Skandapurana 6.3.239

English (machine translation) 6.3.239

Language: English

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Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go to Dhautapāpa near the sacred ford of Bhṛgu; / for there Bhṛgu was shaken repeatedly by a bull; 184.1

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therefore it is celebrated in the worlds by that name, Dhautapāpa. / Mahādeva resides there for the satisfaction [of his devotees], O best of the Bhṛgus. 184.2

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Whoever bathes in that sacred ford even deceitfully, O ruler of men, / is freed from all sins; no doubt should be entertained here. 184.3

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He who, having bathed there according to proper rule, worships Śiva, / and honors the gods and ancestors, is freed from all sins. 184.4

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The sin of killing a brahmin and the slaughter of cows, O Yudhiṣṭhira, / would never enter that sacred ford, terrified; even if entered, it would perish. 184.5

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Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Speak of this wonderful thing in this world, O best of the twice-born: / how indeed the sin of killing a brahmin does not enter Dhautapāpa. 184.6

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There is no sin here equal to the killing of a brahmin. / How then does that which has entered Dhautapāpa perish, O twice-born one? / I ask all of this in detail; speak out of curiosity.

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Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Long ago, in the first creation, Śambhu, seeing the unnatural fifth head / Of Brahmā the Supreme Lord, resembling the head of a horse,

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Severed that head with the join of his thumb and finger. / But as soon as the head was cut off, the murder of a brahmin arose then.

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And he was accompanied by the murder of a brahmin on the northern bank of the Narmadā, / Where it was shaken off, O king, by the bull whose form is righteousness.

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There the blessed Śambhu beheld the goddess Dhauteśvarī, / Established by the bull and worshipped by all the gods.

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Having beheld Durgā, Dhauteśvarī, who destroys the murder of a brahmin, / Śaṅkara, the destroyer of Tripura, resting there,

That Śaṅkara considered himself freed from the murder of a brahmin through the power of that sacred ford. / Amazed, the chosen god of gods, having seen the murder of a brahmin far from the sacred ford,

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Where sins are cleansed, honoured by the power of righteousness, the murder would not enter, terrified through fear of the goddess— / A black woman dressed in red garments, adorned with red garlands, clinging to a red cord,

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Desiring my shoulder-region in secret, yet standing afar through the power of the excellent sacred ford. / Reflecting thus in his mind, the god, the enemy of Smara, resolved to reside at that sacred ford.

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Reflecting much, the god himself stayed, his sins cleansed, renowned throughout the earth; / Right there he made his abode, in the region near Vidhūtapāpa.

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From that time on, O best of kings, that sacred ford Vidhautapāpa, / The destroyer of the murder of a brahmin, has been situated on the Narmadā.

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The bright ninth day of Āśvina is especially celebrated at that sacred ford, / For a span of three days, O best of kings, particularly beginning with the seventh.

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Having fasted with devotion on the eighth, whoever recites the Veda together with its auxiliary limbs / For one day and night, known as the Ṛg, Yajus, and Sāman,

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While studying it, he is freed from the murder of a brahmin; there is no doubt in this. / And also intercourse with a Śūdra woman, and approaching the wife of a guru—

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Having bathed with a pot in that which is exalted by the essence of Brahmā, one is completely freed. / A barren woman, or one who gives birth only to daughters, or who bears a single child, or whose offspring die—

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She too, having bathed with the waters from the pot, has living sons and abundant progeny. / A man who cannot recite, having fasted, [if] a brahmin chants a single verse

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Originating from the Ṛg, Yajus, or Sāman on a festive occasion, O king; / Or one who cannot recite verses, having fasted, should chant the Gāyatrī, the mother of the Vedas,

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Chanting on the ninth, that best of brahmins is freed from the accumulation of sins. / Thus has it been related, dear one, as told in the Purāṇas by the great seers.

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Dhautapāpa, bringing great merit, was recounted to me by Śiva. / Whoever gives up their life in water, in fire, or on dry ground,

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He goes by aerial chariot, equal in splendour to the blazing sun, / Drawn by swans and peacocks, served by hosts of apsarases,

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To the supreme abode of Śiva, which is difficult even for the gods to attain; / He sports there at his pleasure for as long as the moon, sun, and stars endure.

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And whatever woman gives up her life at Dhautapāpa, / From that very moment, O son of Pṛthā, she attains manhood.

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Now, what is the use of saying more? Whether good or bad, / All that is done at Dhautapāpa yields imperishable fruit, O king.

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One should strictly renounce food, one should renounce objects of sense and the like, / As well as fruits, roots, and the like; one should not abandon water alone.

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Whoever acts thus, O son of Pṛthā, goes to the world of Rudra. / Having enjoyed all pleasures there, he is born as a king on earth.

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Thus ends the one hundred and eighty-fourth chapter, titled 'Description of the Glory of Dhautapāpa Tīrtha', in the Revā Section of the Fifth Avantī Section, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.

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Sanskrit World

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit