Skandapurana 5.106

The seers said: / This sixty-eight [sacred fields] of the God of gods spoken of by you, O son of Sūta— / how did they come to be established there? / Explain all this to us, for our curiosity is great.

Sūta said: / This is a weighty question that you have proclaimed; / nevertheless, having bowed down to the wielder of the Pināka, I shall narrate it.

Formerly in Camatkārapura there lived an excellent brahmin, / born in the lineage of Vatsa, renowned as Citraśarman.

The thought arose in his mind: 'Having brought Hāṭakeśvara / here from Pātāla, I will worship him with devotion day and night.'

Having thus made a resolve, he then performed supreme austerity, / self-restrained, measuring his food, adhering to the highest discipline.

Then, after a long time, the Blessed Lord Śambhu, / satisfied with him, O best of brahmins, spoke respectfully:

'Request a boon, O chief of vipras, whatever is in your mind; / even the sovereignty over the three worlds, being pleased, I will grant you without doubt.

Therefore, ask for what is continually situated in your heart, / though difficult to obtain for all the gods, and especially for human beings.'

Citraśarman said: / 'If you are pleased with me, O Lord, and if you grant me a boon, / then come here from Pātāla in the form of a liṅga, O Lord of the gods.

May that liṅga named Hāṭakeśvara, which resides in Pātāla, / consecrated by Brahmā, come here swiftly.'

The Blessed Lord said: / 'Every liṅga must remain unmoving everywhere, O best of the twice-born; / how much more that first one which was fashioned by Brahmā himself!

Therefore, install that liṅga out of gold (hāṭaka), O best of the twice-born; / it will be famous in the world by the name Hāṭakeśvara.

Whatever person, endowed with faith and accompanied by devotion, / shall worship it on a Monday on the fourteenth [tithi] of the bright fortnight,

by that worship he will attain the welfare arising from the primeval liṅga, O twice-born.' / Having spoken thus, the Blessed Lord then vanished from sight.

Citraśarman too, having built a charming temple, / installed a golden liṅga there with devotion.

He performed worship daily according to the rules prescribed in the scriptures. / Thereupon, O twice-born, that liṅga became renowned throughout the three worlds.

Coming from afar, people then worshipped it continually. / Now, the other twice-born residing there who possessed superior virtues,

seeing his deed, rivalry arose among them— / all of them born of the same place and endowed with virtues:

'Though bereft of virtues, this man has become famous throughout the three worlds / by attaining the propitiation of Hara; therefore, we / shall satisfy Hara for that purpose, so that equality may be achieved.

Sixty-eight sacred fields of the Trident-bearer are remembered in the world, / where the Supreme Lord approaches into presence at the three times of day.

And sixty-eight are our lineages situated here / sharing a common nature with this foolish-minded man.

Therefore, having propitiated the three-eyed Lord, / that liṅga dwelling in Pātāla was brought here by him.

In that same manner, all the liṅgas of the sacred fields must be brought completely by all [of us], / having propitiated Maheśvara through the power of austerity.

Śaṃkara will bring [a liṅga] for every one of these lineages, / whichever lineage is associated with a sacred field or whatever other there will be.'

Then all those excellent twice-born whose names ended in -śarman / performed rites of austerity difficult for any living beings to carry out,

with recitations, fire-offerings, fasts, and various types of observances, / with food-offerings, worship, gifts, and likewise with ritual ablutions and charitable donations,

having installed a liṅga of the god known by the name Dvijeśvara / in a highly attractive, lofty temple resembling a mountain.

Abandoning all domestic duties, as well as those arising from sacrifice / and others arising from worldly affairs, they propitiated Maheśvara.

Even while being propitiated in this manner, the Supreme Lord / did not reach satisfaction, nor the highest contentment in any way, O twice-born.

Then, having worshipped Maheśvara for the duration of a thousand years / without obtaining any fruit whatsoever, all of them became angry:

'With this Citraśarman, who is the greatest of fools, O Trident-bearer, / you attained supreme satisfaction in a very short time.

Worshipping Śaṃkara from childhood, we have reached old age, / yet the Supreme Lord has not been seen by us.

Therefore, entering into the fire must be done by all [of us]; / this resolve is now indeed made by us before you.'

Then, having gathered wood, all those best of the twice-born, / contemplating Īśvara in their minds, prepared separate funeral pyres.

Likewise, having performed the entire circle of rites such as ritual ablution and charity, / all those brahmins, [kindling] the well-blazing fire,

as they, collected in mind, were about to enter it along with their sons, / just then the Blessed Lord, satisfied, came into their presence.

And laughing aloud, he spoke in a voice deep as a thundercloud / to all those foremost brahmins, as if reviving the dead:

"O tigers among brahmins, do not, do not commit such great rashness! / You must act on my word, especially since I am well-pleased."

"Therefore speak whatever is in your hearts, / so that having granted it I may return to my own abode."

The brahmins said: / "O best of gods, in this sacred field and in the vicinity of this city, / the sixty-eight sacred fields that are praised as blessed by men—

may they always come together with those primeval liṅgas, O best of gods, / so that all our indignation here may be appeased.

Devoid of all virtues, he rivals us / through the power of your liṅga; therefore do this!"

Sūta said: / In the meantime, knowing that Hara had come to grant boons, the brahmin / Citraśarman, filled with rivalry, addressed Maheśvara.

Citraśarman said: / "O lord of gods, you were brought to satisfaction by these [brahmins] / when they undertook to abandon their lives and performed immense austerity,

only because they were rivaling me and proud of their virtues. / Therefore, O lord of gods, you must give nothing to them!

If you transgress me and grant them their desire, / I will enter the fire before your eyes together with these wives and sons; / therefore act appropriately!"

Sūta said: / Hearing that speech of his, the Blessed One who bears the crescent moon / reflected in his mind: 'What would be the right course here?

These tigers among brahmins are going to ruin for my sake, / and this best of the twice-born is also completely accomplished, equal to my Gaṇas.

Therefore I must act so that there may be well-being for both in this sacred field, / especially for the brahmins, and likewise for those who dwell here.

Indeed, this task is always in my mind: / I shall gather all my sacred fields into one single place.

Likewise, a dreadful time born of the Kali age will arrive; / then the sacred fields and sacred fords will perish on the surface of the earth.

Through fear of that, this sacred field has been resorted to by all the true sacred fords; / I too shall bring my own sacred fields here in their entirety.'

Then Maheśvara spoke thus to Citraśarman: / "Listen to all my words, and then act accordingly.

O best of the twice-born, let all my sacred fields arrive here, / and let the brahmins have dominion, delighted.

I shall also grant you the highest distinction, O wise one, / if you abide by my instruction, abandoning this rivalry with the twice-born.

Even though your gotra is the fourth, according to the order declared in the Vedas, / all those twice-born will proclaim your primacy.

Likewise, O twice-born, I grant you another honor, / without doubt, enduring as long as the moon and the sun, for your sons, grandsons, and descendants:

Whatever sons, grandsons, and other descendants are born in your lineage, / when the rite of śrāddha or tarpaṇa is being performed according to the rules,

they shall first utter the name of the ancestor born of the gotra named Vatsa, / and then, in this manner, they will proclaim the other names with devotion.

Then they will satisfy with water the ancestors, the paternal grandfathers, / and likewise other kin, friends, relatives, and companions.

If any in your lineage, deluded, satisfy the ancestors / without your name, their rite will be fruitless—

whether it be śrāddha, a gift, or tarpaṇa performed by your descendant. / Therefore abandon egoism and worship only me,

so that, though already accomplished, you may attain the supreme, eternal perfection." / Having thus addressed that brahmin, making him who was last into the first,

he then said to those brahmins: "Let temples be built; / honoring each gotra, an unsurpassed liṅga should be installed, / so that my entry into them may take place, O twice-born."

Then those brahmins, looking at the charming plots of land there, / built temples, filled with joy—

sixty-eight divine temples, resembling the peaks of Kailāsa. / In them they installed various liṅgas, / and in each sacred field they gave them the names corresponding to each.

Then, having again come into their view at the end of a certain period of time, / the three-eyed god, worshiped through the power of austerity after the installation of the liṅgas, spoke sweet words:

The Blessed One said: / "I am exceedingly pleased with you today, O lords among the twice-born! / All this task of mine has been accomplished by you.

My liṅgas and sacred fields [have been brought here] out of fear of Kali; / therefore you are honored by me; this could not have been done by others.

Therefore, O best of the twice-born, ask quickly for what is in your heart, / so that I may grant it at once, even if it is very difficult to obtain."

The brahmins said: / "If you are pleased with us, O god, O lord of gods, / just as Citraśarman, who was last, was made first by you,

let our names likewise always be recited, without a doubt, / in all śrāddha rites, so that through your grace / we may now be equal to that Citraśarman."

The Blessed One said: / "Whatever men come under your authority, / youths endowed with knowledge of the śāstras and skilled in Vedic learning,

you shall bring them forth as bearers of the title āmuṣyāyaṇa; / and dwelling continually in this sacred field, they will render the śrāddha imperishable."

Having spoken thus, the lord of gods vanished from there; / and those brahmins, well satisfied, settled in that place.

Thus all those sacred fields and abodes, afraid of the Kali age, / dwell there perpetually, O lords of the twice-born.

Thus those brahmins, having attained perfection from the worship of Īśvara, / became famous throughout the world as those who make the śrāddha imperishable.

Thus ends the one hundred and seventh chapter, named 'Description of the Account of the Brahmin Citraśarman's Installation of the Liṅga' in the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skandapurāṇa.