Skandapurana 2.4.3

English (machine translation) 2.4.3

Language: English

2.4.3.2

Listen further, best of brahmins, to the majesty of Kārtika:

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Beginning on the tenth lunar day, one should conclude on the tenth lunar day; // 1

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Beginning on the full moon day, one should conclude on the full moon day;

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Or, beginning on the day of Hari in Āśvina, the devoted man, // 2

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Bowing to Dāmodara, should formulate the resolve at the outset:

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"O Dāmodara, salutations to you, destroyer of all sins! // 3

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Be pleased to grant permission to perform the vow of Kārtika.

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Make it free from obstacles, O Lord of gods, for a month, O Puruṣottama!" // 4

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Having thus prayed, one should observe the vow of Kārtika according to rule.

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Spoken by Bhāskara as he addressed Anūru, it was heard by me;

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Let that cause of going to heaven in the Kali age indeed be heard! // 5

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Of the twelve months, Mārgaśīrṣa bestows great merit; // 6

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Greater in meritorious fruit than that is said to be Vaiśākha on the bank of the Narmadā;

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A hundred thousand times greater than that is said to be the month of Māgha at Prayāga; // 7

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Greater in fruit than that is said to be Kārtika in any water whatever.

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On the one side, all gifts, vows, and observances, // 8

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And on the other, the ritual ablution of Kārtika, were held in the balance by Brahmā.

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Those to whom offspring and wealth are born in the Kali age— // 9

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Know that they have certainly performed the ritual ablution of Kārtika with reverence.

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Ritual ablution, offering of lamps, tending a grove of tulasī, // 2.4.3.10

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Sleeping on the ground, celibacy, and abstaining from split pulses,

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Singing praises of Viṣṇu, truthfulness, and listening to the Purāṇas— // 11

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Those who practice these in the month of Kārtika are indeed liberated while living.

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There is no duty equal to Kārtika; there is no wealth beyond Kārtika; // 12

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There is no desire equal to Kārtika; there is no bestower of liberation beyond Kārtika.

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By Yudhiṣṭhira for the sake of dharma, and by Dhruva for the sake of wealth, // 13

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By Śrī Kṛṣṇa for the sake of desire, and by Nārada for the sake of liberation,

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Was this vow performed; therefore it is the best and dear to Kṛṣṇa. // 14

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Tell me, Bhāskara, soul of all, beginning when is the vow performed

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So that it becomes fully fruitful, and which deity is to be worshiped here? // 15

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I, Viṣṇu, Śarva, the Devī, and Vighneśvara:

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I, one, have become fivefold, like the stage-manager in a dramatic performance. // 16

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Know, lord of birds, that all these are divisions of ourselves.

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Therefore by Sauras, Gāṇeśas, Śāktas, Śaivas, and Vaiṣṇavas // 17

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The ritual ablution of Kārtika must be performed for the removal of all sins.

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It should be performed for the pleasure of Sūrya when the day-maker is in the sign of Tulā. // 18

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Beginning from the full moon of Iṣa until the full moon of Kārtika,

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So long must ritual ablution be performed by men for the satisfaction of Śiva. // 19

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Beginning with the fortnight of the Devī until the fourteenth day of Mahārātri,

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So long must ritual ablution be performed, [praying]: "May the Devī be well pleased!" // 2.4.3.20

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Beginning with the fortnight of Gaṇa, up to the dark

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Fourth lunar day in Kārtika, ritual ablution should be for the satisfaction of Gaṇapa. // 21

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Beginning with the eleventh lunar day of the bright fortnight of Āśvina—

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[and] it is completed on the bright eleventh of Kārtika.

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Janārdana becomes fully pleased with him by whom it is performed. // 22

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There is no month equal to Kārtika; there is no city equal to Kāśī;

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there is no sacred ford equal to Prayāga; there is no god higher than Keśava. // 23

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Whether performed incidentally, under compulsion, knowingly or unknowingly,

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one who takes the ritual ablution of the month of Kārtika shall not see the tortures of Yama. // 24

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If one has no capacity for ritual ablution, then having given wealth or the like to another,

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by taking the hand of that bathed person, one becomes a sharer in religious merit. // 25

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Or else, those twice-born who perform the Kārtika ablution—

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by giving them clothing, one obtains the fruit born of ritual ablution. // 26

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Rādhā and Dāmodara are especially to be worshipped in Kārtika. // 27

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Even an image made of copper, or in the absence of gold or silver,

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or made of clay, or painted in a picture, or fashioned from flour: // 28

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those men who worship the image of Dāmodara and Rādhā beneath a tulasī plant,

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they are to be known as liberated while living, without doubt. // 29

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by the Kārtika ablution necessarily becomes liberated; no doubt should be entertained here. // 2.4.3.30

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In the absence of a tulasī plant, O bird, worship should be performed beneath an āmalakī tree.

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The foremost rite of worship, however, should be performed toward the solar orb. // 31

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All gods are imperceptible; this Blessed One is perceptible.

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All gods are subject to Time; the sun is the Death of Time. // 32

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A man unable to worship this should worship an icon;

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yet greater religious merit than [worshipping] an icon lies in worshipping a brahmin. // 33

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A poor person should be a recipient of gifts, especially a learned one.

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In the absence of a vipra, charming black cows should be worshipped. // 34

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The stationary image of Viṣṇu is commended over the moving one.

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He who makes prostration to images installed by a Śūdra

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goes to hell along with ten previous and ten subsequent ancestors. // 35

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From the touch of what is worshipped by a Śūdra, one burns the family up to the seventh generation. // 36

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Therefore, having discerned, one should worship that which is installed by vipras;

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higher even than that, one made by the deities bestows enjoyment and liberation. // 37

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In the absence of an image, the sacred fig tree (aśvattha) or the banyan tree (vaṭa) should be worshipped,

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since Viṣṇu has the form of the aśvattha and Śiva has the form of the vaṭa. // 38

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In Kārtika, the lowest of men who eats tulasī leaves or betel leaf,

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knowingly or unknowingly, goes to hell. // 39

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Hari is constantly present in the discus of the śālagrāma stone.

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Therefore, with every effort, one should worship the śālagrāma. // 2.4.3.40

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Due to Rudra's curse, cows are intent on eating excrement;

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even so, they should be worshipped, granting the fruits of both worlds. // 41

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Whoever takes food on a leaf of the palāśa tree, which sprang from a portion of Brahmā,

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in the month of Kārtika, will go to Viṣṇu's world. // 42 // *
The Blessed One has the form of the aśvattha; Sadāśiva has the form of the vaṭa;

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therefore, with every effort, one should worship the aśvattha in Kārtika. // 43

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That woman who, in the month of Kārtika, performs a hundred thousand circumambulations,

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and on Saturday worships Rādhā and Dāmodara beneath its base, // 44

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and feeds a married couple who embody Rādhā and Dāmodara—

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having fed those with their wives, she should afterward eat, restrained in speech. // 45

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Even a barren woman obtains a son; what then of other women?

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Viṣṇu is always present in two-legged beings, namely in a brahmin, // 46

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in the Bodhi tree among trees, and in the śālagrāma among stones.

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Therefore the worship of Viṣṇu should indeed be performed at the foot of an aśvattha. // 47

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The worship of the aśvattha with touch should be performed on a Saturday.

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On another day, through contact with the aśvattha, a man becomes impoverished. // 48

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Ritual ablution, keeping vigil, lighting lamps, tending a grove of tulasī:

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those men who do [these] in the month of Kārtika are forms of Viṣṇu. // 49

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Sweeping in the house of Viṣṇu, presenting auspicious symbols such as svastikas,

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and worship of Viṣṇu: those men who perform these are liberated while living. // 2.4.3.50

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I shall declare the proper time for ritual ablution and the fruit gained at sacred fords and elsewhere,

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and whatever rules of ritual ablution there are: hear them all from me! // 51

Thus ends the third chapter, named 'Description of the Grandeur of Kārtika,' in the Kārtikamāsamāhātmya, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 3

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Purāṇic references on Dāmodara.

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Note on Dāmodara

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Note on Udara

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Note on Ulūkhala

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Note on Uddhava

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Note on Damanaka

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit