Skandapurana 6.3.41

Chapter 41

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / 'Then one should go, O king of kings, to the excellent Kuṇḍaleśvara, / where the great yakṣa Kuṇḍadhāra attained perfection, O best of kings,

having performed immense austerity that caused dread to gods and demons, / and sportively lived in the palace of Paulastya, O best of kings.'

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / 'In which yuga was he born? Whose son was that noble-minded one, / by whom, having practiced immense austerity, Śaṃkara was pleased?

Tell this to me in detail, dear sir, O sinless one; / for I have no satiety in listening to the supreme nectar of your tales.'

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / 'In the Tretāyuga, equal to Brahmā, the descendant of Pulastya named Viśravas, / born as the son of Bharadvāja's daughter, performed immense austerity.

Having thoroughly satisfied his wife with devotion, he begot a son endowed with a host of grandsons, / Dhanada, who was marked with all auspicious characteristics.

Learning that he was born, Brahmā, the grandfather of the worlds, / surrounded by seers and gods, gave him a name with great joy:

"Since you were born of Viśravas and have become my grandson, / therefore the name Vaiśravaṇa has been given to you by me, O sinless one.

Likewise, you shall be the guardian of wealth for all the gods, / the fourth of the world-protectors, imperishable and undecaying on earth."

His wife, O great king, was famed as Īśvarī; / he, the yakṣa, the best ruler of yakṣas, had a son named Kuṇḍa.

Attaining supreme beauty, by the permission of his parents, / he resorted to the bank of the Narmadā and performed immense austerity.

Scorched by the five fires in summer, lying on bare ground in the rainy season, / standing in water in the winter, feeding on wind for a hundred years,

when a hundred years were thus complete, he stood on one big toe, O king, / reduced to mere bones, my dear, and thereafter with upraised arms.

Restraining his breath, Kuṇḍala practiced austerity, O bull of the Bharatas; / in the fourth century of years, he whose vehicle is the bull was pleased.

'Choose a boon, my child, whatever pleases your mind; / I grant it to you, have no doubt, for I am pleased by your austerity.'

Kuṇḍala said: / 'By the grace of the lord of yakṣas, let me wander as his attendant in the city / as I desire, invulnerable to all enemies.'

Having said, 'So be it,' Mahādeva, bowed to by all the worlds, / entered the sky and went to Kailāsa, the mountain.

And when the god had passed out of sight, that yakṣa too, filled with joy, / established the supreme Kuṇḍaleśvara, the lord of gods.

Having adorned the Lord of the Universe with flowers, incenses, and ointments, / with aerial chariots, chowries, and umbrellas, and with the bathing of the liṅga,

and having gratified the twice-born properly with food, drink, and ornaments, / having pleased Mahādeva, he then went to his own abode.

From that time forth, that sacred ford has been famed in the three worlds / as Kuṇḍaleśvara, supreme and most meritorious.

Whoever, devoted to fasting at that sacred ford, / worships the god Īśāna, is completely freed from all sins.

Whether one gives gold, silver, a gem, or a pearl, / or food to brahmins, he rejoices happily in heaven.

He who bathes at that sacred ford, whether a chanter of the Ṛg, Yajur, or Sāma Veda, / and mutters even a single ṛc, enjoys the full fruit.

Hear the fruit of him who gives a cow to brahmins, O Pāṇḍava: / for as many hairs as are upon her and upon the line of her offspring,

for so many thousands of years he is glorified in the heavenly world; / he shall have residence in heaven accompanied by sons and grandsons.

That noble-minded person dwells in heaven for that many years along with his sons and grandsons; / the giver of food there goes to the world of Maheśa for countless years, there is no doubt here.

He indeed rejoices happily in the heavenly world, sung around by Gandharvas, Siddhas, and apsarases; / thus the entire power of the sacred ford has been told to you, O son of Dharma, O Pārtha.

Having heard and praised [it], one is freed from all sins, and again [attains] the three worlds here by its power.

Thus ends the forty-first chapter, entitled “Description of the Māhātmya of the Kuṇḍaleśvara Sacred Ford,” in the Narmadā Māhātmya of the Revākhaṇḍa, in the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses.