Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 99

English (machine translation) 99

Language: English

99.21 — 2 parts

99.1

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then, O protector of the earth, one should go to the southern bank of the Narmadā, / to the established Vāsukīśa, which destroys the mass of all sins.

99.2

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / For what reason, dear [sage], was Vāsukīśa established / on the southern bank of the Revā? Tell me in detail, O guru!

99.3

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Commencing all this, Śambhu indeed danced.

99.4

From fatigue, sweat arose, mixed with the waters of the Gaṅgā; / as it fell, issuing from the head of Hara, a serpent ate it.

99.5

Then Mandākinī became angry at the serpent, O Bhārata: / 'Become a python, snake, you vile creature!'

99.6

Vāsukī said: / 'I, a sinner, should be shown favor by you; I acted poorly without Hara. / You are the river that purifies the three worlds, holy and endowed with auspicious marks,

99.7

cutting through worldly existence, destroying the distress of the distressed; / for you stand at the door of heaven—have mercy on me, O sovereign goddess!'

99.8

Gaṅgā said: / 'Perform vast austerities on the Vindhya towards Śaṅkara; / then you will regain your own station and serpenthood by my command.'

99.9

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then that serpent, going swiftly to the auspicious Vindhya mountain, / began to perform austerities, zealous in the worship of Śaṅkara.

He constantly meditated on Mahādeva, the three-eyed, holding up the ḍamaru drum; / then, when a hundred years were completed, the Teacher of the World, constrained [by devotion], / came near him and uttered gentle words:

99.11

'Choose a boon from me, my child, O serpent who have shown respect!'

99.12

Vāsukī said: / 'If you are pleased with me, O God, [and] will give me a boon, O Śaṅkara, / by your grace, O Lord of Gods, may sinlessness be mine; / tell of some pilgrimage place that completely destroys all sins.'

99.13

Īśvara said: / 'O serpent, O mighty-armed one, go to the Revā that brings good fortune; / on its holy southern bank, take a sacred bath according to rule.'

99.14

Having spoken thus, the god vanished. Filled with haste, / Vāsukī entered the water of the Narmadā in the very form of a python.

99.15

Along his path there arose an excellent stream of the Jāhnavī; / having shaken off evil, the serpent was transformed in the water of the Narmadā.

99.16

Śaṅkara was established there on the Narmadā, O Yudhiṣṭhira; / hence the famous Nāgeśvara liṅga, which destroys sin.

99.17

On the eighth or the fourteenth [tithi], one should bathe Śiva with honey; / freed from blemish, he instantly becomes so, there is no doubt in this.

99.18

Childless men who take a sacred bath at the confluence, O son of Pṛthā, / obtain excellent, auspicious sons equal to Kārttavīrya.

99.19

Whoever performs a śrāddha right there, devoted to fasting, / by performing it releases the spirits of the dead from hell, O son of the king.

99.20

And fear of serpents does not arise in his lineage and among his kinsmen; / free from blemish, his family thrives by the serpent's grace.

99.21

All this has been told to you out of affection for you, O best of kings.

99.21.p1

|| Thus ends the ninety-ninth chapter, titled 'Description of the Glorification of the Nāgeśvara Pilgrimage Place,' in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Avantīkhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].

99.21.p2

RKV chapter 100

Linked texts (1)

Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit