Skandapurana 6.3.148

Chapter 148

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then, O protector of the earth, one should go to the auspicious Aṅgāraka sacred ford / on the northern bank of the Narmadā, which brings about the destruction of all sins.

Having made a resolution with firm resolve on the fourth lunar day falling on a Tuesday, / one should bathe when the sun has set, intent upon the twilight worship.

One should worship the Red One with devotion, using perfumes, garlands, and ornaments, / having installed the god, anointed with red sandalwood paste, upon a sacrificial platform.

One should worship him on the pericarp with: 'Obeisance to Aṅgāraka,' / to Kuja, to the son of the Earth, to the red-limbed one, to the well-attired one;

to the one born from Hara's wrath, to the one produced from sweat, to the mighty-armed one, / to the granter of all desires, [worshipping him] on the petals beginning with the east.

Having thus worshipped properly according to the rules, one should offer an arghya: / 'O son of the Earth, of mighty valor, born from the sweat of the Wielder of the Pināka,

O Aṅgāraka, O one of great splendor, O red-limbed one, obeisance to you!' / A water-pot filled with water, packed with śāli rice grains,

with gold and cloth, and placed upon sweetmeats, / should be offered to a brahmin, saying: 'May Kuja be pleased with me.'

Having duly offered arghya with red sandalwood water, / scattered over with red flowers and mixed with sesamum and rice grains,

prepared in a copper vessel within an auspicious circular diagram, / placing that vessel upon one's head and going down on one's knees upon the earth,

the wise one, O fortunate one, should offer the arghya consecrated by mantras. / Then he should eat in silence, avoiding alkaline food, sesamum, and sour things,

eating unctuous, soft, and sweet food, if desiring his own welfare. / Thus, when the fourth [month] arrives on an Aṅgārakacaturthī, O king,

one should have a well-formed image of the god made of gold according to one's capacity, / and place it in a copper vessel provided with a pedestal of jaggery.

One should worship the god placed on jaggery with perfumes, flowers, and the like; / one should place the god in the northeast together with jaggery-water.

In the southeast, one should likewise place an excellent water-pot with wheat flour pastry; / in the southwest, mixed with red rice grains; in the region of Vāyu (the northwest),

the wise one should place a fourth water-pot along with sweetmeats, / its neck encircled with a cord, adorned with perfumes and garlands.

With the sounding of conches and musical instruments, and auspicious cries of victory and the like, / a brahmin clad in red garments, with red garlands and red paste,

seated in the middle of the sacrificial altar or upon an elevated seat, / handsome, fortunate, peaceful, delighting in the welfare of all beings,

bathed in the vows of Vedic lore, proficient in all the scriptures— / having worshipped him according to rule, O son of Pāṇḍu, one should have him recite the blessings.

Then one should give a red cow along with a red bull, saying: / 'May the god born of the Earth, worshipped by all deities, be pleased.'

Having circumambulated the brahmin, accompanied by wife and son, / and along with father, mother, and friends, one should beg his forgiveness and dismiss him.

Now, whatever meritorious fruit is prescribed for one who has done this, / especially at that sacred ford, I shall tell you all of that:

For seven births, O best of kings, he becomes handsome and fortunate / through the power of this sacred ford; no doubt should be entertained here.

Whether free of desire or full of desire, a man who dies at that sacred ford / goes to the city of Aṅgāraka, worshipped by gods and gandharvas.

Having duly enjoyed supreme divine pleasures, / he indeed becomes a righteous king here in the world of mortals,

handsome, fortunate, free from all diseases; / he lives for a full hundred years, bowed to by all the world.

Thus ends the one hundred and forty-eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Maṅgaleśvara Tīrtha', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth Avantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].