Skandapurana 6.3.6

Chapter 6

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Again, when the end of the yuga arrived for the third time, O best of kings, / the blessed Nīlalohita assumed the form of the twelve suns. 6.1

Maheśvara, having become Time, burned up the entire earth / bounded by the seven continents and oceans, along with its mountains, forests, and woods. 6.2

Then, having become a great cloud, he flooded it with water, / a black cloud with a dark body, marked with lightning and the crescent moon as weapons. 6.3

Having flooded the entire world, when it had been turned into a single ocean, / he slept upon the pure water, having contracted the world by his illusory power. 6.4

Then, while Maheśvara had become the wind, I wandered about / for a thousand divine years in the great ocean enveloped in darkness. 6.5

Uttering “Om” unto the lord of the gods of gods, by whom this [world] was made impassable, / and meditating on the god, O best of kings, in that pure water, 6.6

in that dreadful great ocean, when mobile and immobile beings had vanished, / I suddenly saw a peacock in the water, rich with golden feathers, / possessing wondrous eye-spots, blue-necked, and with beautiful eyes. 6.7

Then that peacock, having agitated the expanse of the great ocean with great force, / moved about—the three-crested, plumaged god, the protector of the three worlds, of exalted majesty. 6.8

And while the water was being agitated by the fierce Śiva in the form of a peacock, / he, the very great one, saw a river of immense current wandering along within the great ocean. 6.9

Mahādeva, in the form of the peacock, seeing her wandering with multitudes of violent waves, [said]: / “Who are you, O auspicious one, possessed of an eternal body, who have not met destruction at the end of the great dissolution? 6.10

When the hosts of gods and asuras, rivers, lakes, and the great ocean have perished, / who are you who wander, O lotus-eyed one, and where did you go without being destroyed?” 6.11

Narmadā said: / “By your grace, O lord of gods, death does not exist for me. / O god, create the universe once more; the night has come to an end.” 6.12

Thus addressed, Mahādeva shook the cage of his wings; / thereupon, from the midst of the cage, out of his wings they came forth. 6.13

So many lords of gods and daityas were born from his two wings; / and in their midst, that river Narmadā wandered again. 6.14

Then another great mountain was seen, O bull of the Bharatas, / with three vast peaks, like a horned bull. 6.15

It was renowned as Trikūṭa, adorned with all kinds of jewels; / then, from that Trikūṭa, she went forth, flooding the earth. 6.16

Therefore she is celebrated as Trikūṭī, the supreme deliverer of the ancestors; / and from the second [peak] the Gaṅgā spread out across the surface of the earth. 6.17

And then the third peak split into fragments in seven ways; / in Jambūdvīpa they became those seven principal mountain ranges. 6.18

Along with the moon and constellations, planets, settlements, rivers, and streams, / what was born from eggs, sweat, sprouts, and wombs arose. 6.19

Thus all this world originated of old from the peacock, / all of it, O tiger among men, arising from Mahādeva. 6.20

Then, having divided the rivers and oceans distinctly, / the lord of gods said to Narmadā: “Go to the southern direction! 6.21

Thus, you are the southern Gaṅgā, the destroyer of great sins; / the Jāhnavī is in the northern region, and you, auspicious and sacred, are in the south. 6.22

Just as the Gaṅgā, born from my head, is exceedingly sacred, / even superior to her are you, O highly fortunate one, without a doubt. 6.23

I shall remain with you by a portion of myself, O lady of good vows; / you shall be the medicine for those who are joined with great sins.” 6.24

Thus addressed by the god, that destroyer of great sins, / striding swiftly, went to the southern quarter. 6.25

Having reached the Ṛkṣa, the best of mountains, by the grace of the crescent-crested god, / since she set forth with floods of water impelled by Mahādeva, 6.26

and since she rose up with great speed, / therefore she was called Mahatī by Mahādeva, O lord of the earth. 6.27

As that god was performing austerities, drops fell from the tip of his trident; / by that she was named Śoṇā, and they are recorded as seventeen [streams]. 6.28

More sacred than all rivers is Narmadā, who came forth from the body of Rudra, / and [sacred] above all streams by the granting of a boon by the great-souled one. 6.29

By the grace of Śaṃkara, she is the goddess who destroys great sins, / since she is seen as great even within the dreadful great ocean. 6.30

With well-manifest limbs and a vast form, therefore she is known as Mahatī. / Agitated by the world-elephants resembling rain-clouds,

she indeed leads to turbidity with her sweet water, and thus is Surasā. / Because she grants compassion and bestows fearlessness upon creatures,

sunk in the ocean of worldly existence, she is therefore called Kṛpā. / Formerly, in the holy Kṛta age, adorned with heavenly mandāra trees,

thronged with wish-granting trees and filled with rohītaka trees, / she flows gently, and therefore she is known as Mandākinī.

Because, having quickly cleaved the great ocean, she arrived here in this world, / worthy of worship by the gods and siddhas, therefore she is Mahārṇavā.

[Filled] with clusters of diverse lotuses, crowded with bears and elephants,

she splits the vast mountain and thus proceeds to the great ocean. / Formerly, making all the directions echo with a great roar,

flooding and shining brightly, therefore she is known as Revā. / Bringing men beset by curses and deeply afflicted by grief over wives and sons

to freedom from sin, because of that she is known as Vipāpā. / From the terrible bondage of feces and urine, mired in dust and blood,

because she constantly and completely releases [men] bound by snares, / she is called Vipāśā, she who carries one across the ocean of worldly existence.

Narmadā has spotless waters and a fair face like the spotless moon. / Since, when all had become profound darkness, she was of great splendor,

she is therefore called Vimalā by the wise, O best of kings. / With rays resembling the beams of the moon, having a brilliance equal to the sun’s rays,

she trickles forth and gladdens the universe; therefore she is called Karabhā. / Because she delights the worlds by her very sight, O Bhārata,

from [the root meaning] 'to delight', she is called Rañjanā according to the verbal root, O best of kings. / Grasses, creeping plants, shrubs, and so forth, as well as animals and birds— / those born [there] she leads to heaven, and therefore she is called Vāyuvāhinī.

Whoever knows these names and her origin in this manner, / freed from sin, he goes to the world of Rudra, without doubt.

Thus ends the sixth chapter, named 'The Origin in the Mayūrakalpa', in the explanation of the greatness of the reasoned names of the Revā, in the glorification of the Narmadā, in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.