our word, O Brahmā, take her hand, O all-pervading Lord!"

Having been urged by all the gods, he then swiftly / united that fair-faced maiden with the duty of a wife.

Why say much to you? She has entered the wife's enclosure; / the girdle has been tied on the waist of that cowherd girl, O queen of the gods!

Seeing that despicable act, I left the sacrificial pavilion, / overcome by indignation, unable to look at her.

Knowing this, O fortunate lady, do whatever is appropriate; / go, or remain here, [away from] that pavilion devoid of righteousness!'

Hearing that then, O best of twice-born ones, the goddess Sāvitrī / became faded in face, like a lotus at the onset of frost,

like a creeper severed at the root, like a female cakravāka separated from her mate, / like a lake devoid of water at the coming of the bright summer,

like a waning crescent of the moon, like a doe deserted by the deer, / like an army whose king is slain, like a faithful wife whose husband is gone,

like a dried-up flower garland, like a cow whose calf is dead. / Having reached supreme dejection and arrived at motionless grief, / seeing her, those wives of the gods then said to Nārada:

'Fie, fie on you, lover of strife, who causes aversion where there was love! / All this rift between her and Brahmā has been caused by you!'

Gaurī said: / 'O goddess, this lover of strife speaks words of truth mingled with falsehood; / by this conduct this sage always sustains his life.

Formerly, Sāvitrī, I was repeatedly told by the Three-Eyed Lord: / "The word of the sage Nārada is not to be trusted by you, my dear, / if you desire the happiness born of me, O Pārvatī."'

From that time on, I have never believed his words anywhere. / Therefore, let us go there, where your husband is staying.

Having seen the matter for ourselves, we must do whatever is fitting then. / We should not remain here today on his word alone; let us go there.

Sūta said: / Hearing that statement of Gaurī, Sāvitrī, bereft of joy, / set out toward the sacrificial pavilion, stumbling at every step.

She went, O best of brahmins, with an empty mind then. / Ah, then singing seemed sweet to her [no longer];

as if ear-pain had arrived repeatedly, O best of brahmins, / as if instrumental music accompanied by mṛdaṅgas and ānakas were futile noise,

just like seeing a corpse, so did that mortal sight appear; that chaste lady, / going to the sacrifice then, was unable even to look upon it.

And she considered the adornment on her body to be embers. / Her eyes filled with tears, miserable, that chaste lady proceeded.

Then, having reached that sacrificial pavilion with difficulty, / she saw it entering her field of vision like a hard-to-look-at prison.

Now, seeing Sāvitrī arrived at the sacrificial pavilion, / from that very instant the Four-faced one stood with his face turned down in shame.

Likewise Śambhu, Śakra, and Vāsudeva as well, / and whatever other gods were staying there in the sacrificial pavilion,

and those tigers among brahmins, ceasing the sound of the Vedas then, / all became silent, their minds terrified with fear.

Then, seeing her husband accompanied by a co-wife, Sāvitrī, / her eyes bloodshot with rage, spoke harsh words:

Sāvitrī said: / How is it fitting for you to do this, O old one in dark form, / that you have married this wife born of a cowherd?

On both sides of her lineage, women have lovers as they please; / they are abandoned by purity and conduct, turned away from righteous deeds.

In her lineage, all the people delight in the festivities of animal behavior; / abandoning their uterine sister and likewise their mother, [they mate with] another.

In her family, men frequent every other woman; / for just as animals eat grass and drink water,

and merely discharge feces and urine, carrying loads alone,

just so does her entire family merely consume buttermilk.

Discharging urine and feces, devoid of the enjoyment of birth, / relying solely on their own bellies, they know no other duty or righteousness.

Even outcasts do not commit the despicable deed / which the Ābhīras commit; then why was this done by you?

If another wife was necessarily needed by you at the sacrifice, / you [should have married] some brahmin woman renowned in the three worlds.

She was not married, O Vidhi! You shaved-head fool, surely you are a rogue in my view, / since you took a girl abandoned by purity, corrupted in maidhood,

already enjoyed by many previously, a cowherd girl, / this woman full of great sin, worse than a hundred courtesans!

Just as an outcast maiden is born with a deflowered womb, / so is some cowherd girl born such.

She ruins the maternal, paternal, and father-in-law's lineages. / Therefore, because of this despicable deed on the earth's surface,

you will not receive that worship, nor will the other best of gods, / through this action, if there is any truth in me anywhere!

And those who will perform worship [to you] will become penniless. / How were you not ashamed, doing this despicable act,

unworthy of your sons, grandsons, and the other celestials, / and unworthy of brahmins, that you have done this?

Or rather, this is not your fault: men overwhelmed by lust / feel no shame and do not discern what ought to be done from what ought not, auspicious from inauspicious.

A person gone under the sway of lust considers what should not be done as what should be done, / considers a friend an enemy, and considers an enemy a friend.

Just as truth is absent in a gambler, and friendship in a thief, / just as a king has no friend, so lustful men have no shame.

Fire might become cold, the moon might become scorching, / even the salty ocean might become sweet, but a lustful man surely feels no shame.

This grief would not be mine merely because a co-wife has appeared; / for men may have even a thousand women,

of noble birth, pure, and especially belonging to their own caste. / Take others, if you are overwhelmed by lust!

Yet this is a great grief: that a despicable Ābhīra woman, / ruined in conduct like a courtesan, having many husbands, has been married by you!

Therefore I shall depart, O Vidhi, where your name is not heard— / you who are greedy with lust and abandoned by shame!

Because I have been humiliated, brought here by you, O Vidhi, / in the presence of the wives of the gods, the gods, and the twice-born, / therefore no one shall perform worship to you henceforth.

From this day forward, whatever mortal on the surface of the earth / performs worship or mantra-worship to you, as to other celestials,

his lineage will become impoverished and full of sorrow, / whether he be a brahmin, a kṣatriya, a vaiśya, or even a śūdra in his home.

Because this despicable daughter of an Ābhīra stands in my place, / by my very word she shall have no offspring.

She will not obtain worship in the world like the other wives of the gods.

And whatever woman performs worship to her anywhere, / she will become full of misery, barren, and afflicted with misfortune.

Most sinful, ruined in conduct, like this woman who has five husbands, / she will become renowned in the world, just as this one is.

Her lineage will be sinful, roving by night, / abandoned by truth and purity, devoid of the company of the virtuous.

Living off cattle, those in her lineage will become homeless wanderers. / Having thus cursed Vidhi, and thereafter the chaste Gāyatrī,

Then the chaste woman also cursed all the hosts of gods:
"O Śakra, since this woman who has five husbands was brought by you,

therefore receive the full fruit of having performed this [service] for your elder:
Conquered by enemies in battle, you shall suffer imprisonment.

You will without doubt go into a dungeon for a long time!
O Vāsudeva, because this woman who has five husbands

was approved by you beforehand for Brahmā, therefore I shall curse you without doubt:
You too, O most wicked-minded one, shall become the servant of another!

O Rudra, though standing near, because you overlook this deed / and do not forbid it, O fool, therefore hear my word:

While my husband is alive, I have experienced the [grief] born of separation from him;
the same shall be experienced by you when your beloved wife has died!

In this sacrifice where this censured woman who has five husbands has entered,
and since you, O Fire, accept the oblation out of greed,

as well as in other sacrifices, completely devoid of scruples,
therefore, O you of evil conduct, you shall be an eater of all things!

Together with Svadhā and Svāhā, constantly beset with sorrow,
you shall never obtain supreme happiness at all times, as before!

And all these brahmins, their minds corrupted by greed,
who perform the oblation in this censured sacrifice as well,

where out of greed for wealth this woman who has five husbands was installed—
so the word pronounced concerning the brahmins shall come to pass:

Therefore, afflicted by poverty, husbands of Śūdra women,
sellers of the Veda you shall become, there is no doubt!

O lord of wealth, you give wealth at the disruption of a sacrifice;
therefore whatever wealth you have shall become unenjoyable!

Likewise, all the hosts of gods who have lent their assistance
and act here in this fault-filled sacrifice involving the woman with five husbands—

they shall now be bereft of offspring;
and defeated by the Dānavas, they will experience only sorrow!

And the other four women standing at her side,
called cowherdesses and co-wives, rejoicing in meditation,

constantly intent on malice toward me, headed by Śivadūtī—
their meeting with one another shall be only occasional.

They shall not even be seen by any other man on earth;
on mountain peaks, in inaccessible places that mortals cannot reach,
their dwelling shall ever be, deprived of all enjoyments!"

Sūta said:
Having spoken thus, Sāvitrī, her mind overwhelmed by rage,
dismissed all the wives of the gods who stood at her side,

and set out facing north, even though restrained on every side
by all the wives of the gods, headed by Lakṣmī.

"I will go where not even the name of this lustful one
is heard; indeed, thither will I swiftly go!"

One of her feet, the left, was placed on the mountain slope;
with the second she stepped onto the top of that mountain.

Even today that left footprint of hers is seen there,
meritorious, destroying all sins, resting on the mountain slope.

Even a man of sinful conduct who worships it,
freed from all sins, goes to the supreme abode.

Whatever desire a mortal meditates upon and worships it,
he surely attains, even if it be very hard to obtain.

Sūta said:
Thus goddess Sāvitrī dwelt there, resorting to the mountain,
having received great insult on that occasion from her own husband.

Whoever worships her properly, especially on the full-moon day,
obtains at that time all desires cherished in his heart.

Hear the fruit of that woman who with devotion
offers a lamp before her, using red threads and ghee:

As many threads belonging to the lamp as are burned,
and for as many muhūrtas as the ghee-lamp endures,
for that many thousands of births shall she share in good fortune:

endowed with sons and grandsons, wealthy, adorned with good character,
neither unfortunate nor barren, neither one-eyed nor deformed.

The woman—even if she is a widow—who dances before her
or sings there, hear the fruit for her:

Just as while dancing she shakes her body,
so does she shake off whatever sin was previously committed.

As many living creatures as hear her singing there,
for that many thousands of years shall she dwell in heaven.

She who gives a gift of fruit dedicated to Sāvitrī
rejoices in heaven for as many yugas as the number of fruits.

And whoever gives sweet food, especially to women
who have their husbands, at her southern form, O best of brahmins,
he rejoices in heaven for as many yugas as there are grains of boiled rice.

Whoever performs a śrāddha there with complete faith,
with a single flavor and with a single grain, O best of brahmins,
to him accrues the merit that is obtained from a śrāddha at Gayā.

The twice-born man who, turning to her southern direction,
performs just one twilight devotion with waters poured by his own wife,

when the evening hour has arrived, O best of brahmins,
by him the twilight devotion will have been duly revered for twelve years.

The brahmin who, standing in front of her, recites the Sāvitrī—
hear what his fruit is, O brahmins; I shall tell it to you:

With ten [repetitions], that born of one birth; with a hundred, that committed in the past;
and with a thousand, in the three yugas his sin is destroyed.

Therefore, with every effort one should go to Camatkārapura
and worship that goddess, and she is especially to be praised with hymns.

Whoever reads or hears this narrative of Sāvitrī,
freed from all sins, becomes a partaker of happiness in this world.

All this, which I was asked, has been told to you, O best of brahmins— / the entire māhātmya of Sāvitrī. What more shall I speak?

Thus ends the one hundred and ninety-second chapter, titled "Description of the Māhātmya of Sāvitrī," in the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the sixth Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the Skandamahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.