Skandapurana 16.99

Īśvara said: / Then, O great goddess, one should go to where Cakradhara resides, / and where Daṇḍapāṇi is situated in the same place, O ruler of gods,

to the east of Candreśa and to the north of Someśa, / at a distance of five bows' lengths, near Gandharveśa,

to the south-west of Umā, situated among divine seers and Brahmā. / I will proclaim its origin, which destroys all grave sins.

Formerly there was Pauṇḍraka Vāsudeva in Vārāṇasī. / He heard the Purāṇa being recited by the twice-born:

'At the beginning of the kalpa, at the end of the Dvāpara age, in the house of kṣatriyas, / the mighty-armed Vāsudeva will make his incarnation.'

Foolish-minded, he thought, 'I am Viṣṇu', O beloved! / He bore the emblems—the discus and the rest, O lovely-faced one!

He sent a large-bellied messenger to Dvārakā. / Having gone, he said to Viṣṇu: 'Abandon the discus and the rest!

Thus speaks King Pauṇḍraka: "If not, you will meet death!"' / Thereupon the blessed Lord Viṣṇu spoke agreeable words to him:

'Indeed, that King Pauṇḍraka is to be told my words by you: / Taking the discus, having come to your city of Kāśī,

I will then cast down the discus and this club without doubt. / That discus must be seized by you, or whatever else you desire.'

When this was said and the messenger had departed, Hari, mindful of who had come, / mounted Garuḍa and swiftly set out for that city.

Then, out of friendship for him, the king of Kāśī, along with his followers / and surrounded by his entire army, approached the Pauṇḍra.

Then, with a great army and the army of the king of Kāśī, / that Pauṇḍraka Vāsudeva marched against Keśava.

From afar Hari saw him standing in an irresistible chariot, / discus in hand, equipped with mace and the Śārṅga bow, and bearing the Garuḍa banner.

Seeing him so solemn in demeanor, he who has Garuḍa on his banner laughed, / and said to the foolish Pauṇḍraka, who was marked with his own emblems:

'Pauṇḍraka, what you said to me through the mouth of the messenger, / saying: "Cast off the emblems!"—all of that I now cast off.

This discus is discharged, and this mace is hurled! / Let this Garuḍa go and perch upon your banner!'

Having spoken thus, he struck him down with the released discus; / the chariot was shattered with his mace, and the elephants and horses crushed.

Then, amid the lamentation of the world, the mighty lord of Kāśī / fought with Vāsudeva, aggrieved by the sorrow of his friend.

Then, severing his head with arrows shot from the Śārṅga bow, / he cast it into the city of Kāśī, causing wonder to the world.

Having slain Pauṇḍraka and the king of Kāśī along with his followers, / Śauri returned to Dvāravatī, like one returning from a hunt.

Then the son of the lord of Kāśī, distressed by grief for his father, / propitiated Śaṃkara, and he granted him a boon.

He chose: 'O Blessed One, for the slaying of Kṛṣṇa, the killer of my father, / let a malevolent spirit arise by your grace, O lord of the gods!'

When he had said, 'So shall it be,' from the midst of the southern fire / a great malevolent spirit arose and set forth toward Dvārakā.

Seeing her terrible with a garland of flames, the Yādavas, overwhelmed with fear, / all went to Janārdana for refuge.

Then he who has Garuḍa on his banner released the Sudarśana [discus] for her destruction; / tormented by the splendour of the discus, she fled.

Viṣṇu's Sudarśana discus swiftly pursued the malevolent spirit; / the malevolent spirit reached Vārāṇasī, with the discus right behind her.

Then, terrified with fear, she sought refuge with Śaṃkara, / Somanātha, the lord of the world, for no other was able to protect her.

Then Śaṃkara struck the discus with excellent arrows; / and it reached Dvāravatī, pierced with the arrows of Śiva.

Seeing that disc struck by arrows inscribed with Śiva's name, the blessed Hari, enraged, grasped it with his hand
and went to the place where Someśa, who is Kālabhairava, was.
Having gone there, his eyes copper-red with rage, his hand raising the disc, he stood
and resolved to destroy the kṛtyā fashioned by Kālabhairava.

Then he was seen by all the gods and by the gaṇa Daṇḍapāṇi.
While the gods were watching there, the great gaṇa Daṇḍapāṇi,
seeing Viṣṇu, whose eyes are like lotus petals, with his hand raising the disc, spoke:

Daṇḍapāṇi said:
Do not direct your anger against the kṛtyā, O Lord of gods, O master of the universe!

Unfailing in battle is your disc, and so too is the kṛtyā belonging to Śaṃkara.
If anger should thus arise when the disc is released, O Hari,
there will be great suffering, or indeed the destruction of the worlds.

Therefore the disc should not be released; hear further our word:
Formerly, O Hari, I was appointed to this place by Śaṃkara

for the protection of sinners and for creating obstacles for the evil-minded.
Therefore, O Hari, bearer of the disc, remain in my presence.

Here mortals will worship the disc-bearing God
with incense, garlands, offerings, and varied foods.

Viṣṇu said:
Indeed, I have desisted, restrained by the goad of your words.
I shall remain near you here, with my hand raising the disc.

Thus indeed, O beloved, the disc-bearing God remained there,
as did the blessed Daṇḍapāṇi, lord of the gaṇas, who is my own form.

Whatever person devoutly worships both, Daṇḍapāṇi and Hari, in sequence,
freed from the cloaks of sin, shall go to Śiva's city.

In the month of Māgha, on the fourteenth day, and especially on the dark eighth,
whoever worships the commander of the rod with perfumes, incenses, and gifts—
no obstacle ever arises for him as he dwells in the sacred field.

Whoever, having mastered his diet, worships the disc-wielding God on the eleventh day,
freed from all grave sins, attains the same world as Viṣṇu.

Thus the māhātmya of the disc-wielding God has been declared in brief,
and also that of the gaṇa Daṇḍapāṇi, which destroys floods of sin when heard.

Thus ends the ninety-ninth chapter, entitled "The Description of the Māhātmya of Daṇḍapāṇi and Cakradhara," in the Middle Pilgrimage, in the first part, the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, in the seventh section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].