Skanda Purana 5.13

Sūta said: / Having thus entrusted the kingdom to his sons / and personally given that city to the twice-born,

the lord of the earth then worshipped Maheśvara, the god of gods, / having built a hermitage there, endowed with supreme faith.

That king subsisted on fruit for a hundred years; / afterwards, concentrated in mind, he ate fallen leaves for the same length of time.

Thereafter, he subsisted on water for a hundred years, / and then he became an eater of air for a further hundred years.

Then, when his fourth hundred years of eating air had passed, / Mahādeva, pleased, appeared before his sight.

He said: "I am well pleased; ask a wish of me. / I shall bestow on you what is difficult to obtain even by the gods."

The king said: / "This most holy sacred field is the refuge of various sacred fords; / because of the greatness of Hāṭakeśvara, it removes all sins.

Therefore, by your residence, may it become most pure once again. / Grant this desire of mine, O Lord, if you are pleased.

Having constructed this foremost city, O Śarva, lord of the immortals, / I have offered it to the brahmins with a mind purified by faith.

At my word, you should constantly dwell in it / with steadfastness, so that it may be accompanied by all the gaṇas."

The Blessed One said: / "I shall be immovable in this place for you, O king, / renowned in the three worlds by the very name Acaleśvara.

The mortal who shall behold me stationed here with devotion, / his prosperities shall indeed forever be immovable.

On the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight of Māgha, whatever man, / endowed with supreme faith, makes a covering of ghee for my liṅga,

whatever sin was committed in his childhood, in old age, or even in youth, / that shall vanish, just as darkness does at sunrise.

Therefore, O king, install my liṅga right here, / so that I may dwell there, always immovable.

Sūta said: / Having spoken thus, the Lord of gods then vanished from sight. / That king too quickly built a very charming temple.

Endowed with supreme faith, he installed there the liṅga / of the trident-bearing god, marked by all auspicious characteristics.

When it is seen, touched, meditated upon, or even worshipped, / a person is freed from sins extending from birth to death.

Then the king pondered: "Will Maheśvara, / having become immovable, manifest his presence right here in this liṅga?"

In the meantime, a sweet-sounding celestial voice arose, / gladdening the king, [producing] astonishment:

"Do not worry about this matter, O tiger among kings! / I will always and continuously dwell right here in this liṅga.

Moreover, O king, I tell you another word to inspire confidence; / hearing it, attain peace of mind and observe it carefully.

The shadow of this liṅga of mine shall always be motionless; / it shall remain solely at its back, and shall not shift with the directions."

Sūta said: / Then he observed that shadow cast by the liṅga, / constant in form, ever motionless even as the sun moved through its directions.

Attaining supreme joy and bowing down to it on the ground, / that best of kings considered himself to have achieved his purpose.

Even today, that very shadow is always seen in that form; / O best of brahmins, it has become a wonder of that liṅga.

If a person on earth is to die within six months, O twice-born, / he does not see that shadow; this is another great proof.

Sūta said: / Thus the Blessed Lord has always remained stationed there / in the form of Acaleśvara, near Camatkārapura.

Due to his word, Maheśvara, the Lord of gods, the central one / among the sixty-eight sacred fields, dwells there with immobility.

Therefore, that sacred field is proclaimed here as purifying for all; / it grants the desires and liberation of all embodied beings.

Likewise, another incident that occurred, arising from its power, / I shall proclaim; let it be heard, O best of brahmins!

By virtue of the māhātmya of Acaleśvara, in that sacred field men swiftly / obtain their every heart's desire, the entire fruit:

some obtain heaven, others liberation, as well as wealth, grain, and sons; / whatever desire a mortal contemplates while worshipping Acaleśvara, / he attains that very thing swiftly and with little effort.

Then the thousand-eyed [Indra], seeing that all sinful men on earth / go to heaven and directly attain liberation,

summoned all [the passions] in bodily form—anger, desire, / greed, hatred, fear, pleasure, delusion, vice, distress, envy, and passion—

and then the thousand-eyed one himself spoke respectfully / in secret, O best of brahmins:

"Whatever man or woman on the surface of the earth / goes toward Camatkārapura must be turned back by you.

Even one who resides right there, should he go to Acaleśvara, / by my command he especially must be turned back with effort by all [of you]."

Promising, "So be it," and setting out by Indra's command, / they completely destroyed that māhātmya that had spread on earth.

This entire sin-destroying narrative has been related to you / concerning the god Acaleśvara, who dwells in that sacred field.

Thus ends the thirteenth chapter, named "Description of the Māhātmya of Acaleśvara," in the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa.