Skandapurana 2.1.36
English (machine translation) 2.1.36
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2.1.36.1
Now follows the manner of the lifting of the earth by the Boar.
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Bharadvāja said:
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Formerly, at the end of the Creator's night, awakened, the slayer of Madhu
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carefully considered in his intellect the renewed activity of living beings.
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"Except for the earth, none others are capable
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of bearing the multitude of beings"—such reasoning arose in his heart.
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By deep meditation he saw the earth abiding in Pātāla,
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shaken by extreme fear and surrounded by vast waters.
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He then assumed a form suited for lifting up the earth:
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having the preparatory rites as his lips, fire as his tongue, and the roaring of the praṇava;
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having the four Vedas as his legs, and expiations adorning his hooves;
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having the prāgvaṃśa hall as his body, accompanied by a row of shining darbha grass as his hair;
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endowed with the pravargya ceremony as his whorls, possessing the southern fire as his belly;
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having the sacrificial ladle as his snout, with the joints of his limbs fully divided by all [sacrificial elements];
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having the collection of divine hymns as his mane, and the Supreme Brahman as his head;
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endowed with the speed of oblations to gods and ancestors, with pure sacrificial beasts as his knees;
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endowed with the strength of the mantras and paths of metres such as uktā and atyuktā;
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assuming the divine boar form, consisting of all sacrifices,
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he entered into the waters of the ocean to search for the earth.
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Forcibly dispelling with the mass of gleaming radiance arising from his tusk-crescent moon
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the darkness that had swelled at the time of the end of the kalpa,
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making the cave of the cosmic egg resound constantly with roars
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surpassing the thunder of clouds, through his deep grunting sounds,
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his body lacerated by the movements of the tips of his hooves,
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tossing about here and there the sovereign of the serpents,
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with the violent winds of his breath making visible the bottomless interior
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of the lord of rivers down to Pātāla,
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with his exceedingly long vessel sinking and emerging from the ocean,
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agitating the waters, he then went within.
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Seeing the earth situated beneath the base of the seven Pātālas in the water,
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trembling and overcome with fear, his heart was delighted.
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Placing her upon the tip of his tusk, he emerged from the ocean,
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being praised by the sages residing in Janaloka.
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As the god affectionately carried the earth for a moment,
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the ocean below became an auspicious bridal ornament.
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At the moment of her lifting up by him who had the boar's body, O Arjuna,
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the ocean, with its deep roar, became an auspicious drum;
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joined by showers of spray cast up by rolling waves,
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the heap of pearls took on the appearance of auspicious consecrated rice grains.
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Held up by that god and flooded with water, she shone
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as though her body were moistened by sweat produced by intense passion.
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Having thus lifted the earth from the base of Pātāla,
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the Lord firmly established it amid the waters of the ocean.
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When the earth was lifted up by him, the water that filled the space between earth and sky
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then became bounded by the limits set by him.
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Having thus established the earth, for the sake of securing her support
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he stationed the directional elephants, the serpent king, and the tortoise.
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And as the support for all of them as well, respectfully
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the ocean of compassion joined his own power of unmanifest form.
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Then, to Hari standing in the boar form after lifting up the earth,
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Sanaka and the others residing in Janaloka offered praise.
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Then, having worshipped the Supreme Person in the form of the boar,
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by his command Brahmā fashioned the world as before.
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Arjuna said:
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"How does this earth remain submerged in the water at the end of the kalpa?
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Beneath the seven worlds of Pātāla, what is its support, O great sage?
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How long is this period of a kalpa, and what is its course?"
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Now, the description of the advent of the white boar preceded by the description of the events of the kalpa.
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"Explain all this in detail to me, O brahmin sage!"
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Bharadvāja said:
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"From sixty vināḍikās there is one nāḍikā. A day consists
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of sixty of them. Thirty days make a month consisting of two fortnights.
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Two months are called a season; from six of them there is a year,
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having the form of two solstices, embracing cold, rain, and heat.
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For the gods and the asuras, this [year] is one day and night, by inversion:
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the sun's northern course and southern course are [their day and night] respectively.
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By four million, three hundred and twenty thousand human years,
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a Mahāyuga is formed, O son of Pṛthā, consisting of the Kṛta and the other [yugas].
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The period of seventy-one yugas is an interval of a Manu (manvantara).
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Hear of the Manus born in this [kalpa] called the Śvetavarāha kalpa.
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The first is Svāyambhuva; after him, the Manu Svārociṣa;
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then Uttama, the one called Tāmasa, Raivata, and the one named Cākṣuṣa.
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These six past Manus were accompanied by their Indras, gods, and ascetics.
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The seventh Manu, Vaivasvata, is current now, O Arjuna.
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The hosts of gods at his time are the Ādityas, Vasus, Rudras, and others.
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Having performed a hundred horse sacrifices, the radiant [Purandara] attained the status of Indra.
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Viśvāmitra, myself, Atri, Jamadagni, Kaśyapa,
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Vasiṣṭha, and Gautama—these indeed are the seven seers, O Arjuna.
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The sons of the Manu, heroic and mighty, led by Ikṣvāku,
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ruled the earth, ever devoted to righteousness.
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The five sons of Sūrya, Dakṣa, Brahmā, Dharma, and Rudra,
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beginning with Sāvarṇi, Raucya, and Bhauma, will be the future seven Manus.
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Fourteen Manus exist in a single day of the Creator.
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That is known as a kalpa; at its end, a night of equal duration occurs. Listen:
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At the close of Brahmā's day, O son of Pāṇḍu,
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a dreadful drought lasting a hundred years occurs on earth.
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During that drought, when the earth is depleted of moisture, O Dhanañjaya,
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the four kinds of living beings meet complete destruction.
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Then, having rays shaped like blazing flames, the sun,
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with beams like fire, vomits showers of sparks.
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With its villages, cities, mountains, trees, and forests destroyed,
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the earth resembles the back of a tortoise, looking like a red-hot lump of iron.
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Then, vast clouds arise from the limbs of the Creator,
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covering the sky, resounding with thunder.
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White, yellow, crimson, dark, and of diverse colors, terrifying,
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taking on various shapes such as mountains, elephants, palaces, and trees,
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they unleash a torrential downpour for a period of a hundred years.
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By that water, the great fire born from the sun is extinguished.
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And the great clouds fiercely rain for yet another hundred years.
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Swollen with that water, overflowing their shores, the oceans become agitated.
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That water discharged by the clouds of the cosmic dissolution encompasses the worlds.
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A great darkness envelops the Bhūrloka, Bhuvarloka, Svarloka, and Maharloka.
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Then, submerged in water, sunk down to the base of Pātāla,
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the earth remains somehow undestroyed, supported by the power of Brahmā.
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Then, O Arjuna, the wind born from the breath of Brahmā
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disperses all those great clouds that arose at the end of the kalpa.
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Thus intensified, the wind blows continuously for a period of a hundred years,
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arisen with an irresistible velocity.
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Escaping that fierce wind, upon the navel-lotus of Hari,
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the lotus-born [Brahmā] enters yogic sleep upon that water.
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While that sovereign of the world is engaged in yogic sleep,
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the night lasts for as long as the duration of the day, O son of Pṛthā.
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When the night has passed, awakened once again with vigor,
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he creates all creatures as before, by the command of Hari.
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Kalpa after kalpa, Hari protects the universe through appropriate forms.
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In this kalpa, he assumed the white form of the sacrificial boar.
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Roaming upon the surface of the earth in the body of a boar, the god
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resorted to Mount Veṅkaṭa, his own previously designated dwelling.
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Wandering for a long time on the bank of the Svāmipuṣkariṇī lake, Adhokṣaja
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saw Brahmā, endowed with supreme devotion.
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Having worshipped him, Brahmā prayed to that source of all beings:
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"O Lord, assume your ancient, divine body."
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Accepting his entreaty, he abandoned that boar form
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and assumed his own cosmic body, worthy of exclusive worship.
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Even after putting forth powerful exertion, [though he] stayed thus on that mountain,
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all [beings] were not able to see him, even after a long time. // 62
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Arjuna said:
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Hari is thus beyond the reach of sight, remembrance, and the rest.
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How did he become visible to human beings, O great sage? // 63
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Or who, having become a blessing to the worlds, worshiped that omnipresent Lord
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and revealed him here? Tell me this story! // 64
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Hearing the narrative of Hari destroys sins; may you, who know all sacred traditions, narrate it.
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Surely, today the preeminence among the meritorious has come to me, O best of sages! // 65
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Thus ends the thirty-sixth chapter, named 'The Proclamation of the Boar Incarnation' in the Praise of the Glory of the Suvarṇamukharī, within the Glory of Mount Veṅkaṭa in the second [book], the Vaiṣṇava Section, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 36
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- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit