The Skanda Purana
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 2,545,880 words
This page describes The Greatness of Hamsatirtha (hamsa-tirtha) which is chapter 196 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 ninety-sixth chapter of the Reva-khanda of the Avantya-khanda of the Skanda Purana.
Chapter 196 - The Greatness of Haṃsatīrtha (haṃsa-tīrtha)
[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
1-6. Thereafter, O king, a devotee should go to the excellent Haṃsatīrtha where a swan performed penance and attained the status of the vehicle of Brahmā.
A man who takes his holy bath in Haṃsatīrtha and makes gift of gold becomes rid of all sins and goes to Brahmaloka by means of a vehicle fitted with swans and having the lustre of the sun and richly endowed with all desirable things. He will be attended upon by groups of celestial damsels.
After enjoying all pleasures as he pleases, he will be reborn as a human being where he will be able to remember previous births.
He then renounces and casts off his body when, O descendant of Bharata, he will attain salvation. Thus, O son of Kuntī, has been recounted to you, what the merit of visiting Haṃsatīrtha is. It is meritorious, destructive of all sins and capable of destroying all miseries.