Skandapurana 16.187

Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O great goddess, to that which bestows the fruit of all desires: / the holy, primeval group of five Prabhāsas established there.

In the western part of that very place is what is called Prabhāsa; / and from there, to the south, not very far, is Vṛddhaprabhāsa;

and to the south from that is Jalaprabhāsa, O fair-faced one; / and Kṛtasmaraprabhāsa, where the fearsome cremation ground is.

In this way, whoever sees the five Prabhāsas filled with devotion / goes to the supreme abode, free from old age and death.

Having reached it, one does not return—it is difficult to attain even by the gods. / Prabhāsa is the foremost sacred ford, renowned across the three worlds,

difficult to attain even for the gods, destroying great sins. / Offering water at Prabhāsa on the new moon day, having spent a single night,

one is freed from all sins and goes to the world of Śiva. / The sin committed in seven births [is destroyed] at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the ocean;

and whatever sin a man commits over a thousand births / is destroyed merely by a bath here in the salt waters of the ocean.

Especially on the fourteenth day and the new moon or fifteenth day, / having fasted for a day and night, and having fed brahmins according to one's means,

having given a cow and gold to them, saying, "May Śiva be pleased"— / having done thus, O goddess, a man delivers a hundred generations of his family.

The goddess said: / This group of five Prabhāsas that has been proclaimed by you— / how did it originate here? This is my great curiosity.

Only one Prabhāsa, inhabited by sacred fords, was heard of by us; / yet five Prabhāsas have been proclaimed by you, O lord of gods.

You ought to resolve this entire doubt of mine according to reality.

Īśvara said: / Listen, O goddess, I shall tell the story that destroys sins, / hearing which with devotion, a mortal attains the supreme goal.

Formerly the god Maheśvara wandered upon this earth, / handsome, bearing a divine form, naked as the sky, according to his pleasure.

And sporting thus, filled with curiosity, / he went to the great hermitage of the seers in the Dāruka forest for alms.

Then, seeing his incomparable form as he wandered, / those women were tormented by desire, their senses perturbed.

Full of passion, they all followed him constantly; / some embraced him, and others gazed with passion.

And others entreatingly abandoned their own homes.

Seeing that condition of theirs, all those great seers, / filled with great anger, cursed him who bears the bull upon his banner:

"Because you have come naked into this hermitage of ours, / bewitching our women and feeling no shame at all, / therefore let your liṅga fall down this very moment, O bull-bannered one!"

Then that liṅga of Śaṃkara fell at that very instant; / and when it fell onto the earth, the earth trembled violently.

All the oceans were agitated; then they transgressed their bounds; / the mountain peaks shattered; all the gods were terrified.

Then the gods, accompanied by the gandharvas, great serpents, and kinnaras, / went to the Grandfather and said: "O all-pervading lord, what is the cause of this,

whereby the agitated oceans are flooding the earth, / the mountain peaks are shattering, and the earth is trembling?

Dreadful portents are seen indicating the destruction of the worlds." / Hearing that speech of theirs in the realm of Brahmā, the Grandfather,

having meditated for a very long time, indeed spoke these words: / "The Śivaliṅga has fallen down upon the earth, O best of the gods,

by the curse of the foremost seers, the magnanimous Bhārgavas. / When it fell onto the earth, the three worlds, with all that moves and is still,

reached this condition; therefore go to that very place. / O gods, together with Viṣṇu, let proper conduct be undertaken."

Then the gods, headed by Brahmā, went to the Ocean of Milk, / where the four-armed one lies, absorbed in yoganidrā.

They reported everything to him; then, accompanied by him, / they went to where the all-pervading Mahādeva was, bereft of his liṅga.

All the gods, bowing down with concentrated minds, said:

"Let this liṅga that has fallen upon the earth be lifted up, O all-pervading lord! / All these great oceans are inundating the earth."

The Blessed One said: / "Indeed, this liṅga of mine has been brought down by the seers, O lords of the gods; / and I am unable to cause injury to those magnanimous ones.

For it is the curse of the foremost of the Bhārgavas; therefore listen to my words: / let all the gods, headed by Brahmā and Viṣṇu, worship

this liṅga; then, O best of beings, you will obtain everything. / All the oceans, and likewise the mountains, will return to their natural state.

Bearing it with concentrated minds in this most holy sacred field—" / Then, having lifted it up, all the gods came to the sacred field of Prabhāsa.

They placed it down there, and then performed its worship. / The liṅga was worshipped by Brahmā and by Viṣṇu the mighty lord,

and by Śakra, Kubera, Yama, and Varuṇa. / And having worshipped the liṅga with devotion, the gods then said:

"From this day forth, having worshipped the liṅga of Rudra with devotion, / we shall endure, there is no doubt, and likewise the host of the ancestors.

Those mortals who worship it endowed with devotion, / those best of men will go to the abode of the gods in their physical bodies.

Because this first liṅga was established by us right here, / its name also shall be Prabhāsa at Prabhāsa."

Having spoken thus, all the best of the gods went to heaven. / Having seen it, abundant living beings on earth go to heaven.

Then heaven was filled with many living beings, O dear one. / Seeing heaven overcrowded, the thousand-eyed one became deeply distressed.

Understanding the power of the liṅga, he then came to the surface of the earth; / he covered it completely all around with his vajra, O fair-faced one.

From then on, O goddess, mortals do not go to heaven [so easily]. / Thus, in brief, the great majesty of Prabhāsa has been proclaimed, / which removes all sins and grants the fruit of all desires.

Thus ends the one hundred and eighty-seventh chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glory of the Five Prabhāsas', in the first [part], the Māhātmya of the Prabhāsakṣetra, in the seventh [book], the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].