“’Skanda replied, “Ye shall not recover those that have been once given away, but I can give you other offspring if ye like.”

“’The mothers replied, “We desire that living with thee and assuming different shapes we be able to eat up the progeny of those mothers and their guardians.  Do thou grant us this favour.”

“’Skanda said, “I can grant you progeny, but this topic on which ye have just now dilated is a very painful one.  May ye be prosperous!  All honour to you, ladies, do ye vouchsafe to them your protecting care.”

“’The mothers replied, “We shall protect them, O Skanda, as thou desirest.  Mayst thou be prosperous!  But, O mighty being, we desire to live with thee always.”

“’Skanda replied, “So long as children of the human kind do not attain the youthful state in the sixteenth year of their age, ye shall afflict them with your various forms, and I too shall confer on you a fierce inexhaustible spirit.  And with that ye shall live happily, worshipped by all."’

“Markandeya continued, ’And then a fiery powerful being came out of the body of Skanda for the purpose of devouring the progeny of mortal beings.  He fell down upon the ground, senseless and hungry.  And bidden by Skanda, that genius of evil assumed a terrific form.  Skandapasmara is the name by which it is known among good Brahmanas.  Vinata is called the terrific Sakuni graha (spirit of evil).  She who is known as Putana Rakshasi by the learned is the graha called Putana; that fierce and terrible looking Rakshasa of a hideous appearance is also called the pisacha, Sita Putana.  That fierce-looking spirit is the cause of abortion in women.  Aditi is also known by the name of Revati; her evil spirit is called Raivata, and that terrible graha also afflicts children.  Diti, the mother of the Daityas (Asuras), is also called Muhkamandika, and that terrible creature is very fond of the flesh of little children.  Those male and female children, O Kaurava, who are said to have been begotten by Skanda, are spirit of evil and they destroy the foetus in the womb.  They (the Kumaras) are known as the husbands of those very ladies, and children are seized unawares by these cruel spirits.  And, O king, Surabhi who is called the mother of bovine kind by the wise is best ridden by the evil spirit Sakuni, who in company with her, devours children on this earth.  And Sarama, the mother of dogs, also habitually kills human beings while still in the womb.  She who is the mother of all trees has her abode in a karanja tree.  She grants boons and has a placid countenance and is always favourably disposed towards all creatures.  Those persons who desire to have children, bow down to her, who is seated in a karanja tree.  These eighteen evil spirits fond of meat and wine, and others of the same kind, invariably take up their abode in the lying-in-room for ten days.  Kadru