Skandapurana 6.3.33

Chapter 33

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Then one should go, O king of kings, to the unsurpassed Agnitīrtha,
where Agni is indeed present, having arrived deluded by desire.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:
How was the god, the maintainer of the world, sullied by desire,
and how does his eternal dwelling come to be in a single place?

This is an incomparable wonder, unsurpassed in all the worlds;
tell it, O illustrious one; my curiosity is supreme.

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / 'Well said, well said, O great in wisdom, sinless one! You have asked a question. / I shall recount what was formerly heard from Maheśvara. 33.4

In the Kṛtayuga there was a great king named Duryodhana, / abundant in elephants, horses, and chariots, a protector of the earth. 33.5

Seeing that lord of the earth endowed with beauty and youth, / endowed with divine enjoyments, Narmadā wooed him. 33.6

He, forsaking other women, desired that maiden, / filled with supreme joy, O king, the lord of Māhiṣmatī. 33.7

He disported with her in due time, O best of kings; / Narmadā gave birth to a daughter with eyes like lotus petals. 33.8

Because she was renowned in the worlds for the perfection of all her limbs, / her father and mother bound her with affection. 33.9

In the fullness of time that excellent woman came of age; / though wooed, O king, she did not wish to give herself away. 33.10

Then one day the Fire-god, assuming the form of a twice-born, of great austerity, / approached the king in secret and slowly wooed him: 33.11

"O best of the Raghu lineage, I am a twice-born of modest descent, / poor and without support; I choose her as my wife. 33.12

The maiden is named Sudarśanā, peerless on earth in beauty; / give her to me, O highly fortunate one, she who grows up in your palace. 33.13

Despondent through student celibacy, alone and tormented by desire, / to me who begs you, O lord, you ought to show favour." 33.14

The king said: / "Never shall I give my radiant daughter to one devoid of wealth / or outside my caste; go, O eminent twice-born!" 33.15

Thus addressed, the Fire-god was overcome with intense anguish; / saying nothing to the king, he vanished right there. 33.16

When the brahmin had disappeared, the king, having consulted with his ministers / and family priests in due time, stood pleased at the commencement of a sacrifice. 33.17

And as he offered sacrifice with devotion together with the brahmins, O descendant of Bharata, / the fire vanished before the eyes of all. 33.18

The brahmins, dejected in spirit, went to the king's palace; / bewildered by the disappearance of the fire, they spoke thus to the king. 33.19

The brahmins said: / "O Great King Duryodhana, listen to a great wonder, / a strange event neither heard nor seen before, O bull among kings! 33.20

Though all of us engaged in the fire-rites according to rule, O king, / for some reason the fire is not seen, nor does it blaze. 33.21

Hearing that terrible, displeasing news fall from the brahmins' mouths, / the king fell from his seat to the ground like a tree cut at its roots. 33.22

Reviving after a moment, being like one driven mad, / he looked in all directions and spoke these words: 33.23

"What is this greatest of wonders, O best of the twice-born? / Tell me the whole reason, discerning it through the eye of scripture! 33.24

Is it some misdeed of mine, or perhaps of yours here, / on account of which the fire has perished in the sanctuary of fire—by what cause? 33.25

Was there a flaw in the mantras or else something without a fee? / Was it performed lacking proper rites? Why is the fire not seen? 33.26

Lacking food, a sacrifice burns the realm; lacking mantras, the priests; / lacking a sacrificial fee, the patron: there is no enemy like a flawed sacrifice!" 33.27

The brahmins said: / "We are not deficient in mantras, O king, nor in our vows; / nor are you deficient in wealth; reflect upon some other sin!" 33.28

The king said: / "Nevertheless, devise a means together, / by which welfare may always ensue in this world and in the next." 33.29

Thus addressed, all those brahmins made a firm resolve; / fasting, all of them remained where the fire had vanished. 33.30

Then in a dream the fire of great splendour said to the brahmins: / 'Let the cause of my disappearance be heard by all! 33.31

This king was wooed by me, but he does not wish to give his daughter; / therefore have I vanished from the sanctuary of fire, O best of the twice-born! 33.32

If the king gives me his highly honoured daughter, / then, blazing, I shall dwell in his house, and not otherwise.' 33.33

Hearing those words issue from the mouth of the Fire-god, the brahmins, / their eyes wide with astonishment, spoke thus to the king: 33.34

"Knowing your will, we all went to the sanctuary of fire; / fasting through the night, we beheld the All-knowing Fire. 33.35

He told us: 'If the king is willing to give me his daughter, / then I shall blaze once more in his house, not otherwise, O twice-born!' 33.36

Knowing this, O Great King, you ought to give your daughter." 33.37

The king said: / "Your words, or the words of that god, are to be kept in mind; / I wish to make an unsurpassed condition regarding the gift of the maiden: 33.38

let the Fire-god dwell perpetually present in my house; / then I shall give her of charming side-glances; otherwise I shall not do so." 33.39

Having heard this, those brahmins quickly approached the Fire-god, / informed him, and straightway united them in marriage. 33.40

Extremely pleased by obtaining Sudarśanā, the fire / blazes perpetually in close presence in Māhiṣmatī, O Yudhiṣṭhira. 33.41

From that time forward that sacred ford is called Agnitīrtha. / Those who, purified there by bath and gifts at the junction of fortnights, 33.42

sate the ancestors and the gods, are endowed with the fruit of a horse sacrifice. / Those who give gold at that sacred ford, O ruler of men, 33.43

gain the fruit of gifting the earth there—there is no doubt about this. / And whoever undertakes a fast unto death at that sacred ford, O ruler of men, 33.44

upon dying plays in the world of Fire, worshiped by the gods. / Thus the origin of the Agnitīrtha has been related to you by me, 33.45

destroying all sins, auspicious by the mere hearing of it, O best of men; / meritorious and ever-removing sin—thus spoke Śaṅkara.' 33.46

Thus ends the thirty-third chapter, named 'Description of the Māhātmya of Agnitīrtha', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth [section], the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].