Skandapurana 5.181

Sūta said: / Having thus obtained Gāyatrī as his wife, the four-faced one, / his mind filled with joy, set out for the sacrificial pavilion.

Gāyatrī too, taking up that fire-drill on her head with joy, / set out, having completely cast off the censured condition of a cowherd woman.

As musical instruments were played, the sound of the Vedas rose to heaven, / and the gandharvas sang sweetly all around,

accompanied by all the gods and twice-born, Brahmā arrived at the sacrificial pavilion / together with Gāyatrī, having assumed a human form.

At that moment, Viśvakarman shaved the hair / of the creator, and then cut the nails of Gāyatrī.

Then Pulastya handed him a staff of udumbara wood, / and a skin with a black-buck horn, with mantras, O best of the twice-born.

And taking Gāyatrī, who kept silence, to the wife's pavilion, / he placed another auspicious girdle of muñja grass around her waist.

Then the creator, together with the priests, attentive to the words of the Vedas, / performed the further rite that is prescribed in the sacrificial pavilion.

While the Pravargya rite was taking place, a great wonder occurred there: / someone bearing the form of a vile rogue, sky-clad, with a distorted face,

carrying a skull-bowl in his hand, arrived, saying: "Let food be given!" / And though forbidden by them, he entered the assembly of the sacrificers, / wandering inappropriately even while being rebuked by the ascetics.

The members of the assembly said: / "Why, being filled with sin, have you entered the sacrificial pavilion, / a skull-bearer of naked form who is excluded from sacrificial rites?

Therefore go quickly, you fool, before Brahmā grows angry, / as well as the other foremost brahmins, and the gods along with Indra!"

The rogue said: / "Hearing of this sacrifice of Brahmā, I have come here from afar, / hungry, O best of the twice-born; why then do you rebuke me?

A sacrifice is said to be complete when all the wretched, blind, and miserable are satiated; / otherwise, it leads to destruction, as stated by the words of brahmins:

'A sacrifice devoid of food burns the realm; devoid of mantras, it burns the priests; / devoid of sacrificial fee, it burns the sacrificer—there is no enemy equal to [such] a sacrifice.'"

The brahmins said: / "If you have come wishing to eat, go quickly / to this alms-hall where the ascetics eat, / as well as the wretched, blind, and miserable, their throats emaciated with hunger.

Or if you desire wealth, or desire clothing, O ascetic, / go to where the lord of wealth has taken his seat at the hall of gifts.

This sacrifice belonging to the grandfather is irreproachable, O great fool; since / it is revered everywhere, it is meritorious; why then do you revile it, you evil-minded one?"

Sūta said: / Thus addressed, he threw the skull-bowl onto the earth / and instantly disappeared like a lamp, O best of the twice-born.

The officiating priests said: / "How can the sacrificial rite be performed with a skull-bowl lying in the assembly? / Therefore, throw it away!" Thus spoke the best of the twice-born.

Then one [priest], urged repeatedly by the members of the assembly and the best of the twice-born, / lifted a wooden staff and tossed it outside.

Then another such skull-bowl appeared there again; / and when that too was thrown away in the same way, yet another arose.

In this way, hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of millions / were produced there, and the sacrificial enclosure was filled with them all around.

Then an outcry of woe arose throughout the entire sacrificial pavilion, / seeing those multitudes of skull-bowls polluting the sacrificial rite.

Then the grandfather reflected, having entered meditation; / knowing all that to be the misfortune caused by Hara, assuming a joyful form,

having joined his hands in reverence, he then spoke respectfully, / approaching Maheśvara who had taken his station in the sacrificial enclosure:

"Is this proper, O god, that the rite be ruined in this sacrifice? / Therefore, withdraw all the skull-bowls, O lord of the gods!"

Let there be no destruction of the sacrificial rite now that you have arrived.”

Then the blessed lord who bears the crescent moon on his crest, filled with wrath, said: / “That [skull] is my most beloved bowl, ever used for my food.

Why do these lowest of the twice-born despise it, O grandfather? / Likewise, they have offered no oblation into the fire addressed to me,

as they do for other deities with sacrificial food purified by mantras, O Brahmā. / Therefore, O Brahmā, if the sacrificial rite is to be completed,

then all this sacrificial food must be placed within skulls; / and an oblation addressed especially to me must be poured into the fire.

Only when the oblation is offered here will the sacrifice reach completion; / not otherwise. Truly have I spoken before you, O four-faced one.”

The grandfather said: / “O lord of the gods, your forms are manifold and diverse; / they are beyond number, and all are worthy of meditation.

This form of yours, O three-eyed one, is proclaimed to belong to the Mahāvrata observance; / the ritual of a sacrifice cannot be like this, nor is it fitting there.

To perform today a rite that is in any way outside the Veda [is unfitting], / yet I also dare not disobey your command, O three-eyed one.

The oblation consisting of sacrificial cake should be cooked by the twice-born in earthen pans, O lord of the gods, / in sacrifices from this day forward; / and, O lord of the gods, the Śatarudrīya hymn should be offered as an oblation addressed to you,

and recited especially in all sacrifices. / Since you manifested your own form

by means of the skulls, O best of the gods, / you will therefore be named Kapāleśvara, the twelfth other Rudra in this sacred field.

Whoever commences a sacrifice here and worships you first, / his sacrifice will reach its completion without obstacles.”

When he had spoken thus, O best of the twice-born, / all those skulls, beyond number, vanished.

Then, delighted, the four-faced one at that very moment consecrated / a liṅga of Maheśvara there named Kapāleśvara.

And he uttered these words: “Whoever bathes in my three basins / and worships this [liṅga] shall attain the supreme state.

And whoever, with a concentrated mind, / keeps vigil for this liṅga on the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight of Kārtika, / will be liberated from the sin born from his birth.”

When Brahmā had spoken thus, the destroyer of Tripura was overjoyed; / having reached the sacrificial pavilion, he stood beside the altar.

Then, their eyes wide with wonder, the brahmins bowed to Maheśvara / and commenced the rite of the sacrifice.

Sūta said: / While the four-faced one was thus sacrificing there, / ten million seers residing in the Deccan arrived,

filled with curiosity upon hearing of the grandfather’s sacrifice: / “What kind of sacrifice will this be, wherein the lotus-born one himself is consecrated?

And what is that holy sacred field called Hāṭakeśvara like? / And what are those eminent twice-born officiating priests residing there like?”

Then, utterly exhausted as the sun reached midday / on a Sunday, when the asterism of the Aśvins was present,

and on the Yamī lunar day, afflicted by the heat, / they reached a pool of water and entered the auspicious water.

Some had ears like pegs, some huge ears, others crane-like noses; / some had pot-bellies, large teeth, long lips, or swollen heads;

others had flat eyes, others long necks, / with dark limbs, cracked feet, and long, protruding nails.

Then, as soon as they emerged, they looked at one another; / they were freed from deformity and had become beautiful as the god of love.

Then, filled with wonder and overjoyed, seeing the transformation of their appearance / and recognizing that excellent sacred ford, they said to one another: / “By bathing here, this excellent form has been obtained by us.

Therefore, this sacred ford shall be called Rūpatīrtha, / renowned in all the three worlds, destroying all sins.

Those who bathe here endowed with supreme faith / will always be beautiful, birth after birth.

And those who, endowed with faith, satisfy their ancestors here / even with water, will obtain a fruit greater than a śrāddha at Gayā.

Those people who give gifts of gems here / will, without doubt, become kings in every rebirth.

We shall stay right here now, having made our resolve; / we will not go to another sacred ford, even if it were most splendid.”

Having spoken thus, those sages partitioned all of it; / they made their own sacred fords each the measure of a sacred thread.

Sūta said: / Even today, O best of the twice-born, the teacher of the world / first touches the water in that sacred ford; it is ever his dear, auspicious [water].

And a mortal free from desire who bathes there with faith / attains the supreme good marked by spiritual perfection.

Having thus partitioned that great lake, all those sages / performed their elaborate evening rite right there, / and then, at the beginning of night, arrived where the divine grandfather was, / consecrated, observing silence, and seated in the sacrificial pavilion.

Having bowed to him, they all went where the officiating priests were staying, / who were seated, fatigued by the sacrificial duties of the day,

their feet being massaged with devotion by the gods led by Indra. / Having greeted them all, they sat down before them,

and held various discussions arising from the rites of the sacrifice: / the connection with the drinking of Soma, its variation and origin,

and the mutual functions of the Udgātṛ and the Adhvaryu priests; / relying on truth, some stated them, while others refuted them.

Other Mīmāṃsakas there, their eyes red with anger, / eloquent in speech, refuted their doctrines by resorting to debate.

And other best of twice-born, knowers of the supplementary texts and impartial, / abandoning dispute, spoke with intended meaning as prescribed. (71)

Others engaged in debates regarding the Mahāvīra, the sacrificial cake, the piling [of the altar], and the like, / each resorting to their own position. (72)

In this way that night passed for those twice-born. (73)

Thus ends the hundred and eighty-second chapter, titled “Description of the Events of the First Sacrificial Day Preceded by the Origin of Rūpatīrtha,” in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the sixth [section], the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa. (182)