Skandapurana 6.3.4

English (machine translation) 6.3.4

Language: English

6.3.4.1

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then, having emerged from the ocean, on the one stationed on the peak of Trikūṭa, / shining with the luster of great gold, piled with rocks of various colors,

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seated upon the great peak, accompanied by tens of millions of Rudras, / Mahādeva, the great-souled Lord, unborn, imperishable,

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consisting of all beings, dear child, along with Manu, O you of noble vows, / I again reverenced his feet, which are worshipped by all the gods.

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At that time, for a thousand ages with Rudra, O bestower of honor, / I remained in that dreadful single ocean, O joy of the Kurus.

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Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Having heard this, dear friend, a great curiosity in my heart / has arisen; tell that to me as I listen together with my kinsmen.

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Who was she with eyes like lotus petals in that great ocean turned to darkness, / who wandered constantly like an ascetic and who declared herself to be born of Rudra?

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The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Long ago, this very question was asked by me to Manu himself. / That very origin of the maiden I shall tell you today. 4.7

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When the night of Brahmā the supreme lord had passed, / and the pure morning dawned, as creatures were being created, 4.8

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having bowed my head to Manu, I asked him this, O Yudhiṣṭhira: / Who is this lotus-petal-eyed young woman, whose face resembles the moon, 4.9

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who wanders alone in the single ocean, saying, 'I was born of Rudra'? / Is she Sāvitrī the mother of the Vedas, or indeed Sarasvatī? 4.10

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Is she Mandākinī, foremost of rivers, or Lakṣmī, or Umā? / Could she be Kālarātri herself, or Prakṛti suited to pleasure? 4.11

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Explain this, O blessed one: Who is she, born of nectar, / who moves in the dread single ocean, where serpents and rākṣasas are destroyed? 4.12

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Manu said: / Listen, dear child, I shall explain her origin in due order: / how she was born from Rudra, and who this fair-complexioned lady is. 4.13

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Long ago, Śiva of peaceful form practiced great austerity / together with Umā for the welfare of all worlds, he being Śaṃkara. 4.14

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Having ascended Mount Ṛkṣa, he performed very dread austerity, / invisible to all beings, the self of all beings, self-controlled. 4.15

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As that god practiced austerity, sweat indeed arose. / That sweat born of Rudra flooded that mountain. 4.16

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From that arose the most meritorious, excellent river / whom you saw in the ocean, with eyes long like lotus petals. 4.17

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Assuming the form of a woman, she worshiped Rudra long ago / in that first Kṛta age for ten thousand years, O king. 4.18

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Then Mahādeva Śaṃkara, pleased together with Umā, said: / 'Speak, O fortunate lady, whatever is in your mind!' 4.19

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The river said: / 'When universal dissolution arrives and moving and unmoving beings are destroyed, / by your grace, O lord of gods, may I be imperishable, O Lord! 4.20

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Even when rivers, oceans, and mountains perish, / by your grace, O lord of gods, may I be holy and imperishable, O Lord! 4.21

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Even those endowed with sins and minor sins, or those guilty of great sins, / are freed from all sins by bathing with devotion, O Śaṃkara. 4.22

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In the northern region is the Jāhnavī, destroyer of great sins; / may I become worshiped by the gods on the southern path, if this pleases you. 4.23

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Just as the Gaṅgā, having descended from heaven, is renowned on earth, O all-pervading one, / so may I become known as the Southern Gaṅgā, O lord of the thirty [gods]! 4.24

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Whatever fruit a mortal obtains by bathing in all sacred fords on earth, / that fruit he obtains by bathing with devotion [in me], O Maheśvara. 4.25

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Whatever sin, such as killing a brahmin, has been accumulated anywhere, / let it perish in just a month by plunging [in me], O god! 4.26

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Whatever fruit is found in all the Vedas and all sacrifices, O Śaṃkara, / let all that be obtained by plunging [in me]: this is my wish. 4.27

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In all gifts and fasts, and in plunging into all sacred fords, / let that [same] fruit be produced by my water, O Śaṃkara. 4.28

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Those men who worship Maheśvara on my bank, / let them go to your world; may this be so, O Śiva! 4.29

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On my bank, O Maheśāna, together with Umā and the deities, / reside always, O lord of the universe! This alone is my boon. 4.30

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Whether of good deeds or bad deeds, calm, restrained, with senses conquered, / let any creature who dies in my water go to Amarāvatī! 4.31

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Renowned in the three worlds as the destroyer of great sins / may I become, O lord of the gods of gods, if you, being pleased, approve.' 4.32

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Being thus requested for these and other divine boons by the Narmadā, / O best of kings, the bull-vehicled god, pleased, said: 4.33

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The venerable Maheśa said: / 'So be it, O auspicious one, as spoken by you, O blameless lady! / No other woman in the worlds is worthy of boons except you, O lotus-eyed one. 4.34

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The very moment you were born from my body, O fair-faced one, / at that very moment you became the deliverer from all sins, there is no doubt. 4.35

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At the time that causes the destruction of the kalpa, especially at that dread time, / those men who dwell relying on your northern bank, 4.36

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and even worms, winged insects, trees, shrubs, and creepers, / until the fall of their bodies, O goddess, they too shall attain the good destination. 4.37

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Those twice-born who are devoted to dharma, who rely on the southern bank / and dwell there until death, they shall go to the abode of the ancestors. 4.38

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Indeed, according to your word, for a certain special purpose, / I shall always dwell on your bank together with Umā. 4.39

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So it shall be, O goddess, O great goddess, precisely so, without doubt. / Together with Brahmā, Indra, Candra, Varuṇa, the Sādhyas, and Viṣṇu, 4.40

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they shall dwell on your northern bank by my command, O goddess. / On the southern [bank], together with the ancestors, other gods too, O beautiful lady of the gods, 4.41

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shall dwell along with me. This is your supreme boon. / Go, go, O fortunate one, deliver mortals from sin, 4.42

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accompanied by hosts of seers, and likewise by siddhas, gods, and asuras.' / Having spoken thus, the all-pervading Mahādeva, accompanied by Umā, 4.43

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while being praised by Manu and by me, vanished from sight. / Thus this most holy [river], destroyer of great sins, 4.44

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about whom you ask, has been described; let there be no wonder in you. / This is the most holy Gaṅgā celebrated in the three worlds, 4.45

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flooding the ten directions with fifteen streams: / the Śoṇa, the great river, and the pleasant Narmadā, 4.46

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Mandākinī, Daśārṇā, and likewise Citrakūṭā, / Tamasā, Vidiśā, Karabhā, and Yamunā, 4.47

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Citrotpalā, Vipāśā, Rañjanā, and Vāluvāhinī. / All these born from the foothills of Ṛkṣa are indeed born of Rudra, 4.48

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removers of all sins, holy, givers of all auspiciousness, benign. / With these divine names she is praised by those who have mastered the Vedas, 4.49

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by fortunate knowers of the Purāṇas, by drinkers of clarified butter, and by drinkers of soma. / Thus all this greatness has been told, O best of men, 4.50

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as the origin of the immortal lady was told to me long ago by Manu— / holy, pure, peerless, sung by Rudra, auspicious. 4.51

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Those men who recite, or who hear with devotion,
rising in the morning, these fifteen names, O Bhārata,

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those men shall obtain all the merit born of bathing [there].
In an aerial chariot bright as the sun, resounding with a hundred bells,

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abandoning their human condition, they will go to the supreme destination.

Thus ends the fourth chapter, titled “Description of the Fifteen Names of the Narmadā,” in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Āvantyakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit