Skandapurana 6.3.239

Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go to Dhautapāpa near the sacred ford of Bhṛgu; / for there Bhṛgu was shaken repeatedly by a bull; 184.1

therefore it is celebrated in the worlds by that name, Dhautapāpa. / Mahādeva resides there for the satisfaction [of his devotees], O best of the Bhṛgus. 184.2

Whoever bathes in that sacred ford even deceitfully, O ruler of men, / is freed from all sins; no doubt should be entertained here. 184.3

He who, having bathed there according to proper rule, worships Śiva, / and honors the gods and ancestors, is freed from all sins. 184.4

The sin of killing a brahmin and the slaughter of cows, O Yudhiṣṭhira, / would never enter that sacred ford, terrified; even if entered, it would perish. 184.5

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Speak of this wonderful thing in this world, O best of the twice-born: / how indeed the sin of killing a brahmin does not enter Dhautapāpa. 184.6

There is no sin here equal to the killing of a brahmin. / How then does that which has entered Dhautapāpa perish, O twice-born one? / I ask all of this in detail; speak out of curiosity.

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Long ago, in the first creation, Śambhu, seeing the unnatural fifth head / Of Brahmā the Supreme Lord, resembling the head of a horse,

Severed that head with the join of his thumb and finger. / But as soon as the head was cut off, the murder of a brahmin arose then.

And he was accompanied by the murder of a brahmin on the northern bank of the Narmadā, / Where it was shaken off, O king, by the bull whose form is righteousness.

There the blessed Śambhu beheld the goddess Dhauteśvarī, / Established by the bull and worshipped by all the gods.

Having beheld Durgā, Dhauteśvarī, who destroys the murder of a brahmin, / Śaṅkara, the destroyer of Tripura, resting there,

That Śaṅkara considered himself freed from the murder of a brahmin through the power of that sacred ford. / Amazed, the chosen god of gods, having seen the murder of a brahmin far from the sacred ford,

Where sins are cleansed, honoured by the power of righteousness, the murder would not enter, terrified through fear of the goddess— / A black woman dressed in red garments, adorned with red garlands, clinging to a red cord,

Desiring my shoulder-region in secret, yet standing afar through the power of the excellent sacred ford. / Reflecting thus in his mind, the god, the enemy of Smara, resolved to reside at that sacred ford.

Reflecting much, the god himself stayed, his sins cleansed, renowned throughout the earth; / Right there he made his abode, in the region near Vidhūtapāpa.

From that time on, O best of kings, that sacred ford Vidhautapāpa, / The destroyer of the murder of a brahmin, has been situated on the Narmadā.

The bright ninth day of Āśvina is especially celebrated at that sacred ford, / For a span of three days, O best of kings, particularly beginning with the seventh.

Having fasted with devotion on the eighth, whoever recites the Veda together with its auxiliary limbs / For one day and night, known as the Ṛg, Yajus, and Sāman,

While studying it, he is freed from the murder of a brahmin; there is no doubt in this. / And also intercourse with a Śūdra woman, and approaching the wife of a guru—

Having bathed with a pot in that which is exalted by the essence of Brahmā, one is completely freed. / A barren woman, or one who gives birth only to daughters, or who bears a single child, or whose offspring die—

She too, having bathed with the waters from the pot, has living sons and abundant progeny. / A man who cannot recite, having fasted, [if] a brahmin chants a single verse

Originating from the Ṛg, Yajus, or Sāman on a festive occasion, O king; / Or one who cannot recite verses, having fasted, should chant the Gāyatrī, the mother of the Vedas,

Chanting on the ninth, that best of brahmins is freed from the accumulation of sins. / Thus has it been related, dear one, as told in the Purāṇas by the great seers.

Dhautapāpa, bringing great merit, was recounted to me by Śiva. / Whoever gives up their life in water, in fire, or on dry ground,

He goes by aerial chariot, equal in splendour to the blazing sun, / Drawn by swans and peacocks, served by hosts of apsarases,

To the supreme abode of Śiva, which is difficult even for the gods to attain; / He sports there at his pleasure for as long as the moon, sun, and stars endure.

And whatever woman gives up her life at Dhautapāpa, / From that very moment, O son of Pṛthā, she attains manhood.

Now, what is the use of saying more? Whether good or bad, / All that is done at Dhautapāpa yields imperishable fruit, O king.

One should strictly renounce food, one should renounce objects of sense and the like, / As well as fruits, roots, and the like; one should not abandon water alone.

Whoever acts thus, O son of Pṛthā, goes to the world of Rudra. / Having enjoyed all pleasures there, he is born as a king on earth.

Thus ends the one hundred and eighty-fourth chapter, titled 'Description of the Glory of Dhautapāpa Tīrtha', in the Revā Section of the Fifth Avantī Section, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.

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