Skandapurana 16.87

English (machine translation) 16.87

Language: English

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Īśvara said: / Having completed the pilgrimage thus, endowed with complete faith, / a man should then proceed, O great goddess, to the eleven Rudras in order, // 1

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situated within the Prabhāsa sacred field, the destroyers of great sins. / The sin that has been accumulated separately by human beings in eleven ways, // 2

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will go to destruction by the worship of the eleven Rudras. / On a solstitial transit, a solstice, or an eclipse of the moon or sun, // 3

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or on other meritorious lunar days, inspired with right disposition, / he should worship the group of eleven Rudras in proper succession, step by step. // 4

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I shall proclaim their names which were mine in the past; / listen to them as they truly are in the first era, the Kṛta age, O goddess: // 5

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Ajaikapād, Ahirbudhnya, Virūpākṣa, then Raivata, / Hara, Bahurūpa, Tryambaka, Sureśvara, / Vṛṣākapi, Śambhu, Kapardin, and Aparājita. // 6

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At first in the Kṛta age, O goddess, in Tretā, and also in Dvāpara; / but when the Kali age arrived, another set of names arose. // 7

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I tell you now those elevenfold names of the Rudras: / Bhūteśa, Nīlarudra, Kapālin, Vṛṣavāhana, // 8

Tryambaka, he who is named Ghora, Mahākāla, then Bhairava, / Mṛtyuñjaya, then Kāmeśa, and he who is celebrated as Yogeśa. / These eleven Rudras have been spoken of to you in sequence, O beloved; // 9 // / without beginning or end, O goddess, they are distinguished separately / in the form of eleven [beings], divided by their distinct names. // 10

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The goddess said: / O Lord, tell in detail the sequence of the eleven liṅgas, / according to the distinction of locations and boundaries, with the causes of the origin of their greatness. // 11

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How are they to be worshipped, O Lord? What are the mantras? What is the prescribed ritual? / On what festive occasion or at what time? Tell everything in detail. // 12

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Īśvara said: / Listen, O goddess, I shall proclaim the sin-destroying secret, / beginning from Somanātha, the origin of Siddhinātha and others, // 13

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hearing which a living creature is freed from previously accumulated sins. / And the eleven Rudras who have indeed been declared to you, O beloved, // 14

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are declared as the ten vital airs, and the Ātman is held to be the eleventh. / I shall tell their names; hear from me the winds in order: // 15

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prāṇa, apāna, samāna, udāna, and vyāna, / nāga, kūrma, kṛkala, devadatta, and dhanañjaya. // 16

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And the Ātman: thus are to be understood the presiding deities of the Rudras in order. / I shall describe their pilgrimage in sequence for the benefit of all living beings. // 17

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He who was previously the primal god among the Rudras, O beloved, Someśvara, / one should worship according to the prescribed rite under the name Bhūteśvara, // 18

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employing royal services of homage, with a mind purified by faith. / Having bathed it ceremonially with the five nectars, he should worship it with the Sadyojāta mantra, // 19

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with captivating flowers in devotion, having meditated upon the god Sadāśiva. / Circumambulating three times and bowing down with all eight limbs, // 20

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the one desiring the pilgrimage of the eleven Rudras should then proceed, for the sake of freedom from obstacles. / The name Bhūteśvara which was mentioned—I explain that to you: // 21

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The multitude of beings that has been proclaimed, beginning with the Mahat and ending with the gross elements, / numbering twenty-five: since he is held to be the Lord of those, // 22

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therefore, his name was formerly stated to be Bhūteśvara. / Having known the twenty-five principles, one attains liberation; // 23

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having worshipped the Rudra Bhūteśa, one will indeed attain imperishable liberation. / Thus the proclamation of the first Rudra has been declared in brief; / it is to be celebrated by the twice-born, and when celebrated it increases merit. // 24

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Thus ends the eighty-seventh chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Bhūteśvara' in the Glory of the Eleven Rudras, within the first [part], the Glory of Prabhāsa Sacred Field, of the seventh section, Prabhāsa Section, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 87

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Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit