Skandapurana 6.3.204

Chapter 204
The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go to Bhṛgutīrtha, unsurpassed king of sacred fords, / belonging to the Grandfather, highly meritorious, destroying all heinous sins. // 204.1

For three hundred years in ancient times, at that sacred ford, / the worship of Śambhu was performed by Brahmā for a certain reason. // 204.2

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / For what reason, O tiger among sages, did Brahmā, the grandfather of the worlds, / worship Maheśvara, the god of gods, with great devotion? // 204.3

He who is to be worshipped by all beings, the supporter of the universe, the teacher of the universe— / I desire to hear that great and extraordinary wonder that ought to be heard. // 204.4

Having heard the words of the son of Dharma, Mārkaṇḍeya, the foremost of sages, / recounted that event, an ancient historical account. // 204.5

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Desiring formerly to approach his own daughter, the Grandfather / was cursed by the god of gods overcome with anger, O best of men: // 204.6

"Your Vedas shall perish, and your knowledge, O lotus-seated one! / You shall become unworthy of worship by all the worlds, without a doubt." // 204.7

The curse having thus been given, Brahmā, overwhelmed by sorrow, / bathed on the northern bank of the Revā for three hundred years / and pleased the Lord of Gods. Pleased, Śaṅkara spoke: // 204.8

"You shall become worthy of worship in the world on each full-moon or new-moon festival as it arrives. / And I shall dwell here together with the gods and the ancestors." // 204.9

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / From that time forth, that sacred ford attained renown through the Grandfather; / it removes all sins, is holy, and is unsurpassed among all sacred fords. // 204.10

There, in the month of Bhādrapada, especially in the dark fortnight, / he who bathes on the new moon day and gratifies the ancestral deities, // 204.11

with a single offering of rice-balls or with sesame-water, O king, / satisfies the ancestors for twelve years; of this there is no doubt. // 204.12

When the sun enters Virgo, he who constantly offers śrāddha there— / having obtained satisfaction, his ancestors leap about and laugh.

Whatever fruit is attained by performing śrāddha at all the ancestor tīrthas, / he completely obtains that fruit on the new moon there, without a doubt.

Having bathed at the Paitāmaha [tīrtha] and worshipping the husband of Pārvatī, / a person is liberated from major sins and minor sins, of this there is no doubt.

For self-controlled men who die at that sacred ford, / there is a state from which there is no return from the realm of Rudra, O king, without a doubt.

Thus ends the two hundred and fourth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Paitāmaha Tīrtha', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth [part], the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa.