Skandapurana 3.2.17

Vyāsa said:

In the south, O king, the goddess Śāntā of great might was installed;

wearing various garments, adorned with a garland of wild flowers,

she is tamas-natured, O great king, the destroyer of Madhu and Kaiṭabha.

The wife of Śiva was indeed placed there by Viṣṇu, O best of kings.

She has eight arms, is charming, dark as a cloud, and delightful.

Wearing black garments, the goddess is mounted upon a tiger.

Clad in a leopard skin, she is adorned with divine ornaments.

The auspicious goddess holds a bell, a trident, a rosary, and a water-pot.

With decorated arms, the goddess is bowed to by all the gods.

She bestows wealth, grain, sons, and pleasures upon her devotees.

One should worship [her] with divine lotuses, camphor, aloe, and sandalwood;

in her honor, right there, one should worship the best of twice-borns.

With feelings of devotion, one should feed young maidens with various foods;

and one should worship [her] with incenses, lamps, delightful fruits, liquors, and the like,

with various divine meats or with those made of grain flour,

and with other various grains, milk-rice, as well as cakes;

with cooked rice, kṛśarā, and pancakes, one should worship [her] with full concentration,

and right there with the recitation of praise [and] charming hymns to Śakti.

His enemies perish; he becomes victorious everywhere;

in battle, in the royal assembly, and in gambling, he obtains auspicious victory.

Gentle and peaceful, O great king, the mother of the clan was installed.

She is renowned as Śrīmātā; listen to her māhātmya, O ruler of the earth.

The clan-mother, a great power, abides there, O best of kings.

A maiden, the daughter of Brahmā, she was created by the Creator for protection.

And she is the mother of the place; the goddess is known by the name Śrīmātā.

She is of threefold form, created for the protection of the twice-born.

Holding a water-pot, the goddess is adorned with ornaments of bells;

endowed with a rosary, O king, she is auspicious, having an auspicious form.

She is Kumārī and the primal mother, and also the protector of the place;

the slayer of Daityas, granter of desires, and destroyer of great delusion.

Attainable through devotion, that goddess Kumārī is the daughter of Brahmā.

Clad in red garments, she is well-smeared with red sandalwood paste.

Bearing red garlands, ten-armed, five-faced, the sovereign of the gods,

having the moon as her crest-ornament, the mother is bowed to by gods and Asuras.

She is Sarasvatī herself in visible form, created by the Creator for protection.

She is Oṃkāra, highly meritorious, fashioned by the lord of the lotus.

Having her pair of feet bowed to by seers, Siddhas, Yakṣas, gods, serpents, and mortals,

she grants to them what is desired in their minds.

Protecting the place for the benefit of the twice-born,

just as a mother here protects her own legitimate sons with her virtues,

so the goddess Śrīmātā, the clan deity, protects them.

Continually praised, she destroys all afflictions.

Śrīmātā pacifies all obstacles merely by being remembered.

At a marriage, during the investiture of the sacred thread, at the parting of the hair, and in every auspicious rite,

in all undertakings of her devotees, Śrīmātā is always worshipped.

Just as one begins [an undertaking] after having worshipped the pot-bellied god,

likewise [one begins] every auspicious undertaking [after worshipping] Śrīmātā, O king.

Whatever food one gives here to the brahmins,

or whatever offering is made among one another—

doing it without having offered it to her, O king, one will encounter an obstacle.

Therefore, having first offered it to her, one should then begin the rite;

by her boon, the entire undertaking succeeds without hindrance.

When late autumn and winter have arrived, one should worship the daughter of Dharma.

Having drawn it on a gold leaf, or having made it of silver,

one should present an excellent sandal to Śrīmātā, O king.

Having bathed with [water] mixed with sesame and myrobalan and become pure,

[one should offer] garments, lovely flowers, and very charming silks;

and one should smear [her] with white sandal pastes, saffron, vermilion,

and ointments mixed with camphor, aloe, and musk;

with karṇikāra, kahlāra, and white and red karavīra flowers;

with campaka, ketakī, and hibiscus blossoms;

with yakṣakardama paste and whole bilva leaves;

and with pālāśa and jasmine flowers, and cakes made of black gram.

One should gratify [her] with cakes, boiled rice, pulses, and an abundance of vegetables. (31)

Beginning with incense, lamps, and other offerings, one should worship the Mother of the Universe.

With that very attitude [of worship], one should indeed feed young maidens and brahmins,

with rice puddings mixed with ghee and blended with sugar, O king. (32)

One should satisfy them with prepared dishes, modakas, and other foods, out of feelings of devotion.

When a single twice-born is satisfied, one obtains a thousandfold reward. (33)

One should cause to be recited again and again the hymn that destroys the daityas.

Having focused one’s mind with single intent, whoever praises Śrīmātā— (34)

pleased with him, bathed, worshipped, and praised, she grants a boon.

And the daughter of Dharma destroys all undesirable misfortunes. (35)

The childless obtains sons; the penniless becomes wealthy;

the one who desires a kingdom obtains a kingdom; the seeker of knowledge obtains it. (36)

The seeker of fortune obtains prosperity; the seeker of a wife obtains her.

Through the grace of Sarasvatī, one obtains [these]; of this there is no doubt. (37)

And in the end, that supreme abode which is hard to reach even for the gods,

a person attains eternally through the grace of Sarasvatī. (38)

Thus ends the seventeenth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Śrīmātā,' in the Dharmāraṇyamāhātmya in the first part of the third book, the Brahmakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skandapurāṇa containing eighty-one thousand verses. (17)