Skandapurana 14.51

English (machine translation) 14.51

Language: English

14.51.1

Pulastya said: / Then, O best of kings, one should go to the unsurpassable Candrodbheda, / a sacred ford that removes the sins of men, created by the lord of night.

14.51.2

When, during an eclipse of the moon and sun, O king, a pledge was made / by Rāhu who bore enmity after his head had been severed by Viṣṇu,

14.51.3

then the Moon, seized with fear, considering the Daitya difficult to overcome / as he strove to devour the nectar, went to Arbuda.

14.51.4

Having cleft the peak of the mountain there and made an excellent cavern, / he entered its interior and performed very arduous austerity.

14.51.5

Then, after a long time, Maheśvara was pleased with him / and said: “Choose a boon that is in your heart, may good fortune be yours!”

14.51.6

The Moon said:
It was sworn by Rāhu, O best of the gods, that I would be seized.
He is mighty, difficult to assault, the son of Siṃhikā by nature.

14.51.7

Just now the nectar was consumed by him, O best of the gods,
and I was held in the midst by Rāhu; he is unapproachable.

14.51.8

O god, while the nectar was being drunk formerly by the defeated gods,
that Dānava arrived having assumed a divine form.

14.51.9

And Rāhu drank the nectar; therefore, free from death,
his head became imperishable through the nectar, bringing terror to the gods.

14.51.10

Then conciliation was made by the gods, and he was established among the planets.
When our seizure was promised, then fear entered me.

Out of fear of him, O best of gods, breaking this peak of the mountain,
an unfathomable cleft was made for the sake of austerity, O best of gods.
Therefore show me your favour here, O destroyer of desire!

14.51.12

The Blessed Lord said:
He cannot be killed by any of the gods; he is invincible, exceedingly mighty.
Rāhu, intent on wrath, will indeed carry out the seizure;
nevertheless, O lord of the night, I shall provide a remedy for you.

14.51.13

When your eclipse arrives, rites such as ritual ablution and gifts
will be performed by people in the world, accompanied by proper welfare.

14.51.14

By those [rites] there will not be even the slightest torment for you in this way;
the deed performed by them shall become imperishable merit.

14.51.15

When your eclipse has occurred, through my word there is no doubt.
Since this peak of the mountain was cleaved by you for the sake of austerity,
it shall become a sacred ford known in the world as Candrodbheda.

14.51.16

Whoever will perform a ritual ablution here when your eclipse arrives,
for him there will never again be rebirth in this world.

14.51.17

Or whoever performs a ritual ablution and darśana there on a Monday,
his dwelling shall certainly be in your world, O Moon.

14.51.18

Having spoken thus, that Blessed Lord Hara then vanished.
The Moon too departed, delighted, to his own abode, O best of kings.

14.51.51

Thus ends the fifty-first chapter, entitled 'Description of the Māhātmya of the Candrodbheda Sacred Ford', in the third Arbuda section of the seventh Prabhāsa section, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit