The Skanda Purana

by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 2,545,880 words

This page describes The Greatness of Shipra which is chapter 50 of the English translation of the Skanda Purana, the largest of the eighteen Mahapuranas, preserving the ancient Indian society and Hindu traditions in an encyclopedic format, detailling on topics such as dharma (virtous lifestyle), cosmogony (creation of the universe), mythology (itihasa), genealogy (vamsha) etc. This is the fiftieth chapter of the Avantikshetra-mahatmya of the Avantya-khanda of the Skanda Purana.

Chapter 50 - The Greatness of Śiprā

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Sanatkumāra said:

1. O scorcher of enemies,[1] I shall succinctly explain how Śiprā of holy waters became well-known as destroyer of sins.

2. Formerly, O Vyāsa, in Kṛtayuga, there was a king named Damana, in the land of Kīkaṭa (Magadha). That king was very notorious for his excessive irascibleness.

3-8. He followed evil ways. He used to censure all pious rites, cows and Brāhmaṇas. He used to imbibe liquor and confiscate gold. He was envious and he defiled the bed of his preceptor. He used to confiscate and misappropriate all the possessions of his subjects. He outraged the modesty of other men’s wives. He himself was a rogue and he associated himself with rogues. He was a scandal-monger and he emulated thieves. He used to take away forcibly herds of cows. He used to attack other cities. He used to imprison people. He was fond of bards or flatterers. He was despicable and always wrathful. He was hostile to the Vedas and scriptural texts. He avoided the society of good men. Himself very wicked, he liked other wicked people. He deserted women of noble family. He was a paramour of prostitutes and Śūdra women. Always censuring righteousness, he took pleasure in vice whereon his mind indulged. He never performed worships or sacrifices. He censured the Vedas and Yajñas. The idols of the deities used to be kicked with feet by him. A king more vicious and wicked has never been before nor will there be one in future.

9. Once moving about in the terrible forest in the course of his hunting expedition, the wicked one was wandering here and there surrounded by hunters.

10-16. The hungry and thirsty rogue could not find any hamlet (for succour). He stayed alone from the group and went near Mahākālavana. Night fell by that time in all its terrible aspects, for it was the time when terrible beings seek refuge in it. He came to the root of a tree. Oppressed by hunger he wanted to lie down somewhere. He tied the horse to a branch and sat himself down. At that very same time, a serpent fell down on his head. “What is this mystery? How has this happened?” Saying thus it was warded off with his hand. The king who wanted to ward it off was bitten in his thumb by that serpent. As soon as he was bitten, the king became distressed and he tottered on to the ground. In a short while the distressed king swooned without any hope of recovery. In another moment he became a ghost and was led to the frightful group of hells by the messengers of Yama, who struck him with different kinds of weapons as a result of his own previous actions. All the delighted groups of servants of Yamarāja bound him with ropes. They led the sinner to the palace of Yama.

17-20. In the meantime, O Vyāsa, the corpse was eaten by carnivorous animals. A bit that remained was seen by a crow in the morning. It flew into the sky and reached that place. It fetched the bit of flesh with its beak. Assailed by other crows, it hovered around and reached the place where the divine Śiprā of holy waters flowed. As the fruition of Karmas turned out, the piece of flesh from the king’s corpse fell from the beak of the crow into the waters of Śiprā. Due to the meritorious power thereof, the king instantly became Śiva.

21. He had three eyes and matted hairs. He was clad in the hide of a tiger. Seated on a bull he held a trident in his hand. He became identical with the Consort of Umā with the crescent-moon on the forehead.

22-27. On seeing this miraculous turn of events, the messengers (of Yama) were taken aback. They were attacked by the attendants (of Śiva) and thrashed. Thereupon they went and informed Dharmarāja (Yama): “O great king Dharmarāja, we make obeisance to you. Please listen to the words of your messengers, at once amusing and very much surprising to you.

There was a king called Damana, ruler of Kīkaṭa. That dull-witted husband of a Śūdra woman was the greatest sinner all over the earth. O excellent one, all the sins on the earth on a par with slaughter of a Brāhmaṇa had been committed by him. He broke all the conventional rules of morality and righteous conduct of all castes and stages of life. The deluded rogue in league with vicious people, madly indulgent in games of dice and full of dark spots should be meted out due punishment by Yama increasing our delight. How can he assume the form of Śiva? What else can be more mysterious than this?

28-32. Formerly many sinners were present here. All of them were redeemed by Kṛṣṇa then when he sought the son of the Brāhmaṇa (Sāndīpani, Kṛṣṇa’s teacher). Ever since then, all the chasms and crevasses of Naraka appear dry and arid like pools in summer season. In your palace, no cry of distress is being heard. There is no means of our sustenance. What is the remedy? Tell us. O Yama, O master, only one person from the world came here providing us with some sustenance. He too now has become Śiva. How is it? How can we keep alive?” On hearing those weighty words of the servants, Dharmarāja meditated for a while and said to his servants words befitting the place and the occasion:

Dharmarāja said:

33-39. O attendants, let this be heard by you all with fully concentrated minds as to how and by the power of what merit the utmost sinner assumed the form of Śiva.

In the most excellent land of great merit on the earth, in the splendid Mahākālavana, there is the excessively splendid river named Śiprā which is exceedingly destructive of all sins.

O my servants, no sin afflicts those people who come into contact with the waters of Śiprā. He who dies there shall go to the city of Śiva.

Different kinds of sins committed mentally, verbally or physically, perish instantaneously by resorting to the river Śiprā.

A man may remain anywhere and utter the name of the river, ‘Śiprā’, ‘Śiprā’. He too assumes the form of Śiva. I do not know the benefit arising from the holy bath therein. (But one thing I do know.) If the worms, locusts and aquatic beings of Śiprā die, they go to Śivapura merely by having resorting to the waters of Śiprā.

Those who ultimately resort to the banks of Śiprā after committing great sins elsewhere and die here, go to the abode of Śiva.

40. If excellent men take bath in it in the month of Mādhava, they do not fall into hell at all. They move about in the form of Śiva.

41-44. The piece of flesh of that sinful king was fetched by a crow and cast into the deep waters of Śiprā. Why should one lament over it?

Tanks, wells, lakes etc. yield more and more merit. In the rivers, the merit is ten times more. Tāpī river is ten times more efficacious. Godā river is more meritorious than that. Revā river is ten times more efficacious than that. Gaṅgā is more meritorious than that. Śiprā is holy and destructive of sins. It is ten times more meritorious. The flesh from the body of Damana came into contact with Śiprā. Due to the power thereof, he became one with the form of Śiva.

45-48. A beautiful river like this is in Avantī on the earth. All the Devas desire the rare visit thereof.

On hearing the words of Dharmarāja, the servants were surprised. Free from agony, they mentally sought refuge in Śiprā.

Sanatkumāra said:

Even since then, this Śiprā became well-known as Pāpanāśinī (‘destroyer of sins’). Her excellent greatness is being sung about in the Purāṇas. There is no doubt about this that one will get salvation on hearing about the liberation of Damana, the excellent greatness of Śiprā and the conversation of the messengers of Yama.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Probably a quotation.

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