Skandapurana 5.72

English (machine translation) 5.72

Language: English

5.72.1

Sūta said: / Right there a liṅga was installed by King Dhṛtarāṣṭra / and Duryodhana; by beholding it one is freed from all sins.

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The seers said: / At what time was the liṅga installed there / by King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the ruler of men? Tell us, O son of Romaharṣaṇa!

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Sūta said: / Formerly there was a daughter of Balabhadra named Bhānumatī, / endowed with all auspicious marks and possessing the virtues of beauty and generosity.

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Then, having consulted with Viṣṇu, that Yādava gave her / as a wife to the wise son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Duryodhana.

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Then all the Kauravas from Nāgapura, headed by Bhīṣma and Droṇa, / set out swiftly toward the city of Dvāravatī.

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Likewise the five sons of Pāṇḍu, accompanied by their retinue, / regarding good brotherhood, joined with Duryodhana / and went, rejoiced, toward Dvāravatī, accompanied by a great army.

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Then, proceeding in due course, all those Kurus and Pāṇḍavas / reached the Ānarta country, which was filled with wealth and grain,

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which removes all sins, is holy, and where lies that excellent sacred field / of the god Hāṭakeśvara, renowned throughout the three worlds.

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Then the pure-minded elder, the grandfather of the Kurus, / addressed King Dhṛtarāṣṭra along with his sons, smiling as it were: 9

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Bhīṣma said: / "Child, previously I saw this unequalled sacred field / of the god Hāṭakeśvara, which destroys all sins. 10

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And here I was freed from the sin arising from the murder of a woman. / Therefore, O king of kings, let us stay right here for five days, 11

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so that we may see all the sacred fords and temples / of the sages of cultivated minds that exist here as sacred sites." 12

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Then, at his word, King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the son of Ambikā, / filled with curiosity together with his one hundred sons, 13

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went swiftly to where that excellent sacred field was, / crowded with hosts of ascetics and endowed with auspicious hermitages, 14

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resounding on every side with the great sound of the Vedas, / its trees darkened by the smoke arising from fire worship, / and crowded with many running pet deer. 15

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Then, having halted his army out of fear of causing disturbance, the king, / accompanied by the five Pāṇḍavas and likewise his one hundred sons, 16

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joined by Bhīṣma, Somadatta, Bāhlīka, / heroic Droṇācārya, his son, and Kṛpa, 17

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and by Śakuni, Karṇa, and other kings, / leaving behind his retinue, walked through that sacred field. 18

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All those noble kṣatriyas stationed there / performed all righteous rites with minds purified by faith. 19

O best of brahmins, they performed ritual ablution according to rule in the sacred fords, / having wandered again and again through the very holy [places], having listened again and again to the twice-born. 20

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And others gave distinguished and desired gifts / to the poor, the wretched, and especially to ascetics. 21

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Others performed śrāddha rites dedicated to the ancestors with devotion, / and others offered tarpaṇa to the ancestors with water mixed with sesame seeds. 22

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Other kings performed fire oblations; others, uninterrupted recitation of mantras; / other tranquil ones, completely endowed with faith, engaged in personal study of the Vedas. 23

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Others, having heard the temples of the deities along with their māhātmyas, / and [those] of former kings, worshipped them especially, 24

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with offerings of food, fine clothes, fragrant substances, flowers, ointments, / sweeping, gifts of flags, and auspicious theatrical spectacles, 25

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with decorations and flower garlands all around, O best of brahmins! / And all the brahmins were made content by them there with devotion / through gifts of elephants, horses, chariots, cattle, garments, and gold. 26

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Having thus bathed and worshipped the gods and the brahmins, / the excellent kings, accompanied by Dhṛtarāṣṭra, then went to their camp, 27

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filled with wonder, praising the sacred fords and temples, / and the brahmins and ascetics of strict vows in that sacred field. 28

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Thus ends the seventy-second chapter, titled "Description of the Darśana of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara by Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Others," in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Śrī Hāṭakeśvara in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the sixth [part] of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. 72.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit