The Power of Dharmaranya's Glory

Verse 1 (skanda.3.76.1)

व्यास उवाच । एतत्तीर्थस्य माहात्म्यं मया प्रोक्तं तवाग्रतः अनेकपूर्वजन्मोत्थपातकघ्नं महीपते

vyāsa uvāca etat tīrthasya māhātmyaṁ mayā proktaṁ tavāgrataḥ anekapūrvajanmottha pātakaghnaṁ mahīpate

Vyasa said: I have declared to you, O king, the glory of this tirtha, which destroys the sins accumulated across many past births.

Verse 2 (skanda.3.76.2)

स्थानानामुत्तमं स्थानं परं स्वस्त्ययनं महत् स्कंदस्याग्रे पुरा प्रोक्तं महारुद्रेण धीमता

sthānānām uttamaṁ sthānaṁ paraṁ svastyayanaṁ mahat skandasyāgre purā proktaṁ mahārudreṇa dhīmatā

This is the foremost of all places, the great and supreme abode of well-being, which the wise Maharudra himself once declared before Skanda.

Verse 3 (skanda.3.76.3)

त्वं पार्थ तत्र स्नात्वा हि मोक्ष्यसे सर्वपातकात् तच्छ्रुत्वा व्यासवाक्यं हि धर्म्मराजो युधिष्ठिरः

tvaṁ pārtha tatra snātvā hi mokṣyase sarvapātakāt tac chrutvā vyāsavākyaṁ hi dharmarājo yudhiṣṭhiraḥ

(Rudra had said:) "O Pārtha, bathing there you shall be freed from every sin." Hearing these words of Vyasa, King Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Dharma —

Verse 4 (skanda.3.76.4)

धर्मात्मजस्तदा तात धर्मारण्यं समाविशत् महापातकनाशाय साधुपालनत त्परः

dharmātmajas tadā tāta dharmāraṇyaṁ samāviśat mahāpātakanāśāya sādhupālanatatparaḥ

then, O child, entered Dharmaranya, intent on destroying great sins and on protecting the righteous.

Verse 5 (skanda.3.76.5)

विगाह्य तत्र तीर्थानि देवतायतनानि च इष्टापूर्तादिकं सर्वं कृतं तेन यथेप्सितम्

vigāhya tatra tīrthāni devatāyatanāni ca iṣṭāpūrtādikaṁ sarvaṁ kṛtaṁ tena yathepsitam

Having bathed in the sacred waters and visited the temples of the gods there, he performed every act of iṣṭa (sacrifice) and pūrta (public works) exactly as he wished.

Verse 6 (skanda.3.76.6)

ततः पापविनिर्मुक्तः पुनर्गत्वा स्वकं पुरम् इद्रप्रस्थं महासेन शशास वसुधातलम्

tataḥ pāpavinirmuktaḥ punar gatvā svakaṁ puram indraprasthaṁ mahāsena śaśāsa vasudhātalam

Then, freed from sin, he returned to his own city Indraprastha, O great warrior, and ruled over the whole surface of the earth.

Verse 7 (skanda.3.76.7)

इदं हि स्थानमासाद्य ये शृण्वंति नरोत्तमाः तेषां भुक्तिश्च मुक्तिश्च भविष्यति न संशयः

idaṁ hi sthānam āsādya ye śṛṇvanti narottamāḥ teṣāṁ bhuktiś ca muktiś ca bhaviṣyati na saṁśayaḥ

Those excellent men who, having reached this place, listen to its glory shall attain both worldly enjoyment and liberation — of this there is no doubt.

Verse 8 (skanda.3.76.8)

भुक्त्वा भोगान्पार्थिवांश्च परं निर्वाणमाप्नुयुः श्राद्धकाले च संप्राप्ते ये पठंति द्विजातयः

bhuktvā bhogān pārthivāṁś ca paraṁ nirvāṇam āpnuyuḥ śrāddhakāle ca saṁprāpte ye paṭhanti dvijātayaḥ

Having enjoyed earthly pleasures, they attain supreme liberation; and those twice-born who recite this at the time of the shraddha rite —

Verse 9 (skanda.3.76.9)

उद्धृताः पितरस्तैस्तु यावच्चंद्रार्क्कमेदिनि द्वापरे च युगे भूत्वा व्यासेनोक्तं महात्मना

uddhṛtāḥ pitaras tais tu yāvac candrārkamedini dvāpare ca yuge bhūtvā vyāsenoktaṁ mahātmanā

their ancestors are thereby uplifted for as long as the moon, sun, and earth endure; this was declared, in the Dvapara Yuga, by the great soul Vyasa.

Verse 10 (skanda.3.76.10)

वारिमात्रे धर्मवाप्यां गयाश्राद्धफलं लभेत् अत्रागतस्य मर्त्यस्य पापं यमपदे स्थितम्

vārimātre dharmavāpyāṁ gayāśrāddhaphalaṁ labhet atrāgatasya martyasya pāpaṁ yamapade sthitam

By water alone offered at the Dharma-vapi (sacred pool), one obtains the fruit of the shraddha performed at Gaya; whatever sin of a mortal who comes here stands recorded at Yama's abode —

Verse 11 (skanda.3.76.11)

कथितं धर्मपुत्रेण लोकानां हितकाम्यया विना अन्नैर्विना दर्भैर्विना चासनमेव वा

kathitaṁ dharmaputreṇa lokānāṁ hitakāmyayā vinā annair vinā darbhair vinā cāsanam eva vā

— this was declared by the son of Dharma, out of desire for the welfare of the world — even without rice-offerings, without kusha-grass, and without a seat —

Verse 12 (skanda.3.76.12)

तोयेन नाशमायाति कोटिजन्मकृतं त्व घम् सहस्रमुरुशृंगीणां धेनूनां कुरुजांगले दत्त्वा सूर्यग्रहे पुण्यं धर्मवाप्यां च तर्पणाम्

toyena nāśam āyāti koṭijanmakṛtaṁ tv agham sahasram uruśṛṅgīṇāṁ dhenūnāṁ kurujāṅgale dattvā sūryagrahe puṇyaṁ dharmavāpyāṁ ca tarpaṇām

— by water alone, sin accumulated across a crore of births is destroyed. The merit of giving a thousand large-horned cows in Kurujāṅgala, or of giving during a solar eclipse, is equalled by the merit of performing tarpaṇa (water-offering) at the Dharma-vapi.

Verse 13 (skanda.3.76.13)

एतद्वः कथितं सर्वं धर्मारण्यस्य चेष्टितम् यच्छ्रुत्वा ब्रह्महा गोघ्नो मुच्यते सर्वपातकैः

etad vaḥ kathitaṁ sarvaṁ dharmāraṇyasya ceṣṭitam yac chrutvā brahmahā goghno mucyate sarvapātakaiḥ

All this has been declared to you — the deeds of Dharmaranya — hearing which even a slayer of a brahmin or of a cow is freed from all sins.

Verse 14 (skanda.3.76.14)

एकविंशतिवारैस्तु गयायां पिंडपातने तत्फलं समवाप्नोति सकृदस्मिञ्छ्रुते सति इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां तृतीये ब्रह्मखण्डे पूर्वभागे धर्मारण्यतीर्थमाहात्म्यप्रभावकथनं नाम चतुर्विंशोऽध्यायः

ekaviṁśativārais tu gayāyāṁ piṇḍapātane tatphalaṁ samavāpnoti sakṛd asmiñ chrute sati iti śrīskānde mahāpurāṇa ekāśītisāhasryāṁ saṁhitāyāṁ tṛtīye brahmakhaṇḍe pūrvabhāge dharmāraṇyatīrthamāhātmyaprabhāvakathanaṁ nāma caturviṁśo 'dhyāyaḥ

The fruit obtained by offering the piṇḍa twenty-one times at Gaya is obtained merely by hearing this once. Thus ends the twenty-fourth chapter, called "The Power of Dharmaranya Tirtha's Glory," within the Glory of Dharmaranya, in the earlier portion of the third Brahma Khanda, in the Skanda Mahapurana's Samhita of eighty-one thousand verses.