Skandapurana 6.3.37

Chapter 37

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go to the supreme Devatīrtha, O king of kings, / bathing in which the thirty-three gods attained supreme perfection.

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / How, O dear one, were all the gods vanquished by the more powerful Dānavas, / and how, having bathed at that sacred ford, did they attain supreme perfection?

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / In the past, O king, Indra together with the hosts of gods was driven from his kingdom / in battle by fierce troops of Daityas who were exceedingly powerful.

Having crushed his army with multitudes of elephants, horses, and chariots, / shattered and battered by blows, they took to flight.

Trembling and tormented by Jambha, Śumbha, Kūṣmāṇḍa, Kuhaka, and the rest, / they all approached Brahmā.

Bowing their heads to the god Brahmā, the supreme lord, / the gods, led by the fire god, then made this petition:

“Look, look, O blessed one! Cut to pieces by the Dānavas, / separated from our sons and wives, we have taken refuge in you alone.

Protect us, O lord of gods, grandfather of all the worlds! / There is no other recourse, O lord of the gods, leaving you, O supreme master!”

Brahmā said: / “For the destruction of the Dānavas, resort to the bank of the Narmadā / and perform austerity; be composed, for austerity is indeed the highest power.

No other means nor mantra exists, nor is there any rite for me, / without the sacred water of the Revā, which destroys all sins.

Poverty, disease, death, bondage, and calamities— / these are indeed the fruits of sin; this is my conviction.

Knowing this, perform difficult austerity there!” / And so all the suras, the gods led by the fire god, [did].

Having heard that truthful speech of Brahmā, the supreme lord, / all the gods led by the fire god came to the Narmadā.

They performed vast austerity there and attained perfection. / From that time on, that sacred ford is celebrated

in the three worlds as the supreme Devatīrtha, destroying all sins. / Whatever mortal goes there, with senses controlled according to the rule,

and performs a ritual ablution with devotion, he will obtain the fruit of liberation. / And whoever feeds brahmins at that sacred ford, O king of kings,

he obtains the fruit of [feeding] a thousand foremost brahmins, O king. / There is the lovely Devaśilā, which greatly augments merit.

Those who die through renunciation attain an imperishable state. / Whoever enters the fire at that sacred ford, O king,

dwells in the world of Rudra until the dissolution of all beings. / Thus ritual ablution, muttered prayer, fire oblation, self-study, and the worship of deities—

good deeds or bad deeds done at that sacred ford become imperishable. / This rule and the origin of Devatīrtha have been declared to you,

in full, O Bhārata, as heard from Śaṅkara. / Those who read this sin-destroying [narrative] that frees from all sorrow,

this deed of Devatīrtha, go to the realm of the gods.

Thus ends the twenty-seventh chapter, entitled “Description of the Māhātmya of the Devatīrtha,” in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Avantī section in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.