Skandapurana 2.2.19
English (machine translation) 2.2.19
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Jaimini said:
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Then that protector of the earth, having acted in that way, [attended upon Him],
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just as the goddess of speech moving in the sky had spoken, so indeed he attended [upon Him].
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As day after day passed in this manner, a celestial fragrance was experienced,
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and a shower of pārijāta blossoms, hard to find among mortals,
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and the sound of celestial music, and charming songs,
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and a shower of the celestial Gaṅgā's water, very beautiful with minute drops.
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The fragrance of the rut of the elephants beginning with Airāvata,
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which is intolerable to wild elephants, was experienced by all creatures as bringing pleasure.
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The gods who had arrived for the sacrifice were all relieved of distress;
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seeing Hari manifest, the brahmins performed worship, O twice-born ones.
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Just as they had previously [worshiped] Mādhava, so they worshiped that branch of Viṣṇu;
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during the worships offered to the gods, divine signs appeared.
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The God Himself completed [the work] in due course on the fifteenth day:
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that Lord manifested in four forms, just as I described earlier.
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Such as He was described to you formerly, so He appeared,
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seated on a celestial throne together with Balabhadra and Sudarśana.
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Janārdana had arms radiant with the conch, discus, mace, and lotus;
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holding a mace, pestle, discus, and lotus, [the other had] the form of a serpent,
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with seven umbrella-shaped hoods, a crown, and bright earrings;
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and Subhadrā was charming-faced, holding the gesture of boon-granting, a lotus, and the gesture of fearlessness.
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This Lakṣmī manifested embodying all consciousness.
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For she, born from the womb of Rohiṇī in the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa,
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assumed the form of Balabhadra from meditating upon the form of Bala;
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for she cannot bear to leave Him who descends in sport even for a moment.
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There is no difference here, O brahmins, between Kṛṣṇa and Bala;
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from being born from the same womb, this worldly convention arose:
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this purāṇic tale that she is the sister of Baladeva.
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In male form and as female nature, Lakṣmī abides everywhere.
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By male name is Lord Viṣṇu [known], and by female name is Kamalālayā;
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among gods, animals, humans, and others, there is nothing beyond the two of them.
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For who else but the lotus-eyed Lord could uphold
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the fourteen worlds with the tip of his hood? He is Ananta, named Bala.
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His very power is celebrated as this sister, Śrī;
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and that discus, Sudarśana, which is always in Viṣṇu's hand,
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stood in the middle of a pillar-like branch—that was the fourth form.
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Thus indeed were the four forms manifested by Him.
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When the divine form of the Lord was completed in four ways,
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for the benefit of the worlds the voice moving in the sky spoke again:
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“Covering these images very firmly with cloths, O king,
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bring each quickly to its own color through painter’s work with pigments:
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Viṣṇu dark as a blue cloud, Bala white as a conch and the moon,
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the Sudarśana discus red, and Subhadrā saffron-red,
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splendid with various ornaments, section by section in diverse postures.
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These, if seen in their wooden nature, become a cause of sin;
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they must be concealed with effort using cloths, resin, and bark.
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Therefore, first of all, cover these firmly in front
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with the bark of that very tree, through artisans skilled in their craft.
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And year after year they are to be consecrated anew by removing the earlier consecration,
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except for the paste of bark; for that is divine and eternal.
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If anyone should inadvertently remove this paste,
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there will be famine and pestilence in the realm, and his lineage will perish.
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They must never be looked upon by you, O king, when uncovered;
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and if seen by mortals, O king of kings, they would become causes of fear.
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Therefore they should be seen painted, smeared with a thick coating.
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Beholding the beautifully painted, lotus-eyed Lord, full of grace and charm,
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one is freed from sins accumulated over ten million kalpas.
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Make them beautifully painted, O king of kings; you shall obtain wonderful desires.
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The Lord has manifested out of a desire to show you favor.”
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Through your grace, he will grant the fourfold aim of life to living beings.
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On Nīlādri, one hundred cubits northwest of the wish-fulfilling tree, // 2.2.19.30
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in that region, at a very great place, [build] a temple, very firm and vast,
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north of Narasiṃha, rising a thousand cubits high. // 31
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Having caused it to be built and consecrated, install him there.
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He who previously worshipped Mādhava who stayed on this mountain, // 32
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a Śabara named Viśvāvasu, best of Vaiṣṇavas—
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and previously your priest had friendship with him— // 33
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the lineage of those two alone
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should be engaged, O great king, in the work of coating and decorating him, and in future festivals.” // 34
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Having spoken this, that divine voice fell silent.
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Hearing what was instructed by her, with an overjoyed inner self, // 35
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the best of kings caused the covering of the great altar to be removed.
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Then they all beheld, seated on a jewel-throne, // 36
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Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Subhadrā, and Vāsudeva's Sudarśana,
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of lovely appearance, with the ornamentation such as coating applied as instructed: // 37
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with a smiling face out of compassion, with a broad and elevated chest,
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the lord in lifting up the distressed, whose arms hang long down like a cage, // 38
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with eyes like blooming white lotuses, with a broad lower lip red with a smile,
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destroying the heap of sins of onlookers at mere sight, // 39
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Kṛṣṇa, seated in the lotus posture, adorned with celestial ornaments,
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surrounded by his own splendor, pure even though in a wooden body, // 2.2.19.40
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resembling a dark cloud, the destroyer of all distress.
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And he beheld Baladeva, whose lotus face had a loud laugh, // 41
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with an expansive canopy of hoods, his eyes rolling from Vāruṇī wine,
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risen as the king of serpents, with a plump, elevated, beautiful chest, // 42
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slightly bent at the back, his body coiled,
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like the peak of Mount Kailāsa, with blooming Kakubha trees in front, // 43
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bearing the plow, discus, lotus, and pestle, wearing a forest garland,
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brilliant with necklaces, earrings, armlets, diadem, and crown. // 44
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Between the two he beheld Subhadrā, Lakṣmī incarnate, embodying auspiciousness, // 45
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the fire-drill [that brings forth] all gods, who carries [one] across the ocean of sin,
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with a face like a blooming lotus, holding the boon, lotus, and fearlessness gestures, // 46
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the abode of beauty and grace, resplendent with ornaments,
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her body reddish with saffron, like a second Lakṣmī in person. // 47
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And he beheld, stationed to the left of Viṣṇu, formed from the tip of the discus-branch,
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resembling the morning sun, with a sharp edge, made of splendor, O twice-born ones. // 48
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Seeing her, the king, submerged in the ocean of bliss,
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bewildered about what should be done, was not master over his own body. // 49
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With eyes slightly closed, merely shedding tears,
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with folded hands, the best of kings stood motionless like a pillar. // 2.2.19.50
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The best of sages, with a smiling face, said to that lord of the earth:
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“That for the sake of which you underwent hardship has now come to you // 51
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in visible form, O tiger among kings! You alone are fortunate on earth.
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Behold this Jagannātha, with eyes broad as white lotuses, // 52
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an ocean of grace toward devotees, Hari, the treasury of all knowledge,
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whom yogins constantly strive to see with disciplined minds, // 53
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and whom men behold for a moment only through great concentration.
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That very Janārdana, having assumed a wooden body // 54
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in order to show grace to you, O king, has become visible.
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Worship this Lord of the Earth, praise the ocean of compassion! // 55
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When praised, O king, he grants all desires residing in the heart.” // 56
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Thus ends the nineteenth chapter in the dialogue between the sage Jaimini and [the king], in the Puruṣottamakṣetramāhātmya of the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the second [part of] the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 19
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit