Skandapurana 6.3.85

Chapter 85

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then, O king of kings, one should go to the ancient [sacred ford] of the Narmadā, / the sacred ford that removes the sin of killing a brahmin; for it is equal to Vārāṇasī.

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Tell me the wonder, O brahmin, that occurred on the bank of the Narmadā. / Why is it equal to Vārāṇasī? Tell me this, O lord.

Plunged into the miserable cycle of existence, robbed of my kingdom, O best of brahmins, / I am cleansed of sorrow along with my kinsmen, having bathed in the water of your words.

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Well said, well said, O mighty-armed one, ornament of the lunar dynasty! / I have been asked about a rare sacred ford, the highest, more secret than the secret.

In the beginning was the Grandfather, the lord of the entire universe; / from his mind were born ten bull-like seers alone:

Marīci, Atri, and Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, / Pracetas and Vasiṣṭha, and Bhṛgu and Nārada.

The prajāpati Dakṣa of great splendour was born from Pracetas; / to Dakṣa also were born fifty daughters, as is told.

He gave ten to Dharma, thirteen to Kaśyapa, / and likewise that fortunate one gave twenty-seven to the moon.

She among them named Rohiṇī became the moon's beloved; / having taken pity on the others, Dakṣa cursed the moon.

The moon became afflicted with consumption through this prajāpati Dakṣa; / and by the power of the curse, the lord of night was stripped of his lustre.

Soma, the nectar-rayed one, trembling, went to the Grandfather: / “Homage to you, lotus-born one! Homage to you whose womb is the Veda! / Pleased [with me], I have taken refuge in you; protect me, O lotus-seated one!”

Brahmā said: / “O lord of night, you are seen stripped of lustre and devoid of crescent digits; / your mind is agitated, my child. For what reason has this happened?”

Soma said: / “By Dakṣa's curse I have lost my lustre, O Brahmā, O lord of the universe; / tell me, O Grandfather, the removal of this curse.”

Brahmā said: / “The Revā is easy of access everywhere, [but] difficult of access in three places: / at Oṅkāra, in the Bhṛgukṣetra, and likewise at the confluence of the Aurva.

Go there, O lord of night, to the further bank of the Revā.” / Hastily he went to where the confluence of the Revā and the Aurvā was.

Standing motionless like wood, Soma meditated on the foe of Tripura; / until a full hundred years [had passed], when Maheśvara was pleased.

The husband of Umā, seated on the bull, appeared before King Soma's eyes; / prostrating with eight limbs, [Soma exclaimed] loudly: “Hail, O Śambhu, homage to you!

Hail, Śaṅkara, remover of sin, homage! Hail, Īśvara, homage to you, Lord of the Universe! / Hail, wearer of the Vāsuki ornament, homage! Hail, bearer of the trident and the skull, homage!

Hail, destroyer of Andhaka's body, homage! Hail, slayer of the host of Dānavas, homage! / Hail, formless one having form, homage! Hail, Death, consumer of Kāma, homage!

Hail, bearer of the dark blue neck, homage! Hail, subtle unstained sound, homage! / Hail, beginning, beginningless, endless one, homage! Hail, Śaṅkara, O Lord, cherish your servant!”

Puffed with praise in this way by King Soma, O Pāṇḍava, / Mahādeva Śaṅkara, pleased with him, spoke with Śivā, O best of kings.

Īśvara said: / “Ask a boon of me, good sir, whatever is in your mind. / Excellent, excellent, O one of great fortitude! I am pleased with your austerity.”

Soma said: / “Burnt by Dakṣa's curse, I am drained of strength, O Maheśvara; / bring about an appeasement of the curse, O god; bestow peace upon me, O lord.”

Īśvara said: / “I have been won over by your devotion, pleased along with Umā; / you, the lord of the moon, have become free from sin by resorting to this sacred ford.”

So spoke the lord of the gods of gods; then, after meditating for a moment, / a supreme liṅga granting desires to living beings on earth was installed by the moon, / removing all sorrow and destroying the sin of killing a brahmin.

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Tell me briefly, O lord, the power of Somanātha; / for those plunged into the ocean of sorrow, a saviour has arrived, O best of brahmins.

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Hear the power of the sacred ford; I will tell you briefly / what happened on the northern bank of the Revā at the confluence of the Urī.

There was a king named Śambara; his son was Trilocana; / Trilocana's son was Kaṇva, and he was devoted to increasing his sins.

Wandering constantly in the forest, he saw a herd of deer; / that herd of deer was slain by Trilocana's son.

A twice-born in the form of a deer was grazing in their midst in that solitary forest; / he was struck down alongside them by Kaṇva, O best of sages.

Possessed by the sin of killing a brahmin, Kaṇva roamed the earth stripped of his lustre; / and roaming about, he arrived at the confluence of the Narmadā and the Urī.

[It was] dense with kiṃśuka and aśoka trees, filled with citron and breadfruit trees, / covered with kadamba and pāṭalā, adorned with bilva and orange trees,

provided with tamarind and campaka, and shaded by agasti trees; / the forest was adorned all around, filled with abundant living beings,

with leopards, wildcats, ferocious boars, and śambara deer, / with hares along with wild oxen, and graced by peacocks and donkeys.

Having entered the forest, Kaṇva, afflicted with thirst and tormented by fatigue, / bathed in the auspicious water of the Revā at the confluence that destroys sin.

Somanātha was worshipped by him with supreme devotion, O Yudhiṣṭhira; / he drank the very pure water that brings about the destruction of all sins.

And he ate various fruits along with his servants. / Exhausted from killing the deer, he fell asleep in the shade of a tree.

Meanwhile, a brahmin went to that confluence, the best of sacred fords, to bathe; / walking along the path, joyful and with his mind focused upon it,

a woman said to him, "Halt, halt, best of the twice-born!" / While he, terrified, looked in all directions, O ruler of men,

he saw a young woman perched in a tree, clad in red garments, / wearing a red garland, smeared with red sandalwood paste, / adorned with radiant red ornaments, and holding a noose in her hand.

The woman said: / "Hear a message, O brahmin, if you are going to the confluence: / My husband is staying there; send him away [to me] immediately.

And [tell him,] 'Your wife is staying all alone in the middle of the forest.'" / Having heard this, the brahmin went to the confluence that is hard even for gods to attain.

Resting in the shade of a tree, Kaṇva was seen by the brahmin. / Then that best of brahmins spoke these words to him:

The brahmin said: / "In the middle of the forest I saw a slender, lotus-eyed maiden / wearing red garments, smeared with red sandalwood paste,

wearing a red garland, exceedingly beautiful, holding a noose in her hand, with deer-like eyes; / seated in a tree, she spoke the words: 'Let my husband be sent [to me]!'"

Kaṇva said: / "In what place, O lord of brahmins, is that deer-eyed maiden? / Whose [wife] is she, and for what purpose? Tell me all this at once!"

The brahmin said: / "She is indeed half a krośa from the confluence, at the edge of the garden." / By the words of the brahmin, the king did not recognize her.

Then that king Kaṇva instructed his own messenger: / Kaṇva said: / "Go, ask her: 'From where have you come, and where will you go?'" / Dispatched, the messenger hurried and went near the woman.

He saw the maiden standing in the tree and spoke, O best of kings: / "My lord asks you: 'Who are you, and where will you go?'"

The maiden said: / "A guru is the punisher of the self-controlled; a king is the punisher of the wicked; / in this world, of secret sins, Yama, son of Vivasvat, is the punisher.

And the murder of a brahmin arose from the twice-born who had taken the form of a deer. / Even though joined with me, your king was freed by the power of the sacred ford.

Within half a krośa, the murder of a brahmin may not enter. / Such is the power of Somanātha, considered equal to Vārāṇasī.

Go, let the king be sent here quickly; there is no doubt of this." / Then the servant went quickly, trembling and deeply agitated.

He recounted everything that had taken place before. / At his words, the king fell upon the ground.

The servant said: / "Why do you grieve, O master, over what was formerly incurred, auspicious or inauspicious?" / Having heard his words, the king said:

"I shall surrender my life near Somanātha. / Let fire and much fuel be brought at once!"

Everything was brought that very moment by the servants who were obedient to him. / Having bathed in the auspicious waters at the sin-destroying confluence,

and having worshipped Somanātha with supreme devotion, the king, / having circumambulated the blazing fire three times,

entered [it], that king Kaṇva, meditating in his heart on Janārdana: / on the yellow-robed god wearing a crown of matted hair,

endowed with Śrī, mounted on Garuḍa, bearing the conch, discus, and mace; / he meditated on the slayer of the enemies of the gods, saying, "May my destination be good!"

A rain of flowers fell, [and voices cried,] "Well done! Well done, O prince!" / Seeing an incomparable wonder, they looked at one another.

Having died in the fire, those servants, meditating on the mace-bearing god in their hearts, / all mounted aerial chariots, O son of Pāṇḍu.

Free from sin, they went to heaven through the power of Somanātha, / while the brahmin there at the confluence was meditating on the Bull-bannered [Śiva].

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Such is the power of Somanātha. Listen with an attentive mind to the rite: / On the eighth or fourteenth lunar day, or at any time on Sunday,

especially in the bright fortnight if the seventh falls on a Sunday— / fasting, whatever man should keep a vigil at night with devotion,

should bathe the Supreme Lord with the five bovine nectars. / Then, smearing him with white sandalwood paste, he should offer flowers, incense, and the like.

He should kindle a lamp with ghee and arrange dancing and singing. / On Monday, or on the eighth, in the morning he should honor brahmins

who have mastered anger, are self-controlled, refrain from censuring others, / are handsome in all their limbs, commendable, and faithful to their own wives,

content with merely reciting the Gāyatrī, and always abstaining from improper deeds. / A man in whose house a remarried woman, an outcaste woman, or a śūdra woman roams—

such a twice-born is to be avoided from afar by one who desires his own welfare; / also those of deficient limbs or superfluous limbs, and those without a pure ancestry or posterity.

In a vow, in a śrāddha, and in gift-giving, one should avoid them from afar. / Twice-born men devoid of Vedic study are like an iron boat;

they cause themselves to sink along with their sacrificer, without a doubt. / Brahmins devoted to the six duties are like a boat of silk-cotton wood;

they carry the donor across and cross over themselves. / Whoever performs a śrāddha at Someśvara, O son of Pṛthā, free from jealousy,

his ancestors will be well pleased until the dissolution of all beings. / Whoever gives food, clothing, and gold to a brahmin

goes to the realm of Śaṅkara; this is spoken truly by me. / Whoever gives a horse there—full-grown, young, white,

or red, or yellow, endowed with all auspicious marks— / both the brahmin and the horse should have their limbs smeared with saffron;

they should be adorned with garlands of flowers and covered with white garments. / [The donor should say:] "Place your foot upon my shoulder and mount the horse!"

When the brahmin has mounted, he should say, "May the Sun be pleased." / Rid of all sin, he goes to the world of Śaṃkara.

During an eclipse of the moon, going to the sacred ford with subdued senses, / even falling from Satyaloka, he becomes a righteous king.

His dwelling, O king, is eternal and never perishes. / A long-lived son is born [to him], and a wife obedient to his will.

He shall live a full hundred years, free from all sorrow. / Fasting, with anger conquered, he should give a cow to a brahmin:

with her calf, rich in milk, covered with a white cloth, / speckled, yellow-colored, smoky, or blue-variegated,

or a tawny cow with her calf, adorned with ornaments of bells, / with silver hooves, a bronze milking vessel, and golden horns, O lord of men.

By a white one his lineage flourishes; a red one increases good fortune; / a speckled one and a yellow one are declared to destroy sorrows.

A tawny cow destroys the sin born of seven births. / The giver of a cow attains Satyaloka, O lord of men.

At the end of a fortnight, at a vyatīpāta, at a vaidhṛti, at the sun's transit, / at a dinakṣaya, during the Gajacchāyā conjunction, and during an eclipse of the sun,

the great-souled ones who go to the confluence, difficult for the gods to attain— / having smeared oneself with clay, one should enter the confluence.

Deep in the water, one should chant [prayers] or perform breath control, O king; / the Vaiṣṇava Gāyatrī, or the solar, or the Śaiva one at will; / they too are freed from sins—thus indeed spoke Śaṅkara.

Whoever circumambulates the platform of Somanātha / has circumambulated the earth with its seven continents.

Killing a brahmin, drinking liquor, defiling the guru's bed, / slaying an embryo, and stealing gold—they are freed [from these], there is no doubt.

The afflicted person with subdued senses who hears this sacred account of the sacred ford is freed from illness, / and one free from disease attains happiness.

Hear from me that by which your mind is consumed, O Yudhiṣṭhira: / In this world, O king, even a single slaying of an embryo is difficult to shed,

how much more the twenty-six that the moon incurred, O son of Pṛthā! / Even he, having reached this sacred ford and having performed austerity exceedingly hard to practice,

freed from all sins, the cool-rayed [moon] became happy. / An ancient verse sung by great seers is heard, O king:

"A single installed liṅga destroys [the sin of] ten embryo-killings." / Therefore, Soma installed three liṅgas, O descendant of Bharata:

the first at the confluence of the Revā and the Ūrī, the second at Bhṛgukaccha, / and then, having attained the highest perfection, the third at Prabhāsa.

Thus all the supreme māhātmya of the sacred ford has been told to you, / righteous, renowned, life-giving, heavenly, and bringing purification to men.

One desiring a son obtains sons; one free of desire attains heaven. / One is freed from all sins after visiting this supreme sacred ford, O king.

All this fruit of Somanātha has been told to you. / By hearing it one obtains a son, and by bathing, eight [sons], there is no doubt.

Thus ends the eighty-fifth chapter, titled "Description of the Greatness of the Somanātha Sacred Ford," in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa.