Skandapurana 6.3.5

Chapter 5

Yudhiṣṭhira said:
All this that has been told is wondrous, O best of the twice-born;
the hosts of seers together with me have been struck with great wonder.

Ah, holy is this blessed Narmadā, not born of a womb,
issued from Rudra’s body, destroying great sins!

When the destruction of seven kalpas arrived, along with you, O observer of good vows,
she, highly fortunate, did not perish; what merit could be superior to this?

Which are those kalpas declared to be seven that bring about the destruction of kalpas,
if neither this goddess nor you, O bull among seers, perished?

When the host of birds and beasts was gone, when the world had become a single cosmic ocean,
what was the form assumed by Mahādeva at the end of the yuga?

How does he withdraw the universe, and how does he abide on the great ocean?
And how does he create the universe, how does he sustain creatures?

What was the form assumed by the goddess river when [all] was made a single cosmic ocean?
Why is she called Narmadā, and how is she remembered as Revatī?

Why is she called Añjanā, and why Surasā?
Why Mandākinī, and how does she come to be Śoṇā?

Why is she called Trikūṭā, or why Vāluvāhinī?
For she enters the great ocean with crores and crores of sacred fords.

How many crores of rivers attend upon the Narmadā,
along with seers bearing sacred threads, and likewise deities?

And why is she heard to be divided, O best of sages?
Why is she called Vaiṣṇavī here by those who know the Purāṇas?

In which places and sacred fords is the best of rivers to be worshipped?
Tell also individually of the sacred fords where Hara is present.

And what is the extent of that goddess who was fashioned by Rudra?
And what deeds were related to you by Rudra?

How did this region become teeming with mlecchas, O best of the twice-born?
Tell me this, O brahmin, O noble-minded Mārkaṇḍeya!

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Let all the seers hear, and you too, dear Yudhiṣṭhira:
the ancient account concerning the Narmadā was spoken by the trident-wielding Lord;

and [it was received] by me from Vāyu, and by him from Maheśvara.
Because of the incapacity of human beings, it was condensed by the seers of old.

First is the Māyūra [kalpa], dear one, and next to that the Kaurmya;
and likewise the Pura, the Kauśika, the Mātsya, and the Dvirada;

the Vārāha, which was witnessed by me, and eighth the supreme Vaiṣṇava;
after that was the one named Nyagrodha, and then the excellent Ākāṅkṣa;

and the Padma, and the Tāmasa, and the Saṃvarta and Udvarta;
those who reflect upon the Vedas call these the great dissolution in the Purāṇa.

All this was summarized in brief by those great-souled ones,
and divided into four parts by Brahmā and the other great seers.

That I shall declare fully, O you skilled in the meaning of the Purāṇas,
the seven most terrifying kalpas through which this river did not perish.

Up to the animate creation, [all] had become darkness, unknowable, without distinguishing marks,
with the rays of the moon and sun lost, bereft of living beings.

From that darkness, that Puruṣa, the teacher of the world, called the Great One,
wandered alone therein, manifest and unmanifest, eternal.

He, composed of the syllable Oṃ, transcendent, the twice-born, created the Gāyatrī;
with her Īśāna, the cosmic Puruṣa, sporting, disported.

From his own body he emitted the universe designated as consisting of the five elements;
sporting, he created the universe designated as consisting of the five elements.

Sporting, he who is named Virāṭ created the golden [egg] endowed with a seed;
and that divine egg became like twelve suns [in radiance].

Splitting it, the four-faced grandfather Puruṣa was born;
he created the universe in this manner, with gods, asuras, and mortals,

along with beasts, animals, and birds, sweat-born, egg-born, and womb-born;
this is celebrated in the Purāṇas as the first egg.

In a previous kalpa, O best of kings, as [Rudra] was sporting with the supreme goddess Umā,
and as Rudra was disporting, [the world] was made an ocean.

Out of joy an auspicious maiden was born, originating from the sweat of Umā;
she was born from Śarva’s chest due to the crushing of Umā's breasts.

From the sweat was born a great lotus-eyed maiden,
whose second origin, O Yudhiṣṭhira, was from the body of Rudra.

She wandered through the worlds, which included gods, asuras, and mortals,
arousing passion in the three worlds, peerless then in beauty.

Seeing her, the lords of gods and daityas were infatuated: “How can she be obtained?”
They searched for that maiden here and there, O Bhārata.

And with coquetry, gestures, and playful graces she enchanted the whole world;
possessing a divine form, she wandered like a flash of lightning,

abiding within the cloud with radiant brilliance, unsurpassed by any woman.
Then all the gods, and the daityas along with the dānavas,

sought that maiden in marriage from Rudra, intensely agitated by desire.
Then Mahādeva spoke to both the gods and the dānavas:

“Whoever shall be superior in strength and in majesty,
he shall obtain this maiden, not otherwise indeed, O best of gods.”

Then all the gods and asuras approached the maiden,
saying, “I shall seize her! I shall seize her!”

Even as all of them were watching, that maiden vanished;
then they all saw her again standing at a distance of a yojana.

They all went swiftly to where she was seen;
then at [a distance of] three, four, and again ten yojanas [she stood].

They all saw her walking with the gait of an elephant, stationed [far away], / and again stationed hundreds and thousands of yojanas away. 5.41

Likewise, owing to her lightness, she appeared a hundred thousand [yojanas off], / in front, behind, in the cardinal directions and the intermediate directions. 5.42

They saw that fair-hipped maiden, now single, now multiform; / indeed, for a thousand divine years they were led wandering about by her in ancient times. 5.43

Yet that maiden, born from the limbs of Mahādeva, was not attained. / Then, together with Umā, the god laughed out loud again and again. 5.44

The gaṇas, filled with joy, danced to the clapping of hands; / and suddenly the maiden was seen standing near Śaṃkara. 5.45

Seeing her, the gods, filled with astonishment, turned their faces away. / Then the wielder of the Pināka himself gave her a name: 5.46

“Since you gave amusement (narma) to these [gods] through their various antics, / you shall be Narmadā, the best of rivers, O fair-hipped one! 5.47

Because the god, assuming his true nature, attained laughter on the earth, / she was called Narmadā, auspicious and possessing very cool waters. 5.48

Because of what was spoken by Śambhu of old, when the destruction of seven kalpas occurs, / she does not die; therefore, O best of kings, she attained renown as Narmadā. 5.49

Then the lord of gods, the lord of all beings, the sovereign ruler, / gave that well-behaved and very beautiful maiden to the great ocean. 5.50

Thereupon, from the best of mountains, the Ṛkṣa, roaring with loud laughter of foam clusters, / the goddess Narmadā entered the ocean, the lord of rivers. 5.51

Thus of old in the Brāhma-kalpa she was born from Īśvara; / in the Mātsya-kalpa she was seen by me and has been narrated by me. Listen! 5.52

Thus ends the fifth chapter in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.