Skandapurana 16.38

The goddess said: / As to what was said by you, that one should first see Kapardin: / O blessed lord, you ought to explain this doubt properly.

He is indeed your servant, O lord of the gods, O Śambhu of great splendor; / the servant comes after the master: this is the eternal law.

Īśvara said: / Listen, O goddess, I shall explain how he is most worthy of worship: / Kapardī is the lord Vighneśvara, foremost among all the gods.

He who is beyond the grasp of the senses, residing in the Prabhāsa sacred field, / is Someśvara, O great goddess, Sadāśiva in the form of a liṅga.

On his left stands Viṣṇu, who is remembered as Varāha; / and on his right side stands Brahmā Prajāpati, / having assumed the form of Kapardin on account of Sāvitrī's anger.

Named Heramba in the Kṛta age, crusher of obstacles (Vighnamardana) in the Tretā, / Lambodara in the Dvāpara, but remembered as Kapardin in the Kali age.

Thus in every yuga his incarnation is distinct; / he is born again and again in accordance with the task to be done.

When the twenty-eighth four-age cycle (caturyuga) had arrived, O goddess, / hear from me how Kapardin, the causal self, was born there.

Formerly, at the junction of the Dvāpara and the arrival of the Kali age, / women, barbarians, and Śūdras, and whatever other evildoers there were, / quickly went to heaven merely upon seeing the lord Someśvara.

No sacrifices, no austerity, no giving, no Vedic study, and no observances; / yet men, though doing [none of these], O goddess, all went to Śiva's abode.

Knowing such power arising from Someśvara, / all rites beginning with the Agniṣṭoma were destroyed, O ruler of the gods.

Then children and the elderly, seers who have mastered the Vedas, / even Śūdras and women, having seen him, attained the highest state.

When sacrificial festivals were destroyed and the surface of the earth was deserted, / heaven was filled and overrun by those with upraised arms.

Then the gods, Mahendra and the others, filled with sorrow, / overcome by those mortals, went to Śaṃkara for refuge.

With folded hands, all the best of the gods, Indra and the others, said: / 'By your grace, O Śaṃkara, this heaven has been overrun by mortals.

Assign some place for our dwelling, O lord! / Boasting mutually, "I am the best! I am the best!", / they wander about in every direction at will, O god.

Dharmarāja, the very soul of righteousness, seeing their good and bad karma / recorded by himself, sits silent in great bewilderment.

Seeing those for whom the dreadful Kumbhīpāka, / Raurava, and Śālmali [hells] were made ready, now staying in heaven, O god, / he fell into supreme embarrassment and abandoned his duties.'

The Blessed Lord said: / 'Everything was promised by me, pleased by the devotion of Soma, O gods: / "My presence shall be in this sacred field."

What has been uttered by oneself cannot be undone; / thus they who see me there shall indeed go to heaven.'

Agitated with fear, the gods, looking on all sides toward Pārvatī, / all said with folded hands: 'Be our refuge!'

Having spoken thus, O best of beings, the gods praised [her] with this hymn, / going down upon their knees on the earth and placing their folded hands upon their heads:

The gods said: / 'Salutations to you, O ruler of the gods! Salutations to you, O supporter of the universe! / Salutations to you, whose eyes are like lotus petals! Salutations to you, radiant as gold!

Salutations to you, destroyer and creator! Salutations to you, beloved of Śaṃkara! / Salutations to you, O Kālarātri! Salutations to you, daughter of the mountain!

O noble lady, auspicious one, wide-eyed one, salutations to you, beauty of the world! / You are Rati, you are Dhṛti, you are Śrī, you are Svāhā, you are nectar, the faithful wife.

You are Durgā, you are thought and intellect, you are all, you are the earth. / By you this entire threefold world, moving and unmoving, is pervaded.

In rivers, on mountain peaks, in oceans and in caves, / in forests and sacred sanctuaries, in battles and in hermitages,

in the threefold world, where can we see where you, O goddess, are not present? / Knowing this, O wide-eyed lady, save us from great peril!'

Īśvara said: / Thus addressed by the gods led by Indra, / you, O goddess, out of compassion rubbed your own body at that time.

As you were rubbing it, a great mass of dirt arose; / from it was born a handsome four-armed [figure] with the face of a lordly elephant.

Then you, full of compassion, said to all the gods: / 'This very one has been created by me wishing your welfare.

He will arrange all obstacles for living beings.

Afflicted with great delusion, their intellects impaired by desire, / men will go to hell, not beholding Somanātha.'

Having heard your words thus, all the gods, gladdened in mind, / went to their own abode, casting off their fear born of mortals.

Then the elephant-faced one, endowed with modesty, said to you, O goddess: / 'What shall I do, O wide-eyed lady? Let a command be given to me.'

The holy Goddess said: / 'Go to the sacred field of Prabhāsa, where Hara is present; / protect it so that it does not come within the sight of mortals.

The liṅga of the god of gods was established by the Moon himself. / Commanded by you, he who continually creates obstacles for men,

seeing a man set out toward the lord Somanātha, / that Kapardin, worshipped by the world, creates great obstacles.

He produces great delusion arising from sons, wives, houses, fields, / wealth, and grain; thereafter, [the man] does not see Hara.

Or else he may cast forth diseases such as tumours and swellings; / seized by them, out of delusion the man does not see Hara thereafter.

Therefore, by every effort, with the desire to reach Someśvara, / he should indeed be worshipped constantly and remembered day and night.

By this hymn that ends all obstacles, O ruler of the gods, / the guardian of the sacred field of Prabhāsa, the lord of the gaṇas, is to be propitiated.

I shall declare to you that obstacle-crushing hymn / of Kapardin, O great goddess; listen attentively:

Om! Salutations to the king of obstacles! Salutations be to Kapardin! / Salutations to the one with fierce large tusks, dwelling in the sacred field of Prabhāsa!

Having bowed to Kapardin for the sake of a journey free from obstacles, / I shall praise the king of obstacles, dear to Siddhi and Buddhi, the auspicious one,

the great Gaṇapati, the valiant, the unconquered, the increaser of victory, / single-tusked, two-tusked, four-tusked, and four-armed,

three-eyed, holding a trident, red-eyed, the granter of boons, / invincible, with conch-shaped ears, the fierce leader of punishment, / holding an iron staff, fire-mouthed, and fond of oblations.

Who, when unhonoured, causes obstacles in all the undertakings of men, / to that lord of gaṇas, terrible, fierce, the son of Umā, I bow;

exuding rut, diverse-eyed, radiant as an elephant's face, / firm, unmoving, peaceful—to that Vināyaka I bow.

By you, in your previous form, for the accomplishment of the purpose of the gods, / having assumed an elephant's shape, all the Dānavas were terrified,

and your leadership over the seers and deities was revealed.

Thus praised before by the gods, you are worshipped, O son of Bhava! / Having worshipped you, the lord of gaṇas, radiant as an elephant's face,

firm, unmoving, peaceful, surrounded by the fortune of victory, / for the sake of accomplishing [one's] task, with red flowers and red sandalwood water,

wearing red garments, on the fourth day, he who should worship [him], / once or twice a day, restrained and eating measured food,

the lord of all obstacles would bring under his control a king, a prince, / a royal minister, or the whole kingdom along with its realm.

Whatever fruit is attained at all sacred fords, whatever fruit in all sacrifices, / that fruit he obtains by remembering the divine Vināyaka.

No adversity will befall him, nor will he suffer defeat, / nor will there be any obstacle for him; a person will remember their past lives.

Whoever recites this hymn obtains a boon within six months; / and in a year he obtains perfection, there is no doubt about this.

Through his grace, the lord Someśvara grants darśana. / Because his belly is said to resemble a cowrie-shell, / therefore know the name of this great-souled one to be Kapardin.'

Thus ends the thirty-eighth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glory of Kapardivināyaka,' in the first [sub-section], the Māhātmya of the Prabhāsakṣetra, in the seventh [section], the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.