Skandapurana 1.4.21: adhyāyaḥ 23

Nārada said: / Then the fair goddess born of the mountain played / with daughters of gods and gandharvas, those born of mountains and kinnaras, / and the daughters of the sages, the radiant one together with them.

Once, O son of Pāṇḍu, Vāsava, staying on Meru, / remembered me, and being remembered, I then went to Vāsava.

Seeing me, the thousand-eyed Indra arose, exceedingly delighted, / and worshipped [me]. Accepting that worship, I spoke:

"O Lord of Heaven, [destroying like] the fire of time the great pride of the great asuras! / Is all well with you, and do you rejoice?"

Thus questioned by me, Śakra smilingly uttered these words: / "The sprout of well-being has indeed arisen in the three worlds.

For the attainment of its fruit, you have been remembered, O sage. / You indeed know the views of all; nevertheless, an instigator

attains the highest relief by confiding the matter to a friend.

Therefore, do you honor Hara as the groom to the goddess born of the mountain, the mountain king, and the mountain's beloved wife, / so that they fancy no other."

Then, having heard his words, I went to that best of mountains, / whose abode is Oṣadhiprastha, as if to the Lord of Heaven in visible form.

There, having been worshipped, I sat in great comfort upon a great golden throne / offered personally by him with great devotion.

Then, when the arghya offering had been received by me, the mountain, with his lotus-face gently blossoming, / asked in a pleasant voice about the welfare of my austerity.

I too, having told him that, replied to the lord of the mountains: / "By you, O king of mountains, who stand plunging into both the eastern

and the western quarters, the protection of living beings is performed. / Ah, you are blessed, O mountain! With your assistance, best of brahmins

accomplish their highest end through austerities, recitations, vows, and ritual ablutions. / Some with the implements for sacrifice, and some by providing roots and fruits,

you deliver the brahmins; what more can be said of you? / Other living creatures too, taking refuge in you in many ways, O mountain,

dwell joyfully, as living beings [live depending on] a householder. / Enduring cold, heat, rain, and various hardships,

you render service to creatures; for such indeed is the nature of the virtuous. / What more can be said to you? Blessed are you, O supporter of the earth,

in whose cave Maheśvara himself resides!" / When I had spoken these truthful words, O Phālguna,

Menā, the queen of the snowy mountain, arrived wishing to see [me], / accompanied by her daughter and a few female attendants.

With all her limbs bent low in modesty, she entered the great assembly hall. / Then the mountain queen prostrated and bowed down to me,

her face concealed by her garment, making an añjali with her lotus hands. / I congratulated her with blessings of truthful power:

"Be devoted to your husband, well-behaved, fortunate, mother of a hero, O auspicious one, / ever blessed with heroic sons, and one who elevates the family!"

Then I spoke in gentle speech to the daughter of the Himalaya, whose eyes were wide with wonder: / "Come, little girl, near me."

Then the goddess, the mother of the universe, displaying her childlike nature / before me, embraced her father around the neck and sat upon his lap.

He spoke softly to her: "Bow to the sage, O daughter; / through the grace of the sage, you will certainly obtain an approved husband."

Thus addressed, the young girl then covered her face with the hem of her garment, / and trembling slightly with a gentle sound of protest, said nothing at all.

Then, with my mind astonished, I, the foremost of those who know etiquette, / spoke again to the goddess: 'Come, auspicious girl, I will give [something] to you.

A charming jewel-toy that I have kept for a very long time.' / Addressed thus, she then quickly rose from her father's lap,

and bowing at my feet, she was placed by me upon my own lap. / Considering her, the one adored by the universe, I said: 'O child, what is fitting for you?

I see nothing that I might give you. What blessing is appropriate for you?' / When this was said, the queen of the lord of mountains then, out of maternal love,

gently prompted me, anxious because no blessing [had been given]: / 'O lord, you know everything, past and future, O master.

Therefore, I wish to know: what kind of husband will she have?' / Hearing this, with a smiling face, fond of jest, I said:

'Her husband is unborn, O auspicious lady, and he exists destroying family lines; / naked, utterly destitute, wrathful, and always surrounded by cruel beings.'

Hearing this, seized with confusion, his vigor shattered, / the great mountain Himācala then replied to me with tears in his throat:

'Ah, transmigratory existence is strange, difficult to comprehend even for the great! / He who is superior in power shows no pity towards men.

With great exertion indeed, and through manifold merits, / a person attains the extremely rare human state for himself.

That is impermanent, and permanence in it is somehow imagined; / even there, hard to obtain is she who observes the same vows,

a virtuous wife born of a noble family, devoted to her husband. / Even there, what is hard to obtain is the performance of dharma with her,

together, as stated in the Vedas and Purāṇas, bringing welfare to the three worlds. / And extremely hard to obtain is this: that on her is born

that offspring, for the sake of lineage in this worldly cycle, O Nārada! / Indeed, out of these rare things, a virtuous person obtains only some.

Does anyone at all obtain all this, or perhaps not? / Worldly existence always makes a person deficient in some respect.

Now this worldly defect arises where the fruits of one's own deeds are experienced. / Yet all the Vedas praise the householder stage, O Nārada.

Some say, "Not so"; but how could they exist if there were no householder? / Therefore, the Creator in the scriptures has praised the attainment of a son

for the increase of creation and for deliverance from hell. / In that respect, without the birth of women, creation cannot take place.

And by her very nature, that class is wretched, bearing helplessness. / "Let there be no contempt toward them"—thus by the Creator / this unequivocal statement of great fruit has been uttered in the scriptures:

"A daughter is equal to ten sons. Bringing up ten sons, / whatever fruit a mortal obtains, that may be obtained through a single daughter."

Therefore, a daughter is an object of grief for a father, always increasing distress.

Even she who possesses all goals fulfilled, endowed with husband, son, and wealth— / yet the word spoken by you regarding her brings sorrow to me.

By what fault is my daughter considered unfit for blessings? / Why is her husband unborn, or why is he a destroyer of families?

And why is he destitute, O sage, and whence is he the giver of everything to all? / This contradictory statement of yours seems to bewilder my mind.'

To him, overwhelmed with sorrow along with his wife out of love for their child, / I offered comfort with true words, O son of Pāṇḍu:

'Do not grieve, O king of mountains! In this occasion of joy, you are exceedingly fortunate. / Listen to that word of mine, for what I said was meaningful.

This girl, your daughter, is the mother of the universe, granting all perfections. / Formerly, she was the wife of Bhava in a previous life, named Satī.

So what could I, like a tiny lamp before the sun, give to her? / Reflecting thus, I did not bestow a blessing upon the great goddess.

The husband of the unborn wife exists indeed, and he is Bhava himself. / He is unborn, the Great God, the source of past, present, and future,

the refuge, eternal, the ruler, Śaṃkara, the supreme lord.

All the gods recite whose state, who cannot be attained even by all the Vedas, / whose plaything they declare the universe beginning with Brahmā to be, like a child's toy, O mountain!

And though having inauspicious conduct, Hara is the abode of auspiciousness. / Destitute and the giver of all, he alone knows his own [wealth].

He, the immovable god, Sthāṇu, the Great God, ageless Hara, / shall be her husband; therefore, why do you grieve?'

Thus ends the twenty-third chapter, named "Consolation of Himavat," in the Kumāreśamāhātmya of the Kaumārikākhaṇḍa, in the first [section], the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.