Skandapurana 6.3.171

Chapter 171

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / It having been told by ascetics that the brahmin had been cast upon a stake, / all the great seers went to the vicinity of Nārāyaṇa to see [him]:

Nārada, Devala, Raibhya, Yama, Śātātapa, Aṅgiras, / Vasiṣṭha, Jamadagni, Yājñavalkya, Bṛhaspati,

Kaśyapa, Atri, Bharadvāja, Viśvāmitra, the sage Aruṇi, / the Vālakhilyas and others, all of the lineage of the host of seers.

Those foremost among seers saw Māṇḍavya mounted on the stake. / They said to the brahmin Nārāyaṇa: 'What wish of yours shall we fulfill?'

All of them, having come in haste to that vicinity of the great-souled Māṇḍavya, / said: 'Is he dead, or is he indeed alive?'

Seeing his condition, they fell into deep sorrow. / All those twice-born, unable to bear that sorrow in their minds,

[said:] 'Let him be asked; if he thinks [fit], reduce the king to ashes.' / Hearing their words, Nārāyaṇa spoke these words:

'While I am alive, my brother has come to such a state! / Fie upon my life! Yet, what is the fruit of austerity?'

"Seeing my eldest [brother] fixed upon a stake, my mind is indeed torn apart. / But what else shall I do, whereby the kingdom along with its king .. 171.9 ..

I may turn to ashes this very day? Forgive me here!" / Having spoken thus, he took [water] in his hand and consecrated it with a mantra. .. 171.10 ..

As he looked on in wrath, a roaring sound of "huṃ" arose. / Hearing that sound of "huṃ", the seers were astonished then. .. 171.11 ..

Those best of brahmins approached Māṇḍavya and asked: / "Why, O brahmin, do you avert the curse that would slay the king, .. 171.12 ..

by whom an attempt to slay this sinless one was made here?" / Hearing the words of the seers, Māṇḍavya spoke with difficulty: .. 171.13 ..

"I bow to you with my head; welcome always, O seers! / Worthy of water offering, respect, and worship, let all of you sit down here." .. 171.14 ..

With an intent and concentrated mind, Māṇḍavya spoke to all: .. 171.15 ..

"Terrible suffering has been met by me, the fruit earned in a previous life. / Do not despair, good sirs; the sin that was committed is being experienced! .. 171.16 ..

The seers said: / 'By what ripening of karma does one go to another birth here? / And by what fruit of the dharma of giving does one go to heaven?' .. 171.17 ..

Māṇḍavya said: / 'Those who do not give gifts are born dependent on another's fortune; / [those who perform] no ritual ablution, no recitation, no oblation, no hospitality, no worship of the gods, .. 171.18 ..

no ancestral rites on festival days, and no gift-giving, O best of brahmins, / go to a terrible hell, and they attain the station of outcasts. .. 171.19 ..

Again poor, again sinful, by the power of sin they dwell in hell; / by that very [sin], in the transmigratory mortal world, living as worms and flying insects. .. 171.20 ..

Those who are devoted to ritual ablution, devoted to brahmins and gods, with senses subdued, practicing compassion for living beings, / those who are devoted to righteousness, having conquered pride and anger, dwell rejoicing in the worlds of the gods. .. 171.21 ..

Disciplined by knowledge, not tormenting others, content with their own wives, abstaining from others' wives, / they have no fear whatsoever in the world; pure by nature, they are indeed free from blemish.' .. 171.22 ..

The seers said: / 'O best of brahmins, what misdeed was done by you in a previous birth, / whereby this painful placement, reviled upon the stake, has been attained? .. 171.23 ..

Observing you fixed upon the stake, all of us indeed came here. / We see you living, yet we cannot take you down; / though enduring suffering born of affliction and torment, you are without pain.' .. 171.24 ..

Māṇḍavya said: / 'The action performed by oneself is experienced by oneself alone; / good deeds and evil deeds done formerly, others never experience. .. 171.25 ..

Just as a calf finds its mother among a thousand cows, / so previously performed karma finds its agent. .. 171.26 ..

Neither mother, nor father, nor brother, nor wife, nor sons, nor friend [shares in it]; / there is no clinging of one's actions [to another]; it is experienced by oneself alone. .. 171.27 ..

Listen to my words, since I have been questioned by you. / In my early youth, O brahmins, while taking the occasion of an oil-bath, .. 171.28 ..

out of ignorance, in the manner of a child, a louse was mounted onto a thorn. / When head and limbs were anointed with oil, the louse was not spared by me. .. 171.29 ..

Passing a comb through the hair, it was pierced upon a thorn. / That sin was committed against them; immediately this fruit has come to me. .. 171.30 ..

Having spent a short time [here], I shall attain painless liberation. / Do not make grief for me here, O great seers! .. 171.31 ..

Having experienced this condition, I curse no one, nor do I cry out. / In a few days on the stake, I will exhaust my sin. .. 171.32 ..

I am experiencing the past karma that was accumulated by me, O brahmins. / This king must be forgiven, and anger must be cast away.' .. 171.33 ..

Having heard those words of Māṇḍavya, the great seers / attained matchless joy and praised him, saying, 'Well done! Well done!' .. 171.34 ..

Nārāyaṇa said: / 'Where shall I throw this water sanctified by mantra, / so that the king, along with his kingdom and domestic priest, will be reduced to ashes?' .. 171.35 ..

Māṇḍavya said: / 'Protect this water, which is like the kālakūṭa poison. / I shall have it cast into the ocean when a deed for the gods arises.' .. 171.36 ..

Then all those sages, having bowed down to Māṇḍavya / and taken their leave with joy, Kaśyapa and the others went to their homes. .. 171.37 ..

As they were departing, those ascetics were told: 'On the fifth day, / you must come to my presence by your promise.' .. 171.38 ..

Agreeing, saying 'So be it,' Nārada and the others vanished from sight. / When the eminent brahmins had departed, Śāṇḍilī, rich in austerity, .. 171.39 ..

arrived on the second day, without noticing that seer. / Carrying her husband upon her head, she wandered in the night. .. 171.40 ..

The brahmin on the stake was not seen, weighed down as she was by the burden, O Yudhiṣṭhira. / That devoted wife stumbled against the knees of him who was fixed on the stake. .. 171.41 ..

Pain arose in all the limbs of the sage due to her stumbling; / and [enduring] such an ongoing condition brought about by past fate, .. 171.42 ..

[he thought,] 'Again some fruit of sin has come! Alas, my affliction continues! / By you I have been afflicted, O wicked woman; for what purpose [is this] slaughterous deed? .. 171.43 ..

I see you as an unchaste woman, or are you a demoness or a thief?' / Having spoken thus, crying out again and again from fainting agony for a moment, .. 171.44 ..

then the ascetic seers, their minds all terrified, / seeing the misery of the sage, asked [her], O Yudhiṣṭhira: .. 171.45 ..

'Why do you wander at midnight, carrying what conveyance? / You have thrown the load of a cloth bag—what is the reason for your coming, / causing pain to the seer, O woman revelling in misery upon misery?' .. 171.46 ..

Śāṇḍilī said: / 'Let all know me to be neither an asura woman, nor a gandharva woman, nor a piśāca woman, nor a demoness, / but a devoted wife steadfast in austerity. .. 171.47 ..

In me there is no lust, no anger, no enmity, and no malice. / Through ignorance and dimness of sight [I stumbled]; you ought to forgive my stumbling.' .. 171.48 ..

[My] carrying [him] is for my husband's comfort; by day he is tormented with pain. / Know that this is my husband, who always remains in this sling.

I provide nourishment, drink, and clothing for this sick man. / He is a seer, foremost among the Śaunakas; know me to be Śāṇḍilī.

Do not be angry with one who observes her duty to her husband; treat [me] as a guest. / You ought to forgive everything of me, who have approached good men.

The seers said: / "You do not recognise the suffering of another as you wander about at will. / At dawn, when the sun rises, your husband shall die.

You know no sorrow beyond your own, O lowest of your family!" / At these harsh words, Śāṇḍilī became dismayed.

Plunged into profound dejection, she reflected for a moment and spoke these words, / her eyes reddened with rage as she looked at the sages:

"I indeed came to the house of the virtuous, yet you harm me. / In my hospitality to guests, when an exemplary person came to my home,

such hospitality was shown to me by you! / And you have had no regard for the virtue that leads to heaven and liberation.

Seeing me, a devoted wife, like ordinary women— / let you and the gods in heaven behold the power of a woman today!

My husband shall not die, for the sun shall not rise! / The entire world shall become dark; night shall not end today!"

When these words were spoken by her and the sun was arrested, filled with darkness, / nothing produced offspring, and holy rites with the vaṣaṭ-call ceased.

There was no uttering of svāhā, no uttering of svadhā, no performance of the five great sacrifices; / there was no ritual ablution, no charity, no recitation of prayers, and the omission of twilight rites was an infraction. / For six months, O Pārtha, the offering of funeral cakes and libations of water was interrupted.

Thus ends the one hundred and seventy-first chapter, entitled 'The Account of the Dialogue between Śāṇḍilī and the Seers', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Skandamahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.