Skandapurana 5.70

English (machine translation) 5.70

Language: English

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Sūta said: / Likewise, there is also another śakti [spear] there that destroys sin, / released by Kārtikeya after slaying Tāraka in battle. // 1

Likewise, there is a very large pool filled with clear water, / created right there by him; whoever bathes [in it] and worships her [the śakti] / is immediately freed from sin committed from birth until death. // 2

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The seers said: / At what time was that spear released by him? Tell us. / For what purpose [was it cast] there by the lord? What is its power? Tell [us] yourself. // 3

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Sūta said: / Formerly, there was a dānava named Tāraka, endowed with immense strength, / an heir of Hiraṇyākṣa, who caused terror to the three worlds. // 4

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Knowing that his father had been destroyed by the mighty Viṣṇu, / he then went to Mount Gokarṇa and performed severe austerity. // 5

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For up to a thousand years he remained, feeding on withered leaves, / meditating on Mahādeva with body, mind, and speech, // 6

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and then with various offerings, gifts of worship, and food oblations. / Then, at the end of the thousand years, that daitya, filled with grief, // 7

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knowing Rudra to be ungratified, performed terrible austerity: / cutting off his own flesh, he offered it into the fire. // 8

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Gratified by that, Mahādeva, the lord of Umā mounted on the bull, / went to appear before him together with all his gaṇas. // 9

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There, delighted, making all the directions resound / with a loud sound, Mahādeva spoke with a voice faltering with joy: // 10

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“Hail, hail, Tāraka! I am pleased; do [not] perform such reckless daring! / Request your heart’s desire, so that I may grant it to you.” // 11

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Tāraka said: / “O lord, by your favor, act in such a way that in battle / I may be unconquerable by all the gods, leaving you aside.” // 12

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The Lord said: / “By my favor, all this will come to pass beyond doubt, / as requested by you, O daitya; you alone shall be strong here.” // 13

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Having spoken thus, Mahādeva went to his own abode, / and Tāraka too, delighted, went likewise to his own palace. // 14

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Then, surrounded by a vast army of dānavas, / he set out to fight towards Indra’s city, the renowned Amarāvatī. // 15

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Then a great battle took place between the gods and the dānavas, / ending only with death, turning back at the close of a thousand years. // 16

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There, the destruction of the gods occurred constantly at the forefront of the battle, / while the dānavas were victorious, by the grace of the wielder of the trident. // 17

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Then those dwellers of heaven devised means for victory: / diverse armors, war machines, and trenches, // 18

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and others too, diligently made to protect the body, / especially for the foremost of warriors, O best of brahmins! // 19

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Those lords of the gods produced [them] day and night against the dānavas: // 20

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clubs, slings, śataghnīs, excellent arrows, / javelins, spears, and missile points were fashioned at that time, / as well as arrays of battle formations specific to combat, // 21

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and likewise other multifaceted deceptive tactics in large numbers: / terrors, magic tricks, and all forms of illusory nets. // 22

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Even so, they did not attain victory, O best of brahmins; / they were battered by blows from the dānavas in the great battle. // 23

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Then the thousand-eyed [Indra], terrified by fear, spoke to Bṛhaspati: / “Day after day we are conquered by the daityas, O best of brahmins! // 24

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The more I employ proper strategies for the sake of battle, / the more my defeat occurs in the great combat. // 25

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Therefore, O teacher of the gods, devise a strategy with your intellect, / whereby victory in battle may be mine, and blameless fame may be yours.” // 26

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Sūta said: / Then Bṛhaspati, having meditated for a long time, spoke to the lord of Śacī, / with a joyful face, having understood the means of victory in the great combat: // 27

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“O Indra, I have discovered that means in the great combat, / by which the enemies are easily conquered, even in great numbers. // 28

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When he requested the desired boon from the destroyer of Tripura, / he then spoke these words, bowing repeatedly: // 29

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‘O lord, by your favor, act in such a way that in battle / I may be unconquerable by all the gods, leaving you aside.’ // 30
Mahādeva himself will not destroy his own disciple; / for having planted even a poisonous tree, who cuts it down himself? // 31

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‘He who is the father becomes the son’—such is the celebrated Vedic statement. / Therefore, let Hara quickly beget a son who will cause his destruction, // 32

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by which, having appointed him to the command of the army, we may wage / a great battle against the daityas with weapons, and then attain victory. // 33

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This alone is the means proclaimed by me here to you / for victory, O thousand-eyed one; there is no other in the three worlds.” // 34

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Then the subduer of Pāka, accompanied by all the hosts of gods, / spoke of that matter to Śambhu, standing bowed down in humility: // 35

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“Make an effort to beget a son, O bull-bannered god, / so that I may appoint him to the command of the army of the celestials, // 36

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and by your grace I may attain victory in battle, / having slain all the dānavas together with Tāraka. // 37

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In no other way can there be victory for me in battle against the dānavas; / so the highly intelligent preceptor of the gods told me, having properly discerned it.” // 38

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Then Śaṃkara, laughing aloud, said to the lord of the thirty [gods]: / “I will carry out your word swiftly, O Indra; of this there is no doubt.” // 39

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"I shall produce a son who will destroy all the Daityas, / whom you will make commander-in-chief and thereby obtain victory always."

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Having spoken thus, Mahādeva went to Mount Kailāsa, / and then with Gaurī engaged in the duty of love as was proper,

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accompanied by gestures and moods, and other laughs natural to it, / for the duration of a thousand divine years, like the twinkling of an eye.

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Then all the hosts of gods, their minds terrified with fear, / held counsel for that purpose, oppressed as they were by Tāraka:

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"A thousand years have passed while the Trident-bearer has been absorbed in pleasure, / yet the task of the gods has not been accomplished by him.

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Therefore let us go there where the god Maheśvara / resides together with Gaurī, staying in a secluded place on Kailāsa."

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Then all the gods along with Indra went right there, / bearing supreme distress born from the enemy Tāraka.

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Then, having reached Kailāsa, as they were approaching Hara's presence, / they were stopped by Nandin: "You must not go beyond this.

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The Lord is situated in privacy together with Pārvatī. / Even we cannot go [there]; therefore do not go!"

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Then the Wind was dispatched there by all those gods, / saying: "Let it be quickly ascertained what Mahādeva is doing."

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Then the Wind went there where the Lord Śiva sat, / absorbed in pleasure with Gaurī, having attained supreme bliss.

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Then, as the semen had stirred from its place without having reached the womb, / the Wind, standing not very far away, was seen by the god.

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Then, overcome with shame, he arose that very moment, / abandoning his beloved who was absorbed in passion and saying, "Do not, do not get up!"

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He then spoke to the Wind who was standing bowed in modesty: / "For what purpose have you come here? Is all well with the gods?"

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The Wind said: / "These gods, Indra and the others, turned back by Nandin, / their enthusiasm destroyed by Tāraka, are waiting at the base of the mountain.

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Therefore, having addressed them and respectfully consoled them, / send [them] quickly to where those Dānavas are stationed."

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Then the destroyer of Tripura summoned them immediately; / with a dejected face, he addressed them as they stood with folded hands:

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The Lord said: / "The undertaking made by me for your sake, for the sake of a son, / when the semen stirred from its place, has today been made vain by the Wind.

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This semen was arrested with firm resolve by me within the liṅga; / it remains entirely unfailing. Let it be declared where I may deposit it,

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so that an excellent son may be born, the destroyer of Dānavas, / and your commander-in-chief, unassailable in battle by enemies.

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No other is able to bear this, which resembles the cosmic fire of dissolution, / except Vaiśvānara; therefore let him bear this eternal [seed],

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so that I may release it there for a son and for victory, / this exceedingly fierce seed equal in brilliance to twelve suns."

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Then all the gods, praising the Fire, respectfully said: / "O Fire, hold in your mouth this seed sprung from Bhava."

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Then the Fire quickly opened his mouth, / executing Indra's command with an unhesitating mind.

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Śaṃkara also discharged it there, afflicted by the arrows of Kāma, / meditating on the goddess Gaurī, having attained supreme bliss.

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The Fire too, intensely burned by it which was like the fire of cosmic dissolution, / dropped it upon the ground into a vast clump of reeds.

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Meanwhile, wandering here and there, / the wives of the six sages, the six auspicious Kṛttikās, arrived there.

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Indra himself instructed them: / "This seed of the Three-eyed God is to be preserved with effort.

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Here a son will be produced, equal in brilliance to twelve suns; / he will also essentially attain the status of son to you all."

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Thus ends the seventieth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Account of the Origin of Kārttikeya', in the Māhātmya of Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit