Skandapurana 1.3.4

The seers said: / 'How was consecration established in the liṅga, leaving aside Śiva [himself]? / Let that be told, O fortunate one, for we are eager to hear.' 6.1

Lomaśa said: / 'When the lord Śambhu wandered in the Dāruvana for the sake of alms, 6.2

sky-clad, his mass of matted hair unbound, knowable through the Vedānta, the sole protector of the world, / that Īśvara, wearing the crescent of Brahmā, the supreme and beyond the lords of yogins, 6.3

subtler than the subtle, greater than the great, of great majesty, the great sovereign of the world, / that Īśvara, the great soul in the form of a mendicant, wandered for alms in the Dāruvana. 6.4

At midday, the seers, the brahmins, went to the sacred ford from their hermitage. / At that very time, all those wives of the seers gathered together. 6.5

Beholding that Śambhu, they said to one another: / 'Who is this one in the form of a mendicant who has arrived, never seen before? 6.6

Let us give alms to him together with our companions.' / Saying 'So be it', all of them joyfully brought [food] from their homes. 6.7

Alms-food of various kinds, delicate, and accompanied with respectful service according to their ability, / was offered and accepted as alms by that god of gods, the bearer of the trident. 6.8

Filled with wonder, a certain woman spoke to the beloved Śambhu: / 'Who are you, having become a mendicant, who have come here, O wise one? 6.9

Why do you not sit in the pure hermitage of the seers?' / Though addressed by her then, Śambhu spoke as if smiling: 6.10

'I am Īśvara, O fair-haired one, and I have arrived at this purifying [place].' / Hearing the words of Īśvara, the seer's wife said to him: 6.11

'You are Īśvara, O fortunate one, the very lord of Kailāsa. / Why do you wander alone for alms, O god?' 6.12

Thus addressed by her, Śambhu spoke words to her again: / 'Separated from Dākṣāyaṇī, I wander sky-clad 6.13

for the sake of begging alms, O fair-hipped one, always free from desire. / Without that Satī, no woman whatsoever pleases me, O lady; / I tell you the truth, O wide-eyed one.' 6.14

Hearing the words spoken by him, the lotus-eyed woman said: / 'Women are indeed of delightful touch for a man, without doubt. 6.15

Those women are avoided, O Śambhu, by a wise person like you.' 6.16

Thus all the women gathered where Śaṃkara was, / and that begging bowl of Śambhu was filled with excellent things, 6.17

completely filled with the four kinds of food and the six flavors. / When Śambhu wished to go toward Mount Kailāsa, / then all the wives of the brahmins followed, filled with joy. 6.18

Abandoning their household duties, they walked along with their minds fixed on him. / When all those wives had gone, the best of seers, 6.19

as soon as they returned to the hermitage, saw it completely empty. / Then they said to one another: 'Where have all the wives gone? 6.20

We do not know by what vile creature they have all been taken away.' / Deliberating thus, searching here and there, 6.21

they all then saw them following after Śiva. / Seeing Śiva, those seers approached, filled with rage. 6.22

Then stepping in front of Śiva, they all spoke in haste: / 'What has been done by you, O Śambhu, a great soul who is supposedly detached? / You are an abductor of others' wives, the wives of seers, without doubt!' 6.23

Though thus reproached, Śiva remained silent while continuing toward the mountain. / Then Mahādeva, the imperishable, was approached by the seers [who said]: / 'Because you are an abductor of wives, therefore become an eunuch at once!' 6.24

Thus cursed by the sages, his liṅga fell upon the earth; / and that liṅga, having reached the ground, grew rapidly and exceedingly vast. 6.25

Enveloping the seven netherworlds in an instant, the liṅga [extended] downwards and upwards; / pervading the entire earth, it covered the atmosphere. 6.26

All the heavens were covered, and then it surpassed heaven. / There was neither earth, nor the circle of directions, nor water, nor fire, 6.27

nor wind, nor space, nor ego, nor the cosmic intellect, / nor the unmanifest, nor time, nor primordial nature. 6.28

There was no division of duality, and everything dissolved in that instant. / Because the entire universe dissolved in that liṅga of the great soul, 6.29

the wise call it 'liṅga' on account of dissolution. / Seeing it growing in such a manner, the divine seers as well, 6.30

along with Brahmā, Indra, Viṣṇu, Vāyu, Agni, the world guardians, and the serpents, / their minds overcome with wonder, then said to one another: 6.31

'What is its length and its breadth? Where is its end, and where is its pedestal?' / Thus filled with anxiety, all the gods then spoke to Viṣṇu. 6.32

The gods said:
“Its base [should be seen] by you, O Viṣṇu, and its head by you, O lotus-born [Brahmā]! / It should be looked for by you two; in this position, be its protectors!”

Hearing this, those two illustrious ones, the dweller of Vaikuṇṭha and the lotus-born, [departed]; / Viṣṇu indeed went to Pātāla, and Brahmā went to heaven.

Having gone to heaven then, Brahmā, intent upon searching, / could not see the head of the liṅga there, [though] wise.

Returning by the path he had taken, the lotus-born / reached the ridge of Meru, and was then noticed by Surabhi,

who, standing in the shade of a ketakī [tree], spoke sweet words. / Hearing her speech, the grandfather of all the worlds / spoke these words, smiling, with a deceptive speech to Surabhi:

“A greatly wondrous liṅga has been seen, by which the three worlds are pervaded. / I have been sent by the gods in order to see its end.

The head of that all-pervading, great-souled one was not seen. / What shall I say before the gods? A great anxiety indeed possesses me.

You should falsely tell the gods: ‘The head of the liṅga has been seen.’ / If all those hosts of deities headed by Indra should say:

‘Who are the witnesses to this matter? Speak quickly, O gods!’ / In this matter, be a witness together with the ketakī, O lady of good vows!”

Taking that command of Brahmā Parameṣṭhin on her head, / Surabhi, together with the ketakī, agreed to that.

Having arrived thus, Brahmā spoke before the gods:

Brahmā said:
“O gods, I have seen the wondrous head of the liṅga, / auspicious, worshipped, and adorned with ketakī petals,

vast, stainless, smooth, exceedingly serene, wondrous, / delightful, charming, splendid to behold, and of great splendor.

Such a thing has been seen by me; nowhere else has anything like it been seen.” / Hearing the words of Brahmā, the gods were filled with wonder.

While those hosts of deities headed by Indra were thus standing full of wonder, / Viṣṇu, the lord of all, the illuminator of the inner self,

having just arrived from Pātāla, quickly spoke to all of them: / “Though intent upon searching, its end was not seen by me either.

Great wonder arose in me as I wandered beyond Pātāla: / Atala, Sutala, and also Nitala, Rasātala,

and likewise I went to Tala, and Pātāla, and so to Atala; / those various netherworlds appear to be like a void.

All that was thoroughly inspected by me, emptier even than an empty void: / no base, no middle, and no end exists for it.

This is Mahādeva in the form of a liṅga, by whom this universe is upheld, / and by whose grace you and the seers were brought forth.”

Hearing this, the gods and the seers honored his words. / Then Viṣṇu said this to Brahmā, as if laughing:

“If indeed the head was truly seen by you, O Brahmā, / what witnesses have you prepared for this matter?”

Hearing Viṣṇu's words, Brahmā, the grandfather of the worlds, / quickly said: “Ketakī and Surabhi.

Know them, O gods, as my witnesses in truth.” / Hearing Brahmā's words, all the gods in haste

summoned her, Surabhi, along with that [ketakī]. / Then, at that very moment, both arrived for the purpose of Brahmā.

Addressed then by the gods headed by Indra, Surabhi thereupon / spoke together with the ketakī: “Indeed, O gods, it was seen by Brahmā!

The head of the liṅga, O gods, was worshipped with ketakī petals.” / Then a voice from the sky arose while everyone listened:

“Whatever has been spoken by Surabhi and likewise by the ketakī, O gods, / know that to be spoken falsely; its head has not been seen.”

Then all the gods, along with Indra and Viṣṇu, / cursed Surabhi in anger, because she had engaged in lying speech:

“Since an untruth was spoken by your mouth today, O auspicious one, / let your mouth be unholy, excluded from all religious duties!

And you, fragrant ketakī, will also be unfit for the worship of Śiva; / there is no doubt of this, because you lied, O splendid lady!”

Then the voice from the sky cursed Brahmā indeed: / “Falsehood was spoken by you, O dull-witted one! Why [did you do so], like a child?

Together with Bhṛgu, the seers, and likewise the family priest, / therefore you all shall not be worshipped, and shall be sharers in misery!

Even the seers, though very righteous, shall be excluded from statements of truth, / devoted to disputation, deluded, ignorant of truth, and full of envy,

beggars, ungenerous, constantly destroying their own knowledge, / self-conceited, obstinate, and revilers of one another!”

Having been thus cursed, the sages and the deities headed by Brahmā, / cursed by Śiva, all went to the liṅga for refuge.

Thus ends the sixth chapter, named ‘The Description of the Cursing of Brahmā and Others’ in the māhātmya of the glorious Śivaliṅga, in the Kedārakhaṇḍa of the first [book], the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.