Skandapurana 5.36

The seers said: / "This sacred seat of Citreśvara was created by the sage Agastya. / Proclaim to us its extent and its power!"

Sūta said: / "The māhātmya of that sacred seat cannot be spoken, O twice-born ones, / even in a thousand years, or even with tens of thousands of mouths.

There yogins of praised vows, absorbed in deep meditation, / have attained perfection by hundreds and by thousands.

Whatever perfection might arise in other sacred seats from a year of ritual practice, / that perfection yogins certainly obtain there in a single day.

Whoever recites the Ātharvaṇa mantras there, endowed with faith, / he certainly obtains the entire fruit born of their purpose.

A man desiring a son who recites the masculine names there, / he would obtain desired sons, even if he were advanced in old age.

A man desiring a son who recites the Garbha Upaniṣad there, / even through union with a barren woman he would be endowed with a son."

A person who recites the Śatarudrīya for the destruction of enemies / at that seat sees his foes immediately perish. (8)

For protection from spirits, ghosts, piśācas, and the like, a man there / who recites the Vāmadevya [hymn] indeed becomes free from affliction. (9)

A man there who recites the verse ‘Who gave?’ (ko 'dāt) desiring a maiden, / attains without a doubt that maiden upon whom he meditates. (10)

He who recites ‘These gods’ (imaṃ devāḥ) day and night to win the favor of a king / attains unhindered favor issuing from that monarch. (11)

He who recites ‘Together with the wives’ (taṃ patnībhiḥ), O brahmins, to secure his wife's affection / finds that his wife becomes virtuous, devoted, and loving. (12)

He who recites ‘Aditi’ (aditiḥ) to win the favor of people / secures the affection of the world and especially profit. (13)

A man seeking wealth who recites the Śrīsūkta there, O brahmins, / receives wealth from every quarter in many ways. (14)

A man who recites the Sāman ‘Earth’ (bhūmi) there for the sake of land / truly becomes a ruler of the earth, even if born of low caste, without fail. (15)

A man there who recites the Rathaṃtara Sāman for the sake of vehicles / indeed obtains fast and auspicious conveyances. (16)

He who desires elephants and recites ‘Of the hosts’ (gaṇānām) there, O best of brahmins, / obtains elephants that flood the ground with rut. (17)

A man who recites the mantra ‘Not that protection’ (na tadrakṣā) for the sake of safety / enjoys protection from all sides, through level and rough ways. (18)

He who, composed in mind, recites the excellent verse / ‘The Seven Seers’ (saptarṣayaḥ) for the eradication of diseases is released from diseases. (19)

A person tormented by the affliction of planets who recites ‘By Yadū’ (yadubhīḥ) there / finds the planets becoming favorable to him, without a doubt. (20)

And a man afflicted by spirit-possession who recites the Bṛhat Sāman / finds that spirit becoming like a father to him, even were it the God of Death. (21)

And he who recites the Śākunam Sūkta for success on a journey / achieves success in his journey, even if he possesses nothing. (22)

A man who recites the hymn to serpents (Sārpasūkta) there for the destruction of snakes / finds snakes never entering his dwelling under any circumstance. (23)

He who recites ‘Arise!’ (uttiṣṭha) there endowed with faith / to destroy poison immediately brings about the destruction of the venom. (24)

Be it vegetable, animal, or artificial poison, / it departs at its name, like darkness at sunrise. (25)

He who recites the Vyāghrasāman there endowed with faith / finds tigers and other ferocious beasts becoming gentle-minded toward him. (26)

He who recites ‘The plows’ (lāṅgalāni) for the success of agricultural work / finds his farming flourish, even in this world devoid of rain. (27)

A man should recite the Devavrata hymn right there for the elimination of calamities; / through that utterance alone, calamities come to an end. (28)

When the world is stricken by drought, he who recites the Pañcendra hymn there / brings about the arrival of water through an oblation offered with his hands using those mantras. (29)

A man tormented by thieves who reads ‘By the two tusks’ (daṃṣṭrābhyām) there / never suffers any trouble arising from thieves. (30)

And he who recites ‘Connected’ (saṃsṛṣṭam) there for the sake of a dispute / attains victory in the dispute, even if he be in the wrong. (31)

A man who recites the Rudraśiras hymn to drive away his enemies / finds his enemies leaving the region due to their corrupted intellects. (32)

And he who recites the Viṣṇusaṃhitā to stupefy his enemies / sees those enemies become overcome by delusion, certainly. (33)

A man who recites the Kūṣmāṇḍa mantras for subjugation / brings even his enemies under control, not to mention women and others. (34)

He who, devoted to right faith, O best of brahmins, recites the Prājāpatya and Vāruṇa mantras / for paralyzing his enemies / sees all his foes become paralyzed by the mantra. (35)

A man who recites ‘Kālī, Karālī’, O brahmins, to dry up [something] / completely dries up whatever he holds in his mind. (36)

This mantra was recited then by the great-souled Agastya, / by whose power the lord of rivers [the ocean] was certainly dried up by him. (37)

The power of this seat which effects the accomplishment of mantras / and earthly fruits has thus been proclaimed by me to you. (38)

Moreover, he who desires heaven, O best of brahmins, / should perform ritual ablution, charitable gifts, and especially ancestral rites (śrāddha) there. (39)

Or, if someone desires liberation, having grown detached from the ocean of worldly existence, / let that wise person, desireless and contented, practice austerity there. (40)

The seers said: / The māhātmya of mantra recitation that has been proclaimed by you to us— / how does that mantra recitation attain perfection, O son of Sūta? (41)

Sūta said: / Here I shall relate that which was heard by me from my father, / as it was spoken in ancient times by the eminent brahmin, the sage Durvāsas. (42)

Formerly, our father was questioned by that Durvāsas, O brahmins, / regarding the practice of mantras; listen with attentive minds: (43)

Durvāsas said: / Observing vows, I wish to master a certain desired mantra. / Tell me the procedure derived from the scriptures for its accomplishment. (44)

Romaharṣaṇa said: / The accomplishment of all mantras is difficult, O noble sage; / it is accompanied by transgressions and full of many flaws. (45)

Therefore, if you desire accomplishment through mantra, O brahmin, / you ought to go to that sacred field in Camatkārapura. (46)

There is the Citreśvarī seat established by Agastya, / said to instantly grant the accomplishment of mantras held in one's heart. (47)

There no defect arises, nor any transgression, O brahmin, / nor failure, due to the boon granted by all the denizens of heaven. (48)

For that seat bestows accomplishment across the four ages / immediately upon those residing there, according to the age; therefore I shall explain, O brahmin. (49)

Whichever mantra a person wishes to master, O best of brahmins, / that man should first recite it one hundred thousand times.

Then, purified, that man becomes accomplished and worthy of the mantra. / Then he should recite it four hundred thousand times, O tiger among brahmins; / and one-tenth of that should be an oblation offered into a well-kindled fire.

Thereupon, accomplishment certainly arises from that mantra. / In benevolent rites, the oblation is performed there with white mustard seeds

and jasmine flowers, O best of brahmins, and is accompanied by feeding brahmins; / likewise, in fierce rites, with red flowers and bdellium,

and with satisfactions offered to young maidens; such an oblation yields results.

This excellent method of mastering mantras was proclaimed for the Kṛta age; / it has been spoken by me for all practitioners, O best of brahmins.

In the Tretā age, this mastery of mantras is said to be reduced by one-quarter; / half of the pair is to be done in the Dvāpara age, and one-quarter in the Kali age.

Thus having attained there the perfection born of the mantra / at that sacred seat, a person may then accomplish his objective at will.

Endowed with the capacity to curse or bestow boons, possessed of fiery power, / he becomes unassailable by any creature, and esteemed by virtuous people.

Sūta said: / Having heard all that advice of his father, that sage, / that true sage, then arrived at the seat of Citreśvara.

There he mastered all the mantras in proper order, / according to the injunction seen in the scriptures, endowed with supreme faith.

Thus, having mastered the mantras, he went to Camatkārapura / in order to petition the brahmins for a piece of land, O brahmins.

Thus ends the thirty-sixth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of the Sacred Seat of Citreśvarī', in the Glory of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the sixth section, the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.