Skandapurana 1.4.46: adhyāyaḥ 48

Nārada said:

“Now, therefore, I shall clearly declare the greatness of Somanātha,

hearing which as I recount it, one attains release from sin.

Formerly in the Tretā age, O son of Pṛthā, born in the country of Cauḍa,

there were two brahmins of great splendor, Ūrjayanta and Prāleya.

Once, among the contents of the Purāṇas, they saw a single verse.

Seeing it, knowing all scriptures, their skin bristled with excitement:

‘The lotus-born [Brahmā] said to Pulastya: “Regarding the sacred fords beginning with Prabhāsa, / what sacred ford has been worshipped by those who have not bathed there?”’

Having read this praised verse again and again,

the two excellent men set out at that very moment for Prabhāsa to bathe.

Gradually crossing forests and rivers,

the two crossed the auspicious Narmadā, crowded with hosts of great sages.

[Knowing] the greatness of the hidden sacred field, the confluence of the Mahī and the ocean,

having bathed there, they departed for Prabhāsa right through it.

Then, because the path was desolate, intensely afflicted by thirst and hunger,

the two brahmins were senseless near Siddhaliṅga.

Having bowed to Siddhanātha, they set forth with great fortitude.

Scorched by the midday sun, through the fierce assault of hunger and through thirst,

they suddenly fell to the ground, paralyzed in their limbs, fallen unconscious.

Then, after a moment, Prāleya spoke to Ūrjayanta,

recovering somewhat and taking courage: 'Friend, have you not heard?

Just as a person's body becomes pale through pilgrimage,

so too Someśvara Hara becomes humble through gifts.'

Though this had been spoken and heard, the two continued rolling on the ground.

Rolling along, Prāleya went a little distance,

and suddenly a liṅga, very hard to behold, rose up breaking through the earth.

And in the sky a voice arose there, preceded by a shower of flowers:

'Prāleya, for your sake, yielding a fruit equal to Somanātha,

a liṅga has risen on the shore of the ocean. Remain here, O you of noble vows!'

Prāleya said:

'Even if this is so and true, nevertheless my resolve was formed:

clearly I must journey to Prabhāsa even until death.'

Then Ūrjayanta also, rolling forward in a state of fainting,

saw the liṅga that had risen up, and he too understood thus.

Then Bhava, having become manifest, made their two bodies firm

by his gaze; then they went to Prabhāsa, the abode of Śiva.

These are the two Somanāthas near Siddheśvara:

Ūrjayanta is in the west, and the other is the lord of Prāleya.

Having slowly bathed in the water of Somakuṇḍa, in the water of the ocean and the Mahī,

one who beholds the pair of Somanāthas is freed from the sin of birth.

Having installed here the liṅga named Hāṭakeśvara,

which is very charming, brought from Pātāla to Mahīnagara,

Brahmā devoutly praised the god. Listen to that hymn of praise, O Pāṇḍava:

'Homage to you, O blessed Rudra, possessing the immeasurable splendor of the sun!

Homage to Bhava, to Rudra, to the taste whose essence is water!

Homage to Śarva, who has the form of the earth and is ever fragrant!

Homage, homage to you, the Lord, the wind, the sense of touch!

And [homage] to the Lord of beasts, to fire of supreme brilliance!

Homage to you, Bhīma, who have the form of space, whose essence is sound!

Homage be to you, Mahādeva, the moon, the nectar!

Homage to Ugra, the sacrificer, to you, the performer of actions!'

Thus this hymn was uttered with divine names.

A person who recites or hears this hymn composed by the Grandfather

to the liṅga of Hāṭakeśvara, being ever devout,

attains union with the eight-formed Lord; of this there is no doubt.

And whoever, being devout, even remembers the liṅga of Hāṭakeśvara,

to him Brahmā becomes the granter of boons, by whom this was installed, O Arjuna.

Such sacred fords at the confluence of the Mahī and the ocean,

many and holy, have been described in brief by me.

Thus ends the forty-eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Account of Somanātha,' in the praise of Stambhatīrtha, in the Kaumārikākhaṇḍa, in the first Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.