The Skanda Purana
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 2,545,880 words
This page describes The Greatness of Shalagrama Tirtha which is chapter 188 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 one hundred eighty-eighth chapter of the Reva-khanda of the Avantya-khanda of the Skanda Purana.
Chapter 188 - The Greatness of Śālagrāma Tīrtha
[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
1-6. Thereafter, O great king, one should go to the Śālagrāma Tīrtha at a distance of forty paces therefrom. It is adored by all the Devas.
It is there that the primordial god Vāsudeva, Trivikrama, the immanent soul of the world, stays himself with a desire for the welfare of all.
On coming to know that Bhṛgukṣetra is the holy spot of spiritual perfection, penance was performed by Nārada himself on the banks of Revā and a Śālā (large assembly-hall) was made for Brāhmaṇas.
The Lord of Brāhmaṇas named Śālagrāma was installed. Vāsuḍeva was installed for the sake of rendering help to the good.
In order to help Yogins, Janārdana, worthy of being meditated upon by Yogins, resorted to the banks of Narmadā in the form of Śālagrāma.
On the eleventh lunar day in the bright half of the month of Mārgaśīrṣa a devotee should take his holy bath in the meritorious waters of Revā and observe fast for the whole of the day.
7-13. He should keep awake at night after worshipping Janārdana. When the day dawns on the twelfth day, he should take his holy bath in the waters of Narmadā. He should then offer libations to Pitṛs, Mātṛs (Mothers) and Devas. Thereafter he should perform Śrāddha to Pitṛs according to injunctions. He should honour Brāhmaṇas in accordance with his capacity through gift of gold, cloth and food. He should then crave the forgiveness of those Brāhmaṇas and the bird-emblemed Lord (Viṣṇu).
Listen attentively, O excellent king, to the merit one attains by doing thus: During his life here he will never meet with grief and misery. On death he attains equality with Lord Murāri. He will dispel all great sins. Never again will he drink the breast milk of a mother.
One who visits Śālagrāma everyday after taking the holy bath in the waters of Narmadā that dispels series of sins, is liberated from sins such as that of the Brāhmaṇa-slaughter by the recollection of Nārāyaṇa.
Those who adopt the way of life of a recīuse and stay there with miseries dispelled and contacts abandoned and meditate upon the fourth Pada of Murāri (Viṣṇuloka) through the Sāṅkhya way go there alone.