Skandapurana 1.2.16

Brahmā said:

“O God of gods, by whom could your majesty be known,

except through your grace, which is easily attained only through single-minded devotion? (1)

The authorless words [of the Veda] cannot praise your unfailing majesty,

but merely offer bowings from afar. (2)

Who is Viṣṇu? Who am I? Or who are these guardians of the directions, Indra and the others?

You alone, O God, are the creator in the creation and preservation of the world! (3)

You are the Lord (Pati), O consort of Pārvatī, and we here are beasts (paśu).

You alone are capable of freeing us who are bound with the snare (pāśa). (4)

You exist in the form of the twenty-sixth principle, and you encompass everything.

Who is wise enough or able, O Īśvara, to determine your true nature? (5)

Indeed, you, O God, became a Kirāta hunter with the Āgamas as your hounds,

making hunting your sport to destroy the harmful group of six [internal foes]. (6)

O God, in the sacrifice of Dakṣa long ago, by your command Vīrabhadra—

what punishment did he not inflict? How inexplicable was that sport! (7)

For you, whose form is the fire of doom that consumes the entire egg of Brahmā,

the intellect of the flower-bowed [Kāma] was mere fuel to feed a tongue [of flame]. (8)

Jalandhara, having committed an offense, was torn apart by your trident;

Death and the demon Andhaka [were slain]—who can be an opposing hero to you? (9)

If you had not held the kālakūṭa poison in your throat,

how could all of us have retained our lives? (10)

In the Deodar Forest long ago, you disturbed the sages who were devoted only to rituals,

disguised as an ascetic trickster, and then out of compassion bestowed your grace. (11)

If you had not trodden down terrible Apasmāra with your foot,

this whole world, overcome by it, would have been turned into darkness. (12)

If the Ardhanārīśvara form had not been revealed by you,

how would I have been able to create this universe of moving and unmoving beings? (13)

By you, O Śambhu, the arm of Indra, poised in fury, was paralyzed;

for how long, alas, did it remain standing like a pillar of victory for you! (14)

Having filled the beggar’s skull-bowl with his own blood, Hari

was lifted up on your trident and lost consciousness; truly, remember this! (15)

If you had not taught him all weapons and missiles out of compassion,

how could Jamadagni's son, enraged as he was, have extinguished his enmity? (16)

If you had not, in the form of Śarabha, destroyed Nṛhari,

he himself, having [slain] Hiraṇyakaśipu, would have destroyed the universe.

In the ocean of the kalpa, you wished to catch, like a fisherman, the Fish and the Tortoise,

binding Hari with the cords of the king of serpents, and then the Man-lion and the Boar.

When a thousand lotuses lacked one, he worshipped with his own eye;

O bearer of the trident, by granting the Sudarśana you satisfied the enemy of the Daityas.

Nandikeśvara said:

Having thus been pleased by his praise and Viṣṇu's prayer,

Dhūrjaṭi again approved his role as the creator of creation,

and instructed that the worship of brahmins should take place in sacrifices.

Out of affection, Candraśekhara said to both of them:

Śrī Śiva said:

"Dear ones, knowing this, do not become arrogant again.

Remember me alone as the guru, watchful over creation and preservation.

Because grace was bestowed by me upon both of you in this region,

therefore let this sacred field bring about liberation for human beings.

For men residing in this sacred field measuring just three yojanas,

by my command let there be union with me, even without initiation and the rest.

Moreover, even for beasts and stationary beings living here,

let there arise an unconscious inclination toward final liberation.

For men, let there be emancipation from darśana, or from remembering [it] from afar;

the direct knowledge of the Vedānta cannot be achieved without effort.

For the good of all, let my eternal, motionless form made of fire,

renowned as Aruṇādri, remain here forever.

Even at the end of a yuga, the great oceans shall not submerge it,

the winds shall not shake it, and fires shall not burn it.

Even among luminaries, never may

heavenly bodies traverse this liṅga made of light by moving around it.

Whichever creature I wish to bestow grace upon is born here;

at the end of the body, let it attain liberation, even without the words of the Upaniṣads.

By salutation from afar and by circumambulation close by,

let this bestow the highest good even upon sinful men.

Here alone is the appointed dwelling of great souls;

therefore, having abandoned this place, one should never depart [elsewhere].

Disregarding Śoṇācala, even if one stays somewhere for the sake of liberation,

therefore, O Vidhi and Hari, both of you reside here continually."

Nandikeśvara said:

Having bowed to the enemy of Kāma who had spoken thus,

Vidhi and Mādhava, their egoism having departed, addressed the god:

Vidhi and Mādhava said:

"So be it, O support of the world; having become the support of the world,

let this mountain remain; however, its fiery splendor is very difficult to endure.

Therefore, O supreme Rudra, like an ordinary mountain,

let this great mine of the highest good, of unassailable greatness, abide [with its splendor concealed].

Reveal your own light for the prosperity of this universe

every year in the month of Kārttika, under the constellation Kṛttikā, at the close of day.

O god, although Śoṇādri brings joy to men by your command,

because of its vastness it cannot be worshipped by any devotee.

Therefore, beginning from today, at our request, at the foot of this [mountain],

the god should be present upon the earth in the form of a liṅga.

And we two will worship that Lord of Aruṇagiri

with anointing, unction, and other offerings according to rule.

Here there are keśara, mango, nāgakesara, puṃnāga,

āragvadha, kurabaka, mālūra, and pāṭalā trees.

Be present here alone, O god of gods, ocean of compassion,

so that steadfast devotion to you may arise in us through worship of you.

Otherwise, there is no purification of mind for us, even when the god is thus pleased,

which will always serve to veil beginningless ignorance.

In the eastern quarter of Śoṇādri, this very elevated [spot]

is quite suitable as a delightful dwelling for the god."

The Vedas along with their auxiliary limbs, the dharma treatises, the Purāṇas, and the Śaiva treatises—

having created all of them, they were revealed by you alone to both of us, O Bhava.

For the ultimate beatitude of devotees, by you alone in the form of a teacher

were twenty-eight Āgamas called Śaiva taught.

According to which among them, performing worship to you,

may we never fall into distress born of ignorance, O Śaṃkara?

Nandikeśvara said:

To those two, Dhātṛ and Govinda, clinging to his lotus feet,

the husband of the mountain's daughter, the embodiment of compassion, spoke:

The venerable Mahādeva said:

Well spoken is this, O blessed ones! I too have thought the same.

You ought to worship me by the path taught in the Kāmika.

Out of delusion, I suppose, the Śaiva tradition has been forgotten by you both.

Now, by my grace, let it shine forth again in your hearts!

Nandīśa said:

Having spoken thus to the lord of Śrī and the lord of speech, the dweller on the mountain then disappeared.

Then there appeared in that place a wondrous, auspicious liṅga.

Seeing it with wonder, Mukunda and the lotus-seated Brahmā,

bowing down repeatedly with joy and reverently worshipping, praised it for a long time.

They two caused an abode to be built for the lord of Śoṇagiri,

wondrous with various arts and in great abundance, through Viśvakarman.

They caused to be dug there an extraordinary, purifying lake,

a new one composed of all sacred fords, for the ceremonial bath of the god.

And nearby they founded for eternity the city named Aruṇa.

Having obtained it for his abode, Dhūrjaṭi does not long even for Kailāsa.

In that city, brahmin seers, gods, gandharvas, celestial maidens,

siddhas, vidyādharas, and yakṣas became citizens.

The sacred fords took the form of wells, and likewise rivers such as the Gaṅgā;

and groves such as Nandana became pleasure-gardens.

Goloka took the form of cow-pens; the Āgamas, indeed, became Vedic traditions;

mountains became city-gates and the like, and the smṛtis became ordinances.

Bhūtas, pretas, piśācas, vetālas, and kaṭapūtanas,

even common people, entered human bodies in that [city].

Even the god Dhūrjaṭi, full of sport, assumed the form of a siddha in that [city]:

taking to the state of a yogin, wearing a simple cloth, a loincloth, and shaving his head,

unknown to anyone, he shines everywhere, always.

And those two, Keśava and the lord of the worlds, having matted locks and smeared with ashes,

self-controlled, worshipped that lord of the red mountain for a long time.

And according to the suitability of all the classes residing there,

they themselves, having assumed the role of preceptors, administered initiations and the rest.

Regularly removing the previous offerings, knowing the secrets of all Āgamas,

bathing in the morning, gathering flowers, leaves, and fruits,

and the mantra of the lord of Aruṇa heard in secret from him alone,

continually uttering it, they chanted that [mantra] superior to all mantras.

With incense, lights, and food offerings, with songs, instruments, and dances,

with circumambulations, prostrations, and constantly new mudrās,

with seat, image, and the root mantra according to rule,

with the five Brahmamantras and the six limbs, they worshipped Śiva.

Thus, for sixteen thousand years, worshipping the red Śaṃkara,

the Creator and Viṣṇu attained the knowledge of Śiva.

Thus was this secret heard by me formerly from the mouth of my father, Śilāda's son; / and that very thing has been related to you today. What else is there a desire to hear?

And today that very thing has been related to you; what else is your desire to hear?

Thus ends the sixteenth chapter, entitled “Description of the Temple of the Lord of Aruṇācala Built by Brahmā and Viṣṇu”, in the second half of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya, in the first section, the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.