Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 32

English (machine translation) 32

Language: English

32.25 — 2 parts

32.1

Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go to Pattreśvara, which destroys all sins, / where the mighty and fortunate son of Citrasena attained perfection.

32.2

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Who is that person of great austerities who attained perfection at that pilgrimage place, O brahmin? / Whose son was he, and what was the cause? I wish to know this.

32.3

Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / In the past there was one of great splendour named Citra, beloved of Indra. / His son, O best of kings, was known as Pattreśvara.

32.4

Handsome and fortunate, he struck terror into all enemies, / highly beloved of Indra, and alternatively called Jaya.

32.5

Once in the assembly hall, during a gathering of all the gods, / he was fascinated for a very long time indeed by Menakā's dance and song.

32.6

He stood, having transgressed propriety, as if bereft of life in an instant. / Thereupon the divine lord of the gods cursed him whose senses were unrestrained:

32.7

"Because, even though residing in heaven, you have adopted the manner of mortals, / therefore you will undoubtedly pass a long time among mortals."

32.8

Being thus addressed by the lord of the gods, the young son of Citrasena, / trembling, that foremost celestial, with folded hands spoke indeed:

32.9

Pattreśvara said: / "By me, foolish, sinful, and with unrestrained senses of mind, / what fruit has been obtained! You ought to grant your favour for that."

32.10

Śakra said: / "Resorting to the bank of the Narmadā for twelve years with restrained senses, / worship the tranquil Śiva; you will again attain the good state.

32.11

For those devoted to truth and purity, the most righteous with controlled minds, / is this world, not at all for sinners—such is the conviction of the scripture."

32.12

When this was said by the wise thousand-eyed one, O great king, / the wise son of the gandharva bowed and went to the earth's surface.

32.13

In the clear water of the Revā, near Brahmāvarta, / having bathed, recited prayers according to rule, and worshipped Śaṅkara,

32.14

he performed austere penance with five fires, subsisting on air, water, oil-cake, fruits, / flowers, leaves, roots, and barley gruel; and then the god became pleased.

Beholding the wielder of the Pināka, the giver of boons, the trident-holder, Umā's husband, slayer of Andhaka, / with the crescent moon on his crest, wearing an elephant hide, seeing him arrived before him, he fell down.

32.16

Īśvara said: / "Choose a boon! May good betide you; I am the granter of boons to you, O sinless one. / Whatever you desire I give today; no hesitation should be made here."

32.17

Pattreśvara said: / "If you are pleased, O lord of gods, if a boon is to be given to me, / be present constantly at this pilgrimage place by my name, O lord."

32.18

Hearing this, Mahādeva Śaṅkara, with a voice faltering with joy, / said 'So be it', and departed delighted together with Umā.

32.19

He too, when the god had gone to heaven, bathed in that pilgrimage place, / bathed according to the ritual of recitation, and again satisfied the ancestors;

32.20

he installed the Lord of Gods duly in that pilgrimage place, / [a liṅga] renowned in the three worlds as Pattreśvara, O descendant of Bharata.

32.21

Released from the curse, he went to the world of Indra, O lord of men, / delighted and joyous, to the pleasant auspicious sounds of victory and the like.

32.22

This question that you asked has been answered to you, O Yudhiṣṭhira; / by a single sacred bath there, one is freed from all sins.

32.23

Whoever worships Mahādeva at that pilgrimage place, O Yudhiṣṭhira, / bathing and worshiping the ancestors and the gods, obtains the fruit of a horse sacrifice.

32.24

When dead, having sported in the city of Śiva for a full hundred years, / he is later born among mortals as a king or an equal to a king;

32.25

knowing the truth of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, he would live for a hundred autumns, / free from sickness and sorrow, and he remembers that water again.

32.25.p1

|| Thus ends the thirty-second chapter, named 'Description of the Glorification of the Patreśvara Pilgrimage Place,' in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses]

32.25.p2

RKV Chapter 33

Linked texts (1)

Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit