Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 111
English (machine translation) 111
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- English
Contents
- 111.44 — 2 parts
111.1
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / On the southern bank of the Narmadā is an exceedingly splendid pilgrimage place / created formerly by Skanda after performing very severe asceticism.
111.2
Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Tell [me] truly, O best of the twice-born, the entire story of Skanda from his birth, / and the sacred rule for the pilgrimage place.
111.3
The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Formerly, O Yudhiṣṭhira, austerities were performed by the god of gods. / Petitioned by all the gods, he married the goddess Umā.
111.4
[The gods said:] “There is no commander of the army for the gods, O best of deities! / All the gods, together with Indra, are being dragged off by the terrible Dānavas.
111.5
Just as a night without the moon, [or] a day without the sun, / does not look splendid even for a moment, so an army [does not shine] without a leader.
111.6
Knowing this, O Mahādeva, out of supreme compassion, O lord, / let a commander of the army, renowned in the three worlds, be granted [to us]!”
111.7
Hearing these auspicious words of the gods, the supreme lord, / desiring the goddess Umā, remembered the god of love with his mind.
111.8
His whole body overcome with faintness by him, the guru of the universe, who assumes forms at will, / made love to Rudrāṇī for a full hundred divine years.
111.9
Then the king of gods, knowing Hara to be engaged in great copulation, / consulted together with the deities and dispatched Fire.
111.10
Having gone there, Mahādeva, who was established in supreme bliss, / was suddenly seen by him, and exclaiming “Hā! Hā!” he arose.
111.11
Then the great goddess, angered, uttered words of a curse; / trembling, O great king, listen to what I tell you:
111.12
“Since I was begged by all the gods for the birth of a son, / and yet our lovemaking has been rendered fruitless by dispatching Fire,
111.13
therefore all of them shall be without sons, there is no doubt!” / Then the fire was addressed by Hara: “Carry our seed.
111.14
You ought to act in such a way that [the son] may come into being in the worlds. / My splendour can be held by you, O best of deities; / for achieving the mission of the gods, no other is capable in the three worlds.”
111.15
Agni said: / What power do I have to hold your splendour, O god, O lord? / It reduces the entire threefold world, together with the moving and unmoving, to ashes!
111.16
Īśvara said: / If pain arises for you because of the seed in your belly, / then cast that splendour into the water of the Gaṅgā, O Fire.
111.17
Having spoken thus, Mahādeva, casting all that infallible, supreme seed / into the mouth of the carrier of oblations, disappeared.
111.18
And when the god had vanished, Fire, burning intensely, / cast it into the water of the Gaṅgā and went to his own abode.
111.19
Unable to bear that splendour, even Gaṅgā, best of rivers, / cast it into a reed-bed and quickly went away as she had come.
111.20
Then, seeing [a child] born there, all the gods together with Indra / dispatched the Kṛttikās at that time to suckle him with their breast-milk.
111.21
Seeing that they had all arrived, the noble-minded [child] in Gaṅgā’s womb, / having become six-faced with six mouths, drank their milk eagerly.
111.22
The lotus-born [Brahmā] performed all the rites, beginning with the birth-ceremony, prescribed in the Vedas, / O best of kings, according to the ritual procedure seen in the ordinances.
111.23
[He is named] Ṣaṇmukha from his six mouths, Kārttikeya from the Kṛttikās, / Kumāra from his boyhood, Gaṅgāgarbha [from being Gaṅgā's embryo], and another [name is] Agnije [from being born of Fire].
111.24
Thus Kumāra was born; knowing the Vedas without having studied them, / he knew many sacred treatises and performed extensive austerities.
111.25
In all the sacred forests of the gods, along rivers and streams, / in whatever pilgrimage places exist on earth, [and] those from the ocean, O descendant of Bharata,
111.26
then, in due order, he took refuge on the bank of the Narmadā; / on the southern bank of the Narmadā he performed extensive austerities,
111.27
reciting day and night the prayers prescribed by the Ṛg, Yajus, and Sāma, / meditating on Mahādeva, pure, his veins standing out [from emaciation].
111.28
Then, when a full thousand years had ended, the god Maheśvara, / accompanied by Umā, spoke these words at that time.
111.29
Īśvara said: / I am the giver of your boon, my child; Gaurī is your mother and I am your father. / Choose whatever boon you desire, hard to obtain in the three worlds.
111.30
Ṣaṇmukha said: / If you are pleased, O Mahādeva, O Śaṅkara, together with Umā, / I choose you as my parents; I have no other refuge or desire.
111.31
Hearing these auspicious words dropped from the mouth of his son, / saying “So be it,” he embraced him with affection and love.
111.32
Then Śaṅkara, together with Umā, smelled him on the head and said:
111.33
Īśvara said: / Imperishable and undecaying, you shall indeed become the commander of the army.
111.34
“And a peacock of divine form has been given by me as a mount to you, the bearer of the spear, in battle; / conquer the gods, Asuras, and the rest!” and having spoken thus, the great-souled one went to excellent Kailāsa.
111.35
And when the god had vanished, he whose mount is the peacock, / having established Mahādeva [there], went to the presence of the gods.
111.36
From that time forward, that pilgrimage place is known as Skandatīrtha; / it destroys all sins, yields religious merit, and is hard to attain for mortals on earth.
111.37
Whoever, having bathed with devotion in that pilgrimage place, O king, worships Śiva / with perfumes, garlands, and consecrations, obtains the fruit of a sacrificer.
111.38
Whoever, having bathed at Skandatīrtha, worships the ancestors and deities / with water mixed with sesame seeds, hear the fruit of that religious merit:
111.39
by a single offering of a rice-ball made according to the rules, O descendant of Bharata, / the ancestors are satisfied for twelve years; there is no doubt about this.
111.40
Whatever [act is done] in that pilgrimage place, O best of kings, whether auspicious or inauspicious, / all of that becomes imperishable, both in this world and in the next.
111.41
Whoever abandons his life in that pilgrimage place / according to the rule prescribed by the sacred treatises, goes to the abode of Śiva.
111.42
Having dwelled [there] for one kalpa, worshipped by gods and Gandharvas, / he is born here in Bhāratavarṣa in a pure family.
111.43
Knowing the truth of the Vedas and auxiliary sciences, freed from all diseases, / he lives for a full hundred years, accompanied by sons and grandsons.
111.44
This origin of Skandatīrtha has been told to you, O king; / it is auspicious, conferring fame, giving long life, destroying all sorrow, supreme, / removing all sins, meritorious, and spoken by the god of gods.
111.44.p1
|| Thus ends the one hundred and eleventh chapter, named 'Description of the Glorification of Skandatīrtha', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Avantī section, in the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.
111.44.p2
RKV chapter 112
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit