Skandapurana 14.41

English (machine translation) 14.41

Language: English

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Pulastya said: / Then, O best of kings, one should go to the hermitage of Mārkaṇḍeya, / where formerly austerity was performed by the great-souled Mārkaṇḍa. 1

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Anciently there was a brahmin named Mṛkaṇḍu who strictly observed his vows. / At an advanced age, a very handsome son was born to him, 2

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endowed with all auspicious marks, tranquil, possessing the radiance of the sun. / Then, after some time, O king, at the precinct of his hermitage 3

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came a wise, auspicious brahmin who knew the signs of the body. / Then, as that five-year-old boy was playing, 4

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he gazed at him for a long time from the tip of his nose to the crest of his hair. / Then suddenly he laughed; and Mṛkaṇḍu noticed him. 5

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Then [Mṛkaṇḍu] said: 'You looked at my son for a long time, O twice-born, / and then you laughed. Tell [me], what is the reason for this?' 6

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When questioned repeatedly by Mṛkaṇḍu, that best of the twice-born, / yielding to importunity, disclosed the truth to him: 7

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'The marks that exist on the body of this boy, O best of the twice-born— / by those a person would indeed become ageless and immortal. 8

[Yet] within six months, death will certainly come to this boy. / For this reason laughter was made by me, O best of the twice-born. / An untruth has never been spoken by me before, even to enemies.' 9

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Pulastya said: / Having spoken thus, that wise man, after dwelling there for the night / and being given leave by Mṛkaṇḍu, departed to his desired region. 10

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Mṛkaṇḍu, too, having learned that his son had a short lifespan, O king, / though he was only five years old, afflicted with grief, invested him with the sacred thread. 11

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[He said:] 'Endowed with the study of the scriptures, whomever you see before you, / to him an obeisance must be made constantly by you, my son.' 12

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Then the student of the Veda carried out the command of his father with special care. 13

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Whomever he sees with his eyes—a child, an old man, or a youth— / to every such brahmin he bows down, endowed with modesty. 14

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Then, after some time, in the vicinity of his hermitage / arrived the seven seers, intent on a pilgrimage to sacred fords. 15

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Then, having approached quickly, O ruler of the earth, the boy, endowed with humility, / bowed to all of them in due order. 16

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'May you be long-lived,' said those [seers] who were pleased with him to the boy; / and having dismissed that boy, they set off to their desired region. 17

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Among them was one named Aṅgiras, endowed with divine knowledge. / By him the boy was examined with subtle insight, O scorcher of foes. 18

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Then, somewhat amazed, he spoke to all those sages: / 'This boy whom you have pronounced long-lived is not long-lived. 19

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This young boy will go to destruction on the fifth day. / Therefore, our words should not be untruthful, O best of the twice-born. 20

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A plan should be devised so that he may live long.' / Then those sages, afraid of an untrue word, O ruler of the earth, 21

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taking that boy, went then to the world of Brahmā. / Having seen the four-faced one there, the lords of sages bowed down. 22

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Immediately after them, the boy made his obeisance to him. / To him also Brahmā said, 'May you be long-lived, O boy.' 23

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Then the seven seers rejoiced in their hearts, O best of kings; / [and Brahmā] spoke to those eminent sages who were seated comfortably and rested: 24

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Brahmā said: / 'Ask; what is to be done? Whence have you come here?' 25

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The seers said: / 'Wandering over the surface of the earth in the course of a pilgrimage to sacred fords, / we went to the sacred fords on the mountain named Arbuda. 26

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Then this boy, coming swiftly from afar, bowed to us. / "May you be long-lived" was thereupon pronounced to him by many. / Yet on the fifth day his death will occur, O god. 27

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Devise something, O god, so that we, together with you, / do not become untruthful on his account, O four-faced one.' 28

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Then Brahmā, his soul delighted upon seeing that sage's boy, / said: 'By my grace this boy shall live for an eon.' 29

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Then those sages, delighted, taking him, set out towards home / from the world of Brahmā, having bowed down to the four-faced one. 30

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Then his father, Mṛkaṇḍu, the best of sages,
together with his wife, wailed in great sorrow:

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Weeping piteously, 'Alas, my son, my son!' the lover of righteousness [cried]:
'Without taking leave of me, why have you set out on the long road?

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Without even performing the rites that ought to be done, how have you fallen into the power of Death?
Without you, my son, I cannot live in any way.'

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As he was wailing thus in manifold ways, O best of kings,
the boy returned to the place where he had stayed before.

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Then that boy walked on with an inner self filled with delight;
and his father, seeing him on the path, became exceedingly joyful.

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Lifting him onto his lap, he asked the reason for his long absence.
Thereupon he related all the actions of the sages, / the sight of Brahmaloka, and the boon granted by the Lotus-born [Brahmā].

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The boy said: / 'Father, I have been made free from old age and death by the Self-manifest [Brahmā];
therefore, truly on my account, let this fever of your mind depart.

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I shall likewise worship the Four-faced [Brahmā],
having established a delightful hermitage on Arbuda, the best of mountains.'

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Hearing that speech of his son dripping with nectar, that twice-born
Mṛkaṇḍu, filled with joy, spoke these words to him:

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Mārkaṇḍa too, having gone swiftly to delightful Mount Arbuda,
performed vast austerity, meditating upon the god, the Grandfather [Brahmā].

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In his holy hermitage, O king, in the month of Śrāvaṇa,
whoever offers water to the ancestors especially on the full moon day / obtains the entire fruit of an ancestral sacrifice, without a doubt.

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Whoever propitiates excellent brahmins there through the sage-conjunction,
O king, attains a long residence in Brahmaloka.

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Whoever performs ritual ablution there, endowed with full faith,
no fear of untimely death arises anywhere in his lineage.

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Thus ends the forty-first chapter, entitled 'Description of the Origin of the Hermitage of Mārkaṇḍeya,' in the Arbuda Section, the third [part] of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit