Skandapurana 11.1

11.1

Skanda said: / Hear, O slayer of Vātāpi, of [the river] that removes sins in Kāśī, / which occurred in the Padma Kalpa regarding the twice-born Damana. / He was the son of Bhāradvāja, named Damana by name. / Having performed the ceremony of the muñja belt and acquired the body of knowledge, / realizing that life is full of the sorrows of saṃsāra and also fickle, / the wise Damana departed from his own house. / Setting out in a certain direction, having attained supreme detachment, / at every hermitage, at every mountain, at every ocean, at every forest, / at every sacred ford, at every river, he wandered, engaged in austerity. / Whatever shrines exist here across the earth, / he dwelled at that many, with his senses and mind restrained. / Yet no steadfastness of mind was attained by him anywhere, / nor was a teacher of his desire seen anywhere at all. / Then, once by the course of destiny, that ascetic named Damana / beheld on the bank of the Revā the sacred ford of Amarakaṇṭaka / and also the great sacred shrine of Oṃkāra there. / Seeing it, he became joyful at heart and attained steadfastness of mind. / Then, beholding the Pāśupatas there, rich in austerity,