Skandapurana 16.14

The goddess said: / This māhātmya relating to the sun deity that has been spoken of by you, / tell me that in detail, O god of gods, O lord of the world.

How did Arkasthala become the ornament of the sacred field of Prabhāsa, / [and how should] Mahādeva be worshipped properly by those desiring the fruit of the pilgrimage?

What are the mantras, and what is the procedure? On what lunar occasions should one worship? / How did [the liṅga] that was Jaigīṣavyeśvara become Siddheśvara? / Tell me all of that in detail, O lord of gods.

The chasm to Pātāla there, why were the yoginīs there in ancient times, / and likewise the group of Mothers—how did this happen formerly?

Explain all of this without omission, having taken pity, O lord of the world; / tell it to me, O Virūpākṣa, if I am dear to you, O Hara.

Īśvara said: / Well asked by you, O goddess! I shall tell in brief / how Hara as Jaigīṣavyeśvara became Siddheśvara.

I shall explain the rite of worship in full; listen to me reciting it. / In this Kṛta [age], O goddess, there was one proficient in all knowledge,

the son of Śatakalāka, renowned as Jaigīṣavya. / Having reached the sacred field of Prabhāsa, he performed severe austerity.

He stood subsisting on air for a hundred years, indeed, / subsisting on water for a thousand, and subsisting on greens for ten thousand.

A thousand Cāndrāyaṇa fasts were performed, and then the Sāṃtapana penance; / having emaciated himself, of measured food, he became sky-clad [naked].

Having installed the liṅga of the god of gods, which was self-manifest / in a former kalpa and renowned as Mahodaya, while worshipping it,

lying on ashes, smeared with ashes, he pleased [the god] with dances and songs, / with muttered prayer and bull-roars, purified and absorbed in austerity.

To him who was thus pleasing [him], endowed with supreme devotion, / the Lord approached and spoke these words:

"O Jaigīṣavya of great intellect, behold me with divine sight. / I am pleased and ready to grant a boon; speak what is in your heart."

Addressed thus by the god, having seen the three-eyed god, / bowing with his head to his feet, he spoke these words:

Jaigīṣavya said: / "O Blessed Lord, ruler of the gods, if you are pleased with me, O master, / then give me the yoga of knowledge that cuts through worldly existence.

O Blessed Lord, I desire no other good higher than yoga, / and perpetual devotion to you, to the goddess, to Skanda, and to Gaṇeśvara."

And may there be no fear of disease for me, nor diminution of fiery splendour, / and likewise absence of pride, forbearance, self-restraint, and mental tranquillity.

These boons I desire from you, O Mahādeva, O three-eyed lord!

Īśvara said: / You shall be free from old age and death, rid of all sorrow, / a great yogin, of great virility, endowed with the sovereign powers of yoga.

And by the power of this sacred field of mine, which is secret and eternal, / you shall attain supreme and great sovereignty consisting of the eightfold qualities of yoga.

You shall become a teacher of yoga, highly renowned, O best of sages!

And whoever worships this liṅga established by you according to rule / shall be freed from all sins and shall attain divine yoga.

And whoever reaches this cave of Jaigīṣavya and practises yoga, / disciplined in mind, shall cross over the cycle of worldly existence after seven nights.

Within a month he shall know his previous state of existence and past births; / through a single night [he makes] his body pure; through two [nights] he rescues his ancestors; / and when three nights have passed, he can rescue seven others.

Moreover, O brahmin seer, you shall be unconquerable by yogins, / and you shall have darśana of me whenever you desire.

Having granted these boons, the god vanished right there. / This event in the Kṛta age has been related to you, O goddess.

In the Tretā age, O great goddess, and likewise in the Dvāpara, / but at the onset of the Kali age, the great seers, the Vālakhilyas,

in this sacred field of Prabhāsa, near Sūryasthala, / worshipping the lord of gods who dwells within the cave,

eighty-eight thousand seers of sublimated sexual energy, / having performed tapas for ten thousand years, attained perfection consisting of Him.

From then on, the liṅga became renowned in the Kali [age] as Siddheśvara, O fair-faced one. / When the dark fourteenth day of Śiva is joined with the Moon (Monday), / only then, O goddess, is the darśana of that god difficult to obtain.

The merit that is generated by giving the entire cosmos— / that merit one obtains, O goddess, from worshipping the Siddha-liṅga.

Thus ends the fourteenth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Origin of Siddheśvara', in the first [part], 'Māhātmya of Prabhāsakṣetra', of the seventh [book], Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].