Skandapurana 2.2.16

English (machine translation) 2.2.16

Language: English

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Seeing the king cheerful and placing his faith in the great sacrifice,

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Nārada, who brings joy to the worlds, spoke with supreme delight:

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“In the undertaking of the virtuous, the gods come to render assistance.

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You are indeed an example of that, whose helper is the four-faced [Brahmā] himself!

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Therefore, come, let us go right there into the presence of Nīlakaṇṭha.

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Before him, who destroys all rākṣasas and averts all obstacles,

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I shall install Nṛsiṃha facing west, O king.

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For though the Lord has vanished, this man-lion will be visibly present.

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A sacrifice in his presence will yield an abundance of fruit.

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Go ahead quickly and have a temple built there.

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And coming at my remembrance, the son of Viśvakarman

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will swiftly construct a temple facing west.

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To the south of Nīlakaṇṭha, there is a great sandalwood tree

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standing a hundred bows away, O king, grown long ago.

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The sacred field situated in the western quarter from it, O king, will be [the site].

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Offer sacrifices in front of it with a thousand horse sacrifices!

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You go ahead; I shall remain right here for five days.

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Having worshiped this divine lion, infinite and of the nature of light,

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and having established him in an image endowed with vital breaths, senses, and mind,

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just like a lamp [kindled] from a lamp, O king, I will bring that beautiful form.”

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Having agreed to this word of Nārada, that best of kings

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went swiftly to the vicinity of the sandalwood tree.

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There he saw an excellent builder, skilled in the architectural treatises,

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the son of the divine artisan who had arrived by Nārada's command.

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Assuming a human form, he stood holding weapons and a measuring cord.

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Seeing the king who wished to build a dwelling for the gods,

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with folded hands he said: “O king, I am an expert in the architectural treatises.

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Today I will fashion a beautiful abode of Narasiṃha for you.”

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The king also, smiling, said this to him, O best of twice-born:

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“You are no ordinary artisan, but the author of the architectural treatises!

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You were proclaimed by Nārada as the highly renowned son of Tvaṣṭṛ.

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In this solitary great forest, there was no human habitation before this;

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we have arrived only today, O artisan—for what reason is our connection?

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You are indeed the divine architect of Viṣṇu of immeasurable splendor,

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who constantly meditate on him and remain obedient to his instruction.

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The sage by whom you were remembered will himself come here,

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bringing the replica image of Narasiṃha in a few days.

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Therefore, fashion quickly today [a temple] with an enclosure wall and an arched gateway.”

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the auspicious temple of Narasiṃha facing west. (19)

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Having worshipped him duly and engaged [him] in construction, the king

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supplied the servants who were gathering stones with abundant wealth. (2.2.16.20)

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On the fourth day, O brahmins, the unsurpassed temple was complete,

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which, though requiring a long time to achieve, [was finished] through the power of the divine architect. (21)

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Then, at clear dawn, following the conclusion of his daily rites,

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the king, together with his retinue, taking the provisions for the consecration rite, (22)

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stood waiting for the arrival of Nārada,

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when conches, mṛdaṅgas, and murajas were heard, (23)

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along with songs, auspicious musical instruments, bells, and the trumpeting of elephants,

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as well as loud cries of “Victory, victory!” in the sphere of the sky. (24)

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Hearing these, filled with wonder, Indradyumna and the others,

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the kings, the learned Vedic brahmins, and the Vaiṣṇavas in their thousands, [thought:] (25)

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“These sounds have no visible source; they are wonders, without doubt.”

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Even as they were wondering, a breeze from the south [arrived], (26)

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and showers of flowers resounded with swarms of bees drawn by fragrance;

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moistened with the water of the river of the three worlds that appeared, O twice-born ones, (27)

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immediately thereafter came that Nārada, the son of Brahmā,

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resting on an excellent aerial chariot brought forth by the power of his austerity; (28)

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richly adorned by celestial women holding jewelled chowries in their hands,

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bedecked with varied ornaments of gems and jewels, (29)

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wearing celestial garlands and garments, anointed with celestial fragrant paste,

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delightful, infused with life, fashioned by Viśvakarman, (2.2.16.30)

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enveloped by an orb of light, and bestowing joy all around,

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bringing the replica image of Narasiṃha, he arrived. (31)

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Seeing it, all were overjoyed, the king and his attendants [wondering]:

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“Has the Lord who had vanished been brought back by Nārada?” (32)

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Rejoicing in heart, they praised that sage.

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Discerning the form of Narasiṃha present there, O twice-born ones, (33)

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they considered it the replica image of the primordial form of Nṛsiṃha.

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Then, rising up, the king, with an inner self overjoyed,

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circumambulated Hari and went to the ground with his head. (34)

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With provisions suited to an abundance of faith, by order of the king,

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the sage had [the image] brought into the temple endowed with auspicious marks. (35)

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At an auspicious hour, O best of brahmins, the king praised

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the image of the God of gods, accompanied by Dharā and Ramā, installed upon a jewelled altar,

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its body fixed in yogic posture; Indradyumna then praised [him], (36)

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together with Vaiṣṇavas, brahmins, kings, and the wise Nārada,

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joyfully with secret Upaniṣads, traditional hymns, and scriptures: (37)

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“O you whose form is one and many, gross, subtle, and atomic; O beyond space, whose form is space, whose form is one;

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having the form of space, all-pervading, dwelling in space, mounted on space, origin of the space-haired [Śiva] and lotus-born [Brahmā]! (38)

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Save me from the ocean of suffering, O divine Lion, whose radiance is that of countless millions of risen suns!

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Eternally near, dwelling afar, neither distant nor near, the true nature of both the knower and the known! (39)

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The object to be known among knowables, attainable through knowledge yet unattainable, beyond illusion, measurable by proof and inference,

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the beginning of all, maker of all, approver, protector, destroyer, witness of the universe, homage to you! (2.2.16.40)

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The sole cause of the destruction of suffering, causeless, breaker and cutter of the doubts born first [in mind],

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O form of light, form of knowledge, radiance, cause of the creation of the array of forms! (41)

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Grant me forever foremost devotion to your lotus feet, O Lord, which is the root cause of the four [aims of life]!

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These your wretched people, though constantly engaged in Vedic and traditional duties, remain bound here in the ocean of worldly existence. (42)

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Whose feet are infinite, who have many hands and eyes, infinite ears, whose garment is the expanse of the directions,

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adorned with the lords of day and night as beautiful ear-rings, whose lovely necklace is formed by the garland of constellations, (43)

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to you, the wondrous, divine form of Nṛsiṃha, fulfiller of the devotees' desires, I fly for refuge!

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Whose lotus foot blossoms through the jewels of the diadem of the Grandfather [Brahmā]; (44)

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he whose material head rolls on the ground near whose pair of lotus feet,

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that divine foot the women of the king of gods carry on their heads; truly, I bow to him! (45)

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To that divine Lion by whom multitudes of sins are destroyed, an ocean of compassion to those who seek refuge at his feet,

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the fierce one against whom the vessel of the cosmic egg shatters by the clash of his lotus feet, I bow! (46)

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By the shaking of the mass of whose mane dense clouds are torn and multitudes of sins are routed,

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who drowns the sound of clouds with his fierce, loud laughter, who holds the three worlds within, to Nṛhari I bow!” (47)

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Homage to you, homage to you, homage to you today, O Viṣṇu! Protect [me], who am destitute, O compassionate lord!

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Having reached you, O Murāri, let there be no bondage of a body for me in the prison-house of saṃsāra.

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At the conclusion of the thousand horse-sacrifices, just as with physical eyes

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I may behold your divine form, so have compassion, O Lord!

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And so that my thousand sacrifices may be completed without obstacle,

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O Lord of sacrifice, through your grace, let your presence be with me.

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Just as crores of heaps of sins go to destruction, O Lord,

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duty, wealth, and desire rest in their hand—it is no wonder for those who praise [you];

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those men are recipients of liberation, O Viṣṇu, who take refuge in you.

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Having thus praised that divine lion, the king, his mind joyful,

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fell repeatedly to the earth in prostration like a staff.

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That sacred field of Narasiṃha was created formerly by Brahmā

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for the favor of Indradyumna and for the benefit of all worlds.

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Those who see that Nṛsiṃha situated together with Śambhu

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do not obtain bodily bondage, O brahmins; there is no doubt.

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Whatever is desired by the mind, they obtain even more than that.

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Those who praise that divine lion form with this hymn—

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the god who grants all desires bestows liberation upon them.

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On the twelfth day of the bright fortnight of Jyeṣṭha combined with the Svātī constellation,

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on that [day] the divine lion was consecrated in the sacred field by the great seer,

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the son of Brahmā in person; and those who behold him there

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obtain the full fruit of a thousand horse-sacrifices.

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Or with the five nectars, with milk, or with coconut water,

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those men who bathe [him], or with scented water,

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having worshiped the great lion with offerings accompanied by milk-rice,

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and with garlands of Chinese rose flowers, and with very lovely scented garlands,

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with incenses, lamps with camphor, and extremely lovely betel leaves,

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with beautiful songs, recitations of praise, and likewise with loud cries of victory,

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with circumambulations, prostrations, gifts, and pleasing of brahmins—

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pleasing that Narasiṃha, one reaches the world of Brahmā.

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On the fourteenth day of Vaiśākha, on Saturday, under the constellation of Anila,

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at the evening twilight was the primeval incarnation of the Lion, O twice-born ones.

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Having worshiped Narasiṃha properly on that [day] with concentrated mind,

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the heap of sins accumulated throughout thousands of crores of births

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is burned away that very instant, like a pile of cotton by fire.

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Seeing, touching, bowing, prostrating with devotion,

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and praising, one is freed from sins like a snake from its slough.

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He has no diseases, nor griefs, nor mental afflictions;

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he obtains all desires and likewise the fruit of a horse-sacrifice.

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Near him, O brahmins, sacrifice and giving,

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and other meritorious deeds performed even once by men

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become crores and crores of times multiplied through the grace of Narasiṃha.

Thus ends the sixteenth chapter in the conversation of the seer Jaimini, in the Glorification of the Sacred Field of Puruṣottama, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit