Skandapurana 5.268

Sūta said:
Now let the greatness of Kapāleśa be heard, O twice-born ones,
the fourth [deity], O fortunate ones, residing in that sacred field,
by the mere hearing of which a person here is freed from sin.

The seers said:
O wise one, we have heard the origin of the three liṅgas
mentioned earlier, but not that of Kapāleśvara.
By whom was this god named Kapāleśvara established?

Tell us: what is the fruit when he is seen, and when he is worshipped?

Sūta said:
Formerly, this god named Kapāleśvara was installed by Indra,
O best of the twice-born, for release from the killing of a brahmin.

By his power, O best of the twice-born, the foremost of the gods was released from it
through the gift of the 'person of sin'—such is the Vedic scripture.
Any other man also who, having worshipped him with devotion,
presents the 'person of sin' to an eminent brahmin for purification,
he is freed from the terrible sin born of the killing of a brahmin.

Approaching Dakṣiṇāmūrti, Bṛhaspati said this:
'Having gone to the sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara and having beheld that Śaṃkara,

he who then gives a body made of gold
is freed from past sins; of this there is no doubt.'

The seers said:
How did the killing of a brahmin befall the lord of gods, O son of Sūta?
Relate all of this to us, for our curiosity is immense.

How is the god named Kapāleśvara established here?
How was the killing of a brahmin destroyed for the lord of heaven by his power?

By what rite is that 'person of sin' to be given, O son of Sūta?
With which mantras should he be given, and with which accessories?

What fruit arises for men from beholding and from worshipping?
Tell [us]: without giving one's own body, [what fruit comes] by mere worship?

Sūta said: / I will narrate to you this ancient tale, / upon hearing which, O fortunate ones, a man is released from sin.

[Committed] through ignorance or knowledge, or born of other births; / by merely seeing [this], he is freed from the sin born of that day— / of this there is no doubt; this truth has been spoken by me.

Formerly, O best of brahmins, Tvaṣṭṛ's son Vṛtra was born, / possessing great valor, from Puloman's daughter Vibhāvarī.

Even as a boy he was righteous and dear to all people; / abandoning demonic nature, he was devoted to worshipping brahmins.

Having gone to the Puṣkara forest with supreme concentration, / standing in austerity, he satisfied the lotus-born lord of the gods.

Pleased with him, Brahmā himself came into the range of his sight / and said, "I am a granter of boons; what task may I perform for you?"

Vṛtra said: / "If you are pleased with me, O god, grant me brahminhood! / Attaining brahminhood, I shall achieve the supreme state.

Through that brahminhood, nothing would be impossible for me; / and nothing else seems equal to a brahmin in my sight.

There is no supreme divinity higher than a brahmin; / therefore, nothing else stays in my heart, not even kingship in heaven."

Sūta said: / Hearing that speech of his, the Grandfather was pleased with him; / granting brahminhood himself, he then said with respect:

"You have been made a brahmin by me, my son; fulfill your desire. / Continually propitiate the brahmins who know Brahman best.

When brahmins are well-pleased, all deities are delighted; / therefore, the best of brahmins are to be worshipped with every effort."

Sūta said: / Addressed thus by him at that time, Vṛtra then became a brahmin, / endowed with brahmic splendor, devoted to student-chastity.

While he was engaged in that austerity, the Dānavas were slain by Indra; / when destruction of the lineage befell the high-souled Dānavas,

then all those Dānavas, defeated by the gods, / completely abandoned their own abode, filled with grief and sorrow.

Placing his mother in front, they approached him. / And seeing that mother of his accompanied and surrounded by them,

the Dānavas who were defeated, and his mother in such a state, [he asked:] / "What is the reason for the arrival of you distressed ones before me?"

The Dānavas said: / "Defeated by the gods, we have come to you for refuge. / Where else may we go? There is no shelter for us without you."

Hearing their words, Vṛtra said with respect: / "I will slay the gods; go there without delay.

And mother, tell now the reason for your coming."

The mother said: / "Do so, O fortunate one: quickly accept a wife! / For the growth of the lineage, if my word born [of affection] has authority for you.

This alone is the supreme dharma, this alone is the highest conduct: / that a son attentively obeys the words of his mother.

Likewise, for women on earth there is no deity other than a husband; / and likewise for a son, while his mother is living.

And whatever woman transgresses her husband to pursue religious duty, / all of that becomes fruitless for her; there is no doubt about this.

Whatever son, transgressing his own mother's words as he pleases, / performs religious acts, all those of his

truly become in vain, just like an oblation poured on ashes, / or like weeping in a forest, or seeds sown on barren ground;

just like singing before a deaf person or dancing before a blind person, / so is anything born of dharma done by a son against his mother's wish.

Every deed [is futile], no doubt; therefore I have approached you / at the word of our kinsmen, my son, and especially afflicted with grief.

Or what need is there to say much to you again and again, my dear son? / Hear how freedom from debt to the ancestors comes about.

If my word has authority for you, my child, then carry it out." / Hearing those words of hers and reflecting in his mind,

"According to the path declared by Śruti and Smṛti, there is nothing higher than a mother," / he agreed with "So be it!" and took a wife.

Then Tvaṣṭṛ, delighted, gave him numerous jewels, / countless, and infinite base and precious metals.

Rich in elephants, horses, chariots, and treasuries, he of great valor, / endowed with brahminhood, was consecrated in his own station over the Dānavas.

When Vṛtra was then consecrated in his own kingdom, those Asuras and others— / his kinsmen were overjoyed upon hearing of Vṛtra's consecration.

And the Dānavas who were situated in front assembled there / from Pātāla, mountain fortresses, and land fortresses, / filled with great wrath, having made enmity with the gods.

Then, urged on by all the Dānavas, that mighty one / set out toward Mahendra's abode to destroy his enemies.

Hearing that Vṛtra was approaching with a desire to fight, / Śakra too, delighted, set forth facing him, accompanied by all the gods.

Then a battle took place between the gods and the Dānavas / on the vast ridge of Mount Meru, continually day and night.

Defeat constantly befell the gods against the Dānavas. / There the guru spoke: "O Śakra, lord of the gods, do not fight!

This Vṛtra is fierce in battle, endowed with two kinds of power: / the four Vedas are in front of him, and behind him is a bow with arrows.

Therefore, that Daitya is most capable of defeating you in the great battle. / For that reason, make an alliance with him, O husband of Śacī!

Then, when he has gained confidence, slay that Dānava with your thunderbolt! / 'An enemy should be slain by the six means'—such is the precept of the treatises.

While eating or sleeping, by even giving your own daughter, / by binding [him] through gifting brahmins, or even having taken a solemn oath— / resorting to the fabric of illusion, act in this way!"

Indra said: / "If it is so, go yourself and instill trust in him; / by your word the Dānava will surely attain confidence."

Sūta said:
Having understood Śakra's view, Bṛhaspati set out
to where the Daitya Vṛtra stood, resolved upon war.

Seeing that Bṛhaspati had arrived in person, Vṛtra too,
always devoted to brahmins, became delighted in mind. / He bowed down especially low and uttered these words:

Vṛtra said:
Welcome to you, best of brahmins! What shall I do? Command me! / Since brahmins are dear to me, speak now!

Bṛhaspati said:
Because victory in battle is uncertain due to fate, best of men, / therefore make a settlement with Mahendra at my word.

Enjoy you the entire earth, and Śakra the third heaven. / By this agreement you should always conduct yourselves mutually.

Vṛtra said:
O brahmin, I shall always do your bidding. / O good brahmin, bring about an alliance between Śakra and me at once.

Sūta said:
Then Bṛhaspati of noble intellect, having brought Śakra there, / made a pact between him and Vṛtra.

Having entered into a mutual friendship, both rulers of the Daityas and the gods / rejoiced and departed from there to their own dwellings.

Then Śakra was constantly looking for a pretext against Vṛtra, / but he found no vulnerability anywhere, though watching with effort.

Somehow Purandara would approach his presence; / catching a slight opening, he was scorched by his fiery splendor.

Indra said:
I am not even able to look upon that Daitya; / he is pervaded on all sides by fiery power. How then can I slay him?

Therefore, reveal some means for his slaughter to me, / so that I may be able to endure that evil-minded one's fiery splendor.

Sūta said:
Having heard his speech and meditated for a long time, Bṛhaspati / then addressed Śakra, who stood bowed down in humility:

Bṛhaspati said:
Brahmic splendor is fully abiding in his body, O Purandara; / because of that, O lord of the thirty [gods], you cannot even look at him.

So I will declare to you the means for his slaughter, / by which you will slay that best of Dānavas here.

Dwelling in the Puṣkara forest on the bank of the eastern Sarasvatī, / is a brahmin seer named Dadhīci, a hundred yojanas tall. / Performing tapas there constantly, he always praises the Grandfather [Brahmā]. / That best of munis has grown weary of clinging to his life, O Hari!

He is an ancient muni, heavily covered in old age. / Go quickly and beg him for his massive bones.

Without a doubt he will give them to you, casting off his dearest life. / With his bones you will obtain the weapon called Vajra.

It will be unfailing for you; then you will surely destroy Vṛtra. / That splendor of the Vajra will be augmented by brahmic power; / thereby the fiery splendor born of Vṛtra will be extinguished.

Sūta said:
Having heard that, Śakra went swiftly with all the hosts of gods / to the Puṣkara forest where the eastern Sarasvatī flows.

Endowed with thirty-three and accompanied by crores of tīrthas, / there he entered Dadhīci's wondrous hermitage.

There snakes play with mongooses, mutually content, / deer with lions, and cats with mice.

Crows together with owls are free from mutual hatred, / by the power of the tapas of that great-souled Dadhīci.

Seeing the gods arrive headed by Śakra, Dadhīci too / became rejoiced in mind and went forward to meet them quickly.

Then, taking up water for an offering of honor and bowing repeatedly, / he said to Śakra who had arrived: "What duty shall I perform for you?

O lord of the gods, declare quickly to me what [can be done] for you who have come to my home." / Indra said: / "Offer hospitality, O best of brahmins, to one who has come to your home, O virtuous muni! / Give your own bones to me quickly without hesitation.

It is for that purpose that I have come to you, O lord of munis. / Through your bones the supreme purpose of the gods will be accomplished."

Sūta said:
Having heard that speech of Indra, Dadhīci was filled with joy. / Then he spoke to the thousand-eyed [Indra] who was accompanied by all the gods:

Ah, there is none equal to me on earth today / in merit, since the lord of gods has himself come to my house as a petitioner!

Blessed are my bones, O lord of gods, which will always / perform what is beneficial for you and for the protection of heaven's dwellers.

Here, I will give up my dear life for your sake. / Take the bones at your will for your own purpose, O Purandara!

Having spoken thus, that great seer quickly resorted to meditation, / and releasing his life-breath through the brahmarandhra, he abandoned his soul.

His body, abandoned by the self, at that instant / fell lifeless onto the surface of the earth, O best of brahmins!

At that very time, Śatakratu, taking his bones, / respectfully addressed Viśvakarman:

With these bones make for me quickly the Vajra weapon, / by which I may soon destroy Vṛtra, the greatest of the Dānavas.

Having heard his word, Viśvakarman in haste / made the weapon named Vajra, of terrifying form.

Six-sided, called the hundred-jointed, slender in the middle, and formidable, / he gave it then to that wise thousand-eyed [god].

Then, taking it which shone like twelve suns, / having learned from spies that Vṛtra was in meditation, engaged in twilight worship,

the king of the three worlds, approaching behind his back, / hurled the Vajra aiming at him, eager for his slaughter.

Struck by that Vajra, the Dānava turned to ashes. / But Śakra, not knowing that he was slain, fled in terror.

In a desolate, rugged place overgrown with shrubs, / Śakra hid then, fancying the whole world filled with Vṛtra.

Meanwhile, the gods, looking in every direction, / together with the Siddhas, Cāraṇas, and Gandharvas, approached Śatakratu.

Then, with difficulty, they saw Śakra in the dense forest, / hidden, terrified with fear, and settled in the midst of a thicket.

The gods said: / 'Why are you afraid, O thousand-eyed one? This Vṛtra has been slain by you; / and he was seen by us together with his entire entourage.

Come out from here, O Puraṃdara, let us go home; / rule now over the kingdom of the three worlds, its thorns removed!'

Hearing that, Śatakratu then came out from the midst of the thicket, / his hair standing on end with joy upon hearing that Vṛtra, the best of the Dānavas, had been slain.

Now, as soon as all the gods looked upon Śatakratu, / so soon did they see his body bereft of splendor and filled with a foul stench.

Seeing [him], Brahmā, the teacher of the world, said to all the gods: / 'Śakra is now overtaken by the evil sin of killing a brahmin.

Because he slew that Vṛtra, who was a brahmin, through trickery; / therefore, he must be avoided from afar, lest you incur sin.

Touch or conversation engaged in with a slayer of a brahmin / results in sin for men; therefore, one should shun him from afar.

Let alone touching or especially conversing with him; / they say that even the darśana of him brings all sins upon men.'

Sūta said: / Hearing that speech of Brahmā, Śakra, seeing his own body / abandoned by splendor and pervaded by a foul stench,

then, dejected and with neck bowed low, spoke to the lord of the world: / 'O god, I am your servant, appointed to the status of Indra by you.

Therefore, grant me the favor that destroys the sin of killing a brahmin; / O lord, tell me the expiation by which purification may occur.'

Brahmā said: / 'Having bathed in the sixty-eight sacred fords, O slayer of Bala, / offer [an image of] yourself made of gold, called the "sin-person",

accompanied by mantras and as prescribed, to a great-souled brahmin, / after bathing in the sacred ford of holy waters and declaring, "I am a slayer of a brahmin."

As soon as you have bathed, wherever that [skull] falls to the earth from your hand, / splendor will arise in your body and the foul stench will perish.

In that sacred ford, that skull must be established by you, O Śakra; / and thereafter it is to be worshipped in the name of Maheśvara.

And with the five face-mantras, the golden image of your own body / must then be given to the best of brahmins; then you will attain purification.'

Hearing those words of Brahmā, the unmanifest-born, / Śakra took the skull born of Vṛtra and then went on a pilgrimage to sacred fords.

Going among the sixty-eight sacred fords, that lord of gods / in due course arrived at the sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara.

Having bathed in the pool of Viśvāmitra, as soon as he came out from it, / the skull fell of its own accord from the hands of the self-slayer.

Then he worshipped it with the mantras arising from the faces, / auspicious and destroying all sins, as spoken formerly by Brahmā.

At that very moment, the foul stench came to an end; / from his body, O best of brahmins, a great splendor arose.

In the meantime, Brahmā arrived together with the gods, / knowing that the ruler of all the gods was freed from the sin of killing a brahmin.

The auspicious Brahmā said: / 'The guilt caused by the sin of killing a brahmin has left you, O best of the gods; / for the sake of purifying remaining sins, offer a gift of gold, O lord!

Since in this place this skull of Vṛtra was worshipped by you / with the five mantras arising from the faces of Hara,

you shall therefore give with devotion the golden image of your body / according to the ritual rule, endowed with mantra; and by giving it to a brahmin, / whatever former sin you had done in its entirety will go away, O lord!'

Thus addressed then by Brahmā in the presence of the gods, / Śakra, saying "So be it," at that moment gave his own sin-effigy,

having fashioned it out of gold, O brahmins, to a great-souled brahmin / who was an agnihotrin, born at Gartātīrtha, named Vāta.

At that moment, that brahmin was reviled by the Nāgaras: / 'Fie, fie, sinner! In vain are the Vedas that were mastered by you formerly!

You shall never have contact with us, / since you accepted the gift originating from a sin-effigy.'

Then that brahmin, born of the lineage of Upamanyu, / his face grown pale, who was renowned by the name Vātaka, said:

'O Śakra, because your own sin-effigy was given to me by you, / its acceptance was done by me out of courtesy to you,

not out of greed, O best of the gods; before your eyes, / I have been reviled by all these brahmins residing in the town.

Therefore, I will not accept this gift of yours.'

'I shall give it to you again; if you do not accept it once more, / I will give a brahmin's curse, terrible and destructive.'

Indra said: / 'If a brahmin who has mastered the Vedas and Vedāṅgas should accept a gift, / he is not stained by sin, like a lotus leaf by water.

Therefore, there is no guilt for you; hear these words of mine: / because you have been reviled by these brahmins born in the town,

you shall be the foremost among them in all rites; / their sons and grandsons who will be born, as well as yours,

they will all undoubtedly act according to their command; / any rite, however small, performed without your word, O brahmin,

shall turn out to be barren for them, like an oblation offered into ashes; / and this [place] will become famous by the name Kapālamocana.

Those men who, having remembered my skull, O good brahmin, / perform a śrāddha there, those men, endowed with liberation, / especially during the śrāddha fortnight, will attain the supreme state.

Taking a wife in the family of twice-born men living outside this place, / brahmins born of your gotra, by my grace...'

will be qualified for social interaction in all affairs in the city."
Having spoken thus, the thousand-eyed [Indra] then vanished from sight.

Vāta too, with that wealth obtained through acceptance of gifts,
built there a temple to the god of gods, the trident-bearer.

Then Śakra spoke to those brahmins born in the city:
"Whoever bathes at Kapālamocana and worships the god,

his sin arising from the murder of a brahmin is destroyed without doubt,
or even if he is burdened with a mortal sin, he will become free of sin."

Having agreed [saying], "So be it," to the brahmins born in the city,
he made his own hermitage right there and worshipped Śaṃkara.

From then on, whatever duty arises for them,
the Nāgara [brahmins] residing there perform it according to his word.

For this reason, a second mediator arose here.

All this sin-destroying narrative has been told to you,
for the men who listen to or recite [the tale] of the god Kapāleśvara:

how the great-souled lord of gods had his sin destroyed here,
[and] how the murder of a brahmin was destroyed at that sacred ford, O best of brahmins!

Thus ends the two hundred and sixty-ninth chapter, entitled "Description of the Origin and Māhātmya of Kapālamocaneśvara in the Vātakeśvara Sacred Field," in the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [section], in the Mahāpurāṇa of Śrī Skanda, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. // 269