Skandapurana 3.2.23
English (machine translation) 3.2.23
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Vyāsa said:
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Hereafter I shall declare what was done of old by Brahmā;
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I tell you all of that today; listen with a one-pointed mind.
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A battle indeed broke out between the gods and the Dānavas on account of enmity.
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In that most terrible battle, the gods were afflicted in mind;
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Agitated, they went for refuge to Brahmā.
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The gods said:
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"O Brahmā, by what means may I bring about the slaying of the Daityas
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Today? Tell me quickly the expedient!"
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Brahmā said:
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"Long ago, by me, by Śaṃkara, and likewise by Viṣṇu,
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Being pleased with the austerity of Yama, Dharmāraṇya was created.
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Whatever gift is given there, or sacrifice or supreme austerity [performed],
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All that becomes multiplied ten millionfold; of this there is no doubt.
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Whether sin or merit, everything becomes multiplied ten millionfold.
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Therefore it was never assaulted by the Daityas, O gods!"
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Hearing the word of Brahmā, all the gods were amazed.
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Placing Brahmā at their head, they approached Dharmāraṇya.
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There they commenced a supreme sacrificial session lasting a thousand years,
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Choosing Āṅgirasa as the priest-preceptor, and likewise Mārkaṇḍeya.
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Having made Atri and Kaśyapa the hotṛ priests, the wise [gods]
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Assigned the role of adhvaryu to Jamadagni and Gautama;
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They appointed Bharadvāja and Vasiṣṭha to the role of pratyadhvaryu;
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And Nārada and Vālmīki were made directors of the rituals.
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They installed Brahmā with reverence on the seat of the brahman priest.
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Then, having constructed an altar four krośas in size,
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All the twice-born were summoned by the gods as chanters for the sacrifice,
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Who uttered forth the Vedas: Ṛg, Yajus, Sāman, and Atharvan.
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Gaṇanātha, Śambhu's son Kārttikeya,
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Indra wielder of the thunderbolt, and Jayanta son of the Moon,
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Were appointed as the four valiant door-keepers for the gods.
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Then the fire was fed with oblations accompanied by demon-destroying mantras.
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Sesame seeds mixed with barley, blended with honey and ghee,
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The gods offered at that time with Vedic mantras, O lord of men!
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Having offered the two butter libations and the two portions of ghee,
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Grapes, sugarcane, betel nuts, oranges, lemons, citron,
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To the north coconuts and pomegranates in due order,
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Honey and ghee mixed with milk, along with spiced rice and sugar,
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Grains of rice and lotuses—restraining their speech at the sacrifice,
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And concentrating their minds, those highly fortunate ones, having performed the sacrifice with sacrificial fees,
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And having rendered an auspicious and excellent chant of praise, attained joy.
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They gave unrestricted food even to the poor, the blind, and the destitute;
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To the brahmins especially, food was given according to their desire:
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Sweet rice-milk with sugar, accompanied by vegetables and ghee.
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Maṇḍaka-cakes, vaṭakas, pūpas, and likewise auspicious veṣṭikās,
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And also sahasramodakas, pheṇikās, ghurghuras, and the like;
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Cooked rice, and also excellent pulse-soup made of pigeon peas,
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And mung bean pulse-soup, pappadams, and also vaṭikās,
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Various kinds of savouries prepared with combinations of the three pungents,
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Kulmāṣas and vellakas, and tender, auspicious vālakas,
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And cucumbers seasoned with fresh ginger and pepper—
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Feeding all the twice-born residing in Dharmāraṇya
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With such foods and diverse vegetables,
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All eighteen thousand along with their sons, O king,
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Every day the gods fed those brahmins.
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Having thus performed the sacrifice for a thousand years, the immortals then,
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Having slain the daityas, O king, attained fearlessness.
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All those gods, the hosts of Maruts, went at once to heaven.
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Likewise all the apsarases, and Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara [went to their abodes]—
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To the charming peak of Kailāsa, to Vaikuṇṭha, dear to Viṣṇu,
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And having reached the highly sacred Brahmaloka, all the denizens of heaven,
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Having reached the supreme Nandana garden, felt the utmost joy.
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Remaining settled in their respective places, they all dwelt free from fear.
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Then, after a great lapse of time, at the end of the Kṛta yuga,
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The asura Lohāsura, maddened with pride, always disguised as a brahmin,
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Would arrive and harass all the twice-born, the foremost knowers of dharma,
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And strike the śūdras and merchants with blows of a staff.
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He would wreck sacrifices and the like, and devour the oblation materials.
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Seeing sacrificial altars and stepped-wells, he would defile them with filth.
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He would pollute sacred sites by voiding urine and excrement;
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And with deep [malice], O king, he would defile women.
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Then all those brahmins, distressed by fear of Lohāsura,
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Fled with their families and went in the ten directions.
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Agitated with fear, O king, those merchants followed the twice-born.
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Terrified with great dread, having gone far away and deliberated,
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They all went together, united with the śūdras and twice-born.
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They went to the most sacred, uninhabited forest of Muktāraṇya.
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They made their dwelling not far away, O lord of men;
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They founded that village by the name of Vajiṅ.
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Out of fear of Lohāsura, O king, [a settlement] was built in the name of the twice-born;
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Because it was [built] by the merchant Śambhu, for that reason it took that name.
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It became celebrated in the world under the name of Śambhugrāma.
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Then some merchants, having first fled out of fear,
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Went not far away and formed an excellent circle (maṇḍala).
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Longing for the arrival of the twice-born, they established their settlement there.
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Having founded a village by the name of Maṇḍalā, they settled there.
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Separated from the caravan of the twice-born, some merchants then,
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Afflicted by the fear of Lohāsura, who had gone by another road,
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Went not far from Dharmāraṇya and fell into anxiety:
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“Which road have we reached? Which [road] have the twice-born reached?”
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Thus fallen into great anxiety, they made their dwelling there.
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Because they had gone by another path (anyamārge), for that reason arose its name;
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They settled a village on the earth called Aḍālaṃja.
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Whatever resident was in whichever village, and whatever the merchant's name was,
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That became the name of that village, O lord of the earth.
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Both the merchants and the twice-born were bewildered, tormented by fear;
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Therefore, O king, all called them by the designation “Moha” (the bewildered).
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Thus utterly routed, they fled and went in all directions.
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Neither brahmins nor merchants remained in Dharmāraṇya.
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Then Dharmāraṇya, rare to attain, the ornament of all tīrthas,
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Was made desolate by Lohāsura.
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Having made that place devoid of the twice-born and devoid of tīrthas,
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The dānava attained supreme joy and then departed to his own abode.
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Thus ends the twenty-third chapter, entitled “Description of the Division of Castes,” in the Dharmāraṇyamāhātmya of the first part of the Brahmakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, the great Purāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].
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- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit