Skandapurana 2.4.4.4.1

2.4.4.4.1

Brahmā said: / When two nāḍīs remain of the night, one should go to a reservoir of water, / bringing tulasī and clay, and carrying a water-pot with a cloth, O sage. (1) / Having arrived near the water and placed the pot on the bank, / having washed one's feet, one should recite the place, time, and so forth. (2) / One should remember the Gaṅgā and other rivers, and deities headed by Viṣṇu and Śarva. / Standing in navel-deep water, one should utter this mantra: (3) / 'In Kārtika, I shall perform the morning ritual ablution, O Janārdana, / for your pleasure, O Lord of gods, O Dāmodara, along with [you]. (4) / Having performed my regular and occasional duties in Kārtika, O destroyer of sin, / I shall offer a bath and water of oblation; make it free from obstacles, O Keśava.' (5) / And one should offer water of oblation and the rest in order to the deities of the sacred ford and others: / 'Accept the water of oblation offered by me together with Rādhā, O Hari! (6) / Homage to the lotus-naveled one! Homage to you who recline on the waters! / Homage be to you, Hṛṣīkeśa! Accept the water of oblation; homage be to you! (7) / For me, a practitioner of vows who have bathed according to the rule in the month of Kārtika, / accept the water of oblation offered by me, O slayer of the chief of Danujas! (8) / May Kiraṇā, Dhūtapāpā, and Sarasvatī of holy waters, / and Gaṅgā and Yamunā—the five rivers—purify me.' (9) / And one should offer water of oblation to other rivers according to the rule. / A man should make remembrance of Jāhnavī in all sacred fords; (10) / but at Jāhnavī, no other sacred ford should ever be remembered. / Having uttered these mantras, one should perform the bath for cleansing dirt; (11) / and then the bath with clay, the bath for the ancestors, and the bath for the guru. / Then one should sprinkle one's head with the Pāvamānī hymns. (12) / Having performed the Aghamarṣaṇa rite and the water-libation as an ancillary of the bath, / one should then sprinkle water on one's head with the Puruṣasūkta. (13) / Then, having come outside, one should place the water of the sacred ford upon one's head; / having sipped the holy water three times, taking a tulasī leaf in hand, (14) / then having stepped out of the water, one should wring out the hem [of the cloth] outside: (15cd)