Ganeshapurana 2.149: munivisarjanaṃ nāmaikonapañcāśaduttaraśatatamo'dhyāyaḥ

Ka said: / Having thus accepted the worship, the all-pervading Lord dwelt right there, / fulfilling the desires of his devotees in that palace honoured by the king.

The sage said: / In the narrative praise of Vināyaka, varied stories have been recounted: / incarnating in the house of Vareṇya, Vighnāsura was slain;

the attainment of the elephant-demon's head has been described, O Four-faced One; / and right here his manifestation from Pārvatī's womb was related.

Because of his elephant-faced nature, O lord, a doubt has arisen in me; / other than you, there is no dispeller of doubt in the three worlds.

Ka said: / Doubt must not be entertained, O Vyāsa, regarding the all-pervading Lord endowed with manifold powers; / by his own will, he assumes many forms according to different cosmic ages.

Gajānana manifested from Śambhu's mouth and from [his] anger, / and sometimes, O sage, he is born from the splendour of Gaurī and from her belly.

Sometimes he comes from Gaurī's bodily dirt; sometimes he has two faces and two hands; / sometimes he has five faces, elsewhere six faces and ten arms.

Sometimes he has twelve hands, or is adorned with a thousand arms; / indeed, in all the scriptures there are varied visualizations.

Neither doubt nor astonishment should be had in this matter concerning the Lord, O sage: / in the Liṅgapurāṇa, Brahmā and Viṣṇu are recounted as born from Śiva;

in the Skandapurāṇa, Śiva's origin is recounted from the eye of the Creator; / Viṣṇu meditates on Śiva, and Śiva on Viṣṇu as well.

The Lord speaks the five-syllabled mantra as the saving [mantra]; / and the story of Rāma, consisting of one billion verses, was divided into three parts.

Śaṅkara established that saving [mantra] in the mortal world. / In some places creation is said to arise from Śiva, in some from Brahmadeva, in some from Hari,

in some from the Goddess, in some from Sūrya, in some from Gajānana, / and in some from a Brahmin; all of that is approved by the scriptures.

Whoever doubts, surely goes to hell. / Ka said: / Thus the entire narrative of the Tretā age has been told to you, O sage.

Now I shall relate the narrative pertaining to the Kali age. / At the close of the Kali age, O sage, people will be of corrupted conduct and deceitful.

Brahmins will be devoid of the Vedas, abandoned by bath and twilight prayers; / they will never perform sacrifice, officiate at sacrifices, or give gifts.

And they will accept gifts from the wicked, which should be very difficult to take; / they will engage in slander of others, censure of them, and assault on others' wives.

All people will act in this way, with complete disregard of prescribed rules; / people everywhere will surely commit betrayal of trust.

And upon transgression of the rules, they will swear false oaths on earth; / and the clouds, O lord of sages, will not produce rain anywhere.

People will cultivate agriculture on the banks of great rivers; / whoever is strong will forcibly seize the wealth of those who are weak.

Two will seize from him, and three again by force from those two; / Śūdras will recite the Veda, and Brahmins will perform the work of Śūdras.

Kṣatriyas will do the work of Vaiśyas, and Vaiśyas will do the work of Śūdras; / the twice-born will accept gifts from an outcaste.

They will become destitute, crying “Alas, alas!”, bereft of sense, / and they will say, “Not even an atom of wealth was taken by me!”

Even after taking money from another, borrowers will demand yet more for their business, / and having taken a bribe, they will give false testimony.

They will revile the virtuous and make friendship only with the wicked; / twice-born men will consume meat in vain [without ritual sanction].

Destruction will come to good people, and prosperity to the others; / abandoning the gods, all people will become devoted solely to sensual pleasures.

With minds attached to worshipping ghosts, spirits, and goblins, / Brahmins will consume food assuming various guises.

And some Kṣatriyas will practice begging that is unworthy of their lineage; / they will never observe votive observances or religious rules.

People on earth will perform actions that cause the mixture of castes; / devoted wives will become women of broken vows in the Kali age.

Almost all people will become like barbarians, thieves of others' property, / pitiless, attached to evil paths, and always devoid of truth.

The earth shall be destitute of crops, and the trees devoid of sap;
in her fifth or sixth year, a maiden shall give birth.

The span of life in that age shall be limited to sixteen years;
the sacred pilgrimage sites and temples of the deities will become hidden.

When sin has thus increased, righteousness shall exist in name only;
then the gods will be devoted to fasting,

deprived of svadhā, svāhā, and vaṣaṭkāra, and agitated by fear;
they will take refuge in the flawless god Gajānana.

They will offer manifold praises to Him, make many bows,
and supplicate the Lord of Gods, the destroyer of all obstacles.

Considering all this, he will manifest himself:
Gajānana, having winnowing-basket ears, and named Dhūmravarṇa.

Mounted upon a dark-blue horse, sword in hand, blazing with wrath,
he will fashion an army of diverse forms according to his own will.

And he will effortlessly create weapons and great missiles;
by means of his army and through his own splendour, he will slay the great mlecchas.

He will then slay all people who have become like mlecchas.
Having brought together the Brahmins who subsist on forest food,

hiding at ease in the mountain-caves, and having honoured them,
the king of gods will grant them land and will make all good people perform righteous deeds.

Then the universe will become full of righteousness in the Kṛta Yuga.
Having acted thus, Dhūmravarṇa will thereupon disappear.

In this way, O sinless Vyāsa, the names and forms of the great-souled Vighneśa
in the four yugas have been told to you,

and his deeds of wondrous nature have been recounted in full,
by the mere hearing of which all creatures are liberated.

I have not the power to describe his endless forms;
where the four Vedas themselves are baffled, what can be said

of me, or of someone like me, in describing his majesty?
Go for your ritual observance; I too shall attend to my duty.

Bhṛgu said:
Having thus heard the narrative from the mouth of Brahmadeva, O Somakānta,
Vyāsa, his mind exceedingly delighted, spoke [concerning the tale] that destroys all sins.

The sage said:
I attain no satiety upon hearing this most wondrous narrative.
I am blessed, I am graced, because all doubts have been

dispelled by you through contact with this story devoted to the deeds of Gaṇeśa.
As with nectar, satiety never arises in me, though I listen again and again.

By the mere hearing of this, the sin accumulated across other births
reaches destruction, and all desires are fulfilled.

Only through the power of past spiritual merit does the hearing of it come to men.
This Purāṇa, which grants all accomplishments, must not be recited to a wicked person.

Having spoken thus, having bowed and circumambulated the self-born [Brahmadeva],
and having taken his leave, Vyāsa went to the excellent forest to perform austerities,

where there were roots, fruits, and excellent waters,
where there was no fierce wind, no scorching heat, and no wildfire.

Seated there with single-minded devotion, muttering the single-syllabled mantra,
twelve years passed for that sage performing austerities.
Then Gajānana manifested directly before him.

Thus ends the one hundred and forty-ninth chapter, entitled “Description of the Evils of the Kali Age and the Dismissal of the Sage”, in the Krīḍākhaṇḍa of the glorious Gaṇeśapurāṇa.

Total verses from the beginning: 10824, 53, 10877.