Skandapurana 6.3.122

Chapter 122
Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go, O king, to the well-known Kohanasva, / the sacred ford that removes all sins, is holy, and destroys death.

Long ago, a certain twice-born who had crossed the Vedas and Vedāṅgas / lived there, intent on his own duties, with his wife, sons, and circle of friends.

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / The duty and the origin of the brahmin, of the kṣatriya, / of the vaiśya, and also of the śūdra—tell me all that.

The supreme rule of righteousness, wealth, pleasure, and liberation— / all of it I wish to know; in my opinion, there is no other knower.

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Brahmā, the god of gods, is proclaimed as the cause of origin, / the first among all beings, the teacher of the world of the moving and unmoving.

The twice-born were born from his mouth, the kṣatriyas from the frame of his arms, / the vaiśyas from the region of his thighs, and the śūdras arose from his feet.

Then other distinct castes, practicing distinct duties, / arose in turn through natural and inverted order.

I shall proclaim their duty, as enjoined by the purpose of the Vedas and Smṛtis, / through the proper execution of which all go to the supreme state.

Even without meditation, that destination is attained by devoted brahmins, O king, / from teaching the Vedas or even one Veda according to the rule.

He should then marry a wife born of good family, endowed with beauty, / marked with all auspicious marks, when permitted by his teacher.

Then he should worship in sequence the domestic marriage-fire or the Vedic fire, / having the acceptance of gifts as his wealth, free from deceit and greed.

He should carry out the rites of the five sacrifices according to the rule; / afterwards, having served the second stage of life, he should go to the forest.

Leaving his wife in the care of his sons, freed from all attachment, / he attains the desired worlds and is not born here again.

The kṣatriya, standing in royal power and protecting the earth, / ever devoted in mind to duty, attains the supreme destination.

The duty of a vaiśya, without doubt, is intent on agriculture and cattle-tending; / endowed with truthfulness and purity, he goes to the excellent heaven.

No separate duty was ordained for the śūdra by the Supreme Lord: / no mantra, no rite of passage, no devotion to learning,

no covenant with grammar, and no rituals of deity-worship; / just as he was born, he should live constantly day and night.

That duty of all the classes was created of old by the Self-born; / the twice-born are the three classes endowed with mantras and rites of passage.

Disregarding their opinion, if one should act out of desire, / he, when dead, is born indeed as a dog; no higher destination exists [for him].

Not constantly serving them, yet remembering their counsel, / he shares in renown; abiding in his own duty, he shares in heaven.

Thus endowed with a multitude of virtues, that brahmin lived, O Bhārata; / [then] he hears such words: “Strike! Strike!”

Then he looks upward and downward, and in the ten directions, / trembling and terrified, stumbling at every step.

He sees a man facing him, mounted on a buffalo, / surrounded by those with iron chains and weapons in their hands, and most terrible nooses,

resembling a mass of black collyrium, adorned with black garments, / with red eyes, long arms, and marked with all characteristic signs.

Seeing him approaching, observing his own self with his self, / he muttered the supreme recitation: the praise of the Śatarudrīya.

Then spoke the lord Yama, the great restrainer: / 'Hear my words, O brahmin! I am Yama over all creatures. // 122.26

Desist, O fortunate one, from the recitation of the Rudra hymn, which is hard to break through, / so that, freed from obstruction, I may restrain you with the nooses of death.' // 122.27

Hearing those harsh words issuing from Yama's mouth, / seized by great terror, the brahmin fled. // 122.28

All the attendants along with Yama went along his path. / They said to the brahmin, 'Halt! Halt!', but he ran on. // 122.29

Hurrying and exhausted, [he cried]: 'Alas, I am slain by evil-minded ones! / Protect me, protect me, Mahādeva, affectionate to those who seek refuge!' // 122.30

Having spoken thus, embracing the liṅga, he fell to the ground, O Bhārata. / His life-breath spent, that best of brahmins sought refuge in the lord of gods. // 122.31

Seeing him fallen to the ground, the god of gods, Maheśvara, / [said], 'Who shall slay [you]? Do not fear!' and then uttered a roar of 'Huṃ!'. // 122.32

By that roar of 'Huṃ!', all those attendants along with Yama, O Bhārata, / all fled away like clouds scattered by the wind. // 122.33

From that time forward, that sacred ford became renowned as Kohanasva, / destroying all sins, holy, unexcelled among all sacred fords. // 122.34

Whoever bathes at that sacred ford and worships the Supreme Lord / obtains the unexcelled fruit of an Agniṣṭoma sacrifice. // 122.35

Whoever abandons his life's breath at that sacred ford, O king of kings, / does not behold the god Yama; thus Śaṅkara declared. // 122.36

Whoever enters the fire or dies in the water, O best among kings, / dwells in the world of Agni for as long as three hundred kalpas. // 122.37

Likewise, having dwelt in the world of Varuṇa for his desired time, / returning to this world, he becomes a lord of immense wealth. // 122.38

Thus ends the one hundred and twenty-second chapter, titled 'The Description of the Māhātmya of the Kohanatīrtha', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth book, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.