Skandapurana 5.93

English (machine translation) 5.93

Language: English

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Sūta said: / Now there is another very beautiful [place] there named Gomukha, / which was obtained in ancient times from the mouth of a cow, destroying all sins.

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In ancient times, O brahmins, in Camatkārapura there was a cowherd / afflicted with leprosy, who had become extremely emaciated.

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Then, after some time, a herd of cows along that path / reached [the spot] at midday, when the moon was united with Citrā,

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on the eleventh lunar day, afflicted with thirst, when the sun stood in Taurus. / Then, a very dark-green clump of grass was seen there / by a single cow; approaching from afar, overjoyed,

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as she pulled it out swiftly with her teeth, O twice-born, / just then a stream of water gushed forth through the course of its roots.

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Then, having tasted the grass, afflicted with thirst, little by little, / with great confidence she drank the water, which was delicious and like milk.

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From the force of her drinking that water, on that spot of earth / a very broad pit was formed, filled with water.

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Then hundreds of other cows drank the spotless water, / O best of twice-born; afflicted with thirst, [they drank] that which was like the nectar of immortality.

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The more the cows went and drank the water there, / the more that pit grew in size through the touch of their mouths.

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And then, when the entire herd of cows had their thirst removed, / the cowherd too, tormented by thirst, entered into that water.

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Having washed his limbs and drunk the water, as soon as he came out quickly, / he saw his own body possessed of the brilliance of the twelve suns.

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Then, filled with amazement, having gone to his own home, / he recounted the entire event before the people:

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how the clump of grass was forcefully uprooted there by the cow, / how the water gushed forth, and how he had bathed [in it].

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Having seen that, all the people went to that celestial water; / especially those afflicted with diseases bathed attentively.

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And they became freed instantly from diseases and from sins; / and, free from sin, they instantly went to heaven.

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From then on, that sacred ford became renowned by the name Gomukha, / since it was born on earth from the mouth of a cow, O best of twice-born.

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Then the thousand-eyed Indra, seeing that it bestowed heaven upon men / without difficulty, became frightened and filled it up with dust.

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The seers said: / What was declared to be the cause whereby such water / emerged from that place? Tell us, O Sūta's son!

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Sūta said: / Here in ancient times, King Ambarīṣa performed austerity; / overcome with grief for his son, he propitiated [Viṣṇu] whose emblem is Garuḍa.

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He had a renowned son known as Suvarcas, / an only [son], born somehow in his old age, O best of twice-born.

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Through the ripening of his past deeds, even as a child that son of his / was afflicted with the disease of leprosy, causing great sorrow to his father and mother.

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Then the lord of the earth went to that wish-granting sacred field / and performed great austerity for his son's sake to destroy the disease.

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Then Janārdana himself, becoming pleased with him, / granted him darśana and then spoke these words with affection:

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“I am well pleased with you, dear one; therefore ask for whatever is desired in your heart! / I shall grant a boon, O son, there is no doubt.”

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The king said: / “This beloved son of mine, O Keśava, is afflicted with leprosy / though still a child; therefore bring about the complete destruction of his leprosy!”

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The Blessed Lord said: / “In a previous life he was a king named Meghavāhana, / devoted to brahmins, grateful, and well-versed in the meaning of all śāstras.

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Then, after some time, a brahmin was killed by him / when he entered the inner quarters at night committing adultery.

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Then, when he looked at dawn after the sun had risen, / he saw that he bore the form of a twice-born, endowed with a sacred thread.

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Then, realizing he was a brahmin, overcome with remorse and deeply distressed, / he subsequently went to the city of Kāśī and performed austerity with a focused mind.

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Having established his son on the throne, having attained supreme dispassion, / disciplined, of restrained diet, he ate only begged food.

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Then, in the course of time, this lord of the earth went to the abode of Yama; / though free from sin, he was marked with the sign

arising from the murder of a brahmin, even while still in childhood. / Whichever men are seen afflicted with leprosy here on earth, / by them, surely, the murder of a brahmin was committed in another birth.

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Whoever goes to the sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara and performs a śrāddha, / becomes free from debt to all his ancestors.

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The disease of leprosy does not arise without the murder of a brahmin; / know this to be true, O king, as I speak.

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Ambarīṣa said: / For this purpose, O ruler of the gods, you have been worshipped by me, O lord. / When you are pleased, O lord of the gods, nothing on earth is impossible.

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Thus addressed by him, the blessed Madhusūdana / remembered the water of the subterranean Gaṅgā with meditative concentration.

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Meditated upon suddenly by that powerful Viṣṇu, / she made a narrow opening and immediately burst forth.

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Then the four-armed [lord] spoke these words to Ambarīṣa: / "Let your son immerse himself here in the most holy water of the Gaṅgā,

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so that he will be freed that very moment from leprosy, / as well as from the major and minor sins arising from the murder of a brahmin."

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At that very time, having brought his son, the king / bathed him with those waters before the eyes of the wielder of the Śārṅga bow.

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Then, O best of the twice-born, as soon as he had bathed, that boy at once / became freed from the disease of leprosy, resembling the rising sun.

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Then, bowing down to that deity, filled with great joy, / he went to his own palace together with his father, O twice-born.

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When that king had gone with his son, Hari instantly / filled that opening so that no one would know of it.

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For this reason, that water which destroys all sins / was previously revealed again on earth through the cow's mouth.

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Even today, rendered exceedingly pure by touching its water on the earth, / whoever performs a ritual ablution on a Sunday at sunrise, / his goiter and other [ailments] quickly perish here,

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and also those terrible diseases arising from ringworm and scabies, / as well as those arising from malign influences, boils, and scab.

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Moreover, a mortal who, free from desire, performs a ritual ablution there with devotion, / goes to the world of the discus-bearer, the god of gods.

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On the day when that Gaṅgā was brought there by Viṣṇu, / on that day the sun stood in Taurus and the moon in Citrā,

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and the lunar day was the eleventh belonging to the wielder of the Śārṅga bow, the god of gods, / on the day when the clump of grass was pulled through the cow's mouth / at that very place; such was the astrological conjunction established.

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Likewise on another day, if someone obtains that water and / performs a ritual ablution with true devotion, he too will attain that fruit.

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Thus ends the ninety-third chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of the Gomukhatīrtha', in the glory of the Hāṭakeśvarakṣetra, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the auspicious Skandapurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit