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स्कन्दोत्पत्ति (skandotpatti)

 
Mahabharata
English
[Skandotpatti(ḥ)]
(“origin of Skanda”).--§ 495 (Mārk.). Mārkanḍeya promised to tell the story of Kārttikeya, the son of Adbhuta, begotten of the wives of the Brahmarshis. Formerly, when the Asuras always defeated the gods, Indra, anxious to find out a leader for the celestial host, repaired to the Mānasa mountain, and, hearing a woman crying for protection, rescued her from the Asura Keśin, whom he wounded and put to flight (III, 223). She told Indra that she was Devasenā, daughter of Prajāpati, and that her sister Daityasenā had let herself be taken away by Keśin from the Mānasa mountain, where they used to sport with their female friends with the permission of Prajāpati. Indra said that she was a sister's daughter of his mother Dākshāyaṇī. She asked Indra to select a husband for her, who was able to conquer the gods, Dānavas, Yakshas, Kinnaras, Uragas, Rakshas, and Daityas. Indra was grieved, thinking there was no such husband for her.--§ 496. Then Indra perceived the Sun rising from the Udaya hill, and Soma (the Moon) entering the Sun on the amāvasyā (new-moon day) at the Raudra muhūrta, and the gods and Asuras fighting on the Udaya mountain, the morning twilight tinged with red clouds, the Sea bloodred
Bhṛgus and Aṅgirases offered oblations, and Agni took the oblations and entered the Sun, whilst the Sun was entering the twenty-fourth parvan, and Sindhu was flowing with a current of fresh blood, etc. Indra thought that, if now Soma or Agni gave birth to a son, this son might become the husband of Devasenā. Then he repaired with Devasenā to the world of Brahmán, who promised that it should be as Indra had thought. Then Indra. with Devasenā, repaired to the place where the devarshis Vasishṭha, etc. lived, and the gods also came thither to drink soma and receive their shares of offerings, and the Adbhuta fire came from the solar disc to the āhavanīya and made over the offerings to the gods. He, (Adbhuta), then saw the wives of the ṛshis sleeping in their āśramas and fell in love. In order to look at them daily, he entered the gārhapatya fire, and dwelt there for a long time, and at last, from despair, repaired to a forest in order to do away with himself. Svāhā, daughter of Daksha, who had in vain loved Adbhuta, now resolved upon assuming the guise of the wives of the seven ṛshis (III, 224). Svāhā first gratified her desire in the guise of Śivā, the wife of Aṅgiras, and then, lest somebody should unduly suspect the brāhmaṇa ladies, she went out of the forest in the guise of a bird (garuḍī, suparṇī), and on the Śveta mountain, that was covered with clumps of reeds and guarded with seven-headed poisonous serpents, rākshasas, Piśācas, etc., she threw the semen, which she held in her hand, into a golden basin. Then, assuming successively the form of five of the others, she did the same on the first lunar day (pratipadi). Only the form of Arundhatī she was unable to assume because of her ascetic merit and devotion to her husband. The semen produced a child, whom the ṛshis called Skanda (etymology v. 14315), with six heads, etc. On the second day it first assumed a form, on the 3rd it looked like a little child, on the fourth the limbs were developed. Seizing the bow used by the destroyer of Tripura, Skanda uttered a terrible roar, so that the great nāgas Citra and Airāvata sprang up. But Skanda seized them with two of his hands, and holding a dart in one hand, a cock in another, etc., and blowing a conch-shell, he terrified the creatares with his roars. The persons of various orders, who then sought the protection of Skanda, are called his followers by the brahmans (pārishadān brāhmaṇān, read brāhmaṇāḥ). Discharging his arrows in the direction of the Śveta mountain, he rent asunder the mountain Krauñca, the son of Himavat
therefore the swans and vultures go to the mountain Meru. The other mountains also screamed aloud. Then, with his lance, he rent in twain one of the peaks of the Śveta mountain. Mount Śveta and the other mountains left the Earth and fled: the Earth was torn asunder on all sides
she went to Skanda and regained her power
the mountains bowed down to Skanda and came back to the Earth, and all creatures worshipped Skanda on the fifth day of the lunar month (III, 225).--§ 497. Terrific prodigies were seen everywhere. The ṛshis tried to restore tranquillity to the universe. The inhabitants of the Caitraratha forest accused the wives of the six ṛshis, other ones the fowl (garuḍī) of being the cause thereof
but nobody suspected Svāhā. The seven ṛshis divorced their wives with the exception of Arundhatī, though Svāhā claimed the child as hers. Viśvāmitra, having concluded the sacrifice of the seven ṛshis, had secretly followed the god of fire, and knew everything as it had happened. He sought the protection of Skanda, and performed for him the thirteen auspicious rites of childhood (maṅgalāni kaumārāṇi): the jālakarman, etc., etc. Though Viśvāmitra informed the seven ṛshis of the innocence of their wives, yet they abandoned them unconditionally.-§ 498. The gods asked Indra to kill Skanda, but he dared not attack him, saying that Skanda was able to destroy even the Creator of the world. Then they let the Mothers of the world approach in order to kill Skanda, but they adopted him as their son and let him suck their breasts, especially the daughter of Krodha with a spike in her hand, and the daughter of the Red Sea, who lived on blood
and his father Agni came and, transformed into Naigameya (see BR.) with a goat's month, gratified him with toys (III, 226).