Skandapurana 5.117

The seers said: / As to what was told by you, O son of Sūta, that Takṣaka would be born / in the country of Saurāṣṭra as a mighty king named Raivata,

and that his beloved wife named Kṣemaṃkarī, / that beautiful woman, would be born in the palace of the lord of Ānarta—

tell us that whole account concerning the two, O joy of Sūta. / Curiosity has arisen in us here as you speak of strange things.

And Kedāra in the Himālayas has been heard of by us, O son of Sūta; / how did it appear there? Tell everything in detail.

Sūta said: / In this regard I shall proclaim everything to you, O best of brahmins, / as it was heard by me formerly from the mouth of my own father, O brahmins.

Formerly, by the fault of that curse, Takṣaka on the surface of the earth / was indeed born in the palace of the lord of Saurāṣṭra under the name Raivata.

And in the house of the lord of Ānarta a daughter was born; / and she received a well-known name on the surface of the earth,

Kṣemaṃkarī, O chiefs of brahmins, made evident by her deed. / Formerly, the lord of Ānarta was King Prabhañjana.

Enmity arose between him and many kings. / Then the land was ravaged, cattle were carried off by force, / and battle with enemies took place day and night, O best of brahmins.

Then, after a few days, his wife Priyaṃvadā, / having bathed after her season, conceived a meritorious embryo in her womb.

From the time that embryo took abode in her womb, / from that time on welfare arose for the realm as well as in the city. / Some enemies, even though very hard to conquer, were defeated by him in battle; / others were slain, and still others sought friendship.

Then an auspicious daughter with eyes long like lotus petals was born to her, / who illuminated the lying-in chamber even in the darkness of night.

Then that king, filled with satisfaction, celebrated a great festival / for her, as if for a son, with the sounds of singing, instrumental music, and the like.

When the thirteenth day arrived, an appropriate name for her / was given by that monarch before the brahmins, O brahmins:

"Since welfare arose because of her staying even in the dwelling of the womb, / therefore, O brahmins, let her name be Kṣemaṃkarī."

Having thus been properly named and celebrated, she grew day by day, / just like a digit of the moon in the courtyard of the sky during the bright fortnight.

Then, when she attained youth, the king gave her / to Raivata, the lord of Saurāṣṭra, at an auspicious time for marriage.

Then from the two of them a daughter was born, known by the name Revatī, / the glorious wife of Śeṣa due to the fault of Bhaṭṭikā's curse,

who was married by the wise king of snakes in the form of Rāma; / she was blessed with sons and grandsons, proud with the joy of good fortune.

Yet no son was born from the two of them to continue the lineage, / even at the end of their age, O best of brahmins; from that arose sorrow.

Then the two, having entrusted the entire kingdom / completely to the assembly of ministers, came here for the sake of a son and for austerity.

Then, having gone to their own hermitage, they remained there composed, / having installed the goddess Kātyāyanī, intent upon worshipping her,

by whom the terrible, great Asura named Mahiṣa had been slain / while she observed the vow of maidenhood on that great mountain Vindhya.

Then, pleased, she gave to the two a son who increased their lineage, / renowned by the name Kṣemajit, who brought about the destruction of the enemy faction.

Then, having returned to his own kingdom, that king once again / raised his own son, filled with great joy.

When that son, Kṣemajit, had attained youth, / he appointed him to the kingdom and then went once again to his own place,

the sacred field arisen from Hāṭakeśvara, O best of brahmins, / together with his wife, having abandoned all other belongings.

There he established a liṅga of the trident-bearing god, / and then, concentrated in mind, built a delightful temple,

called Raivateśvara, which destroys all sins / merely by being seen by any embodied beings, O best of brahmins.

To the Durgā who had previously been established in that sacred field by the king, / Kṣemaṃkarī built a temple, endowed with faith.

From that time forward she also is celebrated by the name Kṣemaṃkarī, / who is also declared to be Kātyāyanī, the slayer of Mahiṣāsura.

Whoever sees her on the eighth day of the bright fortnight of Caitra, / their desired perfection shall always come to pass, O best of brahmins.

This has all been related to you: the description of Raivateśvara, / and the power of Kṣemaṃkarī, which destroys all sins.

Thus ends the one hundred and eighteenth chapter, titled 'The Description of the Māhātmya of the Sacred Ford of the Origin of Kṣemaṃkarī and Raivateśvara,' in the Māhātmya of Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth section in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.