Skandapurana 6.2.1

Now begins the second [part], the māhātmya of the eighty-four liṅgas situated in Avantī, in the fifth Avantī section in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa. (5.2)

Homage to glorious Gaṇeśa.

Homage to glorious Mahākāla.

Now begins the māhātmya of the eighty-four liṅgas situated in Avantī in the Avantī section.

Umā said:

Whatever sacred fords there are on earth, and likewise holy rivers,

please describe them carefully, [those] at which funeral offerings are made. (1)

Īśvara said:

There is the Gaṅgā, famous throughout the worlds, flowing through the three realms,

frequented by gods and gandharvas, and attended by sages. (2)

The goddess Yamunā, daughter of the sun, purifier of the worlds,

is dear to the ancestors, O goddess, and removes great sins. (3)

The Candrabhāgā, the Vitastā, and the Narmadā at Amarakaṇṭaka,

Kurukṣetra, Gayā, O goddess, Prabhāsa, and likewise Naimiṣa,

Kedāra, and Puṣkara, and also Kāyāvarohaṇa,

and likewise, O goddess, the most holy, auspicious forest of Mahākāla,

where resides glorious Mahākāla, a fire for the firewood of sin.

The sacred field extends for a yojana; it destroys the sin of killing a brahmin.

The sacred field grants worldly enjoyment and liberation; it destroys the impurities of the Kali [age].

Even at the cosmic dissolution, O goddess, it is imperishable, difficult to reach even for the thirty [gods].

Umā said:

Let the power of this sacred field be told, O god, O Maheśvara!

Which sacred fords are worthy of worship, and which liṅgas exist there indeed?

I wish to hear about them; great curiosity has arisen in me.

Īśvara said:

Listen attentively, O goddess, to the power that destroys sin!

The primordial sacred field, O great goddess, is always exceedingly dear to me.

Where there is the most holy, supreme [river] that removes all sins,

and the holy Gandhavatī, divine, beloved of the new rivers,

and Nīlagaṅgā as the fourth; these are proclaimed the foremost rivers.

Having bathed at their confluence, whatever man performs a śrāddha

[attains] three times the merit of the Gaṅgā, O goddess, bestowing the fruit of the four aims of life.

Know, O lady of good vows, that the sacred field of Avantī extends for a yojana.

There abide perfected liṅgas granting enjoyment and liberation:

there are eighty-four lords (īśvaras), and likewise eight Bhairavas;

likewise eleven Rudras, and twelve Ādityas are commemorated;

six Vināyakas, and here are twenty-four Mothers.

When I went there, to the auspicious forest of Mahākāla,

all [the gods] led by Brahmā and Viṣṇu came there, filled with joy.

This sacred field, a yojana in extent, is pervaded by these [deities], O goddess.

Viṣṇu resides in ten stations, destroying all sins.

Whatever person recites these names at dawn with devotion,

freed from all sins, goes to the world of Rudra.

Umā said:

The eighty-four liṅgas that were mentioned by you here,

speak of them in detail, which indeed remove all sins.

Hara said:

Listen, O goddess, I shall proclaim what their names are!

Renowned on earth as the first is the supreme Agastyeśvara,

by merely seeing which a person accomplishes their purpose.

Umā said:

How was this name Agastyeśvara obtained by it here?

In what place and how did it arise? You should speak in detail.

Hara said:

Listen, O fortunate goddess, to this ancient tale,

which calms all sins and bestows desired fruits!

Formerly, the gods were conquered by the asuras, and then became dispirited.

All their portions [of sacrificial offerings] were stolen, and the ancestors were made despairing.

Stripped of their dominion, O goddess, the gods then wandered on the surface of the earth.

Then, one day, those distressed [gods] saw Agastya,

shining with the radiance of the sun, endowed with splendour, possessing vast vows.

Then the gods, having seen him surrounded by splendour and having saluted [him],

spoke this to the great-souled Agastya, world-renowned:

“We have all been conquered in battle by the dānavas and cast down from heaven.

Therefore protect us from this intense fear, O best of sages!”

Thus addressed then by the gods, Agastya became enraged,

and the splendid one blazed like the fire of destruction at cosmic dissolution.

Then, burned up by the mass of blazing rays, the dānavas,

O great goddess, fell by thousands from the intermediate space.

Then, being consumed by that splendour of Agastya,

all the daityas and dānavas fled in fear from the seer to Pātāla.

Then the great-souled Agastya, having slain them, was overwhelmed with grief,

and he became exceedingly agitated in mind with sorrow.

"A terrible, great sin was committed by me when the Dānavas were slain.

For non-violence is declared by Manu to be the highest dharma.

What shall I do? Where shall I go? And how may I be purified?" // 31

As he was contemplating thus, the Grandfather [Brahmā] arrived.

There he spoke to the sage: "Why are you overcome with grief, // 32

[and] appear agitated, O tiger among sages? Speak the reason quickly!"

Bowing to Brahmā, he explained to him as he questioned him: // 33

"O God of gods, Lord of the world, my inner mind burns!

The guilt of slaying a brahmin has come upon me because the Dānavas were killed by me. // 34

Out of grace, declare to me the remedy, O best of the gods!

O god, the austerity accumulated over a long time has gone to destruction!" // 35

The best of the gods said this: "Listen attentively to the supreme

remedy by which the destruction of all sin will surely take place: // 36

In the divine Mahākālavana, frequented by Yakṣas and Gandharvas,

north of Vaṭayakṣiṇī, is an unexcelled liṅga, // 37

situated in the southern region of the Piśācatīrtha.

By propitiating it, all sin attains destruction. // 38

Worship that auspicious liṅga which destroys all sin!"

Saying "So be it!", the righteous-souled [sage] went to Mahākālavana. // 39

O ruler of the gods, intent upon worshipping that liṅga,

the sage remained day and night with devotion, solely absorbed in meditating upon it. // 5.2.1.40

Then, O goddess, I was pleased with that great-souled sage. // 41

I said: "O highly fortunate sage, listen with a concentrated mind!

Choose a boon, O foremost of vipras, whatever is in your heart. // 42

I am pleased by this devotion and by your difficult austerity.

By the power of this liṅga, you have now become free of taint; // 43

your sin of slaying a brahmin, arising from [slaying] the Dānavas, has been destroyed, O lord of sages!"

Having heard my speech, O fair-complexioned one, he said: // 44

"O god, if you are pleased, being fond of those who take refuge,

may there be devotion in me to your pair of feet, O Maheśvara! // 45

And likewise let there be no obstacle to my austerity or to my dharma."

Having heard that speech of the great-souled one born from a pitcher, // 46

I said, O large-eyed lady: "O sage, so shall it be!

The god who was worshipped by you, who destroys the sin of slaying a brahmin,

shall become famous in the three worlds by your name; so shall I. // 47

Even the god Agastyeśvara shall be renowned throughout the three worlds."

Having been addressed thus by me, O goddess, that vipra remained there.

By the grace of that liṅga, he was adorned with the five mudrās. // 48

Those men who behold that great liṅga with devotion

shall be liberated from all sins, adorned with all desires, // 49

noble-minded, and endowed with sons and prosperity;

and at the end of time they go to me in aerial chariots that fulfill all desires, // 5.2.1.50

praised by chiefs of the Gandharvas, in the eternal world of Rudra.

Those who always worship the god named Agastyeśvara, // 51

those mortal men, having made merit, go to the supreme abode.

When the god, ruler of the gods, is remembered, the inauspicious [karma]

born of ten million births of men attains destruction; who would not bow to Śiva?

The person who, having bowed with devotion, serves that god, // 53

is freed from sins like the slaying of a brahmin, which cause hell. // 54

Whatever merit arises even from a hundred Rājasūya sacrifices,

merit greater than that, O goddess, shall arise from the darśana [of this liṅga]. // 55

What need of diverse sacred fords and ritual ablutions? What need of various gifts made?

They will obtain all the fruit by my grace; there is no doubt. // 56

On the eighth and fourteenth day, [or] on a Monday according to one's ability,

whoever performs worship of the liṅga endowed with devotion,

rescues indeed a hundred families on his mother's side and on his father's side. // 57

And men who, even devoid of devotional feeling, see [it] incidentally,

never see hell in the cycle of existence. // 58

This has been declared to you, O goddess: the supreme māhātmya of the liṅga.

The first has been declared in the world; hear the second with care!" // 59

Thus ends the first chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Agastyeśvara', in the Glory of the Eighty-Four Liṅgas in the Fifth Section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of Skanda consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.