Skandapurana 16.203

Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O great goddess, to the great shrine of Maṅkīśvara, / to the north of Rāmeśa, near the mother of the gods,

and to the south of Arkasthala, and east of Kṛtasmara. / The liṅga of great power was installed long ago by Maṅki.

Having seen it, a man properly obtains the fruit of a horse sacrifice.

The goddess said: / Who was this Maṅki, O Mahādeva? How was the liṅga established? / And what is the power of that liṅga? Tell me this in detail.

Īśvara said: / Formerly there was an excellent twice-born named Maṅki, who had a hunchbacked body. / Having reached the Prabhāsa kṣetra, he performed the greatest austerity.

Having installed Mahādeva, devoted to the worship of Śiva, / Hara was not pleased with him, though worshipped for many groups of years.

While he was thus performing austerity, many indeed attained perfection; / having worshipped Mahādeva there, they departed from here to the heavenly world.

Then sorrow arose for Maṅki there, O fair-faced one: / 'Why does the blessed Maheśvara not take pleasure in me?'

Then he conceived an intense devotion, practicing intense cessation [of worldly thought]; / thus he reached old age, intent on repetition [of mantras] and meditation.

At the end of his life, Mahādeva, pleased with him, granted a boon: / 'I am well pleased with you, O Maṅki; speak, what shall I do for you?'

Maṅki said: / 'What use is a boon to me now, O best of gods, when I am old? / Yet, O Lord, I have had a certain supreme sorrow while remaining here.'

Śiva said: / 'Hear the reason for that, O ascetic, concerning them and you: / to attain the practice of vows, those brahmins worship excessively.

They bring flowers of various colors from all around, / of great fragrance from trees; [flowers] are not a cause of joy for them [merely for pleasure].

You, however, are hunchbacked, though devoted to sacrificial worship, / and despite great effort you cannot reach the tips of the branches of the trees.

Even with a single flower offered with devotion, O best of the twice-born, / upon the head of the liṅga, the fruit of a sacrificer is obtained.

Brahmā himself resides on the right of the liṅga, / the blessed Viṣṇu on the left, and I myself am established in the middle.

All three have been worshipped by him by whom the liṅga has been worshipped.

A bilva leaf, a śamī leaf, karavīra, and mālatī, / unmattaka, and campaka bring immediate pleasure.

Worship with campaka, aśoka, kahlāra, and likewise karavīra, / and whatever other fragrant [flowers] there are, is dear to me, O tiger among the twice-born; / worshipped constantly with these, I quickly attain pleasure.'

The brāhmaṇa said: / 'If you are pleased with me, O god, if a boon is to be given to me: / a man who comes here, bathes, and sprinkles with water alone

this liṅga, may he obtain the fruit of all worships! / From this day forward, whatever trees there are, celestial and earthly, / let their presence be here, by your grace, O Śaṃkara!'

The Lord said: / 'Whoever will perform worship with water alone on this liṅga, / to him shall accrue all the fruit of worship, O best of the twice-born.

And the presence of all trees shall be here. / From this day forward, this will be known by name as Nāgasthāna,

because the presence of all serpents is established here. / You too, O tiger among the twice-born, shall go to my presence.'

Having spoken thus, the Lord vanished right there. / And Maṅki, having cast off his body, then went to Śiva's world.

Thus, O goddess, the excellent origin of Maṅkīśa has been told. / Heard by those endowed with full faith, it removes sins.

Thus ends the two hundred and third chapter, named 'Description of the Maṅkīśvara-māhātmya', in the first [part], Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, in the seventh [section], Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].