Skandapurana 3.2.25
English (machine translation) 3.2.25
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Sūta said:
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“Now I will tell another supreme māhātmya of the sacred ford,
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how Sarasvatī was brought down from Satyaloka to Dharmāraṇya. / 1
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Seeing Mārkaṇḍeya seated comfortably, attended upon by great sages,
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resembling the morning sun, learned in all treatises, / 2
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embodying all sacred fords, divine, the best twice-born among the seers,
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seated on his mat, concentrated, fortunate, venerable, of firm vows, / 3
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whose nature was yoga, exceedingly tranquil, holding a water-pot, the lord,
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holding a rosary, peaceful, and one who endures until the end of a cosmic age, / 4
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unshakeable, endowed with knowledge, tranquil in himself, with a splendour equal to Brahmā,
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seeing him thus, fixed in meditative absorption, their eyes blooming with supreme joy, / 5
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and bowing with hymns fittingly, the sages spoke to Mārkaṇḍa:
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‘O venerable one, at the twelve-year sacrifice in Naimiṣāraṇya, / 6
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that river, the daughter of Brahmā, was brought down by you, O holy one;
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likewise, the descent of the Gaṅgā to the earth was accomplished right there. / 7
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While it was being sung before the sage Śaunaka, the head of the community,
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it was proclaimed by the sage Sūta, while others also listened. / 8
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Having heard that great narrative, it remains rooted in our hearts—
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she who destroys sin and generates merit for living beings even from her sight.’ / 9
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Mārkaṇḍeya said:
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‘O brahmins, Sarasvatī was brought down by me from Satyaloka
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to the Surekhā mountain in Dharmāraṇya, she who is a refuge for those seeking refuge. / 10
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In the month of Bhādrapada, in the bright fortnight, on the auspicious twelfth day,
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there at the Dvārāvatī ford frequented by groups of sages and gandharvas, / 11
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on that day, at that sacred ford, one should cause the offering of rice-balls and other rites to be performed.
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One obtains that imperishable fruit given to the ancestors. / 12
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This entire great narrative, which destroys sin and yields merit,
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which is the pure among the pure, destroying great sins, / 13
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the most auspicious of all auspicious things, is the holy water belonging to Sarasvatī.
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What holy [object] above in heaven is located beside Prabhāsa?
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The water of the Sarasvatī dispels the killing of a brahmin for men.
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Men who bathe in the Sarasvatī and propitiate the ancestors and the deities,
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and subsequently offer funeral cakes, do not become suckling infants [again].
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Just as wish-granting cows grant desired fruits,
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so the Sarasvatī is the sole cause of heaven and liberation.
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Thus ends the twenty-fifth chapter, named 'Description of the Sarasvatī-māhātmya', in the Dharmāraṇya-māhātmya of the first part of the third section, the Brahmakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit