Skandapurana 5.129

English (machine translation) 5.129

Language: English

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The seers said: / "O Sūta, the son of Yājñavalkya who was mentioned by you— / which [wife] was his mother? Tell us everything in detail!"

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Sūta said: / "He had two excellent wives, endowed with all virtues. / One virtuous [wife] of his was renowned as Maitreyī.

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And the other, the elder and auspicious one, was known as Kātyāyanī, / whose son was Kātyāyana, the expounder of the meanings of the Veda.

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Between the two of them there are two very beautiful pools, / bathing in which men go to worlds of great splendour.

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Next to Kātyāyanī's sacred ford, there is another excellent sacred ford located there, / belonging to Śāṇḍilī, who was devoted to her husband.

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Where Kātyāyanī arrived, instructed by Śāṇḍilī, / and reached supreme detachment, grieved by the sorrow of a co-wife.

Whatever woman, composed in mind, bathes there / on the third day of the bright fortnight of the month of Mārgaśīrṣa, becomes fortunate in marriage. / Even if she is afflicted with misfortune, one-eyed, old, or a dwarf, / she becomes beloved through its power, O best of brahmins."

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The seers said: / "What kind of sorrow born of a co-wife befell Kātyāyanī? / How was instruction received from Śāṇḍilī, O Sūta, and of what kind was it?

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Explain to us the curious circumstance concerning Kātyāyanī. / This instruction uttered by her must not have been an ordinary one!"

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Sūta said: / "Beholding Yājñavalkya deeply attached to Maitreyī, / that Kātyāyanī became intensely tormented by grief and jealousy.

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She did not bathe, she did not eat, nor did she ever laugh; / her eyes were only filled with tears, and she was heave with sighs.

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Then once, having gone outside to gather fruits, / she saw the woman named Śāṇḍilī standing beside her husband,

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standing with folded hands, virtuous and bent low with humility. / He too was gazing attentively at her face, full of affection, with a pleased look,

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and inquired about and spoke of news regarding virtues and shortcomings. / And seeing those two spouses delighted with one another,

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she thought in her mind: 'Truly blessed is this ascetic woman, / whose husband gazes intently at her face, converses on virtues and faults, / is affectionate and very tender, and maintains no other woman!'

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Reflecting thus again and again, O best of brahmins, / that virtuous woman went back to her own hermitage, reproaching her own body.

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Then once, when Śāṇḍilī was remaining in private, O brahmins, / and her husband had gone outside on some business,

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Kātyāyanī approached and then respectfully inquired of her: / 'Tell me, O auspicious one, some instruction of great consequence,

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by which a husband ever looks intently at his wife's face / and never dishonours her with harsh-spoken words,

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nor ever approaches another woman, even in his thoughts! / I am exceedingly afflicted by sorrows caused by my husband, / especially by those born of a co-wife; therefore, explain this to me:

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how your husband has come under your control, ever granting your wishes, / so that he would never direct his mind toward any other woman!'"

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Śāṇḍilī said: / "Listen, O virtuous woman, I shall tell you the supreme secret / of how my husband came under my control and looks intently at my face.

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My father was the excellent sage Śāṇḍilya in Kurukṣetra; / in his early age, he stayed in the hermit's life in the forest.

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There I was born, the only daughter of that great-souled one, / and grew up gradually in that very penance grove."

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I performed service there at the time of the fire offering as was proper, / and I always brought wild grains and other provisions.

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Then, after some time, Nārada, the best of sages, / arrived at my father’s hermitage, utterly exhausted.

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Then, by my father’s command, rest was provided to him there by me / through services such as washing his feet, bathing, and other such rites.

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Then, when he had finished eating, seated at ease and comfortably rested, / he was asked with deference by my mother, O fair-complexioned lady:

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“This is our only daughter, born when our youth was already advanced, / dearer [to us] even than our own life-breaths, O tiger among sages!

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Therefore, swiftly declare for her an easy means that brings forth happiness: / a vow, an observance, a fire offering, or even a mantra,

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by performing which she may obtain a very gentle husband endowed with good qualities, / sweet-speaking, attentive to her countenance, and turning away from other women.”

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Having heard those words of hers, that sage immediately / meditated for a long time, and then spoke with a serene countenance:

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“In the sacred field of Hāṭakeśvara, Parameśvarī Gaurī / resides as Pañcapiṇḍā, having been installed there by Gaurī herself.

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Let her always worship her with supreme faith and devotion for a year, / especially on the third lunar day.

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Then, at the end of the year, she will obtain a husband / of suitable form and worthy [of her]; of this there is no doubt.

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In former times Gaurī went there, having abandoned Maheśvara / out of jealousy toward the Gaṅgā, O noble lady, knowing it to be a sacred field that grants great success.

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Then she reflected: ‘Which goddess shall I worship / for the sake of marital fortune, since other divine women worship me?

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Therefore, filled with great devotion, inspired with enthusiasm through my own self, / I will worship my very own self for the sake of accomplishment.’

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Then, with auspicious mantras from the Atharvaveda arising from the internal fire offering, / having brought together five lumps of clay in one place with a collected mind,

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earth, water, fire, wind, and ether— / she placed these and united them in those lumps of clay.

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Then the goddess, steadfast in her vow, worshipped these / five great elements with flowers, incenses, and ointments.

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Now, knowing that Girijā was stationed there in austerity, Bhava, / his mind drawn by those mantras, quickly arrived.

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And delighted in mind, he spoke: ‘Why have you come here, / leaving me, who am free from fault, attentive to your countenance, and ever affectionate?

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Therefore, mount the bull and come with me to Kailāsa, / or else tell me the reason if there is any fault in me.’

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The goddess said: / ‘You bear the Jāhnavī on your head, embodied as water from [Viṣṇu’s] foot; / therefore, I will by no means go to your abode

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so long as you do not visibly abandon her who has become my co-wife. / Moreover, you continually bow down, O Bull-bannered Lord,

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even before my very eyes every day to Sandhyā, and you feel no shame. / Therefore, give up this exceedingly shameful conduct!

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If you summon me, O Lord, let it be according to my wish; / otherwise, I will by no means go to your palace. / Having heard this, do as you please, O Bull-bannered Lord!’

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The Lord said: / ‘I do not bear the Gaṅgā for the sake of pleasure, O ruler of the gods!

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I was entreatied by King Bhagīratha on behalf of his kinsmen, / after he performed severe austerity for a divine thousand years, [saying:]

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“So that the Gaṅgā, fallen from heaven, does not go down to Pātāla, / therefore, O Lord, at my request, bear the Jāhnavī on your head!”

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I promised him, “Without doubt I shall hold / the speed of the Jāhnavī falling from the sky upon the surface of the earth.”

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Lest what exists in this realm should go to Pātāla. / Therefore, I shall explain it; listen here with a single-pointed mind:

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This Gaṅgā, O lady of fair hips, issuing from my head, / cleaved Mount Himavat, and after that split into two.

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Then, under the name Sindhu, it went to the western ocean, / gathering nine hundred rivers, O Parameśvarī;

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likewise, that same river, under the name Gaṅgā, went to the eastern ocean, / taking along an equal number of rivers, O daughter of the mountain.

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Thus, these eighteen hundred rivers, O daughter of the mountain, / flow into the ocean; because of this it always endures,

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even though it is constantly being dried up day and night by the submarine fire. / Then, gathering the waters of the ocean, the clouds

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rain down upon the mortal world; from that, grain is produced; / by grain, the world lives, and likewise sacrifices come into being; / through their share of sacrifices, all the gods attain satisfaction thereafter.

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For this reason, O goddess, I bear the Gaṅgā on my head, / not out of attachment, nor out of desire, so that the world may function.

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Alternatively, if I somehow let her go from my head, / cleaving far through the earth with her force, she will go to Rasātala.

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Then the ocean, the lord of rivers, would swiftly dry up, / being swallowed by the Aurva fire here; from that, rain would not occur, / and from the absence of rain would come the destruction of the world. This is the truth that I have spoken.

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This has been told to you by me concerning the Gaṅgā, O ruler of the gods; / listen now to something else concerning Sandhyā, why it is that I bow down to her.’

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Thus ends the one hundred and thirtieth chapter, entitled ‘Description of the Origin of Pañcapiṇḍāgaurī,’ in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses composed by Śrī Skanda.

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Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit