Skandapurana 2.4.31

English (machine translation) 2.4.31

Language: English

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The bright ninth of Kārtika: on that day the Dvāpara Yuga began.

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It is to be adopted when it falls in the forenoon or afternoon, respectively, for giving and fasting. .. 1 ..

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Here, indeed, the demon named Kūṣmāṇḍaka was slain by Viṣṇu;

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from his bodily hairs arose the creepers that produce the pumpkin gourd. .. 2 ..

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Therefore, by donating a winter melon (kūṣmāṇḍa), one definitely attains the fruit.

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On this very ninth [tithi], a person should celebrate the festival of Kṛṣṇa.

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[He should perform] the marriage of Tulasī according to the rite prescribed in his own Vedic branch (śākhā).

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The fruit of gifting a maiden (kanyādāna) accrues to him; of this there is no doubt.

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Having reached the bright ninth day in Kārtika, with senses subdued,

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having fashioned an auspicious Hari out of gold along with Tulasī,

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the observer of the vow should worship them there for three days with devotion in accordance with the rules.

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In this manner, by the prescribed rule, he should perform the nuptial rite.

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Here, a period of three nights should be observed, following the ninth day onwards.

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The ninth [tithi] that extends through midday, touched by the preceding one, is to be observed.

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He who nurtures together and weds an āmalakī and a sacred fig (aśvattha) tree,

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his religious merit is not destroyed even in hundreds of millions of kalpas.

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Formerly, the youthful daughter of Kanaka, on the eleventh [day],

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performed with devotion the rite of Tulasī's wedding in the evening.

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By virtue of that, that fair-eyed maiden became freed from the blemish of widowhood.

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Therefore, the rite born of Tulasī's marriage should be performed in the evening.

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It should certainly be performed every year by Vaiṣṇavas.

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I shall proclaim its rite, so that the ritual may be complete with all its limbs.

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One should fashion an auspicious image of Viṣṇu made of a pala of gold,

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or half of that, or half of half of that, according to one's capacity.

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Having performed the consecration of the life-breath (prāṇapratiṣṭhā) in the two forms of Tulasī and Viṣṇu,

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he should then awaken the God with the previously mentioned hymns and praises.

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He should worship with sixteen services (upacāras) and with the Puruṣa[sūkta] mantras.

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Then, having remembered the place and time, he should worship Gaṇeśa there.

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Then, having had the benediction (puṇyāha) recited, he should perform the ancestral offering (nāndīśrāddha).

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He should bring the image of Viṣṇu amidst the sounds of Vedic recitations, musical instruments, and the like.

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It should be placed near Tulasī and screened by cloths.

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"Come, O Blessed Lord, O Keśava, I shall worship [You].

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I will give You Tulasī; be the bestower of all desires."

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He should offer the guest-offering (arghya) three times, the water for washing feet (pādya), and the seat (viṣṭara).

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Then, having spoken thrice, he should offer water for sipping (ācamanīya).

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Then curd, clarified butter, and milk placed in a bell-metal vessel—

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"Accept the madhuparka, O Vāsudeva; homage unto You!"

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Having performed all the acts of smearing with turmeric and anointing,

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Tulasī and Keśava should again be worshipped at the time of cow-dust (godhūli).

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Placed separately facing each other, he should recite the auspicious verses.

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When the sun is slightly visible, he should utter the declaration of intent (saṃkalpa),

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having spoken his lineage, ancestral seers (pravaras), and the three paternal ancestors.

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"O You without beginning, middle, or end! O Protector of the three worlds!

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Accept this Tulasī according to the marriage rite, O Lord!

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Sprung from the seed of Pārvatī, residing in the ashes of Vṛndā,

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having no beginning, middle, or end, I give You Your beloved.

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With pots of water and with services, she was reared by me like a daughter.

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I give You Tulasī, who is dear to You; O Lord, please accept her."

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Having thus given Tulasī, he should then worship them both afterwards.

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At night, he should keep a vigil accompanied by the wedding celebration.

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Then, at daybreak, he should worship Tulasī and Viṣṇu.

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Having established the fire, with the twelve-syllable formula (mantra),

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he should offer one hundred and eight oblations with milk-rice, ghee, honey, and sesame seeds.

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Then, having offered the sviṣṭakṛt oblation, he should make the final oblation (pūrṇāhuti).

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And having worshipped the preceptor (ācārya), he should complete the remainder of the fire offering.

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Whatever observance was undertaken by anyone for the four months of the rainy season,

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having related that to the twice-born, he should thus complete it and the other [observances].

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"This vow was performed by me, O God, for Your pleasure, O Lord.

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May whatever is deficient attain completeness through Your grace, O Janārdana!"

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During the fourth quarter of Revatī joined with the twelfth [lunar day],

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a person should not break his fast (pāraṇa); doing so, he would make his vow fruitless.

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Then, whatever items were abstained from

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during Cāturmāsya or in Ūrja (Kārtika), he should present to the brahmins.

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Then he may eat all of whatever had been renounced while abiding in the vow.

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In this rite, one should eat together with the married couple and with the brahmins.

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Then, after eating, whatever leaves have fallen,

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having eaten those [leaves] of Tulasī, one is personally freed from sins.

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Likewise, a stalk of sugarcane, a myrobalan fruit, and a jujube fruit—

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by eating [these] at the end of the meal, one's state of food-impurity is removed.

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If among these three, not even one is eaten by someone,

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that person is to be known as impure for a full year; of this there is no doubt.

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Then in the evening, they should again be worshipped with lovely stalks of sugarcane,

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namely, Tulasī and Vāsudeva; thereupon, one achieves one's purpose.

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Then, having performed the formal dismissal and having given the inheritance and other gifts to Hari:

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"Go to Vaikuṇṭha, O Lord, together with Tulasī, O Master!

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Having accepted the worship performed by me, be ever pleased.

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Depart, depart, O best of the gods, to your own abode, O Parameśvara!

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Where the gods headed by Brahmā reside, go there, O Janārdana!"

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Having thus dismissed the Lord of gods, one should present to the preceptor

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the icon and everything else; [then] a person achieves their purpose.

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Indeed, whoever performs the marriage of Tulasī every year,

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being full of devotion, certainly becomes endowed with wealth and grain.

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In this world and also in the next, he attains vast renown.

Thus ends the thirty-first chapter, named 'Description of the Rules for Kūṣmāṇḍanavamī and the Marriage of Tulasī,' in the Kārtikamāsamāhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the Skandamahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit