Skandapurana 3.2.2
English (machine translation) 3.2.2
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3.2.2.1
Vyāsa said: / “The ornamental mark on the forehead of the matron Earth, the clearly visible garden basin for the creeper of Lakṣmī, / the water-play delight of the Goddess of Speech—now I describe Moheraka. (1)
3.2.2.2
Well asked by you, O king! Superior even to Vārāṇasī, / Dharmāraṇya, O best of kings—listen to it with great attention. (2)
3.2.2.3
All sacred fords are right there; therefore it is called Ūṣara. / It is attended by Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśa, and others, and Indra and the rest, (3)
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by the world-protectors, the guardians of the directions, the Mothers, and the powers of Śiva, / and by gandharvas and apsarases, with sacrificial rites, (4)
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by spirits, vetālas, śākinīs, planets, gods, and supreme deities, / by seasons, months, and fortnights, attended by gods and demons. (5)
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That primeval place of kings, granting all happiness, / was attended with many sacrifices by the best of sages. (6)
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with lions, tigers, and elephants, and likewise with various kinds of birds, / and also with cows, she-buffaloes, and the like, with cranes, deer, and boars;
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it is inhabited, O tiger among kings, even by various predatory beasts. / Those birds, insects, and others who meet their end there,
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beasts and carnivores, creatures living in water and on land, / those moving through the air and on the ground, as well as ḍākinīs and rākṣasas—
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theirs is eternal liberation along with a hundred and one [generations of kin]. / They all go to the realm of Viṣṇu without any doubt.
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He delivers ten ancestors and ten descendants who went before. / With barley, rice, and sesame seeds, with clarified butter, bilva leaves, and dūrvā grass,
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and with jaggery and water, O lord, whoever offers a funeral ball (piṇḍa) there / delivers seven gotras and a hundred and one generations.
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It is filled with various kinds of trees and adorned with creepers and thickets; / it constantly yields religious merit, and is ever endowed with fruits.
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It is free from enmity and fear—this Dharmāraṇya, O king! / Cows and tigers play together there, and cats and mice likewise;
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the frog plays with the serpent, and human beings [live] with rākṣasas; / one resides without fear there, in Dharmāraṇya upon the earth.
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Full of great bliss, divine, supreme, the purifier of purifiers! / Inside the grove, the cuckoo softly coos along with its sweet-toned mate;
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one who is absorbed in meditation will then hear, and is stopped by the female pigeon. / The peacock, leaving the peahen, remains in silence out of fear of disturbing that [meditation].
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The cakora bird, feeding on moonlight, seems to observe a nocturnal vow. / Look! The mainas recite the essence [of truth] and instruct the parrot.
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Śiva grants a crossing to the far shore of the boundless ocean of saṃsāra. / Whoever should set out from home towards Dharmavana even out of idleness,
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merit surpassing an horse-sacrifice accrues to him at every single step. / Indeed, brahmins endowed with the power of blessing and cursing dwell there:
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eighteen thousand appointed for meritorious acts, / and thirty-six thousand merchants who are their attendants on earth.
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Devoted to the twice-born, pious, and not born of a womb, / knowledgeable in the Purāṇas, of good conduct, righteous, and of pure intellect. / The gods in heaven praise the dwellers of Dharmāraṇya.
3.2.2.22_10
Yudhiṣṭhira said: / When was the name "Dharmāraṇya" established by the thirty [gods]? / How did it come into being on the earth, and why was it created by him? / For what reason did it become a sacred ford? Tell me that. / How many were the brahmins, and by whom were they settled long ago? / For what purpose were the eighteen thousand settled? / From what part were those brahmins, best among the twice-born, born? / Skilled in all branches of learning, masters of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, / well-versed in the Ṛgveda and having exerted themselves in the Yajurveda, / knowing the far shore of the Sāmaveda's limbs, knowing the threefold knowledge, foremost in dharma, / devoted to austerity, of auspicious conduct, intent on vows of truth, / emaciated by month-long fasts and by cāndrāyaṇa penances and the like, / of good conduct, friendly to brahmins—by what do they make their daily livelihood? / Tell me all that entirely from the beginning, O best of speakers! / How is it that the dānavas, daiteyas, beings born as bhūtas and vetālas, / rākṣasas, and piśācas there do not torment them? / Thus ends the second chapter, titled "The Description of Yudhiṣṭhira's Questions," in the māhātmya of Dharmāraṇya, in the first half of the Brahmakhaṇḍa, in the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit