Skandapurana 5.51

Sūta said: / Then, hearing those oaths, that tiger was filled with astonishment; / considering it to be the truth, he said again to Nandinī, who was fond of her son:

"If it is so, then go home, behold your own offspring, / and having entrusted him to your companions, make your return again."

Sūta said: / Hearing these words of the tiger, the well-behaved Nandinī then / went towards the abode where her young son was staying.

Then, seeing his mother arrived out of season with an alarmed mind, / and beholding her lowing, the calf said in wonder:

"Why have you arrived untimely, and why is your mind distraught? / Why is your face wet with tears? Tell me quickly, O mother!"

Nandinī said: / "If you ask me, son, drink from my breast, / so that, when you are satisfied, I may tell you the whole story."

Sūta said: / He too, hearing her words, drank milk as was proper, / and having been sniffed on the crown of his head by her, he then said at once:

"Recount the whole event that arose in the forest today, / so that peace of mind may arise in me after hearing it from your mouth, O mother."

Nandinī said: / "Indeed, I went into the great forest today at will, my son; / there, wandering here and there, I was caught by a tiger.

As he was about to eat me, that claw-armed [beast] was implored by me, my son: / 'I shall return with oaths after seeing my child in the cow-herd.'"

I was released by him after making many oaths. / I will go back there now that you have been seen and spoken to. 11.

The calf said: / I will go right there where you are going. / Truly, dying right before my mother is praiseworthy for me now. 12.

Even all alone, left without you, I must die / in a very short time, deprived of milk to drink. 13.

If, O mother, the tiger slays me along with you, / the destination of those devoted to their mother will surely be mine. 14.

Or else, whatever oaths were made by you to him, O auspicious one, / let them be upon me! Therefore, you stay right here in the herd. 15. / There is no kinsman equal to a mother for young ones living on milk; / there is no protector equal to a mother; there is no refuge equal to a mother. 16.

There is no venerable one equal to a mother; there is no friend equal to a mother; / there is no deity equal to a mother, in this world and the next. 17.

Thinking thus, devotion must always be offered to a mother by the virtuous. / Those sons who practice this supreme duty ordained by Prajāpati / attain the supreme state. 18.

Therefore I will go, and you stay here in the herd. / I will undoubtedly preserve your life with my own life. 19.

Nandinī said: / Death has been decreed today for me alone, not for you, O son. / So how can you protect my life with your own life? 20.

This is my final, excellent instruction, O son, given by your mother: / you must diligently carry it out, following my words. 21.

Wandering in the forest, O son, do not be negligent. / Through greed comes destruction, in this world and the next. 22.

Deluded by greed, men enter the ocean, the wilderness, and battle. / There is nothing in this world that men do not do out of greed. 23.

Through greed, through negligence, and through misplaced trust, a man is slain by these three. / Therefore, one should not be greedy, nor negligent, nor should one trust [recklessly]. 24.

You must always guard yourself with great care, O son, / from all beasts of prey while wandering in the dense forest. 25.

Grass growing in uneven ground must not be eaten in any way by you, my dear child. / You must never wander alone, leaving your own herd behind anywhere. 26.

Having spoken thus to that calf, licking him repeatedly, / overcome with great sorrow, her eyes bewildered with tears, 27.

then, O best of brahmins, Nandinī went to see all the companion [cows], / her limbs tormented by grief for her son, profoundly agitated. 28.

Then, having gone into the forest, O best of brahmins, she spoke to them all / as they were grazing at will, delighted, on the grasses they desired: 29.

“O Bahulā, Campakā, Dāmā, Vasudhārā, Ghaṭasravā, / Haṃsanādā, Priyānandā, Śubhakṣīrā, Mahodayā, 30.

and the other cows that dwell near the herd, / listen to my words, and act accordingly thereafter. / Today, wandering not very far from my herd, 31.

I then reached a dense forest devoid of human beings. / There, wandering in search of grass, I was caught by a tiger. 32.

In order to see you and to speak with my son, / I have returned with difficulty through oaths, having gained the trust of that beast with claws for weapons. 33.

My son has been seen, spoken to, and instructed by me; / now this little child is entrusted to you. 34.

Whatever wrongdoing has been committed by me toward you, / through ignorance or even knowingly, O good ones, that should be forgiven in kindness. 35.

My child is indeed helpless, weak, miserable, and dependent on milk; / scorched by grief for his mother, he must be protected by all of you. 36.

Wandering into an uneven place, going into another herd, / or engaged in inappropriate actions, he should always be held back with care. 37.

I will go there where that tiger waits. / This is the final bow made by me to you all.” 38.

The cows said: / “You must not go there by any means, O Nandinī! / You surely do not know the duty in emergencies, which is why you are going. 39.

Words spoken in jest do not cause ruin, nor [untruth] with women, nor at the time of marriage, / nor in danger to life, nor during the loss of all one’s wealth: they declare that five untruths are free from sin. 40.

Therefore you must not go there; there is no fault in you here, O auspicious one. / Protect your own son and return home with us!” 41.

Nandinī said: / “O auspicious ones, it is fitting to do that for the sake of preserving the lives of others; / for the sake of one's own life, it is not commended for the virtuous. 42.

The world is established on truth; dharma is established on truth. / By the word of truth, the ocean does not cross its boundary. 43.

Having given the earth to Viṣṇu, Bali took refuge in Pātāla; / relying upon his word of truth, the king of Daityas does not depart [from there]. 44.

He who, having made a pledge with his own word, does not do as declared, / what sin has not been committed by that thief of evil intent? 45.”

The companion [cows] said: / “You are to be revered, O Nandinī, by all gods and asuras, / you who, for the sake of upholding truth, are giving up life that is so hard to abandon! 46.

What shall we say to you, O blessed one, who yourself speak of dharma and right conduct, / endowed with all virtues, always established in truth? 47.

Therefore go, O fortunate one; your little son is not to be grieved over. / What we have been told by you, that we shall certainly do. 48.

Moreover, this we know: for people who always adhere to truth, / the undertaking of an action never comes to ruin in any way.” 49.

Sūta said: / Having spoken thus to all those companion [cows] of hers, / Nandinī set out toward the tiger, tormented by grief for her son. 50.

Scorched by the fire of grief, despairing of ever seeing her son again, / like a female cakravāka bird separated [from her mate], like a creeper fallen from a tree. 51.

Like a blind woman deprived of sight, stumbling at every step, / she prayed to all the presiding deities of the forest on behalf of her son:

“Whether he is fast asleep or wandering about, my tender infant son— / may all the presiding deities of the forest protect him at my word!”

Having thus lamented in her mind, she arrived at the place where he was— / sitting with wide-open mouth, sharp-fanged, and terrifying,

the tiger, his throat emaciated by hunger, watching the path for her, / filled with furious agitation, licking his lips.

Nandinī said: / “I have arrived, O great tiger, remaining true to my word and oath. / Sate your hunger as you wish now with my flesh.”

Seeing her, even that evil-minded beast attained the highest dispassion: / “She has returned with truthful intent, casting aside the fear of losing her life.”

The tiger said: / “Welcome to you, auspicious and excellent cow, who speak truth! / Indeed, nothing unfavorable ever befalls the truthful.

You swore with oaths, O blessed one: ‘I will come back.’ / Therefore I was curious: what will she do?

As for me, O blessed one, I am wicked, cruel, and a killer of living beings; / by this action, I will constantly go to a dreadful hell.

Therefore, O highly fortunate one, you ought to show favor to me, / an evil and exceedingly wicked soul, by granting me instruction,

whereby there may be ultimate welfare for me in this world and the next. / Nothing is unknown to you, so I think, because of your truthful conduct.

Therefore proclaim to me in brief the essence of all dharma, / so that all the fruit of association with the virtuous may arise for me.”

Nandinī said: / “They praise austerity in the Kṛta age, and contemplation alone in the Tretā, / the practice of sacrifice in the Dvāpara, and gift-giving alone in the Kali age. / Among all gifts, there is no gift higher than this:

he who grants freedom from fear to beings moving and unmoving, / freed from all fear, attains the supreme Brahman.”

The tiger said: / “Such giving is fitting for other beings, O auspicious one, / whose livelihood through food can be accomplished without violence.

Since our sustenance of life cannot take place without violence, / therefore, O highly fortunate one, speak some advice that brings happiness to me, / for the true dharma even of one who slaughters living beings.”

Nandinī said: / “There is a very great liṅga here in this thicket, installed of old by Bāṇa, / by whose power I have certainly been released by you.

Rising early in the morning, perform circumambulation of it daily, / and bow down; then you will obtain the desired perfection.

You have no capacity for other actions, O claw-armed one, / such as worship, because of the lack of hands: this is my opinion.”

Having spoken thus, O best of brahmins, the cow then, standing before him, / showed that liṅga to the tiger at the edge of the forest.

From the darśana of it, he instantly obtained liberation / from the state of a tiger and became a king again, just as he was before.

That best of kings remembered the curse given by Durvāsas, / and his own kingdom together with his sons; then he spoke to Nandinī:

“I was a king named Kalaśa, born in the lineage of the Haihayas, / cursed formerly by Durvāsas for some incidental reason.

Then, being propitiated, he told me: ‘When Nandinī / shows you that liṅga, then your liberation will occur.’

Indeed, you are that Nandinī, recognized by me at the end of the curse! / Tell me truly, O excellent cow: which region is this?

so that I may quickly go back to my own home, / having seen the path and met some human being, O highly fortunate one.”

Nandinī said: / “This is the sacred field of Camatkārapura, destroyer of sins, / embodying all sacred fords, O king, and granting all desires.

The spiritual good that accrues to ascetics in a whole year elsewhere / arises here perfectly in just a single day; there is no doubt about this.

Knowing this, leaving this herd behind, that liṅga was constantly / bathed with milk by me with devotion and a purified mind.”

The king said: / “Go, Nandinī, blessing be upon you! Rejoin your own calf, / the herd of cows, your own friends, and other companions.

This sacred field was heard of by me in the past from the mouths of brahmins, / and was always desired to be sought out, but I was unable to see it.

Addicted to the tasks of kingship and devoted to pleasures, O Nandinī, / it has now been reached by myself spontaneously; I am not inclined to leave it.

Providentially, that curse was given to me by that noble sage! / Otherwise, how could this sacred field have been attained, O fair one?”

Sūta said: / Having spoken thus and bid farewell to Nandinī, the ruler of the earth / remained right there, contemplating that liṅga day and night.

Having constructed a foremost temple of wondrous appearance for it, / shaped like the peak of Kailāsa, he performed austerity in front of it.

Then, through its power, in only a few days, O twice-born ones, / he attained supreme perfection, hard even for performers of sacrifices to achieve.

Whoever offers a lamp there in the month of Kārtika, / freed from all sins, is glorified in the world of Śiva.

And when the month of Mārgaśīrṣa arrives, a person who / performs singing, dancing, and the like before it with devotion goes to the supreme state.

All this, destroying all sins, has been told to you in detail, / the māhātmya of Kalaśeśvara, O best of brahmins.

Whoever recites this with devotion, endowed with supreme faith, / is also freed from sin and glorified in the world of Śiva.

Thus ends the fifty-first chapter, entitled 'Description of the Māhātmya of Kalaśeśvara,' in the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].