Skandapurana 16.98

Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O great goddess, to what is renowned as Caṇḍeśvara, / situated sixty dhanuses to the north-west of Someśa. 1

A divine liṅga, O great goddess, destroying all sins; / in a former yuga, during the interval of the Svāyambhuva Manu, it was celebrated. 2

At the beginning of the Tretāyuga, O goddess, it was established by the Earth; / and in that former manvantara, O beloved, the liṅga was [known as] Pṛthvīśvara. 3

Then it was reached by Candra, [becoming] the liṅga Candreśvara, O beloved, / destroying sins such as the killing of a brahmin, and increasing merit. 4

Beholding it, a mortal is freed from all taints / arising from seven births, O goddess, and becomes one whose duty is accomplished. 5

The Goddess said: / How was that sin-destroying liṅga celebrated as Pṛthvīśvara? / How was it again proclaimed as Candreśvara, O Lord? / Tell this in detail; I desire to hear it with reverence. 6

Īśvara said: / Listen, O goddess, I shall relate the sin-destroying story, / hearing which a living being is freed from the threefold bonds of karma. 7

Formerly, O great goddess, the Earth was oppressed by the burden of daityas; / sinking down, she suddenly took the form of a cow. 8

Running here and there, she found peace nowhere; / then, wandering in various places until a hundred years had passed, 9

she reached the great sacred field renowned as Prabhāsa, / attended by gods, dānavas, and gandharvas, destroying sin. 10

Staying in that great sacred field, having resolved in her mind, / she established a liṅga, endowed with supreme devotion. 11

When austere penance had been performed for more than a hundred years, / the blessed Rudra was pleased and said these words to the Earth: 12

“O goddess Viśvambharā, all penance has been well performed by you; / do not grieve, O auspicious one, what you desire will come to pass. 13

The daityas will meet destruction, slain on earth by Viṣṇu; / you, O great goddess, shall be relieved of the daityas’ burden. 14

This exceedingly beautiful liṅga which has been established by you / shall attain renown in the world under the name of the Earth. 15

Remaining here constantly in the form of a liṅga, the great lord, / I shall abide through eon after eon, taking away the sins of men. 16

Endowed with eight forms, constantly present in this liṅga, / I shall destroy the sins of men acquired in hundreds of past births.” 17

And whoever worships this [liṅga] on the third day of the dark fortnight of the month of Bhādrapada, / he will without doubt obtain the fruit of a thousand horse sacrifices.

The fruit of ritual bathing in all sacred fords and of all acts of donation / will belong to him simply by worshiping this liṅga.

As far as sixteen bows' lengths all around in circumference, / its sacred field is proclaimed to grant liberation to living beings.

Living beings who die there, willingly or even unwillingly, / even if like worms and insects, go to the highest state.

Whether one gives a golden Meru or the entire earth, / he who worships Pṛthvīśa is considered superior to both.

Īśvara said: / Having granted these boons, the god vanished right there. / From that time on, Śaṃkara became known by the name Pṛthivīśvara.

Again, in this great cosmic cycle known as the Vārāha, / once the Moon became emaciated due to Dakṣa's curse.

Afflicted by consumption, the Moon fell to the surface of the earth, O goddess, / having reached the sacred field of Prabhāsa near that great ocean.

Seeing the Pṛthvīśvara liṅga possessed of majesty and great splendour, / and becoming devoted to its worship for a thousand years,

he performed dreadful austerity, subsisting on withered leaves and water, / wherefore the Moon, delighting all with his radiance, was restored.

Indeed from the māhātmya of that liṅga, it became Candreśvara. / Through the māhātmya of that liṅga, the Moon was freed from impurity,

and attained an exceedingly fierce perfection that reveals the contact-liṅga, / which they proclaim as Somanātha, renowned in the form of a liṅga.

Thus has been briefly declared the māhātmya dedicated to the Moon. / Heard, it removes sins and likewise bestows health.

Thus ends the ninety-eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Māhātmya of Pṛthvīśvara (Candreśvara)', in the Intermediate Pilgrimage, in the first Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya of the seventh Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.