Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 84
English (machine translation) 84
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- English
Contents
- 84.50 — 2 parts
84.1
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / In this very connection they recount this ancient historical account, / spoken by Śiva on Kailāsa to the six-faced [Skanda] who asked with devotion.
84.2
Īśvara said: / Formerly, in the Tretāyuga, O Skanda, Rāvaṇa was slain by Rāma. / At that time, fourteen crores of Brahmarākṣasas were killed.
84.3
When they were slain there for the protection of the gods, / great bliss arose in the three worlds, O child.
84.4
Then, having regained Sītā together with the foremost monkeys, / Rāma came to Ayodhyā, celebrated by Bharata; / that elder brother of Lakṣmaṇa handed the kingdom over to him.
84.5
While he was ruling the kingdom whose thorns had been eliminated, / Hanumān, having accomplished his task, formerly went to Kailāsa.
84.6
Then Nandī, the doorkeeper, did not bring that monkey, / even though a portion of Rudra, into the presence of Rudra, the remover of the flood of sins.
84.7
By him Nandī was asked then: "What sin has been committed by me, / because of which I do not behold the sacred form of Rudra accompanied by Ambikā?"
84.8
Nandī said: / "An incarnation was made by you, O lord of monkeys, for the sake of the immortals; / even so, the sin committed is pacified only through experiencing [its result]."
84.9
Hanumān said: / "What sin was committed by me, O Nandī, acting for the sake of the gods? / Wicked rākṣasas who slaughtered vipras and ruined sacrifices were slain!"
84.10
Then Hara, curious about that conversation, / casting his glance between the doors and seeing the lord of monkeys standing before him, of fierce radiance, partaking of his own portion, spoke again:
84.11
Īśvara said: / "The Gaṅgā, Gayā, Revā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī, O monkey, / are rivers that remove all sins; take a sacred bath in them.
84.12
On the southern bank of the Narmadā is a most splendid pilgrimage place / situated near Somanātha; go there, O monkey.
84.13
Having bathed there, the great sin will depart by my command." / Leaping with speed, Hanumān, roaring loudly,
84.14
went to the southern bank of the glorious Revā and performed severe asceticism. / As he was practicing asceticism, the darkness caused by killing the demons
84.15
dissolved in a certain time by the grace of Īśa, O Pārtha. / Then Hara, the god, went with the gods to that pilgrimage place.
84.16
He embraced the monkey and granted him a boon: / "From this day forward it shall be your pilgrimage place; there is no doubt.
84.17
Then it became Kapitīrtha; Hara himself dwelt there, / by the name Hanūmanteśvara, removing all murder then.
84.18
Whoever, having bathed in that pilgrimage place, worships the liṅga with devotion, / all sins are destroyed, according to the word of Hara.
84.19
There bones dissolve, and in the offering of rice-balls there is imperishable state; / whatever little is given there becomes multiplied a crore of times."
84.20
Then Hanumān also went to Ayodhyā to see Rāma; / he inquired after his well-being and related his true nature.
84.21
Śrī Rāma said: / "While you were doing the work of the gods and doing my work, [sin accrued]; / therefore I am also a sinner, and I shall perform asceticism without doubt."
84.22
Right there on the southern bank of the Revā that removes sins, / the descendant of Raghu then performed asceticism for twenty-four years.
84.23
Dwelling in the city of Jyotiṣmatī, performing sacred baths in the glorious Revā,
Lakṣmaṇa also served him by his command.
84.24
Those two, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, then installed liṅgas;
by the power of true asceticism on the bank of the Revā, the wise [princes],
the two heroes, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, then attained freedom from sin.
84.25
Then Hara, leading the gods, went indeed along with the holy best of sages;
having arrived at the pilgrimage place, he then granted a boon, leaving his own portion there in that pilgrimage place.
84.26
The sages poured the pot-water of all pilgrimage places onto the ground;
thereupon, united as one, the name of the liṅga became Kalākumbha.
84.27
Known then as Kumbheśvara, worshipped by hosts of gods,
Rāma also worshipped that liṅga attended by the gods.
84.28
Then the god granted a boon for the increase of Rāma's fame;
in the twenty-fourth year, Rāma attained freedom from sin.
84.29
"Whenever Saturn has entered Virgo together with Jupiter,
that is indeed this divine pilgrimage," so the gods proclaimed with joy.
84.30
Just as the fruit of all pilgrimage places is attained at the Godāvarī pilgrimage place,
so it is here for mortals through bathing in the Revā and beholding the liṅgas.
84.31
Those who will perform ancestral rites for the ancestors here on the bank of the Narmadā,
staying near Kumbheśvara—hear the fruit of that, O six-faced one:
84.32
As many pores of the skin as there are on the bodies of all embodied beings,
for so many years the state of the ancestors is imperishable.
84.33
Whatever gods there are on earth and whatever pilgrimage places there are,
mortals obtain that fruit by gazing upon the three liṅgas.
84.34
The sonless one obtains a son, the impoverished one obtains wealth,
the diseased is freed from disease; no doubt should be entertained here.
84.35
Whatever fruit of Godāvarī there is when Jupiter enters the sign of Leo,
that is twelvefold near Kumbheśvara, O Skanda.
84.36
Those who know [of him] but do not behold Kumbhaśambhu, the husband of Umā,
on the southern bank of the Narmadā, their birth is in vain.
84.37
Just as the pilgrimage to Godāvarī is to be performed by the sages' ordinance
in the twenty-fourth year, so is this one, spoken by the gods.
84.38
As long as the moon and sun endure, and as long as there are stars in the sky,
so long is that gift imperishable near Revākumbheśvara.
84.39
Great gifts are to be given there by discerning people;
they praise here the gift of a cow, as well as [gifts of] gold and silver.
84.40
The heap of sins is destroyed by the mere remembrance of her;
how much more by a sacred bath, O Skanda, does it remove the murder of a brahmin!
84.41
Having bathed at that pilgrimage place, he who performs ancestral rites, O Yudhiṣṭhira,
redeems one hundred and one generations by Śiva's command.
84.42
Whatever pilgrimage places and lakes there are extending to the ocean,
they are not worth a sixteenth part of worshipping the Śivaliṅga here.
84.43
Having thus granted the boon, the gods led by Hari and Īśvara
went to their own abode, having first left that excellent name.
84.44
Having given a boon to this pilgrimage place, Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa's elder brother,
entered Ayodhyā, freed from sin through the water of the Narmadā.
84.45
And then, having made a golden Sītā, he performed the sacrifice,
having invited the sages, the worlds, the deities, and his own family.
84.46
In ancient times, in the Tretā age, that pilgrimage place known as Skanda arose;
therefore, the beholding of the liṅga should be performed by people with regularity.
84.47
So long do sins, even those born of grave transgressions, remain in bodies,
until a creature gazes upon that pilgrimage place served by the gods.
84.48
They are fortunate, they are great-souled, their birth is a life well-lived,
who will behold supreme Hara residing in the city of Jyotiṣmatī.
84.49
Therefore, casting aside delusion, people should respectfully go
to the pilgrimage place named Kumbheśvara to attain the entire fruit of pilgrimage places.
84.50
Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Having thus heard the words of Śambhu, the six-faced one, having bowed with reverence to the pair of his father's lotus-feet,
reached the southern bank of the river of the Mountain-dweller and saw the Śivas named Kīśāgrya, Rāma, and Kalaśa.
84.50.p1
|| Thus ends the eighty-fourth chapter, entitled "The Description of the Glorification of Kapitīrtha, Rāmeśvara, Lakṣmaṇeśvara, and Kumbheśvara," in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses
84.50.p2
Revākhaṇḍa Chapter 85
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit