Skandapurana 6.3.183

English (machine translation) 6.3.183

Language: English

6.3.183.1

Chapter 183
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
After this, O great king, one should go to the [place] called Kedāra.
Having gone there, O great king, having performed a śrāddha and drunk the water,
one should worship the god of the gods and obtain the fruit arising from Kedāra.

6.3.183.2

Yudhiṣṭhira said:
How did he who is called Kedāra himself remain here,
O best of gods, on the northern bank of the Narmadā? Tell this in detail.

6.3.183.3

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Formerly, at the beginning of the Kṛta age, Śaṃkara, the Great Lord,
was worshipped by Bhṛgu, and [the place] was cursed by Śrī at Bhṛgukaccha.

6.3.183.4

Having said, 'This sacred field shall become impure,
devoid of all the Vedas, O best of kings,' the beloved of Hari departed.

6.3.183.5

Bhṛgu performed extensive austerity for a thousand years,
subsisting on wind, taking no food, his veins standing out for a long time.

6.3.183.6

Then the Great Lord became manifest to his sight, having assumed the form of a liṅga;
bursting through the seven subterranean realms, he suddenly appeared.

6.3.183.7

Then Bhṛgu saw the god, like a water-lily sprout in play.
He offered praise to the god, to Sthāṇu, calling him Tryambaka.

6.3.183.8

Praised in this manner, the Blessed Lord said, as if smiling:
'Again and again, O Bhṛgu, what indeed do you request of me, O sage?'

6.3.183.9

Bhṛgu said:
'This sacred field of five krośas was cursed by Padmā, O omnipresent one.
Having proclaimed, "This sacred field shall become impure, devoid of all the Vedas,"
the goddess departed towards [her] destination.

6.3.183.10

Act in such a way, O Great Lord, that this excellent sacred field attains purity once more,
if you are pleased, O Śaṃkara.'

6.3.183.11

The Lord said:
'This first liṅga, named Kedāra, shall arise, O holy one.
Counting this, the primeval liṅgas shall indeed be ten.

6.3.183.12

The eleventh shall indeed be invisible in the midst of the sacred field.
The eleventh, the omnipresent Lord himself, shall purify that sacred field.

6.3.183.13

Likewise, the twelve Adityas, by my grace in visible form,
shall reside in the sacred field of Bhṛgu, destroying disease and sorrow.

6.3.183.14

Likewise, eighteen Durgās, sixteen guardians of the field,
Vīrabhadras, and the Mothers shall dwell in the sacred field of Bhṛgu.

6.3.183.15

This sacred field shall indeed remain permanently purified.
In the month of Māgha, having bathed at dawn for a month with senses restrained,

6.3.183.16

whoever worships Kedāra shall go to the abode of Śiva.
Having bathed in that sacred ford and intended [it] for the ancestors, O descendant of Bharata,
if a man offers a śrāddha according to the rules, his ancestors are pleased.'

6.3.183.17

Thus has the [shrine] named Kedāra been fully described to you in detail,
holy, sin-destroying, and removing all sorrow.

6.3.183.17_1

Thus ends the one hundred and eighty-third chapter, titled 'Description of the māhātmya of the Kedāreśvara sacred ford,' in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit