Skandapurana 5.35

Sūta said: / When they were broken and slain in this way, the foremost gods, / all rejoicing in heart, praised the god Maheśvara.

Then, dismissed by him, bowing repeatedly, / led by Śakra and Viṣṇu, they departed each to their own abode.

Those foremost Dānavas as well, their hopes shattered by the highest gods, / all held counsel for the destruction of the heaven-dwellers.

As they deliberated, this decision was reached: / "Except through the destruction of dharma, the ruin of the gods does not occur.

Therefore, the ascetics, those devoted to sacrifice, / and others engaged in dharma are to be slaughtered when night arrives."

Having thus made their decision, emerging from the abode of Varuṇa, / they continually slaughter people devoted to dharma at night.

Wherever there was a sacrifice, an oblation-session, or a festival, / going there at nightfall, they brought about the destruction of people.

By them sacrifices commenced were ruined; the consecrated were struck down, / as were priests and other ordinary foremost twice-born ones. / In the hermitage of the noble Śāṇḍilya, foremost among sages, / a thousand chief brahmins were devoured by those evil-minded ones.

And hundreds of thousands of twice-born ones were killed: / five [thousand] of Viśvāmitra, and seven of the wise Atri.

At that very time, the entire surface of the earth, / with its sacrificial festivals destroyed, was afflicted by the dread of the Kāleyas.

No one slept at night on the surface of the earth; / all people stood, weapons in hand, along with the ascetics.

Whichever confident performers of dharma slept at night, / only their bones were to be seen in the morning.

Then all the hosts of gods, deprived of their shares in sacrifices, / fell into extreme distress, with Brahmā and Viṣṇu at their head.

Then, having gone to the edge of the ocean to slay the enemies of the gods, / they were unable even in thought to overpower them established in that difficult place.

Then, deeply grieved, they took counsel for the destruction of the ocean: / "Once that is destroyed, the foremost Dānavas will indeed be liable to be slain.

Without Agastya, this ocean will not dry up; / therefore, let us go and entreat the lord of sages for this deed.

That noble sage resides in the Camatkārapura sacred field; / therefore, let us go right there so that he may set out quickly."

Having resolved thus, all those gods reached the hermitage / of that foremost among sages born of Mitra and Varuṇa.

Seeing all the foremost gods who had arrived, / that noble sage, exceedingly delighted, went swiftly to meet them.

With folded hands, he spoke with a voice trembling with joy, / his eyes wide open with wonder upon seeing those gods led by Brahmā:

"This Camatkārapura sacred field, though already pure, / has become even purer indeed through your refuge.

Therefore, speak what task may be accomplished by me now; / I will perform all of it, even if it be very difficult to do."

The gods said: / "Those Daityas known as the Kāleyas, who were left over after being struck down by the gods, / taking shelter in the ocean, are slaughtering those who perform good deeds.

When goodness meets with destruction, the destruction of the heaven-dwellers is certain. / Therefore, dry up the great ocean for their slaughter,

so that, brought within the range of sight, all those foremost Dānavas / may be slain by the gods, and sacrifices may take place here."

Agastya said: / "At the end of a year I will dry up the ocean, / relying on the power of the magical knowledge of the yoginīs, O foremost gods."

"Therefore go to your mansions; for a year is passing. / When the year has ended, you must certainly return here again.

Then, having gone together with me once the abode of Varuṇa is dried up, / the wicked Dānavas must be slain—alas, by whom the world is tormented!"

Then all the hosts of gods went to their respective abodes. / Agastya too made energetic effort born of the vidyā.

Then all the sacred seats that exist upon the surface of the earth, / those the great sage brought there through the power of mantras.

And having worshipped with devotion on the eighth and fourteenth days upon them / the multitudes of yoginīs, and especially the young maidens,

the twice-born worshipped the vidyā named Viśoṣiṇī. / Having worshipped the guardians of the directions and the guardians of the field, / and with faith the goddess who moves through the sky, the twice-born [invoked her].

Then at the end of the year the pleased goddess / said to him: "Speak what is to be done; I have been mastered by you, O good sage!"

Agastya said: / "If you are pleased with me, O goddess, enter my mouth swiftly, / so that by holding my speech I may quickly dry up the ocean, O goddess."

She assented with "So be it," and swiftly entered the mouth / of that sage of cultivated soul, [she] the great vidyā Saṃśoṣaṇī.

In the meantime, all the gods arrived together with Indra, / weapons held in their hands, rejoicing, armed and ready for the purpose of battle.

Then the brahmin set forth, accompanied by all the gods, / heading towards the mass of waters, his face then completely parched.

Then, having gone to the edge of the ocean while being praised by the dwellers of heaven, / being exceedingly overcome by thirst, he spoke indeed to all the gods:

"Here, I will immediately dry up the ocean right now. / You must be ready with effort for the slaughter of the enemies of the gods."

Sūta said: / Having spoken thus, that sage then, with ease, completely drank / the great ocean, crowded with fish and turtles and strewn with sea-monsters.

Then, when it had become like dry land, those Daityas were slain / by the excellent gods with sharp arrows on all sides, wishing for victory.

Then, having fought a great and exceedingly terrible battle according to their strength, / those who remained after most were killed split the earth and went below.

Then all the gods, having praised that best of sages, said: / "Discharge the water once more for the sake of refilling the great ocean.

Deprived of the ocean, O brahmin, this earth / does not look splendid, just as an adorned woman devoid of clothing [does not look splendid]."

Agastya said: / "The desiccating vidyā which was worshipped by me for the course of a year, / by her this water was drunk, and it has also been digested.

This abode of Varuṇa will indeed attain fullness once again; / dug out and having reached bottomlessness, [it will be filled] by the pure waters of the Gaṅgā.

There will be a king named Sagara upon the surface of the earth. / His sixty thousand sons will dig it out; there is no doubt.

Belonging to his very lineage, there will be a king named Bhagīratha. / For the sake of his kinsmen, he will bring the Gaṅgā from the cosmic egg.

Then, by her flow on all sides, the ocean / will become fully filled; this that I have spoken is true."

The gods said: / "The task of the gods has indeed been accomplished by you, O best of sages! / Therefore ask, O lord of sages, every boon that resides in your mind."

Agastya said: / "In the sacred field of Camatkārapura all the sacred seats without remainder / have been brought by me by the power of mantras, O best of gods.

Therefore, by [your] power, let their dwelling be always right there, / and [the dwelling] of all the yoginīs, and especially of the Mothers.

And whoever, endowed with faith, worships them on the eighth and fourteenth days, / all that is desired in his mind shall come to be."

The gods said: / "Since diverse sacred seats were brought there by you, / therefore there shall be one sacred seat named Citreśvara.

Whichever desire a person meditates upon and performs worship there, / of the yoginīs, the vidyās, and especially of the Mothers,

that very desire the mortal shall quickly obtain, O great sage, / by the granting of our boon, even if he were a great doer of evil."

Having spoken thus, all the gods, having bidden farewell to that lord of sages, / went joyfully to heaven; and Agastya too [went] to his own hermitage.

Sūta said: / All this has been narrated to you: how that ocean / was drunk of old by Agastya for the accomplishment of the purpose of the gods.

Thus ends the thirty-fifth chapter, titled 'The Description of the Granting of the Boon Named the Sacred Seat of Citreśvara by the Gods to the Assemblage of Sacred Seats Summoned by Agastya, in the Narrative of the Drinking of the Ocean by Agastya', in the Māhātmya of Hāṭakeśvarakṣetra, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection in the glorious Skandapurāṇa.