Skandapurana 3.3.15
English (machine translation) 3.3.15
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Sūta said:
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"This greatness of Ṛṣabha, the Śivayogin, has been described;
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now I shall relate the power of another Śivayogin as well. (1)
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And I shall describe in brief the māhātmya of sacred ash,
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hearing which sinful people will attain fulfilment. (2)
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There is a certain Śivayogin named Vāmadeva, of great austerity.
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Free from dualities, devoid of qualities, peaceful, unattached, looking upon all alike,
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delighting in the Self, having conquered anger, free from home and wife,
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his course unfathomable, silent, contented, without possessions,
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his whole body smeared with ashes, adorned with a circle of matted locks,
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clad in bark and deer skin, accepting only alms.
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Once, wandering in the world intent on bestowing grace upon all,
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he entered by chance the Krauñca forest, exceedingly dreadful.
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In that desolate forest dwelt a certain brahmarākṣasa,
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exceedingly terrifying, constantly agitated by hunger and thirst.
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Seeing that Śiva-souled one who had entered, that brahmarākṣasa,
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tormented by hunger, rushed swiftly to devour [him].
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Seeing him approaching with gaping mouth, of gigantic body,
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having dreadful fangs, and terrifying, that lord of yogins did not waver.
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Then, rushing with speed, that fierce forest-dweller,
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crushing the unshakeable Śiva-yogin with both arms, seized him.
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Just by touching his body, his sins destroyed immediately,
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that dreadful brahmarākṣasa, dejected, regained [his] memory.
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Just as iron turns to gold on touching the wish-fulfilling jewel,
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just as clay turns to gold upon reaching the Jambū river,
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just as crows attain the state of swans upon reaching [lake] Mānasa,
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just as a man attains godhood upon drinking the nectar of immortality once,
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even so the great-souled purify immediately those possessed of sins
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by sight, touch, and the like; therefore, the company of the virtuous is indeed hard to obtain.
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He who previously roamed the forest, afflicted with hunger and thirst, of cruel soul,
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immediately attained satisfaction and became filled with bliss.
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Penetrated by the particles of white ash clinging to his limbs, his nature [clouded by] the dense darkness of sin instantly dispelled,
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having attained the memory of his former birth, he of fierce deeds bowed at his two lotus-feet and spoke:
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The rākṣasa said:
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Be gracious to me, O great yogin! Be gracious, O ocean of compassion!
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Be gracious, O ocean of the nectar of bliss for those tormented by worldly existence!
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Where am I, wicked-minded, terrible, causing fear to all living beings,
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and where is the darśana of you, of noble character and compassionate nature?
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Deliver me, deliver me, fallen into the terrible ocean of suffering!
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By your mere presence, great joy increases.
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Vāmadeva said:
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Who are you, fierce wanderer of the forest, a rākṣasa stationed here?
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How did you come to attain this exceedingly terrible and distressing condition?
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The rākṣasa said:
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I was not a rākṣasa; twenty-five births before this,
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I was the valiant protector of the Yavana kingdom, Durjaya by name.
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That evil-souled, wicked, self-willed person was I, arrogant with pride,
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wielding the rod of punishment, of vile conduct, fierce, merciless, wicked.
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Though young and having many wives, I was attached to lust, uncontrolled in senses;
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and yet again I undertook this most sinful practice:
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Ever desirous of enjoying a different new woman every day,
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women were brought from all lands by servants at my command.
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Having enjoyed and abandoned one after another day by day,
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placing them in the inner apartments, still other women were seized.
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Thus, having brought women from my own kingdom and other kingdoms, from regions, mines, villages, cities, and cowherd settlements,
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they were enjoyed day by day; once enjoyed, none was ever enjoyed again by me.
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And women thus enjoyed by me were not enjoyed by others;
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confined in the inner apartments, they grieved day and night.
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When women of brahmins, vaiśyas, kṣatriyas, and śūdras were abducted by me,
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the brahmins living in my kingdom fled away together with their wives.
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Women with husbands, maidens, widows, and menstruating women,
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having abducted them, were enjoyed by me whose mind was ruined by lust.
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Three hundred brahmin women, four hundred royal women,
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six hundred vaiśya women, a thousand śūdra women,
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a hundred caṇḍāla women, a thousand Pulinda women,
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five hundred actress women, and four hundred washerwomen [were taken].
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Innumerable chief courtesans were enjoyed by me, evil-minded as I was;
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even so, no satiety of desire arose within me.
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Thus attached to vile sense-objects, intoxicated, constantly devoted to drink,
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great diseases such as consumption entered [me] even in my youth.
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Afflicted with diseases, childless, and oppressed also by enemies,
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abandoned by ministers and by servants, I died on account of my own karma.
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Lifespan is destroyed, infamy increases, fortune comes to ruin, he goes to an extreme evil state,
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and ancient ancestors fall from heaven—assuredly—for a man who has abandoned dharma.
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Then I was brought by the servants of Yama to the abode of the son of Vivasvat.
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From there I was cast down into a dreadful hell, into that pit.
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There in that dreadful hell for thirty thousand years,
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drinking semen, tortured by Yama's servants, I dwelt.
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Then, through the remainder of [my] sins, in a desolate forest,
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I was born as a piśāca with a thousand penises, constantly tormented by hunger and thirst.
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Having taken up the condition of a piśāca, a hundred divine years were spent.
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In my second birth I was born as a tiger, terrifying to living beings.
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In the third, a dreadful python; in the fourth birth I [became] a wolf.
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In the fifth, a village pig; and in the sixth, I [became] a chameleon.
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In the seventh I [became] a dog, and in the eighth birth a jackal.
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In the ninth a fearsome gavaya, and in the tenth birth I was a deer.
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In the eleventh, a monkey; and in the twelfth birth I was a vulture.
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In the thirteenth I was a mongoose, and a crow in the fourteenth.
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In the fifteenth, a bear; in the sixteenth, a wild cock.
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In the seventeenth I was a donkey; in the eighteenth birth, a cat.
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In the nineteenth, a frog; in the twentieth birth, a tortoise.
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In the twenty-first birth, a fish; in the twenty-second, I became a mouse.
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In the twenty-third I was an owl; in the twenty-fourth, a wild elephant.
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And in this twenty-fifth birth, I was born as a brahmarākṣasa.
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Overcome by hunger, destitute of food, I dwell here in this great forest.
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Just now, seeing you arrived, I was eager to devour [you].
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Merely through the contact with your body, memory of my previous births arose.
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Today, in your presence, I remember thousands of past births.
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Supreme detachment has arisen, and my heart is clear.
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How was such power obtained by you, O noble-minded one?
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Was it by severe austerity, or from resorting to sacred fords,
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by yoga, by the power of the gods, or by mantras of infinite power?
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Tell me truly, O venerable one; I have taken refuge in you.
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Vāmadeva said:
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This is the great power of the sacred ash clinging to my limbs,
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from contact with which you, whose disposition was darkness, now have this noble mind.
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Who knows the power of sacred ash other than Mahādeva?
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Just as Śambhu's māhātmya is unfathomable, so is that of sacred ash.
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Formerly there was a certain brahmin like you, devoid of dharma,
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living among the Dravidians, foolish, reduced to the state of a śūdra by his deeds.
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Addicted to thievery, deceitful, lusting for pleasure with an outcaste woman,
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having once become a paramour, he was slain at night by a śūdra.
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When his corpse, for funeral rites, was cast outside the village,
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a dog with ash on its paws walked over the body by chance.
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Then, as he had fallen into a dreadful hell, the servants of Śiva,
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overpowering the servants of Yama, took [him] away, placing him upon an aerial chariot.
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Approaching the messengers of Śiva, even Yama asked:
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“Why do you wish to carry away this perpetrator of great sins?”
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Then those messengers of Śiva said: “Look at this corpse of his!
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His chest, forehead, and armpits are marked with auspicious sacred ash.
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Therefore we have come to fetch him by the command of Śiva.
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You are not able to prevent us; let there be no doubt of yours in this matter.”
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Having thus spoken to Yama, the messengers of Śambhu then took that brahmin,
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while all the worlds looked on, to the disease-free realm.
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Therefore, the supreme purifier instantly of all sins,
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the sacred ash, the ornament of Śambhu, is constantly worn by me.
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Having thus heard the māhātmya of the ashes, the brahmarākṣasa,
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longing to hear it again in detail, spoke thus: // 61
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“Hail, hail, O great yogin! Blessed am I by your darśana.
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Deliver me, O righteous-souled one, from this terrible, wretched birth! // 62
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It appears to me that some merit was formerly performed by me here;
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therefore, by your grace, I am liberated today, O best of brahmins! // 63
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In that birth as a king, to a single devotee of Śiva
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land yielding livelihood, endowed with crops and orchards, was given by me. // 99 [64]
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Even by Yama it was said at that very time: ‘In your twenty-fifth birth,
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through association with a certain yogin, you will be released from worldly existence.’ // 65
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That merit which was acquired in a former life has borne fruit today;
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for this reason, your company has been attained in this uninhabited forest. // 66
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Therefore, me of terrible sin, wandering in a wretched birth,
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uplift, O ocean of compassion, having given the ashes endowed with mantra! // 67
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How are these ashes to be worn? What is the mantra? What is the auspicious ritual procedure?
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What is the proper time, and what is the proper place? Tell me everything, O guru! // 68
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Great souls like you are always devoted to the welfare of the world;
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sharing the nature of the wish-fulfilling tree, they do not desire their own benefit.” // 69
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Sūta said:
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Thus addressed by that terrible dweller of the forest, the lord of yogins,
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the knower of reality, once again described the māhātmya of the ashes. // 3.3.15.70
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Thus ends the fifteenth chapter, named 'The Discourse on the Māhātmya of the Ashes', in the Brahmottarakhaṇḍa of the third [section] in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. // 15
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- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit