Skandapurana 14.23

English (machine translation) 14.23

Language: English

14.23.1

Pulastya said: / Then one should proceed, O best of kings, to the unsurpassed Śuklatīrtha, / which formerly attained fame through the fishermen.

14.23.2

Formerly, O ruler of the earth, there was a washerman named Śamilākṣa; / clothes were thrown into indigo dye by him, O lord of the earth.

14.23.3

Then, overtaken by fear upon realizing the ruin of the clothes, / he set out for another land, surrounded by his family.

14.23.4

Then his fair daughter, O king, a friend of a fisherman’s daughter, / seized with great sorrow, ran to the fisherman's daughter.

14.23.5

She reported to her the fear arising from the clothes / and their departure for a foreign land, in a voice choked with tears.

14.23.6

The fisherman’s daughter also, distressed with grief on account of her sorrow, / sighed repeatedly and said to the girl who was wet with tears:

14.23.7

The fisherman’s daughter said: / ‘There is a great means here known to me, O beautiful one; / surely, once that is performed, there will be fearlessness for you and for your father.’

14.23.8

“Here on Arbuda, O fair-browed one, O woman of lovely complexion, there is a stream; / there my brothers and other fishermen [dwell]. 8

14.23.9

Whatever else is cast into that auspicious water, / all that turns white; behold my body, how it is like this! 9

Because of dipping into that water, all the fishermen [became white]. / O slender-waisted lady, let your father quickly wash those clothes / right there in that water; they will become exceedingly white. 10

14.23.11

You need have no fear here; go and stop your father / who has set out for a foreign land; there should be no hesitation here.” 11

14.23.12

Pulastya said: / Having heard her words, the daughter went quickly and reported everything / to her father; then he attained satisfaction. 12

14.23.13

Rising early in the morning, he ran quickly to that stream; / as soon as those clothes were cast into it by him, O best of kings, 13

14.23.14

they attained extreme whiteness in that water, and then / acquired great, supreme luster; and seeing the garments thus, 14

14.23.15

then, overcome with amazement, he swiftly took them / and presented them to the king, along with the story of how it came about. 15

14.23.16

Then, filled with wonder, that king threw other clothes, / indigo and red, into the water of that stream. 16

14.23.17

They all turned white and became superior. / Recognizing it then as a supreme sacred ford, he performed ritual ablution according to rule. 17

14.23.18

Abandoning his kingdom right there, the ruler of the earth performed austerity; / then, through the power of this sacred ford, he attained the supreme perfection. 18

14.23.19

O king, that man who performs a śrāddha there on the eleventh day, / having redeemed ten families, goes thence to heaven; / and by ritual ablution alone freedom from sin arises that very instant. 19

14.23.23

Thus ends the twenty-third chapter, titled 'Description of the Glory of Śuklatīrtha,' in the third section, Arbudakhaṇḍa, of the seventh section, Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses. 23

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit