Skandapurana 2.1.25
English (machine translation) 2.1.25
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Now begins the description of the māhātmya of Jābālitīrtha.
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Śrī Sūta said:
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"O all you whose wealth is austerity, dwellers of Naimiṣāraṇya!
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On the holy Veṅkaṭa mountain, the destroyer of all sins,
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I shall now describe the māhātmya of Jābālitīrtha,
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Where, having bathed, a [brahmin] named Durācāra became liberated, O twice-born ones."
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The sages said:
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"Who was this one named Durācāra, O Sūta, knower of true principles?
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And what sin was committed by that Durācāra, O sage?
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Or how was he freed from his sin by the power of bathing in this sacred ford?
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Tell this to us in detail, as we wish to hear it, O sage."
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Now begins the account of the twice-born named Durācāra who lived on the bank of the Kāverī.
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Śrī Sūta said:
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"O sages, hear the sin of that Durācāra,
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And how he was freed from the sin by bathing in Jābālitīrtha.
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There was a certain sinful twice-born named Durācāra,
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A brahmin who lived on the bank of the Kāverī, ever engaged in cruel deeds.
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Corrupted by continual association with killers of brahmins, drinkers of liquor,
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Thieves, and defilers of the Guru's bed, he lived with them, O twice-born ones.
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By the fault of association with those who commit great sins,
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All the brahminhood of this twice-born was completely destroyed, O best of the twice-born.
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Whatever twice-born should dwell respectfully for even a single day
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With perpetrators of great sins, from that very moment, of that twice-born,
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One part of his brahminhood is indeed destroyed—there is no doubt.
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From serving, touching, seeing, or sleeping [with them] for two days,
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And from eating in the same row with perpetrators of great sins, O twice-born ones,
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The second part of his brahminhood would be destroyed—there is no doubt.
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From three days, the third part is indeed destroyed—there is no doubt;
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And from four days, the fourth part certainly dissolves away.
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Beyond that, by sleeping, sitting, and dining together with them,
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He who associates with perpetrators of great sins becomes an equal sinner to them.
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Therefore, this twice-born named Durācāra was bereft of brahminhood...
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was seized, as if by a mighty, terrifying serpent.
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Fallen under its control and exceedingly tormented by that vetāla,
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that brahmin wandered from country to country and from forest to forest.
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Through the ripening of former merit and the working of destiny, that brahmin,
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[came to] Mount Veṅkaṭa, supremely meritorious and destroying all sins.
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Now, the release of Durācāra and the vetāla from the mortal sins and other [evils] through ritual ablution in the Jābālitīrtha.
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Pursued by the piśāca, the vetāla, the brahmin reached [it].
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That vetāla submerged him into the destroyer of mortal sins,
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into the Jābālitīrtha, O foremost brahmins, [the brahmin] who had associated with a mortal sinner.
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In that very instant he arose, freed by the vetāla.
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Having emerged from that purifying sacred ford, O brahmins,
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restored to health, that brahmin reflected: “What is this [mountain] near the Svarṇamukhī?
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Oh, how have I, an inhabitant of the banks of the Kāverī, come here?”
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Disturbed by this thought, [seeing] that excellent sacred ford of Jābāli
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and the great-souled Jābāli, the best and highest of lordly yogins,
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that Durācāra approached, bowed down, and spoke:
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“O venerable brahmin, I do not know this mountain; tell me now!
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I am indeed an inhabitant of the bank of the Kāverī, named Durācāra.
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Out of compassion, tell me, O brahmin: how did I come here?”
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Thus questioned by that Durācāra, the sage of good vows,
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that treasure-house of compassion, meditated for a moment and spoke to Durācāra.
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Now, the recounting of the fault of not performing the pārvaṇa-śrāddha, as related by Jābāli.
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Jābāli said:
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“Because of your association with a mortal sinner, O Durācāra, in the past,
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your brahminhood was lost; then a vetāla seized you.
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Possessed by him, bewildered in mind and helpless, you came here.
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The vetāla submerged you in this exceedingly purifying sacred ford.
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By mere immersion here, you have been freed from sin.
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Those mortals who perform a meritorious ritual ablution in the Jābālitīrtha,
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their accumulated five mortal sins are truly destroyed.
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By merely bathing in this meritorious sacred ford, an instrument for good deeds,
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your guilt arising from contact with a mortal sinner has dissolved.
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The vetāla who seized you was previously a brahmin.
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He did not perform the ancestral śrāddha on the day of death with the pārvaṇa rite.
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Cursed by his own ancestors because of that, he attained the state of a vetāla.
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Even he, through the power of ritual ablution in the waters of the Jābālitīrtha,
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abandoned the state of a vetāla and attained the world of Viṣṇu.
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A man who does not perform the śrāddha on the day of his parents' death,
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quickly reaches the state of a vetāla and afterward experiences hell.”
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Śrī Sūta said:
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Even that great sinner Durācāra, by merely bathing in this sacred ford,
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attained the world of Viṣṇu, from which there is no return.
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Thus the meritorious deliverance of Durācāra has been related to you.
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Therefore it is the most meritorious, auspicious sacred ford, removing all sins,
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where Durācāra was delivered by merely bathing.
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It destroys even those sins for which there is no expiation.
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If a brahmin bows to a liṅga or to Viṣṇu worshipped by a Śūdra,
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no expiation is prescribed for him in the smṛtis by the supreme seers;
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yet even that sin of his is destroyed in the sacred ford named Jābāli.
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And for those who revile brahmins, no expiation is found;
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for betrayers of trust and ungrateful people, no expiation,
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and for those engaged with a brother’s wife, no expiation is found.
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For them, purification will surely come from ritual ablution in the Jābālitīrtha.
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Thus the grandeur of the sacred ford of Jābāli has been recounted to you, O brahmins,
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hearing which a mortal on earth is liberated from all sins.
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Thus ends the twenty-fifth chapter, entitled “Description of the Greatness of the Jābālitīrtha,” in the Venkaṭācalamāhātmya in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skandamahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit