Skandapurana 5.127

Sūta said: / Satyasandha, too, glad at heart upon seeing that virtuous girl endowed with happiness / and united with a cherished husband, felt his purpose accomplished.

Then, having resorted to the southern form of that very liṅga, / assuming a firm lotus posture and fully intent on meditation,

stationed there, through the brahminical aperture (brahmadvāra), / he then released the self by the self, filled with horripilation.

Then those brahmins born in the city of Camatkāra, / who had arrived to see the deity, saw his body,

unpleasant, bereft of luster, dead, having become untouchable, / standing not far from the liṅga, and undertook efforts to cremate it.

As soon as they had prepared a large funeral pyre and set about searching for him, / just then the corpse vanished, and was not found anywhere.

Then, seized with astonishment, having praised him repeatedly / with words full of praise, conversing again and again,

they all settled all the worship and rituals for that liṅga which had arisen, / as one among the twenty-seven,

among the liṅgas of King Satyasandha, which grants desires / to devoted creatures and destroys all sins forever.

The ṛṣis said: / When the lineage of King Camatkāra was extinguished, O wise one, / what other king then became the ruler of Ānarta?

Sūta said: / When King Bṛhadbala had been slain in battle, O best of the twice-born, / all the people, accompanied by sons and kinsmen, came together

where that ruler of the earth, Satyasandha, endowed with austerity, was staying; / agitated with sorrow, they said to that king residing in solitude:

'This lineage of yours has perished, since there is no one left, / not even an heir; how will this earth be governed now?

Where there is no king, O best of kings, the law of the fishes prevails, / particularly in the realm, in the city, and in the village.

Those devoted to other men's wives and those whose livelihood is theft, / all observe proper order solely out of fear of the king, O king.

Therefore, renounce austerity, rule the kingdom that has come by ancestral succession, / and without delay take wives for the sake of sons!'

The king said: / 'I have renounced worldly life, O best of the twice-born; I do not wish to rule the kingdom, / nor do I wish to acquire wives or sons in any way.

Therefore, for your sake, for the sake of a son for your master, I will explain / an expedient whereby there will be a king, a protector of the people in Ānarta.

When the kṣatriya order was struck down by Rāma, son of Jamadagni, / even while in the womb, entirely, his mind overcome with anger,

the wives of the kṣatriyas, after their ritual post-menstrual ablutions, then approached / brahmins for the sake of bearing sons, not at all for lust.

Then sons endowed with vigor and valor were born; / they became rulers of the earth, born of the fields (kṣetraja) of those kings.

Therefore, O people, let these wives of Bṛhadbala who remain / approach suitable brahmins after their post-menstrual ablutions.

And from them they will obtain sons, bulls among kṣatriyas, / who will protect the earth and protect the subjects.

Moreover, here is an auspicious pond sacred to Vasiṣṭha, which grants the birth of sons, / where a woman having bathed during her season immediately becomes pregnant; / and the beloved woman's conception becomes unfailing by bathing here.

Those kṣatriyas who were previously born through brahmins from kṣatriya women, / were all born through its power; of this there is no doubt.

Whichever brahmin was formerly chosen by whichever kṣatriya woman, / having come together with her, bathed with recitation of mantras;

from a single act of sexual union, by the power of that sacred ford, / sons were born to all of them, never a daughter.

Whatever mantras granting sons there are, born from the four quarters, / were all employed here by Vasiṣṭha when he desired kṣatriyas.

By mere ablution of the husband and wife here, an excellent son is born; / therefore, this pool is called 'Suputrada' (Grantor of Excellent Sons).

Therefore, O people, let all those wives left by Bṛhadbala / perform their ablution here according to the prescribed rite.

Nothing of this is untrue, nor is it blameworthy, / since a verse declared by ancient teachers is heard:

'Fire comes from water, the kṣatriya order from the brahmin, iron arises from stone; / their energy, reaching everywhere, is pacified in their own sources.'

Having heard that, all the people went quickly / and related the ministers' and King Satyasandha's entire speech.

Then all those wives, the kings' consorts, overjoyed, / having bathed after their menses, approached very handsome brahmins.

Where that son-granting sacred ford was fashioned by Vasiṣṭha, / having bathed there, and having once had union with a twice-born,

all of them became mothers of sons, O best of the twice-born. / That king had one hundred and five [wives].

To them were born, O brahmins, likewise one hundred and five,

each an excellent son, supremely furthering the lineage, / bringing great joy to all the inhabitants of the realm.

Among them, the eldest son was he who became the lord of Ānarta on earth, / renowned by the name Aṭa, the destroyer of all enemies,

by whom the deity called Aṭeśvara was established here, / beheld with true devotion, no extinction of lineage occurs.

The seers said: / Why was this name of his, known as Aṭa, given, / devoid of family tradition? Tell that, O son of Sūta.

Was this name given to him by the ministers, or by brahmins, / or by his mother? Tell that, for our curiosity is indeed great.

Sūta said: / That name was not given by his mother, nor by brahmins or ministers, O king; / it was given by a messenger of the gods abiding in the sky, O best of the twice-born.

I shall tell how that happened; it should be heard with attentive minds. / The one by whom that king was born was the daughter of the lord of Daśārṇa.

Endowed with beauty and youth, having obtained a noble twice-born rich in beauty, / that deer-eyed lady set forth, wishing to bathe in the Putra-tīrtha,

accompanied by that brahmin who resembled Kāmadeva. / Then between the two, a great passion arose from looking upon each other.

Just then, with great difficulty, the son-granting sacred ford was reached; / then, having bathed in that water, the two lovers emerged.

And while walking even on the road, they engaged in the ways of passion, / exceedingly delighted out of intense longing, casting shame far aside,

despite the people rebuking them with interrupted words of censure. / Then, when the emission of semen occurred, as the twice-born stood up,

just then, a voice moving in the sky suddenly was uttered by a god: / 'Because on the royal road while wandering (aṭatā) by this brahmin,

this son was generated out of eagerness by the brahmin, / therefore this king shall be renowned in the world by the name Aṭa.

He shall be long-lived, have many sons, and bring destruction to the faction of enemies.' / For this reason, O brahmins, he was named Aṭa.

Here, a moon delivering his lineage, granting desired objects to seekers, / having reached this sacred field, an excellent liṅga was established by him / in his own name, O best of brahmins, which grants all desires to mortals.

Whoever worships it with faith on the fourteenth day of Māgha, / no sorrow arising from offspring ever occurs to him.

Even a woman hundred years old, having bathed in the son-granting pool / and then beholding Aṭeśvara, devoted to the worship of Śiva,

quickly obtains a son who will supremely expand the lineage / through his grace; there is no doubt, just as spoken by Kārtikeya.

Thus ends the one hundred twenty-eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Origin and Māhātmya of Aṭeśvara', in the māhātmya of the sacred field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth section in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.