Skandapurana 5.46

The seers said: / Whatever other sacred fords are there, O highly wise one, / proclaim them all, for our curiosity is great indeed.

Sūta said: / There is another very beautiful sacred ford there belonging to Sarasvatī, / where, having bathed, even an utterly mute person becomes eloquent in speech.

He also obtains desired wishes, both human and divine, / and likewise worlds up to the world of Brahmā, O best of brahmins.

Formerly there was a celebrated king named Balavardhana, / who enjoyed the earth encircled by the ocean, conquered by his own arms.

To him a son was born endowed with all auspicious marks. / When the twelfth day arrived, having summoned the best of brahmins, / the father clearly gave him the name 'Ambuvīci'.

Then that boy grew, fondled by that king; / having fallen into muteness, he was unable to speak.

Then, when his seventh year arrived, Balavardhana / met his death, slain in battle by enemies.

Then, though mute and still a child, by the ministers of that king / that son was established on the throne, in the absence of another son.

Thus, while that dull-witted king was on the throne / and remaining in childhood, the kingdom fell into turmoil.

Then the law of the fishes set in upon the earth: / all people who were weak were oppressed by the stronger ones.

Then those ministers said to Vasiṣṭha, their family priest: / 'O great sage, devise a means for the speech of this king.

Behold the whole surface of the earth has fallen into desolation / on account of this king's dumbness; therefore, do what is fitting.'

Then, having meditated for a long time, he addressed the wretched ministers / who were all overcome with distress, while that king listened:

'There is a sacred ford belonging to Sarasvatī that grants all desires to mortals / in the sacred field sprung from Hāṭakeśvara; let this king bathe there.'

Then, by his word, he went there swiftly without delay; / from the bath in the sacred ford, at that very moment his voice became melodious.

Having realised that power of Sarasvatī, the king, / endowed with supreme faith, meditating upon Sarasvatī,

then quickly took clay from the riverbank / and himself fashioned the four-armed goddess Bhāratī:

holding a very enchanting lotus in her right hand, / and in another a rosary surpassing the brilliance of stars;

and in another a water-pot filled with divine water; / and in the left a book, the origin of all knowledge.

Then, having carefully placed her upon a pure slab of stone, / he worshipped her with true devotion using incense, garlands, and unguents.

And afterwards, with a mind purified by faith, / becoming restrained in front of her, the king uttered a hymn of praise with a loud voice:

'O goddess, whatever state is real or unreal, having the nature of bondage and liberation, / all that is pervaded by you in a hidden manner, as wood [is pervaded] by fire.

You dwell in the heart of every person in the form of accomplishment, / in the tongue in the form of speech, and in the eye in the form of light.

You are accessible through devotion, O queen of gods, you alone in the three worlds, / dedicated to protecting the wretched and afflicted who have taken refuge.

You are fame, you are fortitude, intellect; you are devotion, you are regarded as splendour; / you are sleep, you are hunger, renown, dwelling in all beings;

contentment, nourishment, physical form, pleasure, Svadhā, Svāhā, the night, / delight, joy, the earth, the Gaṅgā, truth, righteousness, the high-minded woman;

modesty, tranquility, memory, dexterity, patience, Gaurī and Rohiṇī; / Sinīvālī, Kuhū, Rākā, the mother of the gods, and likewise Diti;

Brahmāṇī, Vinatā, Lakṣmī, Kadrū, Dākṣāyaṇī, Śivā, / Gāyatrī, and Sāvitrī, agriculture, rain, the Veda, the arts;

strength, the tubular channel, the limit of satisfaction, the tongue, and Sarasvatī; / whatever else exists in the three worlds that has not been mentioned on account of its multiplicity,

moving or unmoving, that too is your form, O queen of gods. / Gandharvas, Kinnaras, gods, Siddhas, Vidyādharas, and serpents,

Yakṣas, Guhyakas, Bhūtas, Daityas, and whichever Vināyakas there are— / by your grace they all attained the supreme perfection.

Likewise, others also who have not been mentioned by me due to their multiplicity, / but worshipped with great austerity and revered with elaborate rites— / may the deities remove sin, and you too who have been praised.'

Praised in this way by that king, Bhāratī, the queen of the gods, / quickly appeared visibly and, greatly delighted, spoke these words:

Sarasvatī said: / "O king, by this hymn of praise and with your ever-firm devotion, / I am well pleased; therefore, quickly choose a boon as you desire."

The king said: / "From this day forward, by my word, you must certainly remain / here in this image in these three worlds as long as my fame endures.

Whoever properly worships you who reside here on my account, / to him you should quickly grant just what accords with his devotion."

Sarasvatī said: / "Whoever, having bathed here in this auspicious water, / constantly worships me residing here on the eighth and fourteenth days,

to him, O king, I will grant his desired wishes." / Sūta said: / Thus the goddess Sarasvatī herself remained there.

From then on, for the welfare of the worlds, the supreme goddess [remained]. / Devoted to fasting on the eighth and fourteenth days,

whatever mortal worships her with white flowers and ointments, / he becomes eloquent and wise in every birth forever.

Being born again and again by the grace of Sarasvatī, / no one who is a fool is ever born even in his lineage.

Whatever man listens to the sacred law before her, / he surely dwells in heaven for three yugas through her power.

And whatever man, endowed with faith, constantly makes a gift of knowledge / in her shrine, he obtains the fruit of an horse sacrifice.

Whoever gives to a chief of brahmins a manuscript / derived from the dharmaśāstra, he obtains the entire fruit of an horse sacrifice.

Whoever, standing before her, recites the Veda, / he obtains the full fruit of an Agniṣṭoma sacrifice.

Thus ends the forty-sixth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of the Sarasvatī Tīrtha', in the Praise of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.