Skandapurana 5.165

English (machine translation) 5.165

Language: English

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Sūta said: / Ṛcīka, having taken those horses / with trustworthy men, then went to where Gādhi was residing. // 1

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He presented those excellent horses to him for the sake of the maiden. / Then Gādhi, having accepted them, fit for a horse-sacrifice, // 2

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and examining each one of them as supreme, that king / then gave him that maiden, beautiful in the three worlds. // 3

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Attended by the rite enjoined in the Gṛhya texts, born in the presence of brahmins and the fire as witnesses, / when the marriage was thus concluded, Ṛcīka, the best of sages, // 4

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became free from desire even at the time of cohabiting with her. / Remaining free from passion, the sage then spoke to his wife: // 5

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"O lady of beautiful hips, I shall go to the forest for the sake of austerity. / Ask for some boon, so that I may grant your desire." // 6

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Hearing those words of his, uttered as one free from desire, / she, wretched and with eyes filled with tears, went to her mother. // 7

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Then, O best of the twice-born, she related the words of her desireless husband / and how the granting of a boon had been offered by him. // 8

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Then, upon hearing what had been spoken by her daughter, / that mother spoke these words, O best of brahmins: // 9

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"If this husband of yours, O daughter, grants a desired boon, / then ask him for a son endowed with brahminhood; // 10

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and for my sake, ask for an only son endowed with the complete / splendor of a kṣatriya, O auspicious one, since I am left without a son." // 11

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Hearing the mother's words, that woman of good vows approached Ṛcīka / and related everything her mother had said in full detail, O twice-born ones. // 12

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Hearing her words, he then prepared two offerings of boiled rice, / having duly performed a sacrifice for obtaining a son and bowing to the self-manifest one. // 13

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In one he infused all the splendor of a brahmin, / and into the other all the splendor of a kṣatriya, O best of the twice-born. // 14

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First he gave to his wife the excellent caru imbued with brahminic [power]; / having made her eat it, he said, "Embrace the aśvattha tree. // 15

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Then you will obtain a virtuous son endowed with the splendor of a brahmin. / And the second caru, that you must present to your mother." // 16

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And Ṛcīka, the best of sages, then said to her: / "Having eaten this caru, let her embrace a nyagrodha tree. // 17

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Then she will obtain a virtuous son endowed with the entire / splendor of a kṣatriya, O highly fortunate one; my words will not be in vain." // 18

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Having spoken thus, Ṛcīka, having infused the two energies, / that best of brahmins became highly delighted and self-satisfied. // 19

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They, having gone to their house with delighted inner self, / spoke to one another: "This will indeed come true." // 20

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Then the mother said to the daughter: "Every person acts with special care / for their own sake in an action, even when it is arranged in common. // 21

Therefore, the caru that was prepared by him for your sake, O fair-eyed one, / the collection of mantras applied by him in that [must be] / of a superior nature, O highly fortunate one; this that I say is true. // 22

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Therefore, take the caru [meant] for me, O sweet-smiling one, / and give yours to me; and let an exchange / of the two trees be made, O highly fortunate one, so that I may have an excellent son, // 23

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skilled in the duties of kingship, a hero, a crusher of enemy forces. / Yours, even as a mere twice-born, will bring you satisfaction." // 24

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Then that illustrious woman, addressed in secret by her mother, / made an exchange of the tree and of the caru, O best of the twice-born. // 25

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Then, having bathed after the rite of puṃsavana, those two auspicious, fair-eyed women / instantly conceived a pregnancy through union with their husbands. // 26

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Then, having conceived that embryo, that woman of three-world-surpassing beauty / was instantly endowed with kṣatriya splendour. / She then set her mind on royal power arising from mounting elephants and horses.

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She similarly initiated talks of battles arising among the hosts of gods and asuras, / and constantly listened [to them], and set her mind on royal diversions. / She then carried out activities born of a desire for sovereignty.

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She brought thoroughbred horses and elephants from her father's house, / as well as red garments and unguents such as saffron.

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Seeing her conduct, fit for royalty, involving many luxuries, / and completely devoid of conduct appropriate for brahmins,

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he then spoke angrily: 'Fie, sinful woman! What is this you have done? / Surely an exchange of the caru and the tree was made

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by you, sinful woman! I see [it], since your conduct is of such a kind:

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suited to a kṣatriya, completely devoid of all brahmin customs,

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abandoning bark garments and rags, devoid of ritual ablutions and prayer-recitations, / and accompanied by various perfumes headed by musk.

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Your mother, on the other hand, is established in tranquillity, devoted to prayer-recitation and homa, / intent upon pilgrimage to sacred fords, and eager to hear the Veda.

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Therefore, your son will be a kṣatriya, there is no doubt.

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And your mother's son will be the best of brahmins, devoted to discourses on celibate study, / as shown by the signs arising from the characteristics of pregnancy.

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For this verse was previously spoken by thinkers on the scriptures: / "Whatever longings of pregnancy women bearing embryos have,

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such indeed by nature is the son born to them here."' / Thus addressed, terrified by fear, trembling, with joined palms,

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with eyes full of tears, miserable, she indeed spoke this word: / 'True is this word, O lord, which has been uttered by you.

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You know the past and the future without external signs here. / Therefore, grant me grace, so that my son may be a brahmin; / for a kṣatriya son is by no means fit for you.'

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Ṛcīka said: / 'Whatever brahmin splendour there might be, that was placed by me in your caru, / and kṣatriya splendour in your mother's. How could I, / the lowest in the world, make an alteration and a transgression of scripture?'

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The wife said: / 'If it is so, O tiger among the Bhṛgus, whoever may be my grandson here— / let all that kṣatriya splendour brought by you be in his body.

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Let the son, however, be the best of brahmins, even superior to you.'

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Ṛcīka said: / 'Let it be so by my word, O auspicious one: your son shall be a brahmin, / [and your] grandson, exceedingly invincible in battle, shall be endowed with kṣatriya splendour.'

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Then, having obtained the true boon, the virtuous woman, with a pleased face, / reported to her mother all that had been spoken by her husband.

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Then, when the tenth month had arrived, under an asterism presided over by Bṛhaspati, / she gave birth to a son resembling the rising sun,

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endowed with brahmin splendour, a pure treasure of austerities, / known as Jamadagni, who is celebrated throughout the three worlds. / His son was the famous Rāma, of great renown,

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by whom the earth was made devoid of kṣatriyas twenty-one times, / by the power of kṣatriya splendour, through the grace of his grandfather.

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Thus ends the one hundred and sixty-sixth chapter, named 'Description of the Birth of Paraśurāma', in the māhātmya of Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] in the Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].

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Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit