Skandapurana 2.9.9
English (machine translation) 2.9.9
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Skanda said:
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Then he, overcome by the force of time that brought about the future subversion of dharma,
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saying 'I will not forgive,' went to Kailāsa, O sage.
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Then Śrī also disappeared from the three worlds into the ocean;
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leaving Indra, the apsarases followed Śrī everywhere.
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Austerity, purity, compassion, truth, the quarter [of dharma], the riches of true dharma,
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the perfections, strength, and goodness followed Śrī on all sides.
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Vehicles such as elephants, ornaments made of gold and the like,
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gems, jewels, and metallic utensils were cast away.
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Food grains, medicinal plants, and oils diminished in a short time;
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no milk remained in the udders of cows, buffaloes, and other animals.
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Even the nine treasures were lost from Kubera's abode.
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Indra, together with the hosts of immortals, came to resemble ascetics performing austerity.
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All objects of enjoyment were lost from the three worlds;
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gods, daityas, and mortals were all afflicted with poverty.
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Then the moon, bereft of splendor, dissolved into water in the great ocean;
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a great drought occurred that destroyed grain and seeds.
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Crying out 'Where is food? Where is food?', emaciated with hunger and lacking vigor,
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abandoning villages and towns, they dwelt in forests and mountains.
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Afflicted by hunger, killing domestic as well as wild beasts,
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some ate their flesh, cooked or even raw.
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The learned sages, however, who walked the path of true dharma,
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though dying of hunger, did not eat flesh.
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Then the elder seers, seeing them dedicated to fasting,
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instructed them, along with the Manus, in the duties during times of distress taught in the Vedas:
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"The sages there, whose senses were mostly agitated by hunger,
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grasped the reverse meanings of the esoteric statements of the Vedas,
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and understood the primary meaning of words such as aja ('unborn', 'goat') to be goats and the like.
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Then they said: 'Perform sacrifices, O twice-born!
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The violence ordained by the Veda is not violence that brings guilt;
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therefore, slay auspicious beasts intended for the gods and the ancestors.
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Sprinkled [with consecrated water] for the deities and offered to the ancestors,
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eat the desired meat; but do not slaughter beasts for your own sake.'"
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Instructed by them, the royal sages, divine sages, and men according to their individual capacity,
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performed sacrifices, except for the single-minded devotees of Hari.
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They performed sacrifices such as the cow sacrifice, the horse sacrifice, and the human sacrifice,
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and they ate the meat left over from the sacrifices.
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Some performed sacrifices to regain lost fortune,
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and some for the sake of wives, sons, houses, and the like, or for their own livelihood.
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Those incapable of great sacrifices, however, intending them for the ancestors abundantly,
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slaughtered animals in ancestral rites and ate and fed others with the meat.
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Some people lived on the banks of rivers and the sea;
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catching fish with nets, they became nourished by them.
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Having slaughtered beasts—cows, goats, and the like—
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they offered them to worthy guests who arrived at their homes, O sage.
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Then, anywhere, the rule of endogamous marriages
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no longer held, due to the confusion of duties and the lack of wealth, houses, and the like.
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Brahmins married daughters of kṣatriyas and others, and kṣatriyas and others married daughters of brahmins,
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due to the course of time, for the propagation of their respective lineages.
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Thus, sacrifices filled with violence were initiated in this great calamity;
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dharma remained merely a semblance, while [true dharma] itself followed Śrī.
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Adharma, with its offspring, pervaded all three worlds completely
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and grew rapidly, irresistible even to the wise.
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And the offspring of these poor people were numerous,
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and the expansion of their lineage grew immense in the worlds.
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Those among them who were born learned considered that very [practice] to be dharma,
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regarding it as primary, and composed treatises of that kind.
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Through tradition, those treatises attained authority.
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In this way, indeed, the corruption of dharma occurred in the first Tretāyuga.
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From that time forward, the killing of animals in sacrifices and other rites
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arose among people; but in the Satyayuga dharma was eternal.
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After a great period of time, even that king of the gods, together with the gods,
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having worshipped the Lord Vāsudeva, regained prosperity, O sage.
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Then, through the grace of Hari, the husband of Śrī and the abode of dharma,
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true dharma was established throughout the three worlds just as before.
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Even then, certain sages, kings, gods, and human beings,
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their good intellects ruined by greed and the tasting of the flavors of desire and wrath,
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regard that duty of times of distress as primary even today.
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But those single-minded devotees of the Blessed One who have conquered desire and other vices
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did not adopt it even in times of distress, let alone at other times.
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Thus, O brahmin, how the introduction of animal sacrifice took place in the first kalpa
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due to the exigency of a time of distress upon the earth, has been told by me.
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Thus ends the ninth chapter, titled “Setting Forth the Cause of the Origin of Sacrifices Involving Injury,” in the Śrīvāsudevamāhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit