Skandapurana 16.4
English (machine translation) 16.4
- Language
- English
16.4.1
Sūta said: / When its majesty was thus declared by Śaṃkara, O chief sages, / the virtuous goddess asked again with joined palms.
16.4.2
The goddess said: / O God of gods, Lord of the universe, Lord who consists of sacred fields and sacred fords, / declare to me in detail the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya.
16.4.3
How are you pleased with foolish mortals in that sacred field? / Whatever is recited, given, offered in fire, sacrificed, and whatever austerity is performed— / why does it become imperishable there in the great sacred field of Prabhāsa?
16.4.4
Whatever sin has been accumulated previously through thousands of other births, / how does it meet its destruction? Tell me that, O Śaṃkara.
16.4.5
If Prabhāsa is considered the foremost of all sacred fords, / what need is there for many other extensive sacred fords there?
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If there is only one sacred ford, the mind becomes free of doubt; / when there is a multiplicity of sacred fords, the minds of men waver.
16.4.7
Therefore, setting aside the entire vast collection of sacred fords, / declare the māhātmya of Prabhāsa alone, O ruler of gods.
16.4.8
The measure of the sacred field, its boundary, and the essence of the field, O Lord, / you ought to declare all that, for great indeed is my curiosity.
16.4.9
Īśvara said: / Listen, O goddess, I shall declare the best field among sacred fields, / that sacred field among all sacred fields, Prabhāsa, which is dear to me.
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In Prabhāsa is the supreme perfection; in Prabhāsa is the supreme goal, / where I am always and constantly present, O auspicious lady.
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I shall declare its extent, together with all its boundaries. / The sacred field is said to be threefold; that I shall tell you in order.
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The field, the seat, and the inner sanctum of Prabhāsa are celebrated; / their fruits are remembered to be millions and millions of times greater in succession.
16.4.13
The field is declared to be the first, and that is twelve yojanas. / The seat of the field is proclaimed to have a measure of five yojanas.
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And the inner sanctum is a gavyūti; that pericarp is dear to me. / I shall declare the boundary of the sacred field; listen, O goddess, in due order.
16.4.15
In length and breadth, situated from beginning, middle, to end: / in the east is Taptodakasvāmin, in the west Mādhava is remembered,
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in the south is the ocean, and likewise in the north the river Bhadrā is recognized. / Thus endowed with boundaries is the sacred field of twelve yojanas.
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This is the sacred field of Prabhāsa, destroying all sins. / Within it, the seat is declared to extend five yojanas.
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To the west of the Nyaṅku river and to the east of Vajriṇī, / to the south of Māheśvarī and to the north of the ocean,
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in length and breadth an extent of five yojanas, / this is declared to be the seat; now listen to the inner sanctum.
16.4.20
From south to north, from the ocean as far as Kauraveśvarī; / from east to west, from Gomukha as far as Āśvamedhika: / this is declared to be the inner sanctum, dearer to me than Kailāsa.
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In this intervening space, O ruler of gods, whatever sacred fords there are on the earth, / stepped wells, wells, ponds, and temples of deities,
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lakes, rivers, puddles, and pools— / all of them are pure and destroy all sins.
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Bathing anywhere [there], a man is honoured in the world of heaven. / The first pure portion of the field is remembered as belonging to Maheśvara;
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the second portion belongs to Viṣṇu, and the third portion belongs to Brahmā. / One crore of sacred fords is situated in the portion belonging to Brahmā,
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one crore of sacred fords is in the portion belonging to Viṣṇu, O fair-complexioned lady, / and one and a half crores are declared in the central portion belonging to Rudra.
16.4.26
Thus, O goddess, that sacred field has been declared to belong to three deities. / A sacred field more secret than the secret, it is most dear to me, O auspicious one.
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Three and a half crores [of sacred fords] are declared in the sacred field according to its divisions. / The pilgrimage is known to be threefold; listen to it, O fair-faced lady!
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The first pilgrimage is of Rudra, the second of Viṣṇu, / and the third is recorded as of Brahmā, destroying all sins.
16.4.29
In the division of Brahmā, the power of will (icchāśakti) is declared, O fair-faced lady; / and action (kriyāśakti) is proclaimed in the second division, that of Viṣṇu.
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And in the third division, that of Rudra, the power of knowledge (jñānaśakti) [abides], O fair-faced lady. / Even if a man is sinful, even if he is deceitful, even if he is treacherous,
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he is freed from all sins if he dwells in the central division. / Leaving the Himālaya and the Gandhamādana mountain,
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and Kailāsa, Niṣadha, and the brilliantly shining surface of Meru, / and the charming Triśikhara and the great mountain Mānasa,
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and the delightful gardens of the gods, and the Nandana forest, / the delightful dwellings of heaven, the sacred fords and temples— / abandoning all of them, my delight is in Prabhāsa.
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Whoever dwells there, O goddess, self-restrained and concentrated in mind, / even if eating at the three times [of day], becomes equal to one who lives on air.
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Even when tossed about by obstacles, whoever does not abandon Prabhāsa / casts off old age, death, and the impermanent cycle of birth.
16.4.36
Even if yoga is obtained through hundreds of other births, O goddess, / liberation is still not obtained through a thousand births.
16.4.37
Those who abide in Prabhāsa with firm resolve, O great goddess— / their liberation occurs within a single birth; there is no doubt here.
16.4.38
Those brahmins of strict vows who dwell in Prabhāsa / and recite the Śatarudrīya joined with the Mṛtyuṃjaya [mantra],
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resorting to the southern direction in the presence of Kālāgnirudra, / knowledge arises there [in them] within six months.
16.4.40
Śiva is declared by the Veda through synonyms of his names, / and the Śatarudra is proclaimed to be his essential self-nature.
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In the cosmic cycles (kalpas), the Vedas are remembered as recurring again and again, / and the mantras likewise, O goddess, except for the Śatarudrīya.
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Those who, having reached the sacred field of Prabhāsa, / worship only me with that praiseworthy mantra, are liberated; there is no doubt here.
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A man who dwells there, whether with mantra or without mantra, / also attains that state which cannot be accomplished by sacrifices or gifts.
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The self-manifest Maheśvara is visibly present in this sacred field, / and crores of Rudras are situated in Prabhāsa.
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Meditating likewise on the syllable Oṃ, they dwell to the south of Someśa.
16.4.46
Whatever sacred fords there are within the womb of the cosmic egg, O lady of good vows, / they go to Someśvara on the fourteenth day of Vaiśākha.
16.4.47
Mind, intellect, egoity, desire and anger, and others— / these constantly protect Someśa, the destroyer of sins.
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That goal is not found in Kurukṣetra, at Gaṅgādvāra, or at Tripuṣkara, / which is ordained for men who dwell in the sacred field of Prabhāsa.
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Even creatures born in animal wombs who make their abode in Prabhāsa / and meet their end in the course of time attain the supreme goal.
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That is the secret place of the God of gods, that sacred ford, that penance-grove; / there, the gods headed by Brahmā and led by Nārāyaṇa,
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as well as yogins and followers of Sāṃkhya, devoted to me and intent upon me, / worship the eternal Lord at Prabhāsa.
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For self-restrained ascetics, wandering should be for eight months; / and some say one should dwell fixedly for four months or for eight.
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For those who have entered Prabhāsa, however, no wandering exists; / here yoga and liberation, so difficult for men to attain, are obtained.
16.4.54
Therefore, one should not leave Prabhāsa and go to another penance-grove. / Those fools who do not resort to Prabhāsa are shrouded in darkness;
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they are born again and again amidst feces, urine, and semen. / Desire, anger, greed, hypocrisy, arrogance, envy,
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sleep, torpor, laziness, and slander—these ten / constantly protect Someśa, the lord of sacred fords.
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No sinner who dies in Prabhāsa goes to hell, / nor any man who dwells [there] with firm resolve as long as he lives.
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Whatever auspicious reward is obtained through agnihotras, renunciation, well-kept hermitages, / by triple-staffed and single-staffed [ascetics], by Śaivas and Pāśupatas,
16.4.59
and by other ascetics, / all of that is obtained, O goddess, by the pilgrimage to holy Someśvara.
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One indeed worships the liṅga, while another performs austerity; / between the two, the one who worships Someśa is superior.
16.4.61
Whatever is to be known in Yoga, Sāṃkhya, the Siddhānta, the Pāñcarātra, / and other treatises is firmly established in Prabhāsa.
16.4.62
And in the liṅga resides this entire world, both moving and unmoving; / therefore the god should always be worshipped in the liṅga with diligence.
16.4.63
My supreme form itself abides under the name of holy Someśa; / therefore I myself, through myself, am intent upon worshipping myself.
16.4.64
Wandering through many thousands of births, / who indeed attains that liberation without the worship of Someśa?
16.4.65
Whatever inauspicious deed was done with human understanding, / all of that vanishes through the worship of holy Someśvara.
16.4.66
Whatever sin has been committed by beings through crores of various births, / all of that comes to destruction through the worship of holy Someśvara.
16.4.67
Whatever sacred fords in this world are frequented by those seeking release from sin, / all of them indeed enter Prabhāsa for the sake of their purification.
16.4.68
He who is called Kālāgnirudra by those who expound the Veda / resides in Prabhāsa under the name of Bhairava.
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Stationed within the sacred field, having assumed the form of Bhairava, / I destroy all the misdeeds of people, O ruler of gods!
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Having roamed throughout the entire world, moving and unmoving, I have settled [here]; / therefore, bearing the name Bhairava, I reside in Prabhāsa.
16.4.71
Where fire performed austerities for a four-age cycle of divine years, / there, indeed, the liṅga arose in the Meghavāhana kalpa. // 71
16.4.72
O beautiful goddess, its glory is declared in the Veda with the words 'Agnim īḍe', / and it is called by all the gods by the name Kālāgnirudra. // 72
16.4.73
O ruler of the gods, three names are proclaimed: Agni, Īśa, and Ina. / Yet in every kalpa the names cannot be fully told, / O fair-faced one, even by Brahmā, because the kalpas are countless. // 73
16.4.74
And so this secret, highly concealed, O fair-faced one, / has been proclaimed to you by me out of great love and devotion. // 74
16.4.75
On the one side stands the entire world established in the ritual section, / through sacrifices, gifts, austerities, oblations, personal recitations, and libations to ancestors, // 75
16.4.76
through fasts, entire observances, and hundreds of cāndrāyaṇa penances, / through six-night and three-night fasts, and eminent journeys to sacred fords and other holy places, // 76
16.4.77
through the stages of life of various forms—renunciants and celibate students, / forest dwellers and householders devoted to Vedic rituals— // 77
16.4.78
and through other auspicious ways of life established on worldly paths. / Yet that supreme state, O goddess, cannot be seen anywhere [by such means], // 78
16.4.79
as long as one does not worship Someśa, the sovereign of liṅgas, O goddess. / Even in play, that supreme state is difficult for them to behold. // 79
16.4.80
Those who have worshipped the Lord of the Universe, Someśa, indeed Bhairava— / even those who have entered animal wombs: beasts, birds, and ants, // 80
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those residing in water: worms, insects, and moths; / other motionless and moving beings, men, beasts, women, / children, the elderly, eunuchs, dogs, donkeys, crows, / outcasts, caṇḍālas, puṣkasas, śūdras, mlecchas, and whatever others are of impure birth, // 81–82
16.4.83
fools as well as scholars, and whatever other vile beings there are on earth— / all of them attain liberation if they die in auspicious Prabhāsa. // 83
16.4.84
By the fire of Rudra the all-destroying flame, and by the fire of Kalarāja, / all those creatures who die in auspicious Prabhāsa are consumed [and purified]. // 84
16.4.85
Yet my sacred field, Prabhāsa, O goddess, is hard for sinners to reach; / a sinful soul does not meet death there, O one praised by the world. // 85
16.4.86
By me Vighneśa was established on the southern side, / and Daṇḍapāṇi guards this sacred field on the north. // 86
16.4.87
Likewise, all the other leaders of gaṇas, obedient to my command, / protect the sacred field, O ruler of the gods; hear their names from me: // 87
16.4.88
Mahābala, Caṇḍīśa, Ghaṇṭākarṇa, Gomukha, / Vināyaka, Mahānāda, Kākavaktra, Śubhekṣaṇa, / Ekākṣa, Dundubhi, Caṇḍa, and likewise Tālajaṅgha, // 88
16.4.989
Bhūmidaṇḍa, Caṇḍa, Śaṅkukarṇa, Vaidhṛti, / Tālacaṇḍa, Mahātejas, Vikaṭāsya, Hayānana, // 89
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Hastivaktra, Śvānavaktra, Biḍālavadana, / and others with faces of lions and tigers, as well as Vīrabhadra and the rest. // 90
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Placing Vināyaka at their head, [they serve] the god of gods, the matted-haired one. / Eleven crores, thirteen millions, // 91
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and one hundred million gaṇas resort to the sacred field of Prabhāsa. / Fierce at every gate, they hold tridents and clubs in their hands. // 92
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They protect the sacred field of Prabhāsa, the very dwelling of the God of gods; / it is ordained that no one may enter with wicked intent. // 93
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Surrounded by a hundred crore gaṇas at the eastern gate, / the gaṇa named Aṭṭahāsa protects Prabhāsa there. // 94
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The gaṇa named Ghaṇṭākarṇa—dark-eyed, terrifying, and fierce— / surrounded by eighteen crores, guards the southern gate. // 95
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Resorting to the western gate stands the gaṇa Viṣṭara; / Daṇḍapāṇi stands on the north of the God of gods, // 96
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ever securing the welfare of the devout in Prabhāsa. / Likewise, Bhīṣaṇākṣa is in the northeast, and Chāgavaktraka in the southeast; // 97
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Caṇḍanāda is in the southwest, and Bhairavānana in the northwest. / Nandin, Mahākāla, Daṇḍapāṇi, and Vināyaka— // 98
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these bodyguards stand in the middle, surrounded by a hundred crore gaṇas. / Thus do numerous, innumerable lords of gaṇas protect [it]. // 99
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Those whose minds are corrupted by the rise of Kali-age defilement / cannot reach that abode of the crescent-crested god. // 100
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Having worshipped Someśa, the Lord of gods, the destroyer of sins, / gandharvas, kinnaras, yakṣas, apsarases, uragas, // 101
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and siddhas attend upon Prabhāsa, having become invisible. / The siddhas living in Pātāla who dwell in the seven realms / circumambulate Someśa, who is Kālabhairava. // 102
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Whatever sacred fords and holy sanctuaries there are on earth— / Lākuli, Bhārabhūti, Āṣāḍhi, Daṇḍa, // 103
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Puṣkara, Naimiṣa, and also Amareśa, / Bhairava, Madhyama, Kāla, Kedāra, Kaṇavīraka, // 104
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Hariścandra, Śaileśa, Vastrāntikeśvara, / Aṭṭahāsa, Mahendra, Śrīśaila, and Gayā— // 105
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all these sacred fords circumambulate the lord, the god Someśvara, / and praise the liṅga there. // 106
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Brahmā, Janārdana, and whatever other gods abide in the world, / stand near the fire-liṅga and praise it at the twilight hour. // 107
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Sixty thousand crores and sixty hundred crores [of beings] / all go to Someśvara on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Māgha. // 108
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And whoever at that time offers a blanket of ghee upon Someśa— // 109
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Ghee, sugarcane juice, sesame seeds, milk, water perfumed with camphor, / combined together with saffron: this is the blanket of ghee. // 110
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This secret, dear to me, should be performed on Śivarātri; / the merit acquired when this is done cannot be described. // 111
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There on the southern side, O goddess, one should first worship / the self-manifest Vināyaka, if one desires one's own success. // 112
16.4.989_25
And of all saline lands, the Prabhāsa sacred field is the supreme saline land; / and of all seats, it is the seat; and of all sacred fields, it is the best. / And of all questions, this question is the highest.
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Whatever yogins exist, numbering in hundreds of millions, / their delight is solely in the Prabhāsa sacred field and nowhere else.
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In the northeast portion from the liṅga, O beautiful goddess, she is situated.
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That auspicious portion named Umā, who was described by me to you, / is said to be Satī, O goddess, the daughter of Dakṣa in ancient times.
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Having abandoned her body out of anger toward Dakṣa, that supreme portion / was born in the house of Himavat and became renowned by the name of Umā.
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Therefore, O goddess, [the goddesses] residing there with you are remembered as boongivers; / and indeed, ninety million Cāmuṇḍās are present in that sacred field by themselves.
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If one worships you there on the bright eighth day in the month of Caitra, / for twenty-one births poverty will not befall him.
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If a new moon day combined with Monday is ever obtained, / having beheld Someśvara on that day, one attains the fruit of ten million sacrifices.
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This sacred field is extremely secret and destroys all sins, / where eleven crores of Rudras reside together.
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Here twelve sun gods have assembled, and eight Vasus, / gandharvas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, and innumerable lords of gaṇas.
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Umā too is situated at the side there, praised by all the gods, / and Nandī, who is the commander of gaṇas for the trident-bearing God of gods,
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and the other leaders of gaṇas who accompany Mahākāla, / as well as Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and the goddess Sarasvatī,
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and other sacred streams, rivers, and likewise lakes, / oceans, mountains, wells, and trees—
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everything stationary and moving has gathered in Prabhāsa, / and other gaṇas are established there in Prabhāsa.
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They have not all been spoken of by me, [save] here and there by indication. / Endowed with supreme devotion, O goddess of gods, one should worship the third Vināyaka / there, if one desires the fruit of the sacred field.
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Twelve, eight, and forty crores / of rivers stand at the entrance of Agnitīrtha, O beautiful woman.
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If any stepping over the leftover offerings was done through ignorance, / all of that dissolves upon the darśana of Agnitīrtha.
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O goddess, what is the use of speaking much? This sacred field of great splendor / cannot be described to you even in hundreds of crores of kalpas.
16.4.989_43
Whatever gods are in the atmosphere and on earth, and whatever sacred fords are in all directions, / the sacred field of Prabhāsa is indeed the foremost of them, O goddess, and Someśvara is the highest.
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Whatever beings are egg-born, sprout-born, sweat-born, or womb-born, / O goddess, when their breath has departed in Prabhāsa, they attain supreme liberation; there is no doubt here.
16.4.989_45
Thus has this wonderful and inconceivable deed of the God of gods, Śaṃkara, been told to you, O goddess, / which destroys the impurities of the Kali age; anyone in the whole world may attain it if he constantly recites, hears, or praises it in this manner.
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Thus ends the fourth chapter, titled 'Description of the Extent of the Sacred Field', in the first Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya of the seventh Prabhāsakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit