Skandapurana 16.290
English (machine translation) 16.290
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16.290.1
Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O great goddess, to the supreme place of Kubera, / where of old Kubera attained perfection and became the giver of wealth, O goddess. // 1
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A brahmin who lived as a thief resided in that place long ago, / and he was made the giver of wealth of old through the practice of devotion to me. // 2
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The Goddess said: / How did that vilest of men, though born a brahmin, become a thief? / Tell me that, O Lord of the gods: how did he become the giver of wealth? // 3
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Īśvara said: / In that matter, O great goddess, I shall relate all that occurred in the reign of Manu Uttama, / which illustrates the greatness of Śiva. // 4
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There was a certain twice-born, O goddess, known by the name Devaśarman, / residing in Prabhāsa-kṣetra; he lived on the bank of the Nyaṅkumatī. // 5
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Constantly devoted solely to the care of his sons, fields, and wife, / he then abandoned householdership, deluded by greed for the sake of wealth, / and wandered over this earth, across its villages and cities. // 6
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His wife with restless eyes departed from his house, / living always as she pleased and constantly infatuated by lust. // 7
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By the power of fate, a son was born to her from a śūdra, / an extremely wicked soul, utterly unrestrained, called by the name Duḥsaha. // 8
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Then, as much time passed, he engaged in deeds suited to his name: / stricken with vices, sinful, and likewise abandoned by his kin. // 9
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Seeing the articles and wealth used for worship in a certain temple of Śiva / late at night, he entered, wishing to steal them. // 10
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Just as the lamp was almost extinguished and its wick burnt out, / he placed a fresh wick into it for the purpose of searching for the wealth. // 11
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A man attending to the worship of the deity awoke and arose there; / armed with an iron bar, he shouted loudly: 'Who is this? Who is this?' // 12
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Fearing for his life, the foolish-minded son of a śūdra fled, / deeply grieving, reviling his own birth and deeds. // 13
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He was struck down on the ground by the town guards and died in the course of time; / and he became a renowned king in the Gandhāra country named Sudurmukha. // 14
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Devoted to singing and instrumental music there, intensely devoted to courtesans, / that foolish man harassed his subjects and was excluded from all religious duties. // 15
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Yet he constantly worshipped the liṅga inherited through the royal succession, / without mantras, using garlands of flowers, incense, food offerings, perfumes, and the like. // 16
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And on important occasions, in the temples of the deities, / he would always offer abundant lamps brightly blazing with wicks. // 17
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Once that valiant one, addicted to hunting, roamed about; / having arrived at Prabhāsa-kṣetra, impelled by past impressions, // 18
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Slain in battle by his enemies on the auspicious bank of the Nyaṅkumatī, / his sins were entirely destroyed by the proper performance of worship to Śiva.
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Then he became the son of Viśravas, renowned upon the earth, / the very one endowed with great splendor, mighty, and lord over all sacrifices,
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named Kubera, righteous, endowed with sacred learning and good character. / And he installed a liṅga to the east of the Nyaṅkumatī.
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Having duly worshipped the lord known as Somanātha to the west of the place of Kubera / on the auspicious bank of the Nyaṅkumatī, / he praised him who grants all desires with devotion through this hymn:
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"In some place is that great form of Maheśvara, the prime origin of sacrifice, / like a bottle-gourd creeper bearing high fruits of hundreds of millions of cosmic eggs, / whose measure neither the Grandfather nor Hari situated within the cosmos knows— / what reckoning can there be among other gods?—may that [form] protect you continually!
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I bow to the unborn, ancient God, attended by Indra's younger brother and the king of gods, / whose eyes are the moon, the sun, and fire, whose emblem is the bull, the cause of universal dissolution and creation,
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the Lord of All, the single friend of the three worlds, attainable through yoga, the dwelling place of the universe, / the foundation of wonder, possessed of endless power, born of knowledge, exceedingly abundant in fortitude,
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holding the Pināka, noose, goad, and trident in his hands, with matted hair, rumbling like a cloud, / having a dark throat, radiating like crystal—I bow to Śambhu, the sole lord of the universe,
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bearing a skull, garlanded, the primal god, wearing braided hair, adorned with dread serpents as necklaces, / shining brightly, possessing a thousand forms, a thousand heads, the supreme Puruṣa,
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whom the virtuous declare to be imperishable, devoid of qualities, immeasurable, self-luminous and one, / far-reaching, to be known, blameless and worthy of adoration, abiding in the hearts of all, supremely pure.
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I bow to Rudra, radiant as splendor, with the crescent moon upon his crest, having a fiercely blazing countenance, / the consumer of time, bestower of desires, free from attachment, seated upon the throne of dharma, situated in both primary matters,
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transcending the senses, all-embracing, conqueror of enemies, beyond the three guṇas, unborn, free from striving, / consisting of darkness, consisting of the Vedas, a portion of pure consciousness, lord of the Prajāpatis, Indra invoked by many, / having the primal form of the unstruck sound, whom the lords of ascetics skilled in yoga meditate upon.
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Severer of the bonds of worldly existence, being liberated, I bow again and again to You, O God!
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Neither the matchless appearance nor the power of strength, nor the true nature of the supreme Puruṣa / is understood by Viṣṇu, the Grandfather, and the rest; I bow to that inconceivable Vāmadeva.
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Having propitiated that Śiva of fierce form, the venerable Agastya drank the ocean; / Dilīpa too obtained all desires. I take refuge in him, the womb of the universe!
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O one worshipped by the lord of the gods, rescue me, a helpless one! O Śambhu, you are indeed compassionate and merciful! / Plunged in an ocean of sorrow, miserable, rescue me! Be my benefactor, for you are Śaṃkara!
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Worshipping [you], hosts of gods in heaven, with Brahmā, Indra, and the Rudras, disport at will. / I praise him, I bow to him, here I repeat the name of Śarva; having taken refuge, I venerate the one worthy of veneration."
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As soon as he had thus praised the Lord and ceased, Rudra, possessing the brilliance of a thousand suns, / the god who was the enemy of Andhaka, bestower of boons, gave three boons to Vaiśravaṇa: / friendship [with himself], the fourth quarter-guardian rank, and sovereignty over the wealth of the celestials.
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"Because I have been worshipped properly by you here on the auspicious bank of the Nyaṅkumatī, / having fashioned an earthen form according to rule,
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therefore that place will become famous by your very name / as 'Kubera-nagara', causing pleasure to me.
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The liṅga of Umā's lord installed by you to the west of this place, / according to rule, is remembered as Somanātha.
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Whoever worships it properly on Śrīpañcamī / will have prosperity lasting up to seven generations."
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Thus ends the two hundred and ninetieth chapter, entitled 'The Origin of Kuberanagara and the Description of the Māhātmya of Somanātha Installed by Kubera', in the Nyaṅkumatī-māhātmya, within the Prabhāsakṣetra-māhātmya, the first [sub-section] of the seventh section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Purāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit