Skandapurana 5.144

English (machine translation) 5.144

Language: English

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The seers said: / That which was told by you, O Sūta, that the young girl did not die / when struck with violent blows, is a very great wonder;

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since she was born again as a yoginī who brings delight to Hara. / Explain to us the entire matter and that wondrous cause.

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Sūta said: / Together with him, she entered the holy Amareśvara / on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Māgha, where death does not exist,

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even at the end of life's span, O twice-born ones, to say nothing of an untimely [death]! / Therefore she did not meet death, even though she was struck very hard at that time.

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The seers said: / The god called Amareśvara, who bestows immortality— / by whom was he established here, and what is his power? Proclaim this!

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Sūta said: / Aditi and Diti, the auspicious daughters of the Prajāpati, / were married formerly by the high-souled Kaśyapa, being richly endowed with great beauty.

From Aditi the gods were born, and from Diti the rulers of the Daityas. / Great enmity arose among them through rivalry between co-wives. / Then the gods were destroyed by the Daityas, and others were put to flight; / others, terrified by fear, fled in all directions with wounded limbs.

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Then, filled with grief, the mother of the gods remained here / and performed austerity day and night, intent on meditating upon Śiva.

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As she was thus engaged in austerity and four yugas passed, / a Śivaliṅga arose, bursting through the surface of the earth.

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Then, filled with joy, having praised it with various hymns, / she bowed down in focused devotion with an eightfold prostration.

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In the meantime, a divine incorporeal voice arose / in the courtyard of the sky, with a sound deep as a thundercloud:

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"Request a boon, O auspicious lady, that which is in your heart; / pleased am I, the moon-crested lord, and I will grant it to you today."

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Aditi said: / "O best of gods, my sons are being slain in battle by the Dānavas; / therefore, make them free of fatigue and unslayable at the forefront of battle!"

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The Blessed Lord said: / "Those who touch this liṅga of mine and go into battle / will be unslayable for a whole year, O auspicious lady.

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Any other man, too, who keeps vigil here with a concentrated mind / on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of the month of Māgha,

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he too shall be free from illness for a year. / Even if the day of death has arrived, whoever comes to this auspicious sanctuary

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will be avoided from afar by Death." / Having spoken thus, that voice fell silent thereafter.

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Aditi, too, highly pleased, brought her surviving sons / and showed them that very liṅga; / she told them all that māhātmya as it had been declared in the boon.

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Then all those gods bowed down to that liṅga / and, filled with satisfaction, taking up their weapons, set out against them,

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where those Dānavas, rejoiced, were situated in the auspicious position of Śakra, / endowed with the pleasures of heaven, staying within the Nandana garden.

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Then those Dānavas, seeing that the many gods had arrived / all at once for battle, bearing various weapons,

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mounted excellent chariots, holding weapons, missiles, and armour, / and marched forward for battle, roaring like clouds.

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Then a battle took place between the gods and the Dānavas, / whose minds were driven by rage, refusing to turn back except by death.

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Then all those gods, who had received boons from Hara at that time, / slew innumerable Daityas in many ways with sharp weapons.

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Those among them who were left unslain abandoned the abode of the thirty [gods] / and, eager to flee, entered the abode of the sea-monsters.

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Then Śakra regained his kingdom that had been seized by the Dānavas, / exactly as it had been in earlier times, completely freed of thorns.

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Then the remaining Dānavas learned of the power of that liṅga, / the māhātmya of the Lord of the Bull, and the origin of this sacred field,

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as all was told by Śukra: "Whoever, becoming pure, worships that liṅga / on the arrival of night on the fourteenth of the dark fortnight of Māgha, / though sniffed by Death, he is never abandoned by his life-breaths.

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Therefore, O fortunate ones, approach that liṅga on that day at night / and worship it, so that you may be free from death

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until the end of the year; this has been truthfully declared by me, / just as the hosts of gods [became], through its power, without a doubt."

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Then the lord of the gods, learning of that counsel of the lords of the Dānavas / from Nārada, the son of Brahmā, became terrified in mind;

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he held counsel together with the gods for guarding the god there, / so that there would be a proper effort on that day always.

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Then thirty-three crores of gods, bearing weapons,
stationed themselves in that sacred field to protect that liṅga,
fully armed and ready to strike on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Māgha.

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Then those Dānavas, seeing those gods stationed there,
their minds terrified with fear, fled in all directions.

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Then, when the morning was bright and the sun's orb had risen,
all the gods took counsel among themselves once more:

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"If we abandon this sacred field and go to the abode of the gods,
the Dānavas will approach this liṅga and worship it.

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Then they too will all become invulnerable, just as we are.
Therefore, let us, the thirty-three leaders,

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of all the crores, remain right here; and let the rest go there
with the thousand-eyed [Indra] to heaven, guarding their own and others."

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Then the eight Vasus [stayed] there, and likewise the twelve Ādityas,
eleven other Rudras, and the two handsome Nāsatyas;

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these remained stationed in that sacred field to protect that liṅga;
the rest, accompanied by Śakra, went to the abode of the thirty [gods].

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Sūta said:
Such was the power of the liṅga of the god of gods, the trident-bearer,
about which you asked, which had formerly been installed by Aditi.

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Because mortals see no death upon beholding it,
the liṅga is therefore renowned in the three worlds by the name 'Amara'.

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In which place, also, that maiden was struck down by that twice-born,
by the furiously enraged Jābāli, in the temple of that god;

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on that day was the fourteenth [day] of the dark fortnight of the month of Māgha;
therefore she did not meet destruction, though struck down severely, ascetic as she was.

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All this origin of that liṅga has been told to you,
its māhātmya that destroys all sins, O best of brahmins.

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And whoever recites this with devotion in the presence of that liṅga,
no fear of untimely death arises for him in any way.

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In front of it there is an auspicious pool filled with pure water,
fashioned by goddess Aditi for her own ritual bath.

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A person who, having bathed in it, beholds that liṅga,
and keeps vigil at night, on that very day year after year,
even today will not meet with an untimely death for a year.

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Thus ends the one hundred and forty-fifth chapter, named 'Description of the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Amarakeśvara' in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the auspicious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit