Skandapurana 14.8

English (machine translation) 14.8

Language: English

14.8.1

Pulastya said: / Then one should go, O best of kings, to the great pool Bhadrakarṇa, / where stones resembling the Three-eyed One are still seen in abundance today.

14.8.2

On the western side of that very pool is the liṅga of the Wielder of the Pināka, / seeing which a mortal there becomes equal to the Three-eyed One.

14.8.3

Formerly there was an attendant named Bhadrakarṇa, dear to Śiva; / by him this liṅga was installed here, and the pool was also fashioned.

14.8.4

Then, after some time, in a battle with the dānavas, / accompanied by various attendants, he fought before Śambhu.

14.8.5

When Skanda had fled, the army was slain, Vīrabhadra was defeated, / and Mahākāla was conquered, they fled, terrified with fear.

14.8.6

A mighty dānava named Namuci, exceedingly strong, / bearing a sword and shield, swiftly rushed upon Maheśvara.

14.8.7

Then Bhadrakarṇa, seeing that dānava / charging right before him, said, "Halt! Halt!"

14.8.8

Having cut through his sword and also his shield with a sword, the mighty one, / overcome with wrath, struck the daitya between his breasts, O king.

Then he, struck down by him, entering into vast darkness, / fell upon the surface of the earth like a tree broken by the wind. / Having met his death, that daitya bowed to Hara and stood; / and seeing him abiding in truth, Maheśvara was pleased.

14.8.11

The Blessed Lord said: / "I am pleased with your valor and especially with your righteousness. / Choose a boon—blessing be upon you—which has ever dwelt in your heart."

14.8.12

Bhadrakarṇa said: / "The liṅga which was installed by me on Arbuda, O best of gods— / let there be your presence here, and be steadfast in this pool."

14.8.13

The Blessed Lord said: / "In the month of Māgha, on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight, / my special presence will always be in the pool and in the liṅga.

14.8.14

He who, having bathed in the pool of Bhadrakarṇa, focused in mind, / sees the Three-eyed One, will surely attain my eternal abode.

14.8.15

Therefore, by every effort, one should perform a ritual ablution there; / and having worshipped that liṅga, he goes to the world of Śiva."

14.8.15_1

Thus ends the eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Greatness of the Pool of Bhadrakarṇa and the Three-eyed One', in the third [part], the Arbudakhaṇḍa, of the seventh section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit