Skandapurana 14.39

Yayāti said: / What you have proclaimed, O holy one, that formerly, propitiated by the gods, / Maheśvara installed a liṅga, remaining in a fixed form— (1)

Why was that liṅga felled by the great-souled Vālakhilyas? / Why did Maheśvara, the god of gods, become immovable there?

You ought to tell me all of this wonderful tale properly. / And what merit accrues to men when it is beheld there?

Pulastya said: / Listen to the māhātmya of Maheśvara, O best of kings. / In this regard, I shall relate to you an ancient event, another story.

When Satī, possessed of true prowess, met her demise, / [feeling] dishonoured by Dakṣa, and not having been invited to the sacrifice,

then Kāma swiftly took up his flower-bow and approached him. / Seeing Kandarpa suddenly with his arrow fitted, exceedingly hard to conquer,

the destroyer of Tripura fled in fear as he rushed forward. / Wandering here and there at that time, O king,

he reached the hermitage of the Vālakhilyas, holy and adorned with fine trees. / There the handsome Lord was seen by their wives.

Naked [and] speaking charmingly, thereupon they were infatuated with desire. / Abandoning their sons, homes, and everything, all stood behind him, / and they continuously said, O king: "Accept me!"

Some embraced him, while others kissed him; / yet others touched that liṅga of his again and again.

And yet the Lord Śambhu, the supreme ruler, was free from desire; / pervading the universe, he abides in all living beings.

And that Lord Śambhu moved forward, facing east from them; / wandering there in their hermitage, tormenting their wives with desire.

Then those sages, seeing the perturbation arising in their wives, / unaware of the great-souled Mahādeva, became enraged with him.

Deeply distressed for the sake of their wives, O scorcher of foes, they uttered a curse: / "Let it fall, let this liṅga of yours fall, O worst of evildoers!

You deceive our wives continually through the sight of it." / And then the liṅga of the foe of Tripura fell instantly

by the word of the brahmins, O royal sage. Thereupon the earth trembled, / the mountain peaks shattered, and the oceans churned.

Then all the hosts of gods, terrified with fear, O lord of men, / thinking that an untimely dissolution was imminent upon the three worlds,

went then to the Grandfather and reported everything to him: / "Omens like those of a dissolution are seen, O supreme lord!

What is the cause of this, O best of the gods? We do not know, O Lord!" / Having heard those words of theirs, and meditating for a long time, the Grandfather

said: "The liṅga of Pinākin has been felled by the Vālakhilyas. / Because of that, these dreadful portents signifying danger have arisen.

Therefore, let all the gods of heaven, accompanied by me, / go there, so that Śiva may install that liṅga in its place,

before an untimely dissolution takes place in the world." / Having thus deliberated, they all went to Arbuda,

to the hermitage of the Vālakhilyas where that liṅga had indeed fallen. / Filled with humility, they praised him with various hymns proclaimed in the Vedas.

The gods said: / Homage to you, O lord of the gods, who grant fearlessness to devotees! / Homage to you, who dwell in all and who consist of all sacrifices!

Homage to the god who is the lord of all, the supreme light! / Homage to the creator, attainable through clearly defined knowledge!

To Tryambaka, the terrible, whose hand holds the excellent Pināka! / All this is strung upon you like clusters of gems upon a cord.

In this cycle of existence, O best of the immortals, the animate and inanimate world— / there is nothing in this triple world, even the most minute, O Śaṃkara, / that is not pervaded by you, O Lord, as the cause of creation and destruction.

The elements, beginning with earth, were created by you at your will; / they will enter your body once again, O lord of the universe.

Be gracious, O Lord, O lord of the gods! Therefore, install this liṅga / in its place—may good betide you—before the destruction of creatures occurs.

The Holy Lord said: / My liṅga, belonging to the changeless one, has been felled by the Vālakhilyas. / How can I take it back again until purification is effected?

I am capable of subduing the Vālakhilyas instantly, / but brahmins are to be respected and worshipped by me, O best of gods.

Indeed, this liṅga is immovable; it cannot be lifted up, O all-pervading one. / One single remedy is indicated here; no other is taught:

If you, O Grandfather, worship my liṅga first, / then all the hosts of gods, then the brahmins, and then others,

then peace may come to us and to the world, animate and inanimate.

Pulastya said: / Thus addressed by Śaṃkara, O best of kings, / Brahmā then worshipped it first with great devotion.

After Brahmā, Viṣṇu [worshipped it], then Śakra, then the others, / [and] the brahmins, the Vālakhilyas and the rest, with the Śatarudrīya mantras.

Thereupon those dreadful portents subsided that very moment. / The world became joyful, and a gentle fragrant breeze blew.

Then Mahādeva said to all those gods: / "Choose an excellent boon, all of you, from me, whatever is desired in your minds."

The gods said: / Even by touching your liṅga, men who have committed sins / will go to heaven, O lord of the gods; their sin will be destroyed, / [as will the fruits of] all vows, gifts, and myriad pilgrimages to sacred fords.

Therefore, the lord of gods will cover this excellent liṅga of yours / on all sides with a diamond, if you deem it proper, O Lord.

The Holy Lord said: / This intention is in my heart too, O lotus-born one. / Let the lord of the gods do so for the increase of all righteousness.

Pulastya said: / Then the lord of the thirty [gods] covered that liṅga / with a diamond, so that it became invisible to all mortals.

Even today, by touching the diamond, a person who has attained its presence / is freed from sin from birth to death; of this there is no doubt.

Because the māhātmya of that liṅga was proclaimed by Śaṃkara, / and it was covered with a cloth by Indra on the earth,

from then on, the worship of the liṅga arose in the mortal world. / Formerly, Śaṃkara was worshipped just as other abodes of the gods [were].

Such is this ancient account on the best of mountains, Arbuda, / concerning the worship arising from the falling of the liṅga, about which you ask me.

He who offers a food-offering of fresh barley to the Lord of the Mountain on the fourteenth day at the end of Phālguna / is not born here again.

And he who feeds brahmins with devotion with fresh barley on that day, / rejoices in heaven for as many yugas as the number of grains of barley.

There, the best among sages praise the donation of barley-meal, / of fresh [barley-meal], O great king, because it was declared by the Enemy of Pura:

"What [use are] various gifts given? What [use are] very extensive sacrifices? / What [use are] diverse sacred fords, oblations, and austerities that cause hardship?

On the fourteenth day at the end of Phālguna, in the presence of the great Maheśvara, / all these religious merits are not worth a sixteenth part [of it]."

Hear, O king, an ancient event, an excellent wonder that took place there: / A certain man of sinful conduct, a leper, his body emaciated,

came there for the sake of alms together with other people. / By begging, he earned a kuḍava measure of barley-meal there, O king.

Then, owing to the affliction of his disease, he did not take food. / Tormented by heat, he bathed in that water devoid of devotion; / making a pillow of that barley-meal, he fell asleep when night arrived.

Then, as he was overcome by sleep, a dog carried it off; / joined by other dogs, hungry, he devoured it.

Then he, out of astonishment, O king, met his death. / Thereupon, remembering his past birth, he was born in the house of the king of Vidarbha

named Bhīma, the best of kings, who was indeed the father of Damayantī. / For having realized that power of barley-meal on that mountain,

he went year after year on the fourteenth day at the end of Phālguna, / and having fasted, and likewise kept vigil through the night,

he gave there abundant barley-meal in the presence of Acaleśvara / accompanied with gold to the best of brahmins, and also to beasts, birds, and deer.

Then all those sages, headed by Gālava, O king, / seized by curiosity, questioned the king on account of the gift of barley-meal.

The ṛṣis said: / "You have the marvelous ability to make gifts of elephants, horses, and chariots. / Leaving aside barley-meal, why do you not wish to give anything else here?"

Pulastya said: / Then he related this previous event, / the māhātmya of the gift of barley-meal, to the sages of cultivated minds:

"Formerly, when I was devoid of devotion, the barley-meal was indeed taken by a dog; / through the power of that, this attainment has occurred to me, O best of brahmins.

What might be the fruit now of [meals] given with devotion? I do not know. / For this reason, I perform the donation of barley-meal / endowed with devotion in this sacred ford; I touch my self with truth."

Pulastya said: / Then those sages were delighted, and said, "Well done! Well done!" / And according to their own capacity, they performed the excellent donation of barley-meal.

This power of the gift of barley-meal has been proclaimed, O royal seer, / and the true māhātmya of Maheśvara has also been proclaimed.

And he who listens to this with devotion as it is spoken from the mouth of a brahmin, / is freed from sin committed during a day and night; there is no doubt about this.

Thus ends the thirty-ninth chapter, entitled 'The Description of the māhātmya of the Gift of Barley-meal Preceded by the Description of the māhātmya of the Śivaliṅga and Maheśvara', in the Arbudakhaṇḍa, the third [section] of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, the seventh [book] of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.