Skandapurana 4.13
English (machine translation) 4.13
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4.13.1
The two attendants said:
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"Behold this holy city of Vāyu, named Gandhavatī,
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situated to the north of Varuṇa's realm, O twice-born treasure of great fortune!
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In this realm, the guardian of the quarter named Prabhañjana, the life-breath of the world,
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worshipped venerable Mahādeva and attained the status of a guardian of the quarters.
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Formerly, a son of Kaśyapa renowned as Pūtātman
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performed extensive austerities in the capital of Dhūrjaṭi.
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In Vārāṇasī, that greatly fortunate one, for a hundred million years,
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after establishing the great, purifying liṅga named Pavaneśvara,
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by merely beholding which a person becomes pure of soul,
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and, having cast off the slough of sins, may dwell in the sacred city.
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Then, pleased by his fierce austerity, Śiva, the bestower of the fruits of austerities,
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Maheśvara, whose form is light, manifested from that liṅga.
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And gracious in spirit, an ocean of nectar-like compassion, he said:
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'Arise, arise, O Pūtātman! Choose a boon, O one of noble vows!
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Through this fierce austerity and the worship of this liṅga,
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there is nothing in the three worlds, with its moving and unmoving beings, that cannot be granted to you, O Pūtātman.'
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Pūtātman said:
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"O God of gods, Mahādeva, granter of fearlessness to the gods,
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bestower of the ranks of all deities beginning with Brahmā, Nārāyaṇa, and Indra!
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The Vedas do not comprehend what your nature is, O Lord;
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proclaiming 'not this, not this', they have taken a hundred paths.
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You are not accessible to the speech of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, or the Lord of Speech;
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how could one like me be able to praise the Lord of Pramathas, O Lord?
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Yet devotion forcibly impels me to the act of praise, O Lord;
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what shall I do, O Lord of the world, when my senses are not under my control?
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You are the universe; indeed, there is no difference, since you alone are omnipresent.
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You are the praised, the praiser, and the praise; you possess attributes and are beyond attributes.
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Before creation, you alone existed, devoid of form and name;
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even yogins do not comprehend your essence in absolute truth.
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When, being alone, you could not take delight, O Lord acting at your own will,
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then that desire arose in you, which became your power to be served.
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You, who are one, assumed duality through the distinction of Śiva and Śakti;
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you are the Lord whose form is knowledge, while your will has the nature of Śakti.
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By both of you, Śiva and Śakti, through your own sport,
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the power of action was produced, and from that, this entire world.
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You are the power of knowledge, O Lord, while Umā is traditionally called the power of will;
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this universe is the power of action; therefore, you are the cause of it.
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Your right half is Brahmā, and your left half is Viṣṇu;
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the moon, the sun, and fire are your eyes, and your breath is the three Vedas.
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The oceans arose from your sweat; the wind is your sense of hearing;
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the ten quarters are your arms, and brahmins are said to be your mouth.
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The best of kings are your arms, the vaiśyas arose from your thighs,
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The śūdra came from your feet, O Īśāna, and the clouds are your hair, O Lord. (21)
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In the form of Puruṣa and Prakṛti, you created the cosmic egg in the beginning;
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Within the cosmic egg is this entire universe of the moving and unmoving. (22)
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Therefore, I consider nothing separate from you, O you whose nature is the world!
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All beings exist in you, and you consist of all beings. (23)
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Homage to you, homage to you, homage to you, reverence again and again!
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This alone is my boon, O Lord: may my mind remain steady in you. (24)
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When that purified soul had spoken thus, the Lord, the ruler of gods,
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Imparted to him his own form and bestowed the status of a guardian of the quarters: (25)
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‘Omnipresent through my form, teaching all truths,
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You indeed shall become the form of the lifespan of all. (26)
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Those men who behold this divine liṅga of yours here
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Shall be enriched with all pleasures and share in the bliss of your realm. (27)
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A man who once in his life worships the Pavamāneśvara liṅga
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According to the prescribed rule, with fragrant ceremonial baths and the like, (28)
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With sweet-smelling sandalwood and flowers, is glorified in my realm.
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To the west of Jyeṣṭheśa and to the north of the Vāyukuṇḍa, (29)
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By worshipping the Pavamāna [liṅga], one is immediately purified.’
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Having granted these boons, the god dissolved into that liṅga. (30)
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The two gaṇas said:
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Thus the nature of the city Gandhavatī has been described to you.
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To its east lies this glorious Alakāpurī of Kubera. (31)
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Through the discipline of devotion, its master obtained the friendship of Śambhu;
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By worshipping Hara, he became the giver and enjoyer of treasures headed by the Padma. (32)
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Śivaśarman said:
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Who was he? Whose son was he? And what kind of devotion did he have toward Sadāśiva,
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Through which he attained friendship with Dhūrjaṭi, the god of gods? (33)
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To hear this, my mind has come within the range of hearing,
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Sluggish in its belly, made plump by tasting the nectar of your words. (34)
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The two gaṇas said:
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O Śivaśarman of great wisdom, lord of completely purified senses,
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Whose great stains born of all previous births have been washed away by good sacred fords! (35)
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To you, a friend endowed with affection, nothing is unmentionable;
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Conversation with good men leads to the increase of all welfare. (36)
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In the city of Kāmpilya there lived one born in a family of Somayājins,
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An initiated priest named Yajñadatta, skilled in the science of sacrifice, (37)
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Proficient in the Vedas, Vedāṅgas, the meaning of the Vedas, and the conduct enjoined by the Vedas,
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Respected by the king, possessing great wealth, generous, a vessel of fame, (38)
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Devoted to the service of the sacred fire, and dedicated to Vedic study.
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His son was Guṇanidhi, whose appearance was like the disc of the moon. (39)
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Having undergone the sacred thread investiture, he then acquired extensive learning.
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Then, unknown to his father, he became devoted to the practice of gambling. (40)
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Repeatedly taking money from his mother,
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He gave it to gamblers and formed friendships with them. (41)
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He abandoned the conduct of a brahmin and turned away from the twilight rites and ritual ablution,
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A reviler of the Vedas and śāstras, a reviler of the gods and brahmins. (42)
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Lacking the conduct taught in the smṛtis, he engaged in the amusements of song and musical instruments,
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Bound in unbroken affection with actors, heretics, and rogues. (43)
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Even when urged by his mother, he would not go near his father.
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Occupied with other household tasks, the initiated priest to his wife (44)
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Whenever he asked her: ‘O lady, our son Guṇanidhi
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Is not seen by me in the house. Where does he go? What is he doing?’ (45)
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Then every time she would say: ‘Just now he has gone outside.
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Having bathed and worshipped the gods for this long time, (46)
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And having studied, he went out with two or three friends for the sake of study.’
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Thinking ‘he is an only son,’ his mother deceived the initiated priest. (47)
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The initiated priest knew nothing of that conduct or that behavior of his.
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And having performed his hair-clipping rite in his sixteenth year, (48)
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He had his marriage performed in accordance with the rule taught in the domestic manuals.
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Every day his mother gently instructed her son Guṇanidhi;
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her heart melting with affection, [she said:] 'Your father is exceedingly irascible.
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If he comes to know your conduct, he will beat both you and me.
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I always conceal your wicked behavior before your father.
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Your father is honored by the world for his virtuous conduct, not indeed for riches.
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True learning and the company of the virtuous are the wealth of brahmins, my son.
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True scholars versed in the Vedas, proficient in recitation, initiated for rituals, and sacrificers with soma—
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thus your ancestors attained renown in this world.
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Abandon the company of the wicked and take delight in the association of the good;
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apply your noble mind to good learning and practice the proper conduct of a brahmin.
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Suited to you in beauty, in age, in family, and in character,
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—you are nineteen years old, and she is sixteen—
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is your wife, O Guṇanidhi, chaste and sweet of speech.
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Cherish her, who is of good conduct, and be devoted to your parents.
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Even your father-in-law is respected everywhere for his virtues and character;
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do you not feel shame before him? Abandon your wickedness, child!
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Your maternal uncles are peerless, my son, in learning, conduct, lineage, and other merits;
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do you not fear even them? You are pure on both sides of your family!
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Look at these sons of brahmins living in the neighboring houses,
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and look at these disciples of your father in our own house, behaving with modesty!
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When even the king hears of your misbehavior, my son,
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he will lose faith in your father and terminate his livelihood.
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People still say even now: "This is merely the foolish play of a child";
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hereafter they will laugh, saying: "Fitting indeed for an initiated sacrificer!"
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All will surely reproach both you, a brahmin, and me as well,
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saying with harsh words: "A son takes after the character of his mother.
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Can a father who has drunk the soma and walked the path of the Śruti and Smṛti be wicked?
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Maheśvara is my witness that my mind is absorbed in his feet;
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even after taking the ritual bath after menses, I have never looked upon the face of a wicked man in this world.
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Alas, powerful is that fate through which you were born!"'
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Though being admonished in this way every moment by his mother, exceedingly insolent,
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he did not abandon his nature, because he was obtuse and addicted to vice.
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Hunting, drinking wine, slander, courtesans, theft, gambling,
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and adultery—by these vices, who here has not been ruined?
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Whatever that base-minded fellow saw in the house, taking each and every thing,
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he would hand it over to gamblers: base metals, garments, and the like.
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Taking from his sleeping mother's hand his father's ring,
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which was studded with the nine gems, on one occasion he handed it over into the hand of a gambler.
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Once, as he was returning from the royal palace, his own signet ring
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was recognized by the initiated sacrificer by chance in the hand of a gambler.
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The initiated sacrificer said to him: 'From where did you get this ring?'
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Questioned repeatedly by him with persistence, [the gambler] replied: 'What?
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Why do you loudly reproach me, O brahmin? Was this obtained by me through theft?
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This ring was given to me by your own son!
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Indeed, yesterday the garment of my mother was brought by him after being won [by us].
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Not only this ring has been surrendered to me;
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vast wealth has been given by him to other gamblers:
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gems, base metals, fine silk cloths, water-pitchers and the like,
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and varied vessels made of bell-metal and copper.
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Stripping them of clothes every day, the gamblers tie them up.
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There is no gambler on the face of the earth equal to him!
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How is it that until today, O brahmin, the crest-jewel of gamblers,
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your son, expert in indiscipline and injustice, was not known to you?'
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Hearing this, with his neck bent very low under the weight of shame,
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covering his head with his cloth, he entered his own dwelling.
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Approaching his wife, that great devotee of her husband, he said to her then:
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'Wife of the initiated sacrificer, where are you? Where is your son Guṇanidhi?
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Or let him be, what use is he? Where is that auspicious ring of mine,
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studded with the nine gems, which was taken from my finger by you at the time of anointing the body?
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Bring it quickly and give it to me!'
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Hearing his words, the dīkṣita's wife became frightened
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and said, "Perform your midday rites now.
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I am busy preparing offerings and the like for the worship of the deity;
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O lover of guests, the proper time for guests will pass.
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Just now, being busy with the preparation of cooked food,
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I placed it somewhere in a vessel and forgot; I do not know where it is."
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The dīkṣita said:
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"O mother of a virtuous son, you who always speak the truth!
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Whenever I ask you, 'Where has our son gone?'
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then and there you say, 'Lord, he has just gone out
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together with two or three friends to study after recitation.'
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Where is your madder-dyed garment, wife, which was presented by me
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and hung on the clothes-stand? Speak the truth, cast off fear!
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Even that gem-adorned water jug is no longer seen now.
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Where too is that silken sash presented by the king?
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Where is that bell-metal vessel of the South? Where is that copper pot from Gauḍa?
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Where is that pleasant pleasure-couch made of ivory?
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Where is that lamp of moonstone from the mountain country,
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a carved figure with busy hands raised aloft?
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What is the use of saying much, O woman of noble birth? I am angry with you in vain.
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I shall eat only when I have taken another wife.
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I am childless on account of that wicked boy, that defiler of the lineage.
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Arise, bring darbha grass and water; I will offer a handful of sesamum seeds to him.
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For men, childlessness is better than a bad son who degrades the lineage.
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One should abandon a single person for the sake of a lineage; this is the eternal maxim."
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Having bathed and performed his daily rites on that very day,
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the dīkṣita found the daughter of a learned brahmin and took her hand [in marriage].
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Hearing that news and reproaching his own past conduct,
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the dīkṣita's son chose a certain direction and departed.
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He fell into great anxiety: "Where shall I go? What shall I do?
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I have not studied learning, nor do I have any wealth.
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In a foreign land, a man with wealth or good learning prospers in happiness;
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wealth carries fear from thieves, [but] one endowed with learning has no fear anywhere.
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Where is birth in a family of sacrificial priests, and where is such vice of mine?
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Ah, how powerful is destiny, which fastens onto future actions!
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I do not know how to beg; nowhere do I have an acquaintance;
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nor do I have any wealth with me. What refuge can there be here?
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Always when the sun arose, my mother would give me sweet food;
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Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit