Skandapurana 16.353

English (machine translation) 16.353

Language: English

16.353.1

Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O great goddess, to the unexcelled Bhallatīrtha, / in the western part of it, where the four-armed Viṣṇu [dwells]; (1)

16.353.2

where his body was abandoned by Viṣṇu, the all-powerful, / in that delightful Mitravana, extending over a quarter of a yojana. (2)

16.353.3

In every yuga, O great goddess, in kalpas, manvantaras, and the like, / Viṣṇu resides right there; he finds pleasure nowhere else. (3)

16.353.4

The wise know that it is the foremost sacred field of all sacred fields, sacred to Viṣṇu; / three and a half crores of eminent sacred fords (4)

16.353.5

in heaven, on earth, and in the mid-air are present right there, O beautiful lady; / Gaṅgā herself is situated there in embodied form. (5)

16.353.6

For Viṣṇu's bathing and indeed for the welfare of living beings, / [there are] Gaṅgā, Gayā, Kurukṣetra, Naimiṣa, and the Puṣkaras. (6)

16.353.7

Leaving the city of Dvāravatī, Hari dwells right here; / I perform his funeral rites, O goddess, yuga after yuga. (7)

16.353.8

Going there myself on the conjunction of the twelfth [tithi] in the month of Nabhasya, O beloved, / I perform [it] according to the ritual rule there with the foremost brahmins. (8)

16.353.9

Having given gifts there according to the rule to one who has mastered the Veda, / and having bathed right there on the conjunction of the twelfth [tithi] according to the ritual rule, (9)

16.353.10

and having gratified the ancestors with devotion, one is freed from all sins; / having worshiped Viṣṇu there and kept a vigil at night, (10)

16.353.11

and having made donations such as lamps, one becomes one who has accomplished his purpose. (11)

16.353.12

Now I shall tell you its ancient event, O beloved: / having destroyed all the Yādavas, the mighty Vāsudeva, (12)

16.353.13

his body having become like an adamantine limb / through the milk-rice smeared by Durvāsas on the soles of his feet, the all-pervading Janārdana (13)

16.353.14

went to the shore of the ocean and entered into absorption, / restraining all his senses and placing the self within the Self. (14)

16.353.15

Meanwhile, one named Jarā arrived with an arrow in hand, / a fisherman's son, with very dark limbs, a killer of fish, and an evildoer. (15)

16.353.16

Seen by him from afar—that son born of a Niṣāda— / mistaking Viṣṇu's foot for a deer, he released an arrow at him. (16)

16.353.17

Then, as soon as he went into his presence and looked, [he saw] / the four-armed one of huge body, bearing conch, discus, and mace, (17)

the person resembling a dark cloud, with eyes resembling lotuses; / seeing him, terrified with fear, trembling, with folded hands, / he said: 'I did not recognize you, O all-pervading lord bearing a divine form. (18)

16.353.19

Through ignorance, you were struck by me on the tip of your foot, O best of the gods; / you ought to forgive me, O lord; you ought not to be angry here.' (19)

16.353.20

Viṣṇu said: / 'The end of my curse has been brought about today by you, O gentle one, by the strike of your arrow; / therefore, by my grace, go to heaven, O one of great splendor. (20)

16.353.21

And whatever other best of men, having come here, behold me, / they shall go to the supreme abode where I am eternally situated. (21)

16.353.22

Because I was struck by you on the auspicious sole of the foot with a bhalla arrow, / therefore this will be known as Bhallatīrtha. (22)

16.353.23

Previously, in the Svāyambhuva manvantara, it was declared as Harikṣetra.' (23)

16.353.24

Īśvara said: / Having spoken thus, Viṣṇu vanished, and the hunter also went to heaven. / Those who take a bath here, endowed with supreme devotion, / will go out of love to the world of Viṣṇu by my grace. (24)

16.353.25

Those who perform a śrāddha here, dedicated to devotion to the ancestors, / their ancestors, having been gratified, shall attain satisfaction. (25)

16.353.26

Therefore, having reached that supreme sacred field by every effort, / the four-armed god must be seen after bathing in the Bhalla tīrtha. (26)

16.353.27

Those who, excessively arrogant in the strength of devotion to me, do not bow to my beloved / Vāsudeva, they are not to be known as my devotees; they are indeed sinners. (27)

16.353.28

Even one who, having become my devotee, eats on the eleventh day, / worship of my liṅga should not be done by that evil-minded person. (28)

16.353.29

The lunar day that is dear to Viṣṇu, that lunar day is beloved to me; / one who does not fast on it is more sinful than the most sinful. (29)

16.353.30

Likewise, on the conjunction of the twelfth [tithi] in the vicinity of Bhallatīrtha, / whoever worships me with devotion, whether a woman or a man, / for a thousand births, no ruin of their house occurs. (30)

16.353.31

Thus has this glory of Viṣṇu's Bhallatīrtha, / which destroys sins and eradicates all evil, been spoken, O goddess. (31)

16.353.32

There, in the presence of Viṣṇu, in the northwest, is the excellent pitcher, / celebrated as Bhallatīrtha, where Hari was struck by the arrow. (32)

16.353.33

There, garments, footsteps, and cows should be given according to the rule / to the foremost brahmins by those who desire the full fruit of pilgrimage. (33)

16.353.352

Thus ends the three hundred and fifty-second chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Bhallatīrtha', in the First [Book], Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, in the Seventh Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses. (352)

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit