Skandapurana 6.3.40

English (machine translation) 6.3.40

Language: English

6.3.40.1

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / ‘Then one should go, O lord of kings, to the excellent Karañjeśvara, / where the highly fortunate Daitya, celebrated in the worlds, attained perfection.’ 40.1

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / ‘He who attained perfection, O highly fortunate one of great austerity, at that sacred ford— / whose son was he, how did he attain perfection, and at what time? Tell me, O twice-born.’ 40.2

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Mārkaṇḍeya said: / ‘Formerly, in the Kṛta age, O king, there was a mind-born son of Brahmā, / a knower of the true nature of the Vedas and the Vedāṅgas, named Marīci. 40.3

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To that heap of austerity as well, in the course of much time, O sinless one, / a mind-born son was born, like a second Brahmā manifest. 40.4

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Patience, self-control, compassion, generosity, truthfulness, purity, and uprightness— / these virtues of Marīci were present in him as well, O Bhārata. 40.5

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Knowing Kaśyapa, the best of the twice-born, to be filled with such a host of virtues, / Dakṣa the lord of creatures gave him his daughters to wife: 40.6

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Aditi, Diti, and Danu, and likewise ten others, / from whom sons were born, as well as grandsons, O bull among the Bharatas. 40.7

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Aditi gave birth to sons headed by Indra, / born to that lord of creatures, Kaśyapa, O mighty-armed one, 40.8

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by whom the three worlds, moving and unmoving, immense, are pervaded. / And from the other, from Danu, a highly fortunate son was born, 40.9

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endowed with all auspicious marks, Karañja by name. / Even as a child, O highly fortunate one, he performed great austerity. 40.10

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Resorting to the bank of the Narmadā, extremely fierce and unsurpassed, / for a thousand divine years, [he performed] the kṛcchra and cāndrāyaṇa penances, O king, 40.11

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eating vegetables, roots, and fruits, intent on bathing and burnt offerings. / Then Mahādeva, accompanied by Umā, became pleased indeed. 40.12

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The Lord, the ender of Tripura, invited him to choose a boon: / “O Karañja of great fortitude, I am thoroughly pleased with you, O sinless one. 40.13

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Choose a boon; I grant it to you, except for immortality like mine.”’ 40.14

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Karañja said: / 'If you are pleased, O Mahādeva, if a boon is to be granted to me, / then let my sons and grandsons be devoted to righteousness.'

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Having said, 'So be it,' Mahādeva, accompanied by Umā, / mounted upon his bull together with his gaṇas, vanished right there.

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And when the god had passed out of sight, that Daitya too, filled with joy, / having established Mahādeva here in his own name, went home.

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From that time forth, that sacred ford has been preeminent among all sacred fords; / by merely bathing there, a man is freed from all sins.

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He who bathes at that sacred ford and propitiates the ancestors and deities / obtains the fruit of the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice, without a doubt.

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And he who should undertake fasting unto death at that sacred ford, O king— / his course is non-returning; he goes to the world of Rudra.

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Or if one should give up his life-breaths in fire or in water, O son of Dharma, / he dwells for twenty thousand years in the abode of Śiva.

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And after that [period] has come to an end, he is born in a spotless family, / knowing the truth of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, skilled in all scriptures,

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a king or equal to a king, and he lives for a hundred autumns, / accompanied by sons and grandsons, free from all diseases.

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Thus all that was asked by you, O sinless one, has been related to you: / the fruit of that sacred ford regarding bath and gifts, O Bhārata.

6.3.40.25

This supreme māhātmya of the sacred ford is meritorious, destroys sins, brings good fortune, and dispels bad dreams / for those who read it and listen to it.

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He who recites it or makes it heard at an ancestral rite, devoted to the ancestors, / his merit becomes imperishable: thus Śaṃkara declared.

6.3.40.26_2

Thus ends the fortieth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Māhātmya of Karañjeśvara-tīrtha', in the Narmadāmāhātmya in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth [section], the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit