Skandapurana 2.2.42

English (machine translation) 2.2.42

Language: English

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When the sun enters the sign of the deer (Makara), O best of the twice-born,

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desiring to move toward the northern direction, that is the Uttarāyaṇa.

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Half of its ingress, lasting twenty kalās,

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is an exceedingly auspicious time, dear to ancestors, deities, and the twice-born.

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A man, having bathed there properly in the waters of the king of sacred fords (Tīrtharāja),

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having worshipped Nārāyaṇa and bowed to the wishing tree (kalpavṛkṣa),

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and having entered the abode of the deity and circumambulated it three times,

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worshipping the divine Śrī Puruṣottama with the king of mantras,

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should likewise worship Bala and Subhadrā each with their own mantra.

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Beholding the God at the Uttarāyaṇa, one is released from the bondage of the body.

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I shall declare its procedure, which is great and purifying; listen!

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On the day prior to the transit (saṅkrānti), having well pounded new rice,

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and having placed it in the eastern part of the temple, one should consecrate it with preliminary rites.

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Covering it with a new cloth, with dūrvā grass, mustard seeds, and flowers,

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having worshipped it, one should consecrate it with the mantra: 'May Kṛṣṇa protect you.'

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When that very night watch has passed, of the Lord of the world

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one should bring the representative image into his presence, focusing with a mind on oneness.

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With collected mind, one should worship [it] with the remaining services of honor.

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Then one should place the garments and garland of cast-off offerings upon it.

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With great splendor, one should then carry that image around the deities three times.

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Having placed [the image] upon a palanquin, one should bring it to the temple door,

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the all-pervading Trivikrama, who traverses the three worlds in three strides.

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Imitating that divine play, one should circumambulate him around the temple,

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Three times at the end, and again in the courtyard, with great opulence, very slowly,

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Amid the veil of darkness held back by hundreds of torches,

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With parasols, banners, and flags, with dances, musical instruments, and songs.

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For the great-souled whose sins are destroyed by the sight of him,

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There is no mark [of sin] on the body; then [takes place] the circumambulation around the nine parts [of the temple].

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Those who then follow him, Trivikrama, as he proceeds in the festival,

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They indeed obtain at every step the fruit of a horse sacrifice.

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By seeing the first circumambulation, one is freed from the five major sins;

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By the second circumambulation, O brahmins, one is freed from defiling sins;

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By seeing the third circumambulation, surely [freed] from sins causing degradation;

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And by the fourth, one is then freed from the sins of minor offences.

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Again at dawn, one should smear the Lord of Gods with fragrant sandalpaste,

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And having adorned [him] according to rule with garments, ornaments, and garlands,

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One should worship him richly with offerings according to one's ability.

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Having waved lights before the Lord of Gods, consecrated rice grains,

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Mixed with curd, sugar candy, and clarified butter in golden cooking-pots,

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Together with pieces of coconut and ginger shreds,

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Having carried [them] three times around the temple, one should bring them near the deity,

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And set them down in rows before [him], provided with perfumes, flowers, and unbroken rice grains:

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"You are the sustenance of all beings, the progenitor, O Lord of the universe;

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These rice grains are indeed full of you, engendered by you alone, O Lord!

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O you who assumed an appropriate form to show grace to the world,

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Accept these that are prepared for your delight, O Supreme Lord!

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When you are pleased, the whole world will thrive through this;

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The svāhā, svadhā, and vaṣaṭ utterances of the gods

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Will become nourishing, and by them alone the world is nourished.

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Protect all the world, O Jagannātha, which consists of you, moving and unmoving!"

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Having thus prayed to the Lord of Gods, one should offer the sheaves of rice,

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And confectionery and foods made from them, and fragrant pots of curd

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Endowed with camphor, sugar candy, and black-pepper powder, one should offer.

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One should worship with devotion the brahmins standing before the God of Gods;

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One should give to them with devotion that rice and other things, regarding them as the Lord.

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In a previous kalpa, O brahmins, Kaśyapa

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Having created creation, celebrated this great festival for the pleasure of the Lord.

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Those who behold this festival instituted by Kaśyapa,

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Fulfilled in all desires at all times, O brahmins, do not grieve;

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Dwelling together with the gods, they attain liberation at the end of the kalpa.

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The consecration of the kitchen and the consecration of the fire—

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Here too, O sages, one should perform the vaiśvadeva day by day.

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In the fire consecrated by ritual establishment, for the Lord's consumption, Ramā,

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Assuming a divine form while remaining invisible, prepares the cooking every day.

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In this most sacred festival of the Supreme Self,

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Gifts such as the tulāpuruṣa become multiplied ten million upon ten million times.

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Bathing, giving, austerity, oblation, scriptural recitation, and water-offering to the ancestors—

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Everything indeed attains imperishability during the festival of the northern solstice.

Thus ends the forty-second chapter, named 'Description of the Rule for the Capricorn Transit', in the Glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand verses, in the Second, the Vaiṣṇava Section, in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Puruṣottama.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit