Skandapurana 2.4.24
English (machine translation) 2.4.24
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Pṛthu said:
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The great fruit of the man who observes the vow of Ūrja that has been praised—
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tell again that māhātmya, and by whom this auspicious [vow] was performed. // 1
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Nārada said:
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In ancient times, in the region of the Sahyādri mountains, in the city of Karavīrapura,
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there was a certain brahmin knower of dharma, renowned as Dharmadatta, // 2
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who duly observed vows to Viṣṇu and was always devoted to Viṣṇu's worship.
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Once, in the month of Kārtika, for the night-vigil of Hari, // 3
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he went to the temple of Hari when the fourth watch of the night remained.
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As he was walking along taking the articles for Hari's worship, // 4
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he saw an approaching rākṣasī of terrifying appearance.
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Seeing her, terrified with fear, his limbs trembling then, // 5
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he struck out of fear with all the worship articles and with water,
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remembering the name of Hari, with the water mixed with Tulasī.
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As soon as she was struck by that, her sin dissolved away. // 6
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Then, remembering [the state] produced by the ripening of the deeds of her previous birth,
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[and] bowing down like a staff, she described her condition to the brahmin:
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Kalahā said:
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"By the ripening of my past karma, I have fallen into this state.
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How, then, O brahmin, can I once again attain an auspicious destination?"
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Nārada said:
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Seeing her prostrated properly and speaking of her own deeds,
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the exceedingly astonished brahmin spoke these words:
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Dharmadatta said:
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"By the ripening of what deed have you reached such a state?
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Where are you from, who are you, and what is your character? Tell me all of that."
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Kalahā said:
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"O brahmin, in the city of Saurāṣṭra, there was a twice-born man named Bhikṣu.
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Formerly, I was his housewife, named Kalahā, extremely cruel.
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Never did I do anything good for my husband, even in speech.
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No sweet food was offered to him, [for I was] fond of answering my husband back.
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Always agitated in mind by me, who loved strife,
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when my husband resolved to marry another [woman],
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then taking poison, O brahmin, I ended my life.
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Then, binding me as I was being dragged, the servants of Yama carried me off.
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And Yama, seeing me then, questioned Citragupta:
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Yama said:
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'Examine, Citragupta, what deeds have been done by her.
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Let her receive [the fruit of] that deed, whether good or bad.'
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Kalahā said:
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"Citragupta then scolded me and said:
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Citragupta said:
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'No good deed at all done by her can be found.
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Eating sweet food, this [woman] did not offer it to her husband.
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Therefore, let her abide in the womb of a bat, eating her own excrement.
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Moreover, because of hatred for her husband, she was always creating discord.
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Therefore, O Lord, let her dwell in the womb of an excrement-eating sow.
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She always ate from the cooking pot, and ate alone here and there.
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Therefore, let her become a female cat that devours her own newborn offspring.
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Furthermore, directed against her husband, suicide was committed by her.
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Therefore, completely censured, let her remain alone in the body of a ghost.
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And therefore she should be conveyed by soldiers to a desert country.
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Dwelling there in the body of a ghost, let her remain for a long time.
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Afterward, let this evil-doer experience the three [animal] wombs.'"
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Kalahā said:
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"I indeed remained in the body of a ghost for five hundred years.
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Tormented by hunger and thirst, entering the body of a merchant,
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I came to the southern region, to the confluence of the Kṛṣṇā and Veṇī.
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As soon as I reached its bank, from his body
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I was dragged far away by force by the attendants of Śiva and Viṣṇu.
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Then, emaciated by hunger, you were seen by me, O best of brahmins—
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my sin having vanished by contact with the water [sprinkled with] tulasī from your hand.
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Perform that act, O chief of brahmins, whereby I may attain liberation
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from the three impending wombs and from this body of a ghost."
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Reflecting thus upon the words of Kalahā, the foremost of brahmins, filled with fear, wonder, and sorrow at the ripening of those deeds,
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with the movement of his mind shaken with compassion upon seeing her misery, meditated for a long time and spoke these words out of sorrow:
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Thus ends the twenty-fourth chapter, entitled 'Narration of the History of Dharmadatta' in the Praise of the Month of Kārttika of the Vaiṣṇava Section, in the Great Purāṇa of Skanda, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].
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- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit