Skandapurana 14.40

Pulastya said: / Then one should go to Kāmeśvara, installed there by Kāma, / upon seeing which a mortal becomes handsome and of brilliant radiance forever.

Yayāti said: / You said that formerly Śambhu, out of fear of Kāma's arrow, / reached the hermitage of the Vālakhilyas where the liṅga fell.

How was that Śambhu worshipped by him? It is a great wonder to me. / Speak all, O best of brahmins, concerning the dwelling of Kāmeśvara.

Pulastya said: / Even when the Lord of the gods released the liṅga, Smara did not let him go; / showing his own arrow, he stood behind him.

Then, out of fear of him, the Destroyer of Tripura reached Vārāṇasī. / Even there, he saw the mind-born [Kāma] holding his bow.

Then he arrived at Prayāga, and further on to Kedāra, / Naimiṣa, and Bhadrakarṇa, and to Tripuṣkara on the path to Jambū;

and to Gokarṇa, Prabhāsa, holy Kṛmijāṅgala, / Gaṅgādvāra, Gayāśīrṣa, Kālābhīṣṭa, and Vaṭeśvara.

Or what is the use of speaking much about that? To innumerable sacred fords / and sanctuaries the god went, and saw Kāma likewise.

Wherever the Great God went out of fear of him, O king, / there and there again he saw Kāma holding his weapon.

Then after some time, he arrived at Arbuda again. / There he saw Kāma with his weapon drawn to his ear, / with one foot bent, and with a steady gaze, O best of kings.

Then the Lord, who had been calm, possessed by grief for his beloved, / became especially angry upon seeing him standing before him.

From the third eye of him who was overcome with anger, O king, / a great flame burst forth, by which he was reduced to ashes,

along with his bow and along with his arrows, O king, on that mountain slope. / Śaṃkara, having reached the limit of his fury, attained happiness.

He, worshipped by the gods, went to Kailāsa, the best of mountains. / When the Mind-born was burned, his faithful wife Rati, / overwhelmed with grief for her husband, lamented piteously and miserably.

Then, having gathered wood and made a funeral pyre, O king, / she, grieving for her husband, mounted the funeral pyre blazing with fire. / Just then the renowned woman heard a voice coming from the sky: 15

The voice said: / 'Do not act rashly, my daughter; remain engaged in austerity, O beautiful one. / You will obtain your husband Kāma again when Śambhu is pleased.' 16

Having heard that voice then, she of slender waist arose. / She worshipped the god day and night without wearying, / through vows, gifts, recitations, fire-offerings, and other fasts. 17

Then, at the end of a thousand years, Maheśvara was pleased with her / and said, 'State, O blessed woman, the boon that is in your mind.' 18

Rati said: / 'If you are pleased with me, O God, O Lord who creates the worlds, / let Kāma, my beloved husband, be born again with his limbs unhurt.' 19

When this speech had been uttered by her, at that moment he appeared, / as if [merely] asleep, O great king, in that same form, delighted. 20

He held a bow of sugarcane accompanied by flower-arrows, / adorned with a bowstring made of a swarm of bees, exceedingly enchanting. 21

Then, joined with Rati, having bowed to Maheśvara / and being permitted by him, he returned to his own duty. 22

Having seen the greatness of Śiva, and having developed faith, O best of kings, / he established Śiva on the mountain named Arbuda. 23

When that [liṅga] is seen, O great king, whether by a woman or a man, / for seven future lives they will never meet with misfortune. 24

Thus has been proclaimed by me what you asked of me, / the māhātmya of Kāmeśvara and the burning of Kāma in full detail. 25

Thus ends the fortieth chapter, named 'The Description of the Māhātmya of Kāmeśvara,' in the Arbuda section, the third [part] of the Prabhāsa section, in the Mahāpurāṇa of Śrī Skanda, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. 40