Skandapurana 5.147

Sūta said: / Knowing thus that her son was free from desire for domestic life, / Piṅgalā, filled with sorrow, addressed Vyāsa in this way:

'I will perform austerity for the sake of a son, O best of the twice-born; / grant me permission, so that I may propitiate Maheśvara, / so that a son may be born to me, an excellent perpetuator of the lineage.'

Having thus made her resolve and obtained permission from the sage, / the devoted wife approached this sacred field and performed austerity,

having installed the god Śaṃkara and, in front of him, / made a very large step-well of clear water, destroying sins upon ritual ablution.

Then the blessed slayer of Tripura, having attained satisfaction with her, / with a delighted heart spoke to her, saying, 'I am the granter of boons.'

Śrī Mahādeva said: / 'I am well-pleased with you, auspicious lady of good vows; choose a boon / that has dwelt continually in your heart; there is nothing that cannot be given by me.'

Vaṭikā said: / 'Grant me a son, O best of gods, who will multiply my lineage, / constantly delighting my heart, well-behaved, and endowed with humility.'

Śrī Mahādeva said: / 'There will be a son to you without a doubt, O beautiful woman, / just as he was requested by you, O fortunate one, and even better.

Any other mortal woman who, composed in mind, bathes here in the step-well / on the fifth day when the bright fortnight has arrived, throughout a year, / and worships my liṅga that has been established by you today,

having offered an unsurpassed fruit, she shall obtain a virtuous son. / And whatever woman, afflicted with misfortune, on the third lunar day here indeed,

having bathed here in the water, shall then worship my liṅga, / she will be endowed with good fortune at the end of the year.

Moreover, whatever man, having bathed here, will worship me, / if full of desire, he will obtain his desires, and if free from desire, liberation itself.'

Having spoken thus, Mahādeva vanished from there; / and she too obtained from Vyāsa a son renowned as Kapiñjala,

just as was formerly stated by the god of gods, the spear-wielder, / by whom also the goddess Kelīśvarī was formerly installed here, / the granter of all perfections in the world, where she was formerly worshipped.

Thus ends the one hundred forty-eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Greatness of Vaṭikeśvara', in the Hāṭakeśvarakṣetramāhātmya in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the auspicious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. // 148