Skandapurana 16.166
English (machine translation) 16.166
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The goddess said: / Sāvitrī, who is situated in Prabhāsa and is the beloved of Brahmā— / tell me her story, O god of gods, O lord of the world,
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endowed with the glory of the vow, accompanied by historical narrative, / which produces the vow of chastity for women, bringing great fortune and great prosperity.
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Īśvara said: / I shall tell, O great goddess, the great story of Sāvitrī, / situated in the sacred field of Prabhāsa at her holy site, O Maheśvarī, / [and] how the vow-making [observance] was performed by Sāvitrī, the king’s daughter.
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In Madra there was a righteous ruler named Aśvapati, / devoted to the welfare of all beings, dear to town and country people.
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He was forgiving, childless, truth-speaking, and self-controlled. / That king went on a pilgrimage to the sacred field of Prabhāsa; / performing the pilgrimage according to rule, he came to the place of Sāvitrī.
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The king himself, accompanied by his wife, performed this vow there, / celebrated as 'Sāvitrī', which grants the fruits of all desires.
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O goddess, Sāvitrī, the beloved of Brahmā, became pleased with him; / she who is 'bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ' stood revealed in bodily form.
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Bearing a water-pot, the goddess vanished again. / After a long time, a daughter of divine form was born.
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Given by Sāvitrī who was pleased, and through the worship of Sāvitrī, / the king, by the command of the brahmins, gave her the name Sāvitrī.
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Like Fortune incarnate, the king's daughter grew up; / delicate of limb, Sāvitrī reached youthfulness.
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She of slender waist and broad hips was like a golden statue; / seeing her, people thought, 'Has a daughter of the gods arrived?'
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She, lotuseyed and large-eyed, blazing as it were with splendour, / that Sāvitrī performed the vow that was proclaimed by Bhṛgu.
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Then, having fasted, having washed her head, and having approached the deity, / having offered oblation into the fire according to rule, the fair-complexioned one had the brahmins recite [blessings].
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Receiving from them the remaining flowers, the king's daughter, / surrounded by friends, stepped forward, a goddess in the form of Śrīvatsa.
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Having paid homage to her father's feet and having first offered the remaining [flowers], / the lovely woman stood at the king's side with folded hands.
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Seeing his own daughter of divine form who had attained youth, / the king, having consulted with his ministers for his daughter's sake, said:
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‘O daughter, the time for giving you away [in marriage] has arrived, and no one asks me [for your hand]. / Deliberating, I do not see a bridegroom equal to yourself here.
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Act in such a way that I may not be censured by gods and others. / What is read in the Dharmaśāstras has been heard by me, O daughter:
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“That maiden who in her father's house sees her menses while unbetrothed / [causes] the sin of killing a brahmin to her father, and that maiden is deemed a degraded woman.”
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For this purpose I send you; O daughter, make your own choice of a husband. / Accompanied by elderly ministers, go quickly and decide.’
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Saying 'Let it be so,' Sāvitrī departed from there; / she went to the delightful penance groves of the royal seers.
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There, having performed prostration at the feet of the venerable elders, / and then having visited all the sacred fords and the hermitages,
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Sāvitrī came back home together with the ministers. / There she saw the pure celestial seer Nārada before her.
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Having bowed to the brahmin seated on the seat, she who speaks with a smile / related that business on account of which she had gone to the forest.
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Sāvitrī said: / In Śālva there was a righteous ruler of the earth, a kṣatriya, / known as Dyumatsena; by fate, he became blind.
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The noble Dyumatsena, whose son was still a child, had his kingdom seized by Rukmin, / a feudatory who was his ancient enemy, taking advantage of this weakness.
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Together with his wife and young child, he departed for the forest.
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And in that forest, his son, most righteous, grew up; / he is Satyavān, suited to be my husband, desired by my heart.”
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Nārada said: / “Alas, O king, a great mistake has been made by Sāvitrī! / Out of childish innocence she has chosen the virtuous Satyavān.
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His father speaks the truth, his mother speaks the truth, / and because the sages said ‘Speak the truth!’, his name was made Satyavān.
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Horses are always dear to him, and he makes clay horses; / he also paints horses in pictures, and so he is called Citrāśva.
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Satyavān is a disciple of Rantideva, equal to him in the virtues of generosity; / he is devoted to brahmins and truthful in speech, like Śibi the Auśīnara.
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He is generous like Yayāti, pleasing to behold like the Moon; / in beauty Dyumatsena’s mighty son is like one of the Aśvins.
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He has one flaw, and no other: beginning from today, Satyavān, / his lifespan exhausted within one year, will abandon his body.”
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Having heard Nārada’s words, the daughter said to the king:
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Sāvitrī said: / “Kings speak only once, brahmins speak only once, / a maiden is given away only once: these three happen only once each.
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Whether long-lived or short-lived, with virtues or without virtues, / he has been chosen once by me as husband; I will not choose a second.
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Having resolved in the mind, one then expresses it in speech; / afterwards it is carried out in action: therefore the mind is the true authority.”
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Nārada said: / “If this is your wish, let it be carried out at once, / the giving away of your daughter Sāvitrī without impediment.”
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Having spoken thus, Nārada flew up and went to heaven; / and the king then performed all the marriage rites for his daughter / at an auspicious hour, together with the brahmins versed in the Vedas standing beside him.
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And Sāvitrī, having obtained that husband desired by her heart, / the slender-limbed maiden rejoiced exceedingly, like a doer of meritorious deeds reaching heaven.
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While those virtuous people were living there in the hermitage, / some time passed as they watched, O Pārvatī.
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And as that woman Sāvitrī stayed there day and night, / what had been spoken by Nārada remained in her mind.
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Then, after a great deal of time had elapsed, / the time arrived when the king Satyavrata was to die.
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In the month of Jyeṣṭha, in the bright fortnight, on the twelfth day, at nightfall, / Sāvitrī was counting in her heart the words spoken by Nārada.
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Thinking, ‘He must die on the fourth day,’ that splendid woman, / undertaking a three-night vow, stayed day and night in the hermitage.
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Then, having observed the three nights, having bathed and propitiated the deity, / she of charming smile bowed down at the feet of her mother-in-law and father-in-law.
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Then Satyavān set out for the forest, taking an axe; / Sāvitrī also followed behind her departing husband.
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Then, having quickly gathered fruits, flowers, kindling, and kuśa grass, / and taking dry firewood, he prepared a load of wood.
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Then, as he was splitting the wood, a pain arose in his head; / letting go of the load of wood in an instant, clinging to a banyan branch,
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he said to Sāvitrī: “A pain in my head torments me; / I wish to sleep for a moment on your lap, O lovely one.”
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“Rest, O mighty-armed one,” Sāvitrī said sorrowfully; / “afterwards we shall go to the hermitage that removes fatigue.”
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As she placed his head upon her lap on the surface of the earth, / just then Sāvitrī saw a dark and tawny man,
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wearing a diadem, dressed in yellow garments, like the risen sun itself. / Then Sāvitrī bowed down and spoke to him in sweet words:
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“Who are you—a god or a Daitya—who has come to assail me? / And I cannot be deflected from my own duty by anyone, O divine one.
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Know me, O best of men, to be like a blazing flame of fire.”
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Yama said: / “I am Yama the Restrainer, who inspires fear in all the worlds.
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Your husband’s lifespan is exhausted; while he is in your presence, O devoted wife, / my attendants cannot lead him away; therefore I have come in person.”
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Having spoken thus, holding a noose, Yama pulled out by force / from Satyavrata’s body a man the size of a thumb.
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Then he began to travel upon the path frequented by the ancestors; / Sāvitrī, too, of shapely hips, followed behind him.
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Untired on account of her devotion to her husband, Yama spoke to her thus: / “Turn back, go, O Sāvitrī; you have come this far for a moment.
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This path, O large-eyed one, is not to be followed by anyone.”
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Sāvitrī said: / “No weariness and no exhaustion ever arises in me / as I follow my husband, and in the presence of an exalted one.
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The good are the refuge of the good, no other; a husband is always the refuge of women; / the Veda is the refuge of the classes and life-stages, and the teacher is the refuge of disciples.
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For all beings there is a place on the surface of the earth; / women have no refuge other than their husband alone.”
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With other such very sweet words endowed with righteousness and meaning, / the son of the Sun was pleased, and he addressed Sāvitrī:
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Yama said: / “I am pleased with you, good fortune to you! Choose a boon, O beautiful woman.” / With her face bowed in modesty, she chose their kingdom,
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the restoration of eyesight and the kingdom for her noble father-in-law, / a hundred sons for her father, and a hundred sons for herself,
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and the life of her husband, and eternal attainment of dharma. / Having granted the boons, the King of Dharma then sent her away.
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Then, having reached her husband, Sāvitrī, glad at heart, / went untroubled to her own hermitage together with her husband.
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And on the full moon of Jyeṣṭha, this observance was performed by her. / Through its māhātmya, the king first regained his eyesight.
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Then the king obtained his own realm free from thorns. / Her father obtained a hundred sons, and she obtained a hundred sons.
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Thus the entire māhātmya of the observance has been recounted by me.
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The Devī said: / Of what kind was that great observance, O Lord, performed by Sāvitrī / in that month of Jyeṣṭha, and what is its rite?
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Who is the deity in that observance? What are the mantras? What is the fruit, O All-pervading One? / Tell in detail, O Maheśa, the eternal dharma.
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Īśvara said: / Listen with devotion, O queen of the god of gods, to the Sāvitrī observance, / O Maheśvarī; I shall recount how it was performed by that faithful woman.
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On the thirteenth day of Jyeṣṭha, preceded by cleaning the teeth, / one should undertake a three-night rule of fasting, O passionate lady.
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One who is unable, having subdued the senses, should observe a night meal on the thirteenth, / unsolicited food on the fourteenth, and the full moon with a complete fast.
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Having constantly bathed in a pond, a great river, or a torrent, / one obtains the fruit of all ritual ablutions at the Pāṇḍukūpa, O woman of beautiful hips.
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Especially on the full moon, there is a ritual ablution with water mixed with mustard and clay.
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Having taken sand in a vessel measuring a prastha, O illustrious lady, / or having taken grain—barley, rice, sesame, and the rest,
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then, having fashioned in a bamboo vessel wrapped with a pair of cloths / an image of Sāvitrī adorned with all limbs,
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made of gold or of clay, or made of wood according to one's means, / one should give a pair of red garments to Sāvitrī, and a white one to Brahmā.
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Thus, according to one's capacity, one should worship Sāvitrī together with Brahmā / with perfumes, fragrant flowers, incense, food offerings, and lamps,
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with ripe full loofahs, gourds, and cucumbers, / with coconuts, dates, wood apples, and auspicious pomegranates,
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with rose apples, citrons, oranges, walnuts, and jackfruits, / with cumin, pieces of bitter spices, molasses, and salt,
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and with the sprouted seven grains arranged in a bamboo vessel; / and one should colour it with silk threads and auspicious saffron filaments.
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Thus Sāvitrī, the beloved of Brahmā, descends.
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One should worship her together with Brahmā with the Sāvitrī mantra. / For the others, this mantra proclaimed in the Purāṇa is recited:
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‘O goddess preceded by the syllable Om, holding a vīṇā and a book, / O mother of the Vedas, salutations to you! Grant me freedom from widowhood!’
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Having worshipped thus according to rule, one should keep a vigil there. / With the sound of singing and musical instruments, a crowd of men and women, / dancing and laughing, should spend the night with those skilled in the science of dance.
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And one should have the best of twice-born recite the tale of Sāvitrī / until daybreak, along with the rasas of song and sentiment.
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Having performed in this manner the marriage of Sāvitrī with Brahmā, / and having clothed seven married couples in white garments,
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a gift of a house should be given, accompanied by all utensils. / One should present the Sāvitrī [image] to a brahmin learned in the Veda,
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or to one who knows the ritual of Sāvitrī, a reciter of the tale of Sāvitrī, / an astrologer, one who lives by gleaning, or a poor agnihotrin.
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Having given in this manner according to the rite, one should invite on that night / fourteen married couples under a banyan tree on the full moon.
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Then at dawn, when daybreak has arrived, / one should bring all chewable and edible food to the site of Sāvitrī.
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Having cooked with purity and having guarded [it] with care, / the wise person should then summon the brahmins accompanied by their wives.
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Having performed the washing of their feet there at the site of Sāvitrī, / one should seat the well-bathed brahmins there along with their wives.
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In front of Sāvitrī, O Devī, one should offer a meal to the married couples. / By that, I am fed there in this world; there is no doubt.
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He who feeds a second [couple] feeds Keśava. / The companion of Lakṣmī, the giver of boons, bestows boons upon him.
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Brahmā accompanied by Sāvitrī becomes fed in the third. / Each single meal there is declared equal to ten million meals.
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A meal of eighteen varieties seasoned with the six tastes / [is offered] to the Devī there, O Mahādevī, in the presence of Sāvitrī’s site.
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In his family there is no widow, no barren woman, and no unfortunate woman, / nor one who bears only daughters, nor one disliked by her husband. / The eight faults of women never occur.
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Therefore, with every effort, in front of Sāvitrī a meal / should always be given, O Devī, devoid of pungent and indigo foods.
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Neither sour nor alkaline food is ever to be eaten by women; / it should be of five kinds, sweet, agreeable, and all well prepared.
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There should be cakes filled with ghee and accompanied by abundant milk; / such cakes are to be made; the second is the aśokavartikā.
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The third pastry should be made accompanied by dates; / and the fourth is the saṃyāva dish, prepared with molasses and ghee.
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It brings delight to men and is exceedingly dear to women. / Endowed with wealth, grain, and people, crowded with hundreds of women and men, / her family becomes such through cakes; there is no doubt about this.
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There is no fever, no burning torment, and no grief born of separation / for twenty-one generations through the gift of the aśokavarti.
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Filled with daughters-in-law, sons, and countless female and male servants / is the family of her who gives pūrikā cakes.
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Daughters having sons along with daughters-in-law [abound] in the family / of young women who give śikhariṇī; of this there is no doubt.
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And the whole family rejoices, filled with all accomplishments, / through the donation of modakas: so spoke the Grandfather.
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And this meal is praised particularly for married women.
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She becomes fortunate, blessed with sons, chaste, endowed with wealth and prosperity, / and feeds thousands, O goddess, in birth after birth. // 115
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And chief drinks, delightful and sweet: / grape juice, and tamarind drink mixed with jaggery, // 116
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and delicious sugar beverage prepared with fragrant water / should certainly be offered as a drink to married women and to twice-born men. // 117
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By other [castes] should be offered other fragrant drinks / suitable for [their] caste, whatever is appropriate for them. // 118
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Having honoured them according to the rule with gifts of clothes including bodices, / their limbs anointed with saffron, adorned with garlands of flowers, / and having worshiped them with scents and incenses, one should offer coconuts. // 119
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Having applied collyrium to their eyes and vermilion on their forehead, / placing delightful, scented, and soft betel nuts / in their hands along with vessels, one should bow down and bid them farewell. // 120
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Afterward, one should eat oneself along with relatives and children. // 121
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Or, if the meal cannot be arranged at the sacred ford, / one should go home and eat, so that the goddess may be pleased. // 122
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In this very manner, having returned to one's own house, / and having performed the śrāddha for the ancestors preceded by the offering of piṇḍas according to the rule, / his ancestors indeed remain satisfied for a day of Brahmā. // 123
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The merit of giving in one's own auspicious home is eight times greater than at a sacred ford, / and vile persons do not look upon the śrāddha offered by the twice-born. // 124
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The śrāddha for the ancestors is desired [to be performed] in a secluded, secret house; / destroyed when seen by a base person, it does not reach the ancestors. // 125
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Therefore, with every effort, one should perform the śrāddha secretly; / it is declared by the Self-manifest [Brahmā] himself to bring satisfaction to the ancestors. // 126
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The ritual such as feeding [girls representing] Gaurī, which is performed publicly, / is declared to be rājasika, granting fame among people. // 127
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This gift should always be given by one who desires his own welfare, / and especially in a śrāddha, if one desires a sāttvika fruit. // 128
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This concluding rite of the vow of Sāvitrī, O goddess, / should always be performed by men to purify all sins; / whether unintentionally or intentionally, sin is destroyed in that very moment. // 129
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In this world, good fortune, wealth, grain, and excellent wives / of various kinds belong to those by whom the pilgrimage was made there. // 130
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The man who performs this rite of pilgrimage with devotion / or hears it is freed from all sins. // 131
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On the full moon of the month of Jyeṣṭha, at the auspicious place of Sāvitrī, / he who performs circumambulation according to the rule with offerings of fruits, // 132
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either one hundred and eight times, or half of that, or half of that, / whichever man performs circumambulations there, O goddess, // 133
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if men have committed intercourse with forbidden women knowingly, / such and other sins are destroyed; of this there is no doubt. // 134
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By those who, having gone to the sacred place of Sāvitrī, have performed the twilight worship / using water from the Pāṇḍukūpa well by the hand of their own wife, // 135
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bringing the sacred water in a golden pitcher or an earthen one, O passionate woman, / whoever performs the twilight worship, / by him the twilight worship has indeed been performed for twelve years. // 136
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The fruit of a horse-sacrifice is obtained by ablution, ten times that by donation, / infinite by fasting, and likewise by hearing the sacred story. // 137
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Thus ends the one hundred and sixty-sixth chapter, named 'The Account of the Rules, Method of Worship, and Concluding Rite of the Vow of Sāvitrī', in the first [sub-section], the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, of the seventh section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 166
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit