Skandapurana 3.3.18
English (machine translation) 3.3.18
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Sūta said:
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"Now I shall declare the highest of all duties,
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the observance named Umāmaheśvara, which grants the accomplishment of all aims.
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There was a certain twice-born man born in Ānarta, Vedaratha by name,
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endowed with wife and sons, learned, and born of an excellent lineage.
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As that brahmin was living in the householder's stage of life,
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a lotus-eyed daughter named Śāradā was born to him.
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That young girl of twelve years, endowed with beauty and auspicious marks,
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was sought in marriage by a twice-born man named Padmanābha whose wife had died.
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Because he was very wealthy, tranquil, and always a friend of the king,
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the father gave him the maiden out of fear of refusing his request.
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The marriage having been performed at midday in the house of his father-in-law, that brahmin
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went in the evening to the bank of a lake to observe the twilight ritual.
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Having duly performed the twilight ritual, as he was returning on the path veiled in darkness,
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he was bitten by a serpent and died on account of his own karma.
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When he, having just been married, died so suddenly, his relatives,
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his two parents-in-law, and the maiden, tormented by grief, wept loudly.
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Having carried him away, the relatives went each to their own dwelling.
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Having met with widowhood, Śāradā remained in her father's house.
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Provided with food and clothing, destitute of her husband, the virtuous girl
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spent some months in her father's home.
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One day, a very old sage named Naidhruva,
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who was blind and grasped his disciple's hand, arrived at that house.
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When that old man reached the house while the relatives had gone elsewhere,
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that maiden approached him, as if he were her personal deity in visible form.
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"Welcome to you, O fortunate one; please sit upon this seat.
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Salutations to you, O lord of sages! What agreeable service may I do for you?"
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Having said this, filled with devotion, she washed his feet,
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and by fanning the weary sage, she gave him contentment.
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Having seated the weary sage upon a seat and massaged him with her own hands,
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and when the sage had duly bathed and worshipped the deity,
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she honoured him as he sat upon a comfortable seat with incense, garlands, and ointments,
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and respectfully fed him with choice food.
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Having eaten well and slowly, satisfied and filled with joy,
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the blind sage, well pleased, bestowed a supreme blessing upon her:
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"Having sporting union with that husband, and quickly having obtained a son supreme in all virtues,
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and having attained great renown in the world, may you become worthy of the grace of the deities!"
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Hearing this uttered by that sage whose sight had departed,
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the astonished girl, joining her palms, replied:
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"O brahmin, your word is true; it can never become false.
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How will this come to fruition for me, an unfortunate woman?
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Just as good rain upon the highest rock, just as good treatment upon a bitch,
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so the blessing even of knowers of Brahman is fruitless upon an unfortunate woman.
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Such as I am, a widow, O brahmin, suffering the fruit of bad deeds,
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how shall I become a worthy recipient of this word of blessing from you?”
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The sage said:
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“What was spoken now by me, though blind, without noticing you,
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that I shall accomplish. Carry out my command, O auspicious one!
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If you perform the observance named Umāmaheśvara,
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by the power of that observance you will instantly enjoy welfare.”
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Śāradā said:
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“Instructed by you, I will zealously perform it, even though hard to perform.
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Tell me of that observance, O brahmin; explain the ritual in full.”
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The sage said:
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“Either in Caitra or in Mārgaśīrṣa, during the bright fortnight on an auspicious day,
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one should properly begin the observance with the guru's permission.
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On the eighth and on the fourteenth, or on both the new and full moon days,
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having duly made the solemn resolve, one should perform the morning bath.
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Having satisfied the ancestors, the gods, and others, and having gone to one’s own house,
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one should construct a celestial pavilion adorned with canopies and other ornaments,
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furnished with archways of fruits, sprouts, flowers, and the like;
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and in its center one should draw a lotus with powders of five colors:
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with fourteen petals on the outside, twenty-two within that,
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within that sixteen, and within that eight.
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Having thus drawn a delightful lotus with five colors,
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one should then make an excellent square with a circle inside.
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In its center a heap of unhusked and husked rice together with a bundle of kuśa grass,
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and firmly placing upon the bundle of grass a jar filled with water,
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and placing upon the jar a colored cloth,
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and having placed on top of it two auspicious golden images of Śiva and his consort,
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one should worship them with devotion according to the extent of one's wealth.
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Having bathed them with the five nectars and likewise with pure water,
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having recited the eleven Rudra verses and one hundred and eight five-syllable mantras,
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and having consecrated and again placed them in the middle of a seat, one should worship them accordingly.
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The wise person, himself seated on a pure seat and wearing washed white garments,
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having addressed the seat with a mantra, should perform breath controls.
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There, before Śiva, with joined palms, one should recite the solemn resolve:
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‘Whatever terrible sins exist of mine over hundreds of other lifetimes,
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for the complete destruction of them all, I undertake the worship of Śiva.
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For the increase of good fortune, victory, health, righteousness, and prosperity,
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and for the attainment of heaven and final liberation, I will perform the worship of Śiva.’
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Having thus uttered the solemn resolve, duly and well-composed,
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having then performed the ritual placing of mantras on the body, one should meditate upon Īśa and Pārvatī:
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[Īśa,] who has the white form of a jasmine flower and the moon, adorned with serpent ornaments,
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with hands granting boons and fearlessness, and holding an axe and a deer;
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resembling ten million suns, the cause of joy for the universe;
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bearing long, tawny matted locks on account of contact with the waters of the Gaṅgā;
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adorned with a great crown formed from the hoods of the lord of serpents;
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with an ornament of armlets and a diadem shining with the crescent of the cool-rayed moon;
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having a forehead-eye opening wide, and likewise eyes that are the sun and the moon;
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blue-throated, four-armed, dressed in the hide of the king of elephants;
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mounted upon a jewel-throne, adorned with serpent ornaments;
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and the goddess, wearing divine garments, with the luster of ten thousand morning suns,
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in the attire of a maiden, slender-limbed, bearing the young crescent moon on her crest,
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holding a noose, a goad, the boon, and fearlessness, and four-armed;
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the Mother whose face is gracious with favor, delighting in the essence of divine sport;
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wearing ear ornaments made of shining kurabaka, aśoka, punnāga, and fresh campaka flowers;
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having locks of hair interwoven with blooming jasmine;
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splendid with the expansive sweep of hips girdled by a zone of bells;
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her two feet rich with anklets and rows of noble tiny tinkling bells.
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adorned with jewelled earrings touching the orb of her cheeks,
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whose bud-like teeth shine with the red reflection of her bimba-fruit lip,
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resplendent with a precious gem-necklace and a sparkling string of pearls,
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having lovely bracelets, armlets, and rings made of new rubies,
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clad in red garments, anointed [with perfumes] and wearing jewel-garlands, / whose rising, plump pair of breasts reproaches lotus buds,
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with playful, restless, dark outer corners of her eyes, bestowing grace upon devotees.
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Having thus meditated in the lotus of the heart upon the auspicious parents of the universe,
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and having chanted the mantra whose essence is they, one should worship them outside at the end of that.
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Having invoked them into a pair of images, one should arrange a seat and other offerings;
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and knowing the mantra, one should offer the arghya to Śiva and Śivā with this mantra:
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“Salutations to you, O Lord of Pārvatī, bull among givers of boons in the three worlds!
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O Tryambakeśa, O Mahādeva, accept the arghya; homage be to you!
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Salutations to you, O ruler of the gods, who take away the fear of those who surrender!
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O Ambikā, O boon-giving goddess, beloved of Śiva, accept the arghya!”
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Having recited this three times, one should offer the arghya with concentrated mind.
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One should properly offer perfume, flowers, unbroken rice, incense, and lamps.
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One should offer a food offering of milk-rice mixed with clarified butter,
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and one should offer an oblation into the fire one hundred and eight times with the root mantra.
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Then, having removed the food offering, and having performed incense, waving of lamps, and other rites,
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and having offered betel, one should bow down with concentrated mind.
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Then, having worshipped them with hospitality, one should feed a brahmin couple.
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Having thus performed the evening worship, approved by the brahmins,
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one should eat at night, with restrained speech, sacrificial food prepared with milk.
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Thus the wise person should perform the observance for a year, in both fortnights.
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Then, when the year is complete, one should perform the concluding rite of the observance.
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One should bathe the two images with water consecrated by reciting the Śatarudrīya;
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and having worshipped Girijā and Śiva with the mantra prescribed in the Āgama,
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and having given a water jar accompanied by garments, gold, and the image
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to a noble teacher devoted to good conduct,
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and having honoured the brahmins according to one's capacity, one should feed them with devotion.
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One should also give them a sacrificial fee of cows, gold, garments, and so forth.
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Permitted by them, one should eat together with dear ones and relatives.
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Whoever performs with devotion this observance famed in the three worlds,
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having delivered twenty-one generations and enjoyed pleasures as desired,
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certainly rejoices in the realms of the world-protectors headed by Indra;
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and rejoices in the world of Brahmā, and in the eternal world of Viṣṇu.
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Then, having attained the world of Śiva, and there for a hundred kalpas
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having enjoyed vast pleasures, one attains Śiva alone.
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This great observance has been taught; you too undertake it with faith;
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and you will obtain your desire, even if it is exceedingly difficult to attain.”
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Thus instructed by the foremost of sages, that young girl was greatly delighted.
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Full of complete trust, she accepted his charming word.
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Then her parents and brothers arrived;
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they saw that sage seated comfortably, having finished his meal.
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Hurrying up, all of them bowed down to the great-souled one;
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saying, “Be gracious to us, be gracious!” they worshipped him.
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Hearing that the supreme sage had been honoured by that virtuous girl,
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and hearing that he was gracious toward her, they experienced supreme joy.
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All of them, with folded palms, spoke to that bull among sages:
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“Today we are all blessed merely by your arrival;
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our entire family is purified, and our household is rendered fruitful.
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And this maiden, named Śāradā, has fallen into widowhood
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by some overpowering fate of action that is hard to surmount.
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This virtuous woman has today surrendered to your lotus feet for refuge.
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Deliver her from this unbearable, dreadful ocean of sorrow!
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You also should remain right here near our home for that time,
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in this hermitage belonging to our house, suitable for bathing, worship, and chanting.
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This girl too, O venerable one, performing the worship of your feet,
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will practice the observance in your presence alone, O great sage,
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until her observance reaches completion near you.”
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having dwelt right here until then, make us fulfilled, O guru!"
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Thus requested by all her brothers and kin,
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saying, "So be it," that best of sages lived there in an auspicious cloister.
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She too, by the path instructed by him, Girijā and Śiva
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worshiping, performed the vow properly, pure and virtuous.
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Thus ends the eighteenth chapter, titled "The Observance of the Umā-Maheśvara Vow," in the Brahmottarakhaṇḍa, the third [section] of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit