Skandapurana 16.30

The Goddess said: / Having bathed there at Agnitīrtha, which god should one worship first, / by means of which a person's pilgrimage becomes free from obstacles, O Lord of gods? / You ought to tell me the proper procedure for that pilgrimage as it truly is.

Īśvara said: / Having thus performed the ritual ablution according to rule, and having offered an arghya into the great ocean, / and worshipped with fragrant flowers, garments, and floral unguents, 2

one should cast a golden bracelet there according to one's ability. / Then, having offered libations to the ancestors, one should go to the god Kapardin. 3

Having worshipped him with devotion by means of flowers, incenses, perfumes, and garments, / one should offer an arghya to him with the mantra beginning with "gaṇānāṃ tvā". 4

For śūdras, O goddess of gods, the eight-syllable mantra is prescribed. / There one should go to Someśvara, the supreme god who removes sins. 5

Having bathed him according to rule, one should recite the Śatarudrīya, / and likewise the Rudra hymns with their five limbs, and other Rudra collections. 6

One should bathe him with milk, curd combined with ghee, / and with honey and sugarcane juice, and anoint him with saffron. 7

Then one should worship the adorable Lord with fragrant sandalwood, / mixed with camphor and uśīra, and combined with musk. 8

Having fumigated the god with various incenses according to the prescribed rite, / one should then wrap him in garments and present an excellent food offering. 9

Having then performed the wave-offering of lights, one may dance as one wishes, / prostrating with the eight limbs, and then perform songs, instrumental music, and the like. 10

A theatrical performance for the Lord, accompanied by hearing the sacred teaching, should be arranged. / Then one should give to twice-born persons and ascetics according to one's ability. 11

Gifts should be given to the poor, the blind, the wretched, and to pilgrims. / A bull should be gifted there when a cruel act has commenced. / Then one should observe a fast on that day, O beautiful lady. 12

The lunar day on which a person beholds the god Someśvara / should be observed as a fast for one year by those intent on devotion. 13

Having acted thus with devotion, a man obtains the fruit of human birth, / and he likewise obtains the entire fruit of all the sacred fords. 14

He redeems his paternal family and his maternal family, O beautiful lady. / Whatever sin was committed in childhood, in old age, or in youth, 15

a man washes away all that merely by beholding Someśvara; / he is never miserable, nor poor, nor unfortunate. 16

When the all-pervading Someśvara is beheld, within seven births / he is born in an affluent family, richly endowed with wealth and grain. 17

Devotion toward the Lord Somanātha arises again and again. / First the ceremonial bath with milk, and then that which arises from a continuous stream [is performed]. 18

After this, the great bath is performed during the first watch; / those mortals who behold the twilight wave-offering of lights of the God of gods at midday / are never born as humans again. 19

Considering the Kali age to be terrible and full of manifold sins, O fair-faced lady, / a man does not cross over this difficult misery through any other act. 20

Thus ends the thirtieth chapter, entitled "Description of the Greatness of the Worship of Someśvara," in the Greatness of Someśvara, in the Greatness of Prabhāsa Field, in the first Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, in the seventh section Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa containing eighty-one thousand verses. 30