Skandapurana 5.53

Sūta said: / Right there is the seat of Ujjayanī, granting the desires of human beings, / endowed with great wonders and resorted to by many perfected beings,

within which Maheśvara himself eternally resides, / in the form of Mahākāla, O best of brahmins.

A man who performs a śrāddha there with a concentrated mind on the full-moon day of Vaiśākha, / and then beholds the Lord of Gods, known as Mahākāla, / should worship him, taking recourse to the southern form, O best of brahmins.

Raising up ten generations before and ten past, and himself, O best of brahmins, / twenty-one persons in all, he is glorified in the world of Śiva.

Whatever desire one contemplates when worshiping that seat, / after worshiping the host of yoginīs and the host of young girls,

one obtains all of it, even if it should be very difficult to attain. / There, on the full-moon day of the month of Vaiśākha, with a concentrated mind,

a man endowed with faith, intent on fasting and pure, / who keeps a vigil before him with faith, / goes to the supreme abode, free from old age and death.

What use are vows? What use are futile gifts? What use are japas or restraints? / All of them are not worth a sixteenth part of Mahākāla.

Sūta said: / Right there, O fortunate ones, is a pit known as Bhrūṇagartā, / a pit of very vast dimensions, which destroys all sins.

Where King Saudāsa was released from the sin of killing a brahmin, / [and] King Suṣeṇa was released from the sin of killing a woman.

The seers said: / How did the sin of killing a brahmin come upon that king Saudāsa, / devoted though he was to brahmins? Relate that to us!

It is heard that that ruler of the earth was intent on the welfare of brahmins / in deed, mind, and speech: how did he become a killer of brahmins?

And how was he released again having resorted to Bhrūṇagartā? / How did that pit itself come to be? Tell us everything in detail!

Sūta said: / When the fall of the liṅga of the god of gods, the trident-bearer, occurred, / then, seized with shame because of the absence of the liṅga, O best of brahmins,

having made a very spacious pit, he entered it thereafter. / At that time the wielder of the trident showed himself to no one.

Thus that pit came into being there, O best of brahmins. / I will relate how Saudāsa became free of sin in it.

There was a king named Mitrasaha, exceedingly righteous; / his son was Saudāsa, born directly in the solar dynasty.

He sacrificed with extensive sacrifices having bountiful gifts of gold as fees; / countless gifts were bestowed by that great-souled one.

Now after some time, while a twelve-year sacrificial session / was proceeding according to rule through rites prescribed by injunction,

Krūrākṣa and Krūrabuddhi, two very powerful rākṣasas, / arrived to obstruct the sacrifice when the onset of night had arrived,

together with many rākṣasas and others called bhūtas, / and unconquerable piśācas, bent on destroying the sacrifice.

Then all those rākṣasas, having watched for some vulnerability, / entered that sacrificial enclosure, creeping in from all sides,

slaying the best of brahmins and eating the oblations, / as well as whatever diverse [offerings] had been prepared for the sacrifice.

At that moment a great cry of distress arose there, / as the brahmins were being devoured by the very powerful rākṣasas.

Then the king, the son of Mitrasaha, enraged, abandoned his rite of initiation; / taking up his bow with arrows, he saw them and destroyed them.

Having been protected by Vasiṣṭha himself, the family priest, / he slew Krūrākṣa along with many rākṣasas.

Then Krūrabuddhi, seeing his distinguished brother slain, / and that tiger among kings unapproachable because of his brahminic power,

took the surviving rākṣasas and, being endowed with strength, / fled in fear, his limbs wounded by the king's arrows.

Then, harboring hostility on behalf of that elder brother of his, the rākṣasa / looked for an opening day and night in order to kill him.

While he was thus watching for a vulnerability in that great-souled one, / that twelve-year sacrificial session came to an end, O brahmins.

Not even the slightest opening was found by that evil-minded one; / protection had been established by Vasiṣṭha at the sacrificial session of that king.

Then he dismissed all the brahmins after their sacrificial fees had been given, / and with palms joined in reverence, he spoke these words to Vasiṣṭha:

"O guru, today I wish to feed you with my own hand; / let that favor be done to me by dining today in my house."

Sūta said: / Agreeing with 'So be it,' Vasiṣṭha, the best of sages, / had his feet washed by the king himself and sat down indeed for the meal.

Then Krūrabuddhi, seeing wholesome meat prepared for that purpose / by the cooks according to the rules, O best of brahmins,

made an identical cooking-pot of that same size unobserved; / filling it with human flesh, he took away the one containing meat.

Then that tiger among sages, while eating, realized it: / 'This is human flesh!' Enraged, full of wrath, he spoke there:

"Because the consumption of human flesh was caused by you, O wretched one, / therefore you shall become a rākṣasa like a demon this very day!"

Then the king thoroughly investigated the origin of that meat, / questioning those cooks individually.

They said: "Such meat was not cooked by us, / believe it, O ruler of the earth, nor by any other human being,

except a rākṣasa, a piśāca, or a dānava, O lord. / Having realized this, O protector, do then whatever is fitting."

In the meantime, Nārada, the best of sages, / arrived and told him all the deeds of that rākṣasa.

Hearing that, the king was seized with anger and prepared to curse him; / taking water in his hand, King Saudāsa prepared to curse Vasiṣṭha; / seeing him bent on cursing, Nārada spoke these words:

"Whether striking, cursing, or hating, the twice-born / are to be bowed to, O king, by one desiring his own welfare; / moreover, this one is your guru, worthy of honor, O best of kings.

Therefore you ought not to curse the virtuous sage with a counter-curse." / Being thus restrained, the king then poured all that water from his hand / onto his own feet.

Then both of his feet, drenched by the heated curse-water, / were burnt and turned black that very moment, O best of brahmins.

From that time forth he was called Kalmāṣapāda on earth; / that king, O tigers among brahmins, was distinguished by that name.

Sūta said: / At that moment, the brahmin Vasiṣṭha was overcome with shame, / realizing that a curse had been given in vain to that king.

He said: "This curse was given to you in vain by me, O king; / yet my word cannot ever turn out false.

Therefore, having become a rākṣasa for some time, O best of kings, / you will regain your own form; listen to the time when [it will happen]:

When you slay that rākṣasa Krūrabuddhi, / then you will attain release from that very dreadful state of being a rākṣasa."

Sūta said: / In the meantime, that king became a rakshasa, / with hair standing on end, a huge body, black teeth, and a terrifying form.

Then, having assumed a demonic nature, he killed eminent brahmins; / he destroyed sacrifices and also the hermitages of sages.

Then, after some time, that cruel-minded rakshasa, / having learned that the king had become a rakshasa and was once unarmed,

remembering his enmity caused by the killing of his brother, / arrived to kill him, surrounded by many rakshasas.

Then, surrounding that king on all sides, / the enraged rakshasa spoke these words, filling the quarters with his roar:

"You who killed our eldest brother, O evil-minded one, / at the sacrifice by the power of Vasiṣṭha—reap the fruit of that today!"

The king said: / "What you say, you wicked-mannered one, carry out by deed! / Your roar is useless, like that of an autumn cloud."

Having spoken thus, the king took up a tree / and rushed toward him, roaring like a cloud.

He too, uprooting a tree, his eyes bloodshot with rage, / knitted his brows into three furrows and advanced against him.

Thus both warriors of mighty strength fought a duel with trees / in that forest, causing the destruction of many trees.

Then, seeing that cruel-minded one exhausted, the king / seized him by the feet and swiftly whirled him through the sky.

Filled with wrath, he dashed him to the ground / and reduced him to pieces of meat, crushing him again and again.

When that heroic rakshasa was slain, the king, / released from rakshasa-hood, regained his royal human form.

Then the remaining rakshasas surrounded that king on all sides / and struck him with huge trees and showers of stones.

Then the king, laughing as it were, / tree in hand, struck them down effortlessly with confidence, O best of brahmins.

Then, with the hair of his body bristling with joy, / having killed the rakshasas and regained his former body, he reached his city.

Then, [seeing] him devoid of radiance and covered in a foul stench, / with marks born of the murder of a brahmin and other diverse kinds,

seeing [him thus], his ministers, sons, grandsons, and others / did not approach the king, seized with fear of touching sin.

And they said: "O best of kings, you ought not / to associate with us here, since you are accompanied by the murder of a brahmin.

Therefore, having summoned Vasiṣṭha, perform an expiation / by which this impure body of yours may attain purity."

Then the king quickly summoned Vasiṣṭha, the eminent sage, / and standing at a distance, filled with humility, he spoke:

"By your grace, O brahmin, that rakshasa was slain by me, / and I have become freed from the curse; but hear my words, O sage!

A terrible stench rises forth from my body on all sides; / all my limbs are weighed down by heaviness and are immovable.

So what is this, O best of brahmins? My radiance is exceedingly diminished, / since ministers and sons do not touch me today."

Vasiṣṭha said: / "When you fell into the state of a rakshasa, O best of kings, / many brahmins were destroyed by you, and sacrifices were ruined; / by their murder of a brahmin you have been touched, O best of kings."

The king said: / "For that purpose, O brahmin, give me an expiation for purification, / by which, freed from sin, I may regain my kingdom."

Vasiṣṭha said: / "For this purpose, undertake a pilgrimage to sacred fords, O best of kings; / free from possessiveness and egoism, you will then attain accomplishment."

Then that best of kings, self-restrained with conquered senses, / attentively bathed at Prayāga and other sacred fords.

The foul stench did not vanish, nor did his radiance increase; / his body did not attain lightness, nor was it freed from lethargy.

Then, wandering about, O best of brahmins, / he once arrived at the sacred field Camatkārapura for the sake of bathing.

Utterly exhausted, afflicted with hunger and thirst, at midnight shrouded in darkness, / the king suddenly fell into a pit full of water.

When the king emerged with difficulty from that sacred ford, / he saw himself endowed with a brilliance equal to twelve suns,

freed from the foul stench, full of energy, and having attained lightness. / Seeing this, he thought: 'Surely I am freed from sin!'

At that very moment, a bodiless voice spoke, / bringing joy to the king who was freed from the murder of a brahmin:

"O great king, you are now freed from your previous sins / by the power of this sacred ford; therefore, go to your home!

Śaṃkara is constantly present here in the form of an embryo, / especially on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight, O king.

When the liṅga of the god of gods, the spear-wielder, fell down / due to the curse of brahmins, this pit was made by him at that time,

ashamed, for the sake of his dwelling, filled with great sorrow, / separated from Satī, and reduced to the state of an embryo.

Therefore, this pit destroys all sins, O lord of the earth; / it is renowned throughout the three worlds by his name as Bhrūṇagartā."

Sūta said: / Having spoken thus, that voice traversing the sky fell silent; / and that tiger among kings, delighted, went to his own city.

Then, seeing him freed from sin, resembling the sun in radiance, / his sons and people bowed down with satisfaction.

And Vasiṣṭha, that tiger among brahmins, approached that king / and then spoke in a voice faltering with joy:

"By good fortune, O king of kings, you are released from the sin arising from killing a brahmin! / By good fortune, endowed with splendor, you have reached your own city once more! 94

Therefore, O protector of the earth, tell [us]: at which sacred ford did you arrive, / [and how] were you freed from the terrible sin born of killing a brahmin?" 95

Then he narrated to that brahmin seer the event that had taken place / at Bhrūṇagartā, exactly as it had been experienced. 96

Then those aged ministers, along with that king, the lord of sages, / having installed his son named Pratardana upon the throne that very moment, 97

and having reached that very Bhrūṇagartā, O best of the twice-born, / performed austerity, meditating on Mahādeva day and night. 98

And in a short time they attained the supreme, rarely obtained perfection, / having worshipped the great lord, the god who assumes the form of an embryo. 99

From that time forward, that pit has been renowned upon the earth / as Bhrūṇagartā, O lords of brahmins, destroying all sins. 100

The man who performs a śrāddha there on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight, / surely delivers his ancestors: ten preceding and ten following. 101

Therefore, with every effort one should perform a śrāddha there, / as well as ritual ablution, O best of brahmins, or give gifts according to one's means. 102

Thus ends the fifty-third chapter, named 'Description of the Māhātmya of Bhrūṇagartā,' in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [section], in the Skandamahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses. 53