Skandapurana 5.203

Ānarta said: / The purification of the Nāgara lineage, arising from pedigree, / has been spoken to us in detail by you, O pious brahmin, just as you were asked. // 1

Now tell of that which arises from conduct, for one whose lineage is lost— / who does not know his paternal grandfather, nor his maternal grandmother; / how should purification be performed for him who says, 'I am a Nāgara'? // 2

Viśvāmitra said: / Long ago Bhartṛyajña was asked by the Nāgaras about this matter, / regarding one of lost lineage, O king, just as I have been asked by you. // 3

Bhartṛyajña said: / If one whose lineage is lost should say in the assembly, 'I am a Nāgara', / his conduct must be ascertained; thereafter purification should be ordained. // 4

If he always abides in the duties and pure traditional customs of the Nāgaras, / he should indeed be regarded as a Nāgara. // 5

For his purification, O best of brahmins, the balance ordeal should be administered. / When he has attained purity in the balance ordeal, he then attains purity, // 6

fit for śrāddha, fit for [receiving] a maiden, and especially fit for soma, / and worthy of ordinary standing in all communal matters. // 7

All this has been told to you, as I was asked, O best of men, / how the second purification is accomplished for a brahmin whose lineage is lost. / Therefore speak, O great king, what you wish to hear further. // 8

Ānarta said: / Therefore, having become Nāgaras, those brahmins born of the eight families / became the highest of all and were established as paramount. // 9

Was that the power of their austerity, or arose from their sacrifices, / or arose from sacred learning, O brahmin, or arose from giving gifts? // 10

Viśvāmitra said: / They were all endowed with virtues just like other Nāgaras; / and they had another distinction: they were established by Śakra. / Because of that, they attained prestige among all twice-born. // 11–12

Ānarta said: / At what time were those brahmins established here by Śakra, / and for what purpose? Tell us in detail, O highly wise one. // 13

Viśvāmitra said: / Formerly there was an eminent Dānava known as Hiraṇyākṣa; / he had a fierce battle with Śakra. // 14

In that battle between the gods and asuras, many sky-dwellers / and Dānavas died, O great king, each wishing to conquer the other. // 15

Then, as those Dānavas were struck down in battle by Śakra, / Śukra made them alive again by the power of his lore. // 16

And the gods who met death did not revive by any means. / Then, after some time, the slayer of Vṛtra spoke to Viṣṇu: // 17

Tell me, O Lord, O Janārdana, what destiny is ordained / for those who die in the sacred ford of swords facing the enemy with forward blows; // 18

and for those who die with backs turned, intent on fleeing— / tell me also what kind of destiny arises for them, O Acyuta. // 19

Viṣṇu said: / For those who die in the sacred ford of swords facing forward in great battle, / there is no rebirth, just as for seeds that have been destroyed. // 20

Those, on the other hand, who are struck in the back, agitated by fear, / being consumed by enemies—they become ghosts, O lord of the thirty [gods]. // 21

Indra said: / Some gods died in battle fighting face to face; / likewise others were seen by me being struck with their backs turned. / Would all the Dānavas also become ghosts or not, O Lord? // 22

Viṣṇu said: / Undoubtedly, O thousand-eyed one, those slain in battle with backs turned, / whether they are gods or humans, all go into the state of ghosts. // 23

For those killed by poison, by fire, for killers of their own families, and likewise for suicides, / and for those whose bodies are slain by tusked and horned animals, O lord of gods, / the state of a ghost certainly arises; this is true without doubt. // 24

Indra said: / How can their liberation from the terrible state of a ghost come about, O Lord? / Explain all this to me, so that I may make an effort. // 25

The Blessed Lord said: / A śrāddha is prescribed for them when the sun is in Virgo, / on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Bhādrapada, O lord of gods. // 26

At Gayā, with devotion, in accordance with the words of Pitāmaha, / they then attain liberation; this is true without doubt. // 27

Indra said: / Why is the śrāddha performed on that day, O slayer of Madhu, / for those who have been slain with weapons? Tell me everything in detail. // 28

The Blessed Lord said: / Formerly Śambhu was besought by bhūtas, pretas, piśācas, / kūṣmāṇḍas, and rākṣasas when that day arrived: / 'O god, when the sun is in Virgo, give us this one day today, // 29

so that there may be satisfaction for us lasting for a year, / when śrāddha is offered by descendants of the lineage; take pity on the wretched!' // 30

The Blessed Lord said: / 'A descendant of the lineage who performs a śrāddha on this day, / on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Bhādrapada, / will experience supreme delight for as long as the year lasts. // 31

Moreover, one born of your lineage who goes to Gayā / and performs a śrāddha in this way—through him you will attain liberation.' // 32

And he who does not perform the śrāddha on that appointed day
for those slain by weapons, even though they dwell in heaven,

his ancestors, afflicted in body by hunger and thirst and filled with sorrow,
will remain [so] for a whole year; thus said the grandfather [Brahmā].

Therefore, one should make every effort to perform [the rite] on that day.
All that is offered intending another turns into that of pretas here.

Then that lunar day was indeed assigned to them by the Lord,
when the śrāddha rite has taken place, except for a person slain by weapons.

Even of an embodied being fighting face-to-face in battle
who is struck down by a sharp weapon, the mind sometimes wavers.

Thus ends the two hundred and fourth chapter, named 'The Discourse on the Preta-śrāddha in the Conversation between Śakra and Viṣṇu', in the Glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses], in the sixth Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the glorification of the sacred field of the venerable Hāṭakeśvara. (204)