Skandapurana 5.4

Sūta said: / Having pondered thus, Triśaṅku, after a long time, / made a firm resolve in his mind regarding the great sage Viśvāmitra:

“Apart from Viśvāmitra, there is no one else in the three worlds / who can deliver me from this terrible suffering.”

Setting Kurukṣetra as his destination, he then set out, / utterly exhausted, afflicted by hunger and thirst, constantly inquiring about the way.

Then, having reached Kurukṣetra in the course of time, the king / eagerly searched for the hermitage of Viśvāmitra.

And while the king was searching thus, / he saw from afar a cluster of dark trees,

with cranes and swans wandering all around overhead, / along with waterfowl, diver-birds, and water-birds on every side.

Thinking there was water there, the king, tormented by thirst, / set off quickly, delighted, his fatigue removed by the breeze over the water.

Then he saw a captivating hermitage, frequented by gentle creatures, / situated on the bank of a river, dispelling the sorrow of the mind,

surrounded on all sides by trees bearing flowers and fruits, / resounding with the sweet calls of various excellent birds,

where mongooses play with snakes, owls with crows, / and cats with mice, and leopards with various kinds of deer.

Then he saw on the riverbank, surrounded by a host of ascetics, / Viśvāmitra, a treasury of austerity, subdued, devoted to sacred study,

blazing like fire with his splendor and great austerity, / clad in rags and bark garments, resting against a śāla tree.

Then, approaching, that foremost of kings, remaining at a distance, bowed down to him / with a prostration of eight limbs, proclaiming his own name.

And in the same way he stood with folded hands before his other disciples, / in order according to seniority, filled with supreme faith.

Seeing that king whose limbs were covered in dust, / and considering him a cāṇḍāla on account of the marks produced upon his body,

they immediately rebuked him with harsh words / and cries of ‘Fie!’, and others repeatedly said, ‘Go away! Go away!

Who are you, evil one, who have arrived here at this excellent hermitage of sages, / filled with the sound of the Vedas and hard even for the virtuous to attain?

Therefore go away quickly, before some ascetic / pronounces a curse and brings about even the destruction of your life!’”

Triśaṅku said: / “I am the king named Triśaṅku, born of the Solar race. / Cursed by the sons of Vasiṣṭha, I have been cast into the condition of a cāṇḍāla.

As such, I have come seeking refuge with Viśvāmitra, the friend of the world, for release from the curse, O best of the twice-born; / I have no other supreme refuge.”

Viśvāmitra said: / “You are the patron of Vasiṣṭha, and especially of his sons. / Why then have you been reduced by them today to such an evil state?

What offense was committed by you against them, O best of kings? / Was an attack made on their lives, or did you assault a wife?”

Triśaṅku said: / “I requested a sacrifice from Vasiṣṭha, the best of sages, / for the purpose of ascending to heaven with this very body.

He said: ‘There is no such sacrifice by which one goes to heaven / in this very body, without taking another body, O king.’

Having heard that, I said to him: ‘If you will not take me / to heaven in this body at once by the power of a sacrifice,

then I shall certainly adopt another guru today, there is no doubt.’ / Knowing this, the sage said: ‘Do whatever is wholesome.’

Then, having been rejected by him, I approached his cruel sons / and told them all that had been declared by Vasiṣṭha.

Then, inflamed with rage, they cursed me, O best of sages; / I was reduced to this wretched condition and cast into the status of a cāṇḍāla.

Meditating on you in my mind, having placed great hope in you, / I have come here to Kurukṣetra from very far away, O lord of sages.

There is nothing impossible for you in the three worlds, O sage! / Therefore, provide a remedy for me who am miserable now.”

Sūta said: / Having heard those words of his, Viśvāmitra, the lord of sages, / sitting in the midst of the sages, spoke out of rivalry with Vasiṣṭha:

“I shall perform that sacrifice for you, O king, / by which, immediately upon its being offered, you will go to heaven at that very moment.”

"O king, though you were made an outcaste in this way by the sons of Vasiṣṭha, / you shall certainly be made king again by me; of this there is no doubt.

Therefore, come, O king, on a pilgrimage to sacred fords with me; / undertake it, so that through the power of the sacred fords you may become pure once more,

and fit for sacrificial rites, freed from the state of a caṇḍāla. / There is no sin that does not perish through ritual ablution in a sacred ford."

Sūta said: / Having made this resolve, the lord of sages, the son of Gādhi, / keeping Triśaṅku behind him, set out on a pilgrimage to sacred fords.

[He went to] Kurukṣetra, to the Sarasvatī, Prabhāsa, Kurujāṅgala, / Pṛthūdaka, Gayāśīrṣa, Naimiṣa, and the three Puṣkaras;

to Vārāṇasī, Prayāga, Kedāra, Śravaṇa on the river, / Citrakūṭa, Gokarṇa, Śāligrāma, and Acaleśvara;

to Śuklatīrtha, to the one called Surājya, to the auspicious Dṛṣadvatī river, / and then to other most holy sacred fords and shrines.

Thus, as he wandered over the surface of the earth together with that great-souled [sage], / a long time passed for that lord of men.

Yet, O twice-born ones, he was not freed from the sin of being a caṇḍāla, / even though he performed ritual ablutions one by one at such sacred fords.

Then, in due course, he came toward Mount Arbuda. / Climbing up there and beholding Acaleśvara, the destroyer of sins,

as the lord of sages was departing from that shrine, / just then the best of sages, named Mārkaṇḍeya, was seen by him.

He too, seeing Viśvāmitra, the friend of the world and lord of sages, / then spoke: "Whence have you arrived now, O lord of sages?

Who is this terrible follower of yours, who looks like an outcaste? / Relate all this to me as I ask, O virtuous sage."

Viśvāmitra said: / "This is the tiger among kings known as Triśaṅku. / He was reduced to the state of a caṇḍāla by the sons of Vasiṣṭha out of wrath.

And I pledged to him: 'I will wander the earth with its seven continents / until you regain purity.'

I have wandered to whatever sacred fords and shrines exist on the surface of the earth, / yet he has not attained purity; and now I am exhausted.

Therefore, abandoning the whole earth, filled with supreme shame, / leaving behind the continents and great oceans, I shall depart beyond this,

lest I become an object of ridicule to the sons of Vasiṣṭha, / having failed in my vow, O brahmin; I tell you the truth."

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / "If it is so, O tiger among sages, heed my word: / do not go anywhere abandoning the earth with its seven continents.

To the southwest of this mountain, in the country called Ānarta, / there is a sacred field named Hāṭakeśvara.

There the primeval liṅga was installed of gold by the best of the gods, / which is celebrated in the world as Hāṭakeśvara in Pātāla;

where the water of the celestial Gaṅgā of Pātāla exists, O best of the twice-born, / which emerged from Rasātala when the liṅga was lifted up by Śambhu.

Entering Pātāla there with effort, let the ruler of the earth / take a ritual ablution in the water of the celestial Gaṅgā, full of faith.

Afterward, let him behold that liṅga named Hāṭakeśvara; / then he will become pure, freed from the state of a caṇḍāla.

You too will attain the supreme good that resides in your heart, / and whatever else [you desire] beyond that, fixed in austerity right there."

Sūta said: / Hearing that speech of his, the lord of sages, Viśvāmitra, / accompanied by Triśaṅku, went there swiftly from that place.

Entering Pātāla by the divine path, / he had the best of kings, Triśaṅku, bathe according to prescribed rites.

As soon as he bathed, by the darśana of Hāṭakeśvara, / the king was liberated from the state of a caṇḍāla and became radiant as the sun.

Then the sage said to him, who bowed low, his impurities gone: / "By good fortune you have now been freed from the state of a caṇḍāla, O lord of kings!

By good fortune supreme splendor has been attained; by good fortune supreme austerity has been attained! / Therefore, perform a sacrifice with a sacrificial session according to the rules, accompanied by generous gifts,

by which you will attain the perfection that constantly resides in your heart. / For your sake, I myself will go and request the Grandfather,

so that the foremost of all the gods may take his share of the sacrifice in your rite. / Therefore, gather right here all the materials required for the sacrifice, / until my return from the realm of Brahmā."

"So be it," replied that sage of firm vows. / Approaching the Grandfather and bowing down, he spoke these words:

"I will officiate at a sacrifice for King Triśaṅku, O great-grandfather, / so that he may reach your abode in his mortal body.

Therefore, come there, O Grandfather, to the sacrificial enclosure, / along with all the hosts of gods, headed by Śiva and Viṣṇu.

Accept with your own hand the share of the sacrifice as is proper, / so that by your grace he may go to heaven in his bodily form."

Brahmā said: / "Heaven is not attained in one's own body by sacrificial action / without casting off another body, O brahmin; therefore, do not speak thus to me.

All of us, having fire as our mouth, accept the oblation in a sacrifice / properly according to the rite proclaimed in the Veda, truly for the benefit of the sacrificer.

Therefore, let him again offer the oblation into the mouth of the fire, O twice-born one; / then, by your grace, he will attain heaven without a doubt."

Thus, in the holy Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses], in the sixth section, the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the glorification of the sacred field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the episode of Triśaṅku, ends the fourth chapter, entitled 'The Description of the Undertaking of the Sacrifice for Triśaṅku by Viśvāmitra.'