Skandapurana 16.200

Īśvara said: / The sacrifice having thus been destroyed, those brahmins returned home, / their desires unfulfilled, O goddess, as did whatever others had gone there.

Hara too, his anger gone, departed for Mount Kailāsa.

At that very time, a Dānava named Tāraka / was born, mighty-armed, the destroyer of the strength and pride of the gods.

Having conquered in a great battle all the gods headed by Indra, / heaven was occupied by his own people, O goddess. Then the sorrowful gods / went to the world of Brahmā and spoke to Brahmā, O daughter of the mountain:

'We have been expelled from heaven by Tāraka, O best of the gods! / He himself has become Indra, and other [demons] have been made the Vasus,

the Rudras, the Sādhyas, the Viśvedevas, the two Aśvins, the Maruts, / and the Ādityas. Therefore tell us the means of his slaying, O Grandfather!'

Brahmā said: / 'He cannot be slain by all the gods; this is my opinion. / Except for the splendor of Śaṃkara, he cannot be brought down by any other. / Therefore, go—may good betide you—to Maheśvara, the god of gods.

His wife, who died previously, has been born in the house of Himavat. / And a son born of her will slay Tāraka. / Therefore, propitiate the trident-handed [god] for that purpose.'

Then Kāmadeva was commanded by the gods, O fair-faced lady: / 'Go to Hara, whose wife is dead, and then afflict him with arrows,

so that he, tormented by love, may make an effort to take a wife.

Let your charming brother Vasanta go along [with you].'

Consenting with 'So be it,' he went to Mount Kailāsa. / Then Mahādeva, seeing Kāmadeva holding his weapon,

accompanied by Vasanta, O goddess, Rudra, the slayer of Andhaka, / reached Gaṅgādvāra and as soon as he saw [him] in front,

fled again out of fear of Kāmadeva whose weapon was poised. / Then, having gone to Vārāṇasī, to Naimiṣa, and likewise Puṣkara,

to Śrīkaṇṭha, Rudrakoṭi, Kurukṣetra, and likewise Gayā, / Jvālāmārga, Prayāga, Viśālā, and the auspicious Arbuda,

wandering thus upon the earth for many groups of years / out of fear of Kāmadeva, O goddess, Maheśvara, the god of gods,

then opened his third eye and looked at Kāma, / O ruler of the gods, the three-eyed god of gods.

As he looked at him, flames of fire were produced; / by them, [Kāmadeva], together with his bow, was reduced to ashes.

Having burned him and reached an end to his wrath, the Lord Śambhu / made his dwelling there in the auspicious sacred field of Prabhāsa.

When Kāma was thus burned, Rati, overcome with grief, / afflicted with intense sorrow, devoted to the worship of her husband, lamented:

'Ah, Lord! Lord! O master, why do you abandon your faithful wife? / Why do you forsake me, O lord, whose life is her husband, a devoted wife?'

To her who was thus lamenting, an incorporeal voice spoke: / 'Do not weep, O large-eyed lady! Your husband again

shall breathe [anew] through the grace of Śiva, the god of gods.' / Hearing these words, Rati then regained her composure.

Then the gods bowed down to Śiva and besought him, O Īśvarī: / 'Accept a wife, O God, to accomplish our purpose.

This Kāma has been burned by you yourself in great anger. / Without him, O Lord, creation on the surface of the earth has perished.'

The Lord said: / 'This Kāma was burned by me in anger, O best of gods; / therefore, as the Bodiless One (Anaṅga), he shall wander among living beings. / His virility and his power shall exist without a body.'

The gods said: / 'O Lord, first revive Rati's lord / for the benefit of all worlds, so that we may have confidence.'

Then the lord Maheśvara himself called Kāma to mind; / thereupon that eternal liṅga arose upon the earth's surface.

Kāma was restored there once again, bodiless yet strong; / by that means the great-souled Śaṃkara wed the daughter of the mountain.

Skanda was born, best among the gods, by whom Tāraka was slain; / and because he was remembered and restored through the fallen liṅga,

therefore he is celebrated in the world upon the earth's surface as Kṛtasmara. / Having seen him, a mortal never becomes dull, blind, unhappy, or ill-fated, / nor ever poor, nor diseased.

Thus everything has been related to you that you asked of me: / how Smara was formerly burned, and how he stood again endowed with vigor.

Īśvara said: / Right there is situated a pool to the south of Kṛtasmara, / named indeed Kāmakuṇḍa, where Smara was born again.

A woman who is shapeless becomes beautiful, O goddess, by bathing here. / Sugarcane should indeed be given there, as well as gold and cows, / and garments too, according to rule, to a brahmin who has mastered the Vedas.

Thus ends the two hundredth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glory of Kāmakuṇḍa', in the First [Part], the Glory of Prabhāsa-kṣetra, of the Seventh Section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].