Skandapurana 6.3.39

Chapter 39

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go, O best of kings, to the excellent Kapilātīrtha; / by mere bathing with devotion, a man is freed from all sins.

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / The māhātmya of Narmadeśvara, marvelous in the worlds, has been told, O best of the twice-born; / tell me about the māhātmya of Kapila.

At what time and in what connection was this excellent tīrtha produced? / How did this holy tīrtha that removes all sins come to be, O lord?

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Listen, O king, today I shall tell you of the excellent Kapilātīrtha, / hearing which all your wonder will depart, O Bhārata.

Formerly, at the beginning of the Kṛta age, Brahmā, the grandfather of the worlds, / having generated the entire fourfold host of beings,

devoted to recitation and oblations, meditated for a moment with devotion and remained still; / just then, a tawny cow arose from the blazing fire pit,

with horns radiant with tongues of fire, three-eyed, rich in milk, / full of fire, with a face of fire, with a scent of fire, with eyes of fire,

with hooves of fire, a back of fire, and her whole body abiding in fire, / complete with all auspicious marks, with the charming sound of bells.

Beholding that highly blessed tawny cow situated in the middle of the fire pit, / Brahmā, the guru of the worlds, bowed down and spoke this, dear one:

“Homage to you, holy Kapilā, bowed to by all the worlds, / auspicious, source of auspiciousness, O goddess incomparable in the three worlds!

You are Lakṣmī, you are Memory, Intellect, and Firmness, O fair-faced one; / you are renowned as the goddess Umā, you are Satī, there is no doubt here.”

You are Vaiṣṇavī, you are the Great Goddess, you are Brahmāṇī, O fair-faced one; / you are Kumārī, O highly fortunate one, as well as devotion and faith. 39.12

You are indeed Kālarātri among living beings, you are Kumārī, the supreme mistress. / You are the lava, you are the truṭi, the muhūrta, and indeed a hundred thousand. 39.13

You are the year, you are the month, you are time, and likewise the instant. / There is nothing in the three worlds, moving or unmoving, devoid of you. 39.14

Praised thus with respect by Parameṣṭhin, / the brown cow, rejoicing, spoke to that highly fortunate lotus-born one: 39.15

‘I am pleased by your speech, O god of gods, teacher of the world! / What pleasing thing may I do for you today? Tell me everything, O Grandfather.’ 39.16

Brahmā said: / ‘You were brought forth by me for the welfare of the world, O supreme mistress; / go therefore from heaven to the mortal realm out of a desire for the welfare of the worlds. 39.17

For you consist of all the gods, and likewise you consist of all the worlds. / Those who give [you] in accordance with the injunctions shall dwell in heaven.’ 39.18

Having spoken thus to Brahmā, the goddess, the supreme mistress, / praised by gods and perfected beings, came down to the surface of the earth. 39.19

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / ‘When that auspicious one came here at the word of the brahmin, dear father, / how were the gods and the worlds stationed in her limbs? 39.20

Or how, having arrived, did that brown cow take her place, O best of the twice-born, / in a sacred ford or in a barren field? Tell me this, O twice-born.’ 39.21

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / ‘When spoken to then by Brahmā, the creator of the world, O Bhārata, / she went from the world of Brahmā to the sacred Narmadā that purifies the worlds. 39.22

Having performed extensive austerity, resorting to the bank of the Narmadā, / she roamed the entire earth together with its mountains and forests. 39.23

From then on, O lord of kings, the excellent Kapilātīrtha, / celebrated as removing all sins, has been resorted to by hosts of seers. 39.24

He who, having bathed in that sacred ford according to the rule, gives a brown cow, / by him the earth, with its mountains and forests, has been given. 39.25

He who gazes with devotion upon her being given to the best of brahmins, / his sin of a hundred years is destroyed; of this there is no doubt. 39.26

Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, Svaḥ, and Mahaḥ, Janaḥ, Satya, and Tapas— / resting upon her back, those worlds reside, O best of kings. 39.27

Indeed, Agni the god resides in her mouth, and the serpents in her teeth; / Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ are her lips, and Sarasvatī is on her tongue. 39.28

The two deities of a thousand rays, the moon and the sun, are her fair eyes; / and the wind resides in the middle of her nose, O best of kings. 39.29

Mahādeva is on her forehead, and the two Aśvins reside in her ears; / Nara and Nārāyaṇa are in her horns, and the Grandfather is between her horns. 39.30

The dewlap has been reached, dear child, by Varuṇa the noose-bearer; / and the blessed god Yama, taking recourse, has settled upon her belly. 39.31

The serpents are in her hooves, and the rays of the sun are at the tip of her tail. / Truly, the brown cow who is such consists of all the gods, O king. 39.32

Those who keep [her] in their home are blessed; of this there is no doubt. / He who, rising at dawn, circumambulates her, 39.33

by him the [entire earth] with its mountains and forests has been circumambulated. / He who bathes Śaṅkara with the five cow-products of a brown cow, 39.34

and he who, intent on fasting at that sacred ford, O ruler of men, / having bathed according to the prescribed rite, offers libations to the ancestors and gods, 39.35

all his family members—ten earlier and ten later— / ascend to heaven satisfied, meditating on the fulfillment of his wishes. 39.36

This rite has been pointed out to you, along with the origin, O best of kings, / and the holy fruit of the sacred ford. What else do you ask? 39.37

[It brings] good fortune, fame, long life, and is excellent, destroying all sorrow; / hearing it, one is released from all sins; of this there is no doubt.’ 39.38

Thus ends the thirty-ninth chapter, entitled ‘Description of the Greatness of Kapilātīrtha,’ in the Greatness of the Holy Narmadā, in the Section on Revā, in the fifth Section on Avantī, in the venerable Skanda Purāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.