Skandapurana 16.111

Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O Great Goddess, to the excellent Puṣkarāraṇya, / situated sixty bows to the northeast of that [place].

There is a pool there, O Great Goddess, called Aṣṭapuṣkara, / which destroys all sins, O Goddess, and is hard to reach for those of uncontrolled mind.

Near that pool, in ancient times, the wise Rāma, lord of the earth, / established that great liṅga known as Rāmeśvara.

Merely by worshipping it, one is freed from the sin of killing a brahmin.

The glorious Goddess said: / Tell me in detail, O Lord, about the origin of Rāmeśvara: / how did Rāma go there, accompanied by Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa?

How was the liṅga consecrated at Puṣkara, the stealer of sins? / Tell this in detail, together with its fruit and māhātmya.

Īśvara said: / In the twenty-fourth yuga, Rāma, born as the son of Daśaratha / with Vasiṣṭha as his family priest, took birth in ancient times to destroy Rāvaṇa.

Then, in the course of time, O Goddess, because of a seer's curse, the great ascetic / Rāma, the son of Daśaratha, set forth with Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa.

He departed into exile in the forest, accompanied by divine brahmin-seers. / Then, in the course of his pilgrimage, he arrived at the sacred field of Prabhāsa.

Having reached that region, utterly exhausted, he sat down. / Then, after the sun had set, he spread leaves on the ground

And slept; then, at the end of the night, he saw his father, / Daśaratha, in a dream, O Goddess, gentle in form and of great splendor.

Rising in the morning, he reported all that to the brahmins, / how Daśaratha had been seen in a dream by that great-souled one.

The brahmins said: / The ancestors, desiring increase, grant boons to you, O descendant of Raghu; / they indeed give a darśana at the end of a dream to one born in their lineage.

This is a very holy sacred ford, well guarded by the wielder of the Śārṅga bow, / renowned as Puṣkara; let a śrāddha be offered here.

Surely King Daśaratha desires [an offering] in this sacred ford, / an auspicious rice ball offered by you; therefore he appeared in a vision.

Īśvara said: / Hearing those words of theirs, lotus-eyed Rāma / then invited auspicious brahmins worthy of a śrāddha.

He spoke to Lakṣmaṇa, who stood beside him with bent neck: / “Go quickly, O son of Sumitrā, to fetch fruits for the śrāddha.”

Saying “So be it,” that delighter of the Raghus went, / and he swiftly brought many kinds of fruits:

Bilvas, kapitthas, and tindukas in abundance, / jujubes, karīras, and karamardas, O dear one,

Cirbhaṭas, parūṣas, and citrons too, / white coconuts, and the produce of ingudīs.

Then Sītā, the delighter of Janaka, quickly prepared them. / Thereafter, at the kutapa hour, having bathed, wearing bark garments and purified,

He brought brahmins worthy of a śrāddha, the best of the twice-born: / Gālava, Devala, Raibhya, Yavakrīta, then Parvata,

Bharadvāja, Vasiṣṭha, Jāvāli, Gautama, and Bhṛgu. / These and many other brahmins who had mastered the Vedas

Arrived for the śrāddha of that Rāma of untiring deeds. / At that very moment, Rāma spoke to Sītā:

“Come, O princess of Videha, give water for washing the feet of the brahmins.” / Hearing this, Sītā went among the trees,

And hiding herself behind bushes, she stayed out of Rāma's sight, / while again and again Rāma called, “Sītā! Sītā!”

Seeing that she was gone and that the descendant of Raghu was seized with anger, / Lakṣmaṇa himself then performed the duties appropriate for the brahmins.

Then, when the brahmins had eaten and the offering of rice balls was completed, / Sītā, the daughter of Janaka, came to where Rāma stood.

Seeing her, the descendant of Raghu rebuked her with harsh words: / “Fie, fie, O sinful woman! Leaving the twice-born and this greatly auspicious rite for the ancestors, / where did you go, abandoning me when the time of the śrāddha was at hand?”

Īśvara said: / Hearing those words of his, Janaka's daughter was terrified,

And joining her palms, trembling, she spoke: / “Do not be angry, O auspicious one! Do not rebuke me, O lord!

Hear why, O lord, I went elsewhere, away from your presence. / My father was seen by me there today, and likewise my grandfather,

And those prior to him, as well as my maternal grandfathers and others: / each of them took possession of the limbs of the foremost brahmins!

Then shame came over me there, O descendant of Raghu! / By your father, O mighty-armed one, pleasant and splendid

Edibles were always eaten, foods of excellent quality; / how will he eat these very astringent, salty, and bitter foods? / Therefore, O king of kings, sorrow entered my heart.

For this reason, out of shame, I vanished, O best of the Raghus, / seeing my father-in-law's line; therefore abandon your anger.”

Hearing those words of hers, the descendant of Raghu was filled with wonder. / He then performed the śrāddha with special care at that sacred ford of Puṣkara.

There, in the presence of Puṣkara, three bow-lengths to the south, / he established the liṅga known as Rāmeśvara.

Whoever worships it with devotion, duly with fragrant paste, flowers, and the like, / reaches the highest abode where the god Janārdana resides.

What is the use of speaking much here? Whatever one gives on the twelfth lunar day, / there is no reckoning of it in the three worlds.

Whenever there is a fourth lunar day conjoined with Friday or Tuesday, / or a sixth [lunar day] here, O fair-hipped woman, a śrāddha there bears great fruit.

For as long as twelve years, fathers and grandfathers, / satisfied at Puṣkara by one born in their own family, desire nothing else.

A person who gives a horse there, endowed with perfect devotion, / obtains the fruit of an horse sacrifice.

Thus has been told to you fully the sin-destroying māhātmya / of the god Rāmeśvara and of Puṣkara, O lovely lady.

Thus ends the one hundred and eleventh chapter, named 'Description of the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Rāmeśvara in the Māhātmya of Puṣkara', in the first [part], the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Prabhāsa, in the seventh [section], the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].