Skandapurana 3.2.20

Vyāsa said:

After this, I shall speak of the unexcelled sacred ford of Śiva,

where the god Śaṃkara took another birth.

Śaṃkara, the lord of the gods of gods, the three-eyed one,

was pinned by Girijā, O fortunate one, and felled onto the earthly sphere.

Tricked and bewildered, he knew neither day nor night;

the three-eyed one became motionless, [insensible to] male, female, or neuter.

When he was thus pinned, it became as if the end of an aeon.

Then the pinning of him was suddenly performed by Pārvatī.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

This speech that you have uttered is an incomparable wonder.

He who is always the teacher of all the gods and of yogins—

why was Śiva pinned by Pārvatī, and how did he lose his awareness?

Let the reason for that be told; indeed, great is my curiosity.

Vyāsa said:

Various hosts of mantras, O king, were revealed by Śaṃkara

in the presence of Pārvatī, O great king, arising from the Atharvaṇa Upaveda.

Śākinī, Ḍākinī, Kākinī, Hākinī,

Ekinī, and Lākinī: these six varieties were celebrated there.

Extracting the seed syllables from them, a garland in a single circle was made,

and it was explained by Śambhu in the presence of Pārvatī, O best of kings.

And with them the extraction of the mantra became eightfold;

that very wicked Śākinī, a woman, would subdue [it], O sinless one.

Śrī Pārvatī said:

These six varieties indeed have been revealed by you, O lord,

the six kinds of powers, O lord, garlanded with inaccessible yogic powers.

Tell me what was formed as an enciphered combination through the unity spoken of as sixfold.

Śrī Mahādeva said:

It is not to be revealed, O great goddess, to gods, asuras, or humans.

Pārvatī said:

Salutations to you whose form is all; salutations to you who have the bull on your banner!

Salutations to you, O lord with matted hair; salutations to you, O blue-throated one!

Salutations to you, O ocean of mercy; salutations to you whose form is time [and death]!

Having gratified that treasure of compassion with these many gentle words,

the daughter of the mountain prostrated like a staff

and grasped his two feet. Full of pity, he said to her:

Why are you praising me, auspicious lady? Ask for what is desired in your heart.

Pārvatī said:

Tell me in full detail the combination and the true meditation,

entirely and free of doubt, if I am dear to you.

Śrī Rudra said:

You must not reveal, O goddess, the fruit born of the combination.

I shall speak of the entire principle beginning with the enciphered combination of the mantra.

The māyā-bīja belongs to all the enciphered combinations, O fair-faced one;

the middle syllable of all is adorned with the bindu, beginning with da.

The fire seed with the wind, accompanied by the tortoise seed,

the seed arising from the sun, always arising from the śakti seed—

this is the enciphered first seed, and the second is considered by the Lord [to follow];

and the third is the fire seed, joined with bindu and moon;

the fourth, joined with Śeṣa, is the Brahmā seed, and the seer as well;

the fifth is the time seed, and the sixth is the earth seed;

in the seventh and eighth is the outer [seed], accompanied by Nṛsiṃha;

in the ninth, one second [seed], and in the tenth, an eightfold enciphered combination;

the seed of both is inverted in the rudrākṣa, O noble practitioner;

in the fourteenth, for the sake of the fourth, it is joined with the earth seed.

Certain enciphered combinations of the remaining syllables were kept secret, O daughter of Menakā.

When she, the wife of Śiva, fell onto the earth, O king,

she was consoled there by Rāma. Laughing, the destroyer of Tripura [said]:

Auspicious lady, because it was obtained by you, the power of Jambha will arise.

in slaying, deluding, subjugating, attracting, and agitating.

Whatever one desires, indeed that very perfection will be attained.

Hearing this then, the goddess, who had a wicked mind, smiled brightly.

Then the hero [manifestations] left behind by deceit were spoken to her by Śambhu;

and the ocean of compassion said: 'Accomplish it according to the rule.' / Hara then went from Kailāsa directly to Dharmāraṇya.

[Hara went there.]

Knowing [this], the goddess went there where he whose banner bears a bull was.

At that very instant, O best of kings, he fell to the ground in Dharmāraṇya:

his matted locks, the moon, serpents, trident, the bull and other weapons,

and the garland of skulls, the loincloth, and the skull of Brahmā.

His attendants dispersed everywhere, and the ghosts and spirits fled in the ten directions.

Knowing that he himself was unconscious, the divine Maheśvara,

the attendants born of sweat were produced, along with the deceitful ones and others.

Having produced the five deceitful ones, then for him at the base of the tree,

those practitioners, O great king, were devoted to recitation and oblations.

Seated upon corpses, they all stayed upon the deadly poison;

they declare their own self through which comes the liberation of the wielder of Pināka.

Then Gaurī, overcome with hardship, was distressed by fear of fire;

Śiva was honored by them, but Gaurī, ashamed, looked downward.

Staying there, she performed austerity, carrying out Śaṃkara's instruction:

resorting to the five fires, looking down and inhaling smoke.

Praised by them with enigmatic syllables, he whose banner bears a bull was pleased.

This Dharākṣetra, O king, destroys sins and grants all desires.

The bright bathing-place of the gods shines in this abode.

In the month of Āśvina, on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight, O king,

bathing there and drinking, one is freed from all sins.

Having worshipped the Lord of the gods and fasted according to rule,

neither Śākinīs, nor Ḍākinīs, Vetālas, ancestral spirits, nor planetary spirits,

nor planetary mansions afflict one, truly, truly, O fair-faced one.

Having performed the Rudra-recitation with all its limbs there, one is freed from sins.

The three kinds of diseases are destroyed, truly, truly, O lord of the earth.

All this has been declared by me; listen about the bathing-place of the gods.

The fruit that belongs to a thousand horse-sacrifices performed with abundant priestly fees—

that fruit does a person obtain, both hearer and reciting speaker.

The childless obtains sons; the poor will obtain wealth;

one obtains long life, health, and sovereign power, there is no doubt in this.

Whatever threefold evil is born of mind, speech, and body,

all that goes to destruction from remembering and proclaiming it, O king.

It is auspicious, fame-conferring, life-giving, and brings happiness and offspring;

should one listen to the māhātmya, dear one, he will be endowed with all happiness.

Whatever merit is in all sacred fords, whatever fruit in all gifts,

and whatever merit is gained by all sacrifices, is produced by hearing [this], O king.

Thus ends the twentieth chapter, named the Description of Dharākṣetra, in the Māhātmya of Dharmāraṇya in the first part of the Brahmakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.