Skandapurana 6.3.13

Chapter 13 / The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Thus praised by the foremost of sages, that holy goddess / thought: "I shall bestow an excellent boon upon all of them."

Then, knowing they had fallen fast asleep at night, the sweet-smiling goddess went / and appeared individually in the dream of each seer.

Then, when midnight arrived, she rose from the midst of the waters, / clothed in spotless garments, adorned with divine garlands,

holding a parasol, of beautiful hips, adorned with rubies. / She said to each one of them separately, "Do not fear!

Dwell by my side, casting aside fear arising from hunger and the like."

Having spoken thus to those great sages at the end of their dream, the goddess then / entered into her own waters and vanished from sight.

Then at dawn, the sages, filled with joy, said to one another: / "The lovely goddess was seen by me in a dream just like that!"

"Fearlessness was given to us, and accomplishment will come without delay. / The vision of that Narmadā is auspicious; there is no doubt."

Then on the next day, O king, along with their families they saw / an extraordinary appearance of fishes near their own hermitage.

Having seen the fishes there, the great seers were seized with amazement; / untroubled, they worshipped the gods with oblations and ancestral offerings.

Having obtained those swarms of fish through the grace of the Great Goddess, / they, together with their sons, wives, and servants, sustained themselves separately.

Day after day, likewise, the brahmins in their hermitages, / seeing the accumulation of fishes, were then astonished.

They [saw] dead fishes with well-nourished bodies, especially pāṭhīna fish, / at every door of the hermitages of the ascetics, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

Then all those dwellers on the banks of the Narmadā, joyful and well-nourished, / all those seers cast away their fear born of hunger and thirst.

Engaged in chanting and practicing austerity, they remained, O bull among the Bharatas, / worshipping the ancestors and the gods, sheltered on the bank of the Narmadā.

With those best of brahmins continually reciting prayers and practicing austerity, / that best of rivers shone as the sky shines with stars and planets.

There, by those numerous, pure brahmins versed in the Vedas, / the Narmadā, giver of righteousness, was formerly divided in due order.

By a hundred million seers dwelling on the banks of the Narmadā, / she was partitioned in her parts—the Narmadā who grants happiness to men—

and with pure sacred threads and rosaries, O descendant of Bharata, / on both banks, the most holy Narmadā flowing to the ocean,

with separate, bright sanctuaries and liṅgas of sand and clay, / that best of rivers shone like the night with its constellations.

Thus all those seers, making offerings to the gods and the ancestors, / dwelt on the bank of the Narmadā until the destruction of all beings.

When a terrible period of more than a hundred years had somewhat passed, / at midnight the maiden, emerging from the water, O descendant of Bharata,

radiant like a mass of lightning, having a serpent as her sacred thread, / holding the tip of a trident in her hand, gentle, said to those seers then:

"Come, assemblies of sages! Enter me, who am not born of a womb, / together with your sons and wives; then you shall attain perfection.

Whatever desire anyone has, that I grant to him: / Viṣṇu, Brahmā, Īśāna, or another supreme god.

I, pleased and bestowing boons, shall lead all there. / Dedicated to breath control, enter me with focused minds,

along with your sons and wives, abandoning the hermitages. / No delay must be made: this cosmic dissolution has arrived,

the destruction of all beings, the exceedingly dread conflagration of the kalpa. / Formerly, I alone remained during the great, terrifying annihilation of creatures.

The remaining rivers and the oceans all went to destruction; / through the boon granted by Maheśa, because of that I did not go to destruction.

The immortal, eternal God, the immovable, the ancient Lord— / when worshipped or petitioned, what would he not grant, O best of brahmins?"

Having spoken thus to the seers, the Revā then entered the water— / that goddess with a trident taken in hand, wearing a serpent as a sacred thread.

Hearing her words, their minds overcome with astonishment, / they all bowed down to me and begged forgiveness again and again:

"May that be forgiven us which was said while dwelling under your protection!" / Abandoning their homes, those fortunate ones, with their pupils and kinsmen,

chanting the monosyllabic Brahman and meditating on Maheśvara in their hearts, / bathing with waters purified by mantras, steadfast in their vows,

entered the waters of the Narmadā like winged mountains, / illuminating all the quarters, holding kuśa grass in their hands, accompanied by their fires.

When they had departed, O lord of kings, I alone remained at that time, / approaching Amareśa, worshipping the river Narmadā.

Seven kalpas, beginning with the Māyūra, were experienced by me, O king, / all together with the Revā, through the grace of the Creator, O descendant of Bharata.

From my birth up to this day, I do not know her ancient origin.

For she is Śaṃkara's power, a portion of Śambhu named Ilā, / the Narmadā, destroyer of sins, deliverer from worldly existence.

When I did not exist in the ancient kalpas, O son of Pāṇḍu, / throughout those fourteen kalpas she remained happily established.

The fourteen ancient kalpas in which the Narmadā did not perish, / those I shall describe fully, just as the goddess told them to me.

Know the first to be the Kāpila, the second the Prājāpatya, / the Brāhma, the Saumya, the Sāvitra, the Bārhaspatya, and the Prabhāsaka;

and the Māhendra, the Agnikalpa, the Jayanta, likewise the Māruta, / the Vaiṣṇava, the Bahurūpa, and the Jyautiṣa as the fourteenth.

These kalpas have been related by me, during which the Narmadā did not perish. / The Māyūra is the fifteenth, and the Kaurma is the sixteenth here;

the Baka, the Mātsya, the Pādma, and the Vaṭakalpa, O Bhārata; / and this twenty-first, the Vārāha, is the present one.

These seven were witnessed by the Revā together with me. / Indeed, through twenty-one kalpas, the Narmadā, born from the body of Śiva,

has been seen many times by me, O best of kings. / It has been told, O best of rulers; what more shall I tell you?

Thus ends the thirteenth chapter, named 'The Description of the Tale of the Twenty-one Kalpas', in the Narmadāmāhātmya, in the Revākhaṇḍa, in the fifth Avantīkhaṇḍa, in the Skandapurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses.