Skandapurana 6.3.49

Chapter 49

Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Then, having slain Andhaka, Maheśvara, the god of gods,
Rudra together with Umā, went to Mount Kailāsa.

And then the gods arrived, Brahmā and others together with Indra;
delighted and pleased, they all bowed to the husband of Pārvatī.

Īśvara said:
Let all those sit down, whoever has arrived.
This Dānava was indeed slain for the sake of the gods, O Grandfather;

by his blood my trident does not become clean at all.
Devoted to auspicious vows, austerity, and prayers, O Brahmā, he was slain by me.

I desire to undertake a pilgrimage to sacred fords properly, O Four-faced One;
let all of you who have assembled here come along with me.

Having spoken thus, the Lord of the gods of gods set forth towards Prabhāsa.
Sacred fords beginning with Prabhāsa, as far as the midst of Gaṅgāsāgara—

even having bathed in all of them, O king, purity did not occur.
Then, having gone to the Narmadā, the god, accompanied by the gods,

fond of vows, bathed on both the northern and the southern bank.
And having gone to the southern bank, onto the mountain named after Bhṛgu,

dwelling there, O lord of earth, Mahādeva together with the gods,
having wandered long, tired and despondent, sat down.

Since the place was enchanting to all the celestials,
considering that sacred ford distinguished, the god Maheśvara stayed there.

He pierced the mountain with his trident, and Rasātala was split open by it;
and the trident became clean; no stain was visible anywhere.

The most meritorious Bhāratī was summoned there by the gods;
and the most meritorious Sarasvatī flowed out from the mountain there.

A second confluence is there, like the dark and white [waters] at the Veṇī;
there, the god Brahmā himself [consecrated] the excellent liṅga Brahmeśa.

He established the meritorious, supreme [liṅga], destroyer of all sorrow.
In the southern quarter thereof, the god Janārdana himself

remains always there, standing before the foot of Viṣṇu.
There would be no path for the water resting in the middle of the pool;

a furrow was drawn with the tip of the trident, and from it the water flowed, O king;
and that water went to where the great river Revā is.

The most meritorious water-liṅga, a radiant sacred ford, O best of kings—
at Śūlabheda, if the lord of gods should perform his ritual ablution according to rule,

he considers himself pure, with no blemish remaining.
On its northern side, the god of gods, the teacher of the world,

the trident-handed Lord of the gods of gods, established himself.
Among all sacred fords, that sacred ford is supreme, embodying all the gods,

destroying all sins, meritorious, the best destroyer of all sorrows.
Having installed the god of gods at that sacred ford, the teacher of the world,

having stationed guardian deities there, one hundred and eight Vināyakas,
one hundred and eight guardians of the field protect it with effort.

Obstacles arise for anyone who wishes to stay there:
some are preoccupied with family and children, some in agricultural works;

some hold assemblies, some are devoted to accumulating wealth;
some speak ill behind backs, and some are always intent on harm;

some are attached to others' wives, some destroy livelihoods;
others say thus: 'How can one go to sacred fords?

A wife, sons, servants, and others are afflicted by hunger then.'
Thus men are entangled in webs of delusion by the hosts of the gods.

And mortals of sinful conduct—their ritual ablution does not take place;
and the attendant hosts of the gods guard that sacred ford always.

Mortals who are fortunate and meritorious—their ritual ablution takes place,
especially in the celestial river Sarasvatī, the Bhogavatī.

This is a meritorious confluence, like the dark and white [waters] at the Veṇī.
Having seen that sacred ford, all those gods, glad at heart,

came into the presence of the god and described it as supreme:
'This sacred ford, O Lord of gods, is equal to the sacred ford of Gayā for you.'

A sacred ford more secret than the secret, there never was nor will there be. / Having worshipped the Trident-bearer, along with Indra and the other hosts of apsarases,

along with yakṣas, kinnaras, gandharvas, guardians of the directions, and world-protectors, / with dances, songs, and praises, by all the gods and asuras,

Maheśvara was worshipped by all the hosts, siddhas, and serpents. / O king, [the ground] was pierced there by the god with the tip of his trident,

where even today a whirlpool filled by the gods is seen divided threefold, / a triad of pools, O tiger among men, accompanied by a great murmuring sound,

destroying all sins, supreme, dispelling all sorrow. / Whoever bathes in that sacred ford, dedicated to fasting,

even if devoid of initiation and mantra, is freed from the sin of a whole year. / Those, however, who bathe according to rule with the five mantras,

with the five mantras proclaimed in the Veda, with auspicious jars containing gold, / or with ten syllables, or six, or three,

distinctly for the twice-born, it must be performed at the sacred ford, O king; / or for brahmins, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas, and likewise for women and śūdras.

Having meditated upon the triad of persons, one should perform the ritual ablution according to rule. / The men who drink the water with the ten-syllabled mantra,

they go to the supreme realm where the god Maheśvara is, / just as if drunk at Kedāra, and likewise at the Rudrakuṇḍa.

Equipped with five rephas, the letter kṣa is worshipped by the gods; / joined with the oṃkāra, this is proclaimed to be the object of knowledge.

He who performs ritual ablution there, endowed with the rites, with senses controlled, / should offer libations to the ancestral gods with water mixed with sesame.

He delivers twenty generations: ten preceding and ten succeeding. / The person who performs a śrāddha in the five places beginning with Gayā,

he obtains that same fruit at Śūlabheda, without a doubt. / He who, observing proper rites, bestows gifts there with devotion,

imperishable is the fruit thereof, whether good deeds or bad deeds. / Just as Gayāśiras is ever meritorious in ancestral rites,

so Śūlabheda is meritorious through ritual ablutions, gifts, and libations. / Whoever gives there with devotion gold, a cow, land, sesame seeds,

a seat, sandals, a bed, and likewise a kṣatriya [who gives] excellent horses, / a pair of garments, grain, and carefully [gives] a fully furnished house,

and gives a plow with its yoke and cultivated earth— / who gives these gifts to a brahmin who has mastered the Vedas,

a Vedic scholar of noble family, pure, with senses subdued, / endowed with learning and study of scripture, devoid of hypocrisy, engaged in rituals— / each gift shall become thirteenfold on the thirteenth day.

Thus ends the forty-ninth chapter, entitled "Description of the Glorification of the Origin of Śūlabheda," in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Āvantyakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.