Skandapurana 3.2.10.3
English (machine translation) 3.2.10.3
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3.2.10.3.1
Vyāsa said: / Listen, O king, to what happened in Dharmāraṇya, considered auspicious, / which I shall relate, destroying heaps of all sins. / Urged then by the Lord of the unborm [Viṣṇu], the self-manifest [Brahmā], O king, / summoned Kāmadhenu and spoke to her: / “Provide attendants for the brahmins, for each twice-born man / provide two pure-souled ones; O mother, be gracious to me!” / Saying “So be it,” the great cow marked the ground with milk; / from her bellow there came forth men wearing tufts of hair and sacred threads: / thirty-six thousand merchants endowed with great strength, / wearing the sacred thread, highly skilled, versed in all treatises, / endowed with devotion to the twice-born, pious, possessing austerity, / knowing the Purāṇas, of good conduct, righteous, feeding brahmins. / In heaven the gods praise the dwellers of Dharmāraṇya, / transcending the senses at all times in austerity, study, and gifting. / To each twice-born was given a pair of attendants; / and whatever was the gotra of the brahmin previously declared, O king, / that same gotra belonged mutually to him and to his attendant. / Having thus made this arrangement, they dwelt there on the land. / And then discipleship and attendants were granted on earth by the gods; / all was explained by Brahmā for their mutual benefit: / “Carry out their command and give whatever is desired; / bring kindling, flowers, kuśa grass, and the rest day by day. / Conduct yourselves by their permission; never show disrespect. / The natal rite, naming, and auspicious first feeding of solids, / tonsure, investiture with the sacred thread, the Mahānāmnī vows and the like, / whatever ritual action and work, observance, donation, or fast, / must be performed with their permission.” The lords of creation said this: / “If someone begins a rite without their permission, / whether the new-moon day ritual, ancestral rites, or anything auspicious or inauspicious,”
3.2.10.3.2
poverty, grief for children, and loss of renown likewise;
they will be constantly tormented by diseases and obtain no happiness anywhere."
Saying "So be it," the gods, the best of immortals headed by Indra,
all offered praise, standing before Kāmadhenu.
Having achieved their aim, the gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara [said]:
"You are the mother of all the gods, and you are the cause of the sacrifice.
You are the sacred ford of all sacred fords; reverence always to you, O sinless one,
on whose forehead are the Moon, Sun, and Dawn, and the Bull-bannered [Śiva];
and Sarasvatī in your roar, and all the serpents in your dewlap;
and on the hoof-backs the gandharvas and the four Vedas;
at the front of your face are all sacred fords, immobile and moving!"
And when she had been pleased with such words in manifold ways,
the cow, well pleased, said, "What shall I do?"
The gods said:
"All these auspicious attendants have been created by you, O mother goddess!
By your grace, O fortunate one, the brahmins have become happy."
Then that renowned Surabhi went to heaven, O king,
and Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśa, and the others disappeared right there.
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
"Those attendants, born of the cow, possessing great splendor, were wifeless.
How were they wed, O holy one? When were their sons born?"
Vyāsa said:
"For their marriage, wives were brought there and arranged
from the daughters of the gandharvas by Rudra and Yama."
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
"Who was that king of the gandharvas, what was his name, and where did he dwell?
How many were his daughters, and what was their conduct? Tell me!"
Vyāsa said:
"The king of the gandharvas is known as Viśvāvasu, O king.
Sixty thousand daughters dwell in his abode.
His home, the auspicious gandharva city, is in the mid-region.
3.2.10.3.3
Those auspicious daughters born of the gandharva are youthful and beautiful.
Rudra’s two attendants, Nandin and Bhṛṅgin of auspicious faces, O king,
having seen those maidens previously, reported to Śiva:
"Formerly, O Mahādeva, in the gandharva city, O all-pervading lord,
countless thousands of maidens were seen in the house of Viśvāvasu.
Bring them by force, O lord, and grant them to the cow-born ones!"
Having heard this, the god Sadāśiva, slayer of Tripura,
sent a messenger named Vijaya, O descendant of Bharata.
He went there where Viśvāvasu the subduer of enemies resided,
and spoke words that were wholesome and uttered by Śiva:
"In Dharmāraṇya, O fortunate one, [brahmins] were created by the unborn lord;
brahmins who have mastered the Vedas and their auxiliary branches were settled there.
For their service, Kāmadhenu was requested.
By her, merchants of good conduct, not born from a womb, were produced:
thirty-six thousand youths, possessed of great strength.
Sent by Śiva, I have indeed come into your presence
for the sake of the maidens, O fortunate one! Give them, give them!" he said.
The gandharva said:
"Passing over all the gods and the gandharvas, O noble-minded one,
how shall I give [them] to men in the world?"
Having heard his words, Vijaya then returned,
and reported all that great conduct of the gandharva.
Vyāsa said:
Then, overcome with anger, the blessed one, who brings peace to the world,
Sadāśiva, mounted upon the bull, with a trident in hand,
the lord surrounded by thousands of bhūtas, pretas, piśācas, and others,
and then the gods, as well as nāgas, bhūtas, vetālas, and sky-farers,
overcome with great wrath, arrived by the thousands.
A great tumult arose as that army advanced.
The goddess Earth trembled, and the guardians of the quarters were agitated by fear;
3.2.10.3.4
terrible, violent winds [blew], and the elephants of the quarters trumpeted.
Vyāsa said:
Seeing that great army arrive, trembling with fear,
they all fled from the gandharva city in the ten directions.
Abandoning the city, the king of the gandharvas went to Meru, O king.
Taking all those maidens endowed with youth, beauty, and nobility,
he then gave them to the merchants, O king,
according to the rite prescribed in the Vedas, and in the presence of the gods.
Having then given the portion of clarified butter to the gandharva, the cow-born ones
then gave the portion of clarified butter to the gods, the ancestors, the Sun, the Moon,
Yama, and Mṛtyu.
Having duly offered the portions of clarified butter, those of auspicious vows took [them as wives].
From then on, when a gandharva marriage takes place,
they thoroughly receive a portion of clarified butter from all sides even today.
Those thirty-six thousand youths whom they offered,
their sons and grandsons [numbered] in the hundreds and thousands.
Therefore all of them were indeed created for servitude.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit