Skandapurana 16.23

Īśvara said: / Then, his mind calmed and filled with wonder, / his being pervaded by devotion to Śambhu, the Moon remained in Prabhāsa sacred field. // 1

The powerful one did just as had been previously spoken by the God: / going into the ocean, he took that excellent liṅga. // 2

Summoning Viśvakarman along with his attendants, / Soma himself commanded Tvaṣṭṛ, the artisan of the gods: // 3

The Moon said: / “O Viśvakarman, this liṅga was given to me by Śambhu. / Take it, O mighty-armed one, and install it in a suitable place. // 4

Protect it meanwhile; I must go to my own abode, O powerful one. / I shall bring the utensils for the sacrifice for the sake of the sacrifice.” // 5

Īśvara said: / Having spoken thus, the Moon then went to the realm of the Moon. / Having gone to the realm of the Moon, possessing great radiance, O great goddess, // 6

which extends ten million yojanas, is ever filled with nectar, and is auspicious, / and having summoned there, O great goddess, his intelligent door-keeper, // 7

[and] his minister whose body is golden-wombed, equal in intellect to Bṛhaspati: / “Quickly taking all the assembly of equipment for the sacrifice, // 8

let them go to the Prabhāsa sacred field, dedicated to my command. / Together with the brahmins who maintain the sacred fires, let them go to the excellent sacred field. // 9

Let everything be quickly accomplished so that the sacrifice proceeds. / To all the brahmins dwelling in the realm of the Moon, // 10

an aerial chariot of great wealth must be given individually; / and a million cows, accompanied by their calves and yielding milk, // 11

adorned with loads of gold, with splendor equal to the wish-fulfilling cow; / and one hundred and twenty-five thousand black-eared horses; // 12

ten thousand tusked elephants adorned with bells as ornaments; / and four thousand chariots with the speed of the wind; // 13

one hundred thousand young camels equipped with jewels and rubies; / and one crore of troops endowed with the fourfold army; // 14

fire-purified garments for the brahmins as well, / and divine, auspicious ornaments for the officiating priests; // 15

various pastries, foods, and diverse drinks; / one hundred thousand laborers, and one hundred thousand female servants. // 16

Whatever property from wood down to bamboo has been prescribed by my order, / and whatever else the brahmins may ask for—let all that be brought there. // 17

To the gods, the Dānavas, the Yakṣas, Gandharvas, and Rakṣasas, / to the rulers of the earth of the seven continents, and to the dwellers in the seven subterranean realms, // 18

and to thousands of various kings, let proclamation be made repeatedly. / A proclamation must be made to all regarding coming to Prabhāsa.” // 19

Having instructed his minister there in this way, the Moon, filled with haste, / went to Brahmā's world, to the presence of Brahmā, for the sacrifice. // 20

The Moon's minister too, the golden-wombed one of great luster, / placing Soma's command upon his head, equipped with the sacrifice's provisions, // 21

arrived at the Prabhāsa sacred field and exerted himself for the sacrifice. / And in the same way, he summoned the dwellers of the earth, intermediate space, and heaven. // 22

Hearing the proclamation, all arrived there quickly. / Having surveyed that sacred field extending to a yojana of the sun, // 23

and having summoned the brahmins, the superintendent of Soma said to them: / “All the sacrificial accessories have been brought by me at the command of Soma, O twice-born ones. / Whatever needs to be done next, let that be performed by you.” // 24

Addressed thus, all the brahmins, their impurities shaken off by austerity, / saw Tvaṣṭṛ, the artisan of the gods, right there. // 25

Having seen him, and seeing the liṅga nearby, all the twice-born said: / “How is this? Tell us, O Viśvakarman! / Why do you stand here, accompanied by ten million artisans?” // 26

Viśvakarman said: / “Appointed by Soma, I am engaged in guarding the liṅga. / Therefore an effort is being made by me, O twice-born ones, to carry out his command.” // 27

Īśvara said: / When the brahmins heard this and understood the whole reason, / they prepared themselves and then commenced the sacrificial rite. // 28

There was an auspicious sacrificial ground for the gods, extending for a yojana. / Having prepared that sacrificial ground of the gods, they also built the hall for the patron's wife. // 29

They constructed the oblation-hall, the assembly shed, the northern altar, / the abode of the Brahman priest, and the fire-house—such places as these. // 30

Extending over a yojana, sacrificial posts, pavilions, / and various sacrificial pits Viśvakarman swiftly fashioned there. // 31

The fire-pits there numbered in the thousands, up to the pavilion. / There all those brahmins, skilled in the rites of consecration, // 32

well adorned with various ornaments and jewels, / did everything in accordance with proper rule, having consulted the treatise again and again. // 33

[Collecting] divine trees and herbs, firewood, flowers, kuśa grass, and the like, / all sacrificial materials, plentiful ghee, and fresh milk;

likewise whatever other paraphernalia of sacrifice is prescribed, / pitchers, jars, and other vessels, all made of auspicious gold;

the respectful [priests] performed the consecration sacrifice in full accordance with the rules. / The company of brahmins there rejoiced, gratified with various types of food, sweetmeats, and delicacies.

Touching heaven and earth with the loud roar of Vedic chanting, / the pavilion shone resplendently there, decorated with banners,

furnished with divine thrones, adorned with strings of pearls, / with garlands of divine sandalwood, and with festoons of Kalpa-tree shoots,

and with divine fragrances and perfumes; it became like the realm of heaven. / The fourteen classes of living beings gathered there:

inanimate beings, serpents, and likewise birds; / beasts of the wild are counted as the fourth, and domestic animals as the fifth;

men are declared the sixth, and the piśāca class is taught as seventh; / rākṣasas are proclaimed the eighth, and sacrifices are the ninth;

gandharvas, the deities of Indra's host, the saumyas, the prājāpatyas, / and the brāhmas—thus is the fourteenfold host declared.

The Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, the Maruts, and the Vasus, / the eight guardians of the world, and the lunar mansions along with the planets,

and whatever deities exist in the cosmic egg—they all arrived there, / rejoicing in the Prabhāsa sacred field when the sacrificial rite was undertaken.

Rivers flowed with ghee and milk; their mire was curds and milk-rice. / Heaps of cooked foods and fruits rose like mountains;

they were seen in diverse shapes at that great festival of sacrifice. / Gandharvas sang right there, and hosts of apsarases danced.

With various types of food and delicacies, and desirable drinks, / the gods, sages, and the fourteen classes of beings were fully satisfied.

Having thus prepared every requisite component of the sacrifice together with all provisions, / the minister left guardians right there / and went to the world of Brahmā to invite Soma.

Īśvara said: / Seeing Soma of great brilliance standing beside Brahmā, / bowing down prostrate on the ground like a staff before Soma and Brahmā,

with folded hands and bowed neck, he spoke: / Hemagarbha said: / “O Blessed One, by your command every single part of the sacrifice

has been prepared by me for you in the sacred field of Prabhāsa. / All the brahmin seers and other royal seers there

are waiting anxiously, looking eagerly along your path. / You should now carry out whatever duty remains to be done.”

Īśvara said: / Being addressed in this way by the ocean's son, / the moon, smiling, then spoke to Brahmā, the witness of the worlds:

“O Blessed Lord, ruler of all the gods, out of desire to grace me, / as I wish to perform the consecration sacrifice, accept my hospitality, O Lord!

Today my birth has borne fruit, and my austerity has borne fruit, O Lord! / Today my godhood will come to pass by your grace, O Brahmā!

Through fierce austerity I have obtained the liṅga of Umā's lord. / You should perform the entire rite of its consecration.”

Brahmā said: / “I shall certainly perform the consecration of the nature of Śaṃkara for you, / especially of Someśa, the liṅga of your worship.

For whoever will be or have been the makers of the night (moons), / for all those belonging to the lunar lineage, this is the primal deity.

This god Someśvara, who was called Bhairava in the beginning, / I consecrate again and again when one Manvantara passes after another.

When I, eight years of age, went to the sacred field of Prabhāsa, / summoned previously by Indra when Bhairava was consecrated,

from that time forth my name is proclaimed as ‘the Child-Formed One’ (Bālarūpin). / In all other sacred fords I dwell in the form of an old man,

but in Prabhāsa, O Moon, I reside continuously in childhood. / Whatever sacred fords exist in the cosmic egg, and whatever brahmins are renowned in them,

I, the foremost among them, am established in Prabhāsa, O lord of the night. / In every kalpa, O lord of the night, I have a different name:

‘Svayambhū’ is the name in the first, ‘Padmabhū’ is remembered in the second, / ‘Viśvakartṛ’ in the third, and ‘Bālarūpin’ in the fourth.

A repeated cycle of these very names will continue / as long as I remain established in Prabhāsa until the end of two parārdhas.

By the primal Soma, who was born from Śambhu's eye, / austerity was performed right there in Prabhāsa, and Īśvara was made visible.

Then the trident-bearer, pleased, gave a boon to that earlier moon: / ‘Because, O Soma, I have been worshipped by you with lasting devotion,

therefore the name Someśa shall belong to this liṅga, / as long as Brahmā Śatānanda does not dissolve back into Prakṛti.

And whatever lords of the night and makers of the night shall come to be, / they shall worship me here again and again.’

Having spoken thus, the blessed Śambhu vanished right there. / At that time, O Soma, the primal liṅga was consecrated by me.

Since then, two hundred thousand, / two thousand, and one hundred and six moons have passed.

You are now the seventh, O mighty-armed Soma! / So many liṅgas have been brought to consecration by me.

I am that very one now, [granting] the fruit arising from its worship; / I shall consecrate it—good fortune to you, Soma! That is my duty.”

Īśvara said: / Having spoken thus, the blessed Brahmā, endowed with the lore of the Vedas, / containing all the deities, accompanied by the gods and joined by the sacred fords,

together with lordly yogins and seers headed by Sanatkumāra, / summoned Bṛhaspati and placed the family priest at the head.

Mounting his swan vehicle, together with ten million celestial seers, / Brahmā, lord of the universe, then arrived with Soma, the king [of planets],

at the great sacred ford of Prabhāsa, where the Dāruvana is remembered [to be], / where the river Ṛṣitoyā flows, destroyer of the greatest sins.

In this sacred ford at Prabhāsa, that [part] is called the portion of Brahmā. / This sacred field belongs to three deities, as I have told you, my beloved.

Having arrived there at the exceedingly pure portion of Brahmā, the four-faced [god] / summoned the sages residing in the elevated places.

Seeing the Creator arrive together with the preceptor of the seers and gods, / they all worshipped him with eulogies conforming to the Vedas.

Then Brahmā, grandfather of the worlds, addressed all the twice-born: / "Soma, having propitiated Someśa, the destroyer of sins, for a long time,

and he having become pleased, has obtained this unsurpassed liṅga. / O best among twice-born, you have come for the installation of the god.

Just as the installation dedicated to Śaṃkara should always be performed by me, / so must it be performed by you who abide in my portion.

Since the liṅga fell down to earth because of your anger, / its installation must indeed be done by you without doubt."

Īśvara said:
Then taking all the sages, Brahmā, grandfather of the worlds— / Brahmā, the lord of the universe, was then led by Soma, the king,

to the great sacred ford of Prabhāsa. Together with Sāvitrī, the lord / caused one hundred fire-pits and one hundred pavilions to be constructed.

In each pavilion he appointed seventeen officiating priests there; / urged by the preceptor, the priest of the gods, Brahmā

stood at the side then, and initiated the lord Soma together with Rohiṇī / in accordance with the rites prescribed in the Vedas.

Having made Rohiṇī, who possessed all auspicious marks, the consecrated wife, / the goddess wearing an antelope skin, covered in a silk cloth,

was brought to the wife's chamber by the priests who had mastered the Vedas. / The moon, endowed with initiation, praised by seers and gandharvas,

holding an udumbara staff, wrapped in an antelope skin, / endowed with immense splendour, shone while seated in the assembly.

Then, O great goddess, Brahmā, grandfather of all the worlds, / chose the officiating priests according to the Vedic rite.

There the preceptor [Bṛhaspati] was chosen as the hotṛ, and Vasiṣṭha as the adhvaryu; / Marīci was the udgātṛ there, and Nārada was made the brahman priest.

Members of the assembly, along with Sanatkumāra, were appointed there, / equipped with garments, ornaments, crowns, and rings,

adorned with a host of decorations in that sacrifice as priests for that purpose; / four experts were placed in each of the four [quarters], thus making sixteen priests.

Kaśyapa was the prastotṛ there, and Gālava the pratihartṛ; / likewise Garga was the subrahmaṇya, and Pulaha was made a member of the assembly.

Śukra was designated the hotṛ, Kratha was cited as the neṣṭṛ; / Durvāsas was the maitrāvaruṇa, and Kauśika was the brāhmaṇācchaṃsin.

Śākalya was the acchāvāka, Kratu was the grāvastut, / Śālaṅkāyana was the pratiprasthātṛ,

Manu was the agnīdhra there, and Aṅgiras was made the unnetṛ. / Having appointed these and other officiating priests in the pavilions, the lord,

appointed officiating priests in each of the other pavilions as well; / having set up the hundred pavilions, he fashioned the fire-pits.

Each pavilion there measured twenty cubits; / purifying the ground with the astra-mantra and sprinkling it with the five products of the cow,

covering it with a hide and drawing lines with the astra-mantra, O Pārvatī, / scratching the ground, sprinkling it, and digging the pit according to rule,

and arranging eight fire-pits in a single pavilion, my beloved, / he smeared the pavilion and performed the vajrīkaraṇa rite.

Square, bow-shaped, circular, and lotus-shaped, / he made them with great effort, beginning from the eastern direction:

placing a four-cornered pit in the east, / a vulva-shaped one in the south-east, a bow-shaped one in the south,

a triangular one in the south-west, a circular one in the west, / a hexagonal one in the north-west, and a lotus-shaped one in the north,

and an octagonal one in the north-east, with one [circular pit] in the center according to rule. / Each radiant pavilion had sixteen pillars,

equipped with banners and archways, Brahmā constructed according to rule; / placing a nyagrodha tree in the east, and likewise an udumbara in the south,

an aśvattha in the west, and a palāśa in the north in sequence, / setting up banners of the measure of an arm's length there,

flags of yellow and other colours were arranged, beginning in the east. / Then Brahmā commenced the establishment of the fire in the fire-pit.

He directed the brahmins in their respective places to chant prayers: / the Śrīsūkta, the Pāvamānasūkta, and constantly the Vājin [hymns],

the Vṛṣākapi and the Indra hymn—the Ṛgvedins chanted them in the east; / the Rudra hymns, the Puruṣasūkta, and the […]

the Brāhmaṇa, the ancestral hymns, and the Indra hymns the Yajurvedins chanted in the south; / the Devavrata, the Vāmadevya, the Jyeṣṭhasāman, the Rathaṃtara,

and the Bheruṇḍa sāmans the Sāmavedin chanted in the west; / the Atharvaśiras, the Skambhasūkta, the Atharvaṇa,

and the Nīlarudra hymns the Atharvavedin chanted in the north. / Then the lord performed all the fire-rites, such as the rite of conception.

Then, having offered the full offering, he began the rite of bathing [the liṅga] / using the five shoots and mixed with earths,

with astringents, the five products of the cow, the five nectars, and fruits, / together with the waters of sacred fords; he then began the bath accompanied by mantras.

Having fashioned the eyes of the god and applied the auspicious mark on the forehead, / [bringing] whatever sacred fords exist on the earth and especially in Pātāla,

And whatever [sacred fords] there were in heaven, all arrived there at that moment. / Meanwhile, then, while the gods were looking on, Brahmā

rent the earth and entered, and there he saw the liṅga. / Having covered that [liṅga] named Sparśa with honey and roots of darbha grass,

and placing the brahma-stone there, the self-controlled one installed the liṅga / of great splendour above it, having made it immovable.

And abiding in the highest reality, he then performed the ritual placement of mantras. / Having thus installed the liṅga there, Brahmā, the guru of the universe,

worshipped it according to ritual rule with elaborate mantras spoken in the Vedas. / When the ritual placement of mantras was performed there by Brahmā, the creator of the world,

the assembly of brahmins rejoiced there with auspicious cries of victory and the like, / and the fire became smokeless, blazing with the radiance of ten million suns.

Celestial drums sounded, and the lords of the directions were pleased. / A shower of flowers fell profusely in that great festival of sacrifice.

Then, having installed the glorious liṅga of Someśa, the Grandfather / caused abundant sacrificial fees to be given to the brahmins.

Surrounded by the foremost brahmin seers headed by Sanatkumāra, / Soma formerly gave the three worlds as a sacrificial fee to Brahmā.

To those principal brahmin seers and likewise to the members of the assembly, / he gave gold, jewels, and abundant fees in the millions.

Consecrated then by all the brahmin seers, that one of great lustre, / the best among luminous bodies, illuminated the three worlds with his own radiance.

Nine goddesses attended upon him: / Sinī, Kuhū, Dyuti, Puṣṭi, Prabhā, Vasu, Kīrti, Dhṛti, and Lakṣmī.

Having attained the concluding bath without agitation, having performed the sacrifice dedicated to Maheśvara, / the Lord of the Night became fulfilled and perfected.

Then Brahmā the Grandfather granted him an extensive kingdom, / O fair-faced one, over seeds, medicinal plants, brahmins, and waters.

To whichever rulers of the earth had gathered at that sacrifice, / he granted kingdoms, wealth, pleasures, and likewise imperishable heaven.

The Lord of Plants himself fed the brahmins; / he then gave everything to those dwelling in the Prabhāsa sacred field.

He also gave the sixteen great gifts, beginning with gold. / Whatever an ordinary, common person there requested,

that very thing he received in accordance with his own action. / When the sacrifice was thus completed, all the gods, accompanied by Indra,

having installed their own liṅgas, departed each as they had come. / But the Moon, the all-pervading lord, together with Brahmā, O goddess,

worshipped the liṅga again in sin-destroying Prabhāsa. / He worshipped it at the three junctures of the day with incense, garlands, and ointments; / having bowed to it, O ruler of the gods, the Lord of the Night praised it continually.