The Skanda Purana

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

This page describes Greatness of Kanakhala Tirtha which is chapter 26 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 twenty-sixth chapter of the Arbuda-khanda of the Prabhasa Khanda of the Skanda Purana.

Chapter 26 - Greatness of Kanakhala Tīrtha

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Pulastya said:

1. Then O best of kings! one has to go to that centre of pilgrimage which is heard of in the three worlds. As a destroyer of sins, it is known by the name Kanakhala in the Arbuda mountain.

2. O king! listen to the astonishing incident here earlier. A king by name Sumati had happened to come to the Arbuda mountain.

3. The king had gone to the Kanakhala Tīrtha during solar eclipse and by prayer, he got gold produced there.

4. But due to lack of caution on the part of the king plenty of the same fell off somewhere. Despite the king’s earnest efforts to retrieve them, he could not get them.

5. Then after having a bath, he returned home equally burdened with repentence. After passage of substantial time, he again came there.

6-7. Setting out to have a bath there on the day of Solar eclipse, he began to look at the region. He, the meritorious one began to recollect as to how could he never gain back the gold fallen off his hands in that region.

Pulastya said:

8-10. While thinking like this, a voice came from a formless body which said, “O king! nothing of this or the other world is destructible here. The gold you had managed to obtain earlier, and the loss of which you have already repented vehemently, have grown by a crore more times. From their original quantity, they have also grown into numbers beyond imagination. Those who observe the religious act connected with remembrance of their ancestors, i.e., Śrāddha, need to do so with faith, O virtuous king. Hence, you perform the Śrāddha carefully and specially with gold. If you make them as presents to Brāhmaṇas, their numbers grow into such countless proportion which cannot be imagined. If you look for them in this region, there is no doubt of your getting them.”

12. Hearing the flow of that voice emerging from the sky, O king, he began searching for the gold and got them back in that region.

13. Bestowed with gold endowed with brightness of crore times, he got joined with pleasure. Thus learning the effect of the centre of pilgrimage, he distributed them benevolently to thousands of Brāhmaṇas with the intention of uplifting his ancestral forefathers equal to gods.

14. Thus with the effect of that and by his making of gifts, the king got reborn with the name Yakṣa meaning the giver of wealth and himself becoming a giver of many types of wealth.

15. O king! one who performs Śrāddha here on (day of) the Solar eclipse with libation of water joined with all good intentions, his forefathers attain that degree of unimagined satisfaction.

16. The sages, the gods and the divine snakes with human faces become happy through a bath here. It leads to germination of forces forever that kill sins on the surface of earth.

17. Hence, O virtuous king! with all earnest efforts, one needs to undergo the religious activity of having a bath there. One must also make offering through charity as per one’s ability and conduct Śrāddha here.

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