Skandapurana 5.105

The seers said: / Tell us of those sacred fords and liṅgas that vanished / when the surface of the earth was filled with dust by those pretas.

Sūta said: / Countless sacred fords and liṅgas, O twice-born, / went to oblivion. I shall declare the principal ones; listen attentively.

The sacred ford known as Cakra-tīrtha was lost there, / where the discus was formerly deposited by the all-powerful Viṣṇu.

Likewise, another [ford was] Mātṛ-tīrtha, which grants all desires to mortals, / where those divine Mothers were established by Kārtikeya.

The excellent liṅga of the royal seer Mucukunda, / and that of King Sagara, O brahmins, were lost there,

[as well as the liṅgas] of Ikṣvāku, of Vasuṣeṇa, of the noble Kakutstha, / of Aila, of Candradeva, and of the wise King of Kāśī;

[the liṅgas] of Agniveśa, of Raibhya, of Cyavana, and of Bhṛgu; / the hermitage of Yājñavalkya met with destruction there;

[the liṅgas] of the great seer Hārīta, of the noble Haryaśva, / of Kutsa, of Vasiṣṭha, of Nārada, and of Trita;

likewise, numerous liṅgas of the wives of the seers: / of Kātyāyanī, of Śāṇḍilyā, and formerly of Maitreyī,

and of other wives of the sages, who are beyond count. / Another wonder occurred there while the surface of the earth was being filled

with dust by those rākṣasas and pretas, O best of brahmins; / I shall recount that to you; it should be heard with full concentration.

Seeing the shower of dust released on all sides by the pretas, / a fierce wind was then let loose by that group of Mothers.

By it, the shower produced by dust was churned on all sides outside; / it simply falls away from that land; nothing there is filled.

Then those Vyantaras, dejected and despairing of filling it, / as spirits went before King Kuśa and cried out:

The shower of dust caused by us there, O king, / is carried away in a hundred directions elsewhere by the wind loosed by the Mothers.

Therefore, O king, devise an expedient to counteract them, / whereby we may fill that land with dust on all sides.

Having heard their words, King Kuśa then, / having reached that sacred field, worshipped Rudra, O virtuous twice-born.

Thereupon, at the end of a year, the Lord Hara, having become pleased with him, / said: Ask for a boon that is desired in your heart.

Kuśa said: / By your grace, make it so that this orb of the earth is quickly filled / with the dust loosed by the pretas.

The hosts of pretas were directed by me to fill it, / yet being protected by the Mothers, it is not possible to fill it.

There are liṅgas there consecrated with mantras of the rākṣasas, O Lord; / from touching them or seeing them, destruction of people would occur.

Because liṅgas are immovable, O God, and from true fear of the scriptures, / we do not by any means uproot them or the like.

Therefore, O best of the gods, let a policy be ordained / so that the destruction of brahmins and ascetics caused by the liṅgas may not occur.

Then the Lord Rudra, having summoned those Mothers, / said: Abandon the place where you reside.

There the pretas, without disturbance, by the command of Kuśa, / will make a shower of dust day and night for the welfare of the world.

The Mothers said: / At your command we will abandon that place, O you whose banner bears a bull; / but show us another place of a similar nature,

where we may dwell in this very sacred field for the sake of Skanda. / By him we were established here and told, 'You must always remain thenceforth.'

The Lord then said: I will grant to all of you / a greater and auspicious abode, individually, distinct from that place.

Sixty-eight sacred fields of mine exist all around, / O fortunate ones, in which my presence is eternal.

Dividing yourselves individually into sixty-eight parts, / dwell in them at my word; you will receive foremost worship.

Hearing that word of that god, those Mothers then, / being delighted, abandoned that abode created by Skanda.

Dividing into sixty-eight parts with various distinct forms, / they abide forever in his sixty-eight sacred fields.

Then that entire circle of the earth, vacated by them, / was filled with dust day and night by untiring spirits. // Having thus granted him a boon, the Blessed Lord whose mount is a bull / then vanished from sight along with his attendants, O twice-born ones.

Praised on every side by all the brahmins and ascetics, / having received their blessings, he set forth from there toward the city of Ayodhyā.

Thus ends the one hundred and sixth chapter, named 'The Account of the Māhātmya of the Lost Tīrthas,' in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.

Unnumbered section.