Skandapurana 14.21

English (machine translation) 14.21

Language: English

14.21.1

Pulastya said: / Then one should go, O best of kings, to Piṇḍodaka, an unsurpassed / sacred ford where austerity was performed by the twice-born Piṇḍodaka.

14.21.2

Long ago, O wise one, there was a brahmin named Piṇḍodaka. / Dull-witted and of small intellect, he was instructed by a teacher,

14.21.3

[yet] unable to study due to his sluggish state, O king. / Having reached supreme dispassion, he went into a mountain cave.

14.21.4

At that very time, Sarasvatī, / engaged in delighting with her vīṇā, approached him in that solitary place.

14.21.5

Seeing that brahmin despondent and filled with dispassion, / the great goddess, overcome with compassion, uttered these words:

Sarasvatī said: / Why are you grieving, O brahmin? You seem like one who has renounced. / Why are you not glad at heart? For what reason have you come here? / Speak quickly, O fortunate one; I dwell near you.

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Piṇḍodaka said: / Having met with dispassion, rebuked by my teacher, / [and] devoid of knowledge, O noble lady, I now desire death.

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Goddess Sarasvatī does not turn upon the tip of my tongue. / There is no other reason for my death, O fair-faced one. / And seen suddenly by you, I shall go elsewhere from here. / For death is better for me, not life in the condition of a mute.

14.21.10

Sarasvatī said: / I am Goddess Sarasvatī. On this excellent mountain, / I always make my dwelling at nightfall on the thirteenth day [of the lunar fortnight], O twice-born. / Therefore, ask for a boon, whatever is desired and hard to obtain.

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Piṇḍodaka said: / By your grace, O Vāṇī, omniscience is desired by me, / and may this sacred ford attain renown through my name, O smiling one.

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Sarasvatī said: / From this day onward you will be omniscient in this world, / and likewise this sacred ford will attain renown through your name.

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Whoever performs ritual ablution here at nightfall on the thirteenth day, / he will become omniscient even if he were very dull-minded.

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My perpetual dwelling will be here, O best of the twice-born. / Therefore, ritual ablution should always be performed [here] by the self-composed.

14.21.15

Having spoken thus, the goddess then vanished right there. / Piṇḍodaka, having indeed become omniscient, then went to his home / and amazed all the people by taking refuge in that sacred ford.

14.21.21

Thus, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses], in the seventh Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the third Arbudakhaṇḍa, the twenty-first chapter, named "Description of the Greatness of Piṇḍodakatīrtha."

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit