Skandapurana 5.152

Sūta said: / Likewise, there is another unexcelled sacred ford there, Rūpatīrtha, / bathing in which a misshapen person properly becomes handsome.

Formerly, by that blessed Brahmā, the creator of the world, / after creating the vast, fourfold creation as described,

he then thought: 'I shall create a single divine apsaras, / possessed of an accumulation of beauty, a divine marvel.'

And then, taking a sesame-seed's measure of beauty from each of all the gods, / he fashioned her afterwards, filled with extraordinary wonder.

Seeing her, the grandfather [Brahmā] himself became agitated.

Then the Lotus-Born sent her to Kailāsa: / 'Go, O goddess, and bow down to Mahādeva, O fair-smiling one!'

Then she went swiftly to Kailāsa, the excellent mountain, / and saw Śaṃkara seated there together with Pārvatī.

Śaṃkara too, seeing her, was filled with supreme wonder. / Out of fear, beholding Pārvatī standing beside him, he did not look directly at her. / Then, bowing to Maheśvara, she circumambulated him, / filled with supreme faith, standing with palms joined in reverence.

As far as she stood on his right side, so far Mahādeva, / his eyes drawn toward her, brought forth a right face.

When, by the course of circumambulation, the auspicious woman reached the west, / he then produced a western face for her sake.

In this way, when she stood on the north, a northern face was fashioned / by the god Śambhu, whose heart was fearful of Gaurī. / O twice-born ones, he did not turn his neck in any way!

Meanwhile, the eminent sage Nārada, / having bowed down to Maheśvara, then spoke to Pārvatī:

Nārada said: / 'See, O Pārvatī, how contemptible is your husband's conduct! / Seeing a beautiful woman, he has made four faces!

I know this: nowhere is there / a woman equal to you; and everyone else knows it too, O mistress of the gods!

Today you will become an object of ridicule, O Pārvatī, / to all the wives of the gods, knowing Īśvara is attached to another woman!

O goddess, you know what kind of heart belongs to Śiva / toward this courtesan, who is censured by the wise!

Taking her, he will install her in his own palace; / but filled with shame, he utters no word, O auspicious one!' / Sūta said: / Hearing Nārada's words and seeing her husband with four faces, / beholding that altered Hara, she was seized with great wrath.

Then, relying on the duty of a chief queen, that daughter of the mountain / quickly covered all the eyes of the god.

At that moment, mountains crumbled on all sides, / and all the oceans transgressed their boundaries.

The onset of universal dissolution arose, O best of the twice-born! / Meanwhile, the day of Brahmā arrived, whose supreme mark is creation;

Yet, in a twinkling, the dissolution of that Prajāpati [came again]; / that is called the night of Brahmā, when everything becomes watery.

Then all the gaṇas there, headed by Bhṛgin and Nandin, / and even that divine sage, terrified, spoke to the mistress of the gods:

'Release, release right now the god's eyes, O eldest among the gods! / Otherwise, the destruction of this entire world will occur!'

Even though addressed in this way, so long as that goddess did not release him, / the god sent forth a supreme eye on his forehead,

filled with compassion for the worlds, by which protection came to be. / He was unable to restrain the goddess, who was dearer to him than his own breaths.

The wise call the eyes "ambaka", O twice-born ones; / therefore, because he has three ambakas, the lord of the gods is celebrated in the world as Tryambaka.

Then, releasing that god, the goddess, daughter of the mountain, / her eyes red with anger, spoke to Tilottamā standing before her:

'Since my beloved was captivated by your beauty, O wretched woman, / and made four-faced, therefore quickly become deformed!'

Then, instantly, she suddenly became broken-nosed, / with disheveled hair, large teeth, flat eyes, and a swollen belly.

Then, seeing her own body turned into such a state, the excellent apsaras, / trembling, stood with palms joined in reverence and spoke:

'I was sent by Brahmā, O goddess, to bow down to the trident-bearer, / and especially to you both, and so I came.

Therefore, toward me who am faultless and free from passion, it is not proper for you / to give a curse; therefore, you ought to show me grace.'

Hearing her words, which were piteous and true, Pārvatī, / filled with repentance, then spoke very kindly:

'Out of a woman's nature, this anger suddenly came upon me toward you; / therefore come, let the two of us go together to the surface of the earth.

There is a beauty-giving sacred ford, created by me myself, / with clear water, for bathing on the third day of the bright half of Māgha.

Whatever woman, rising at dawn before the sun's orb is seen, / performs a ritual ablution there, she will surely become beautiful.

I always perform a ritual ablution there on the third day of Māgha; / today, with resolved mind, I shall go there for a ritual ablution.'

Sūta said: / Having spoken thus, that goddess, taking Tilottamā, / went to the Rūpatīrtha in the sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara.

There, the mistress of the gods herself performed the ritual ablution according to the rules; / and immediately after her, Tilottamā also, endowed with devotion, [did so].

Then that beautiful woman instantly became radiant with beauty; / just as she was previously, so she became, and even more so.

Then, filled with satisfaction, bowing to that mistress of the gods, / she spoke, seized with wonder, in a voice faltering with joy:

'My former beauty has been regained by your grace, O great goddess! / I shall go to the world of Brahmā; you should grant me permission.'

Gaurī said: / 'I grant you a boon, O daughter, whatever rests in your heart; / therefore ask with confidence; darśana of me is never in vain.'

Tilottamā said: / 'I shall make my own sacred ford here in this sacred field, O auspicious one; / by your grace, O goddess, let it attain fame on the surface of the earth!

You too must perform a ritual ablution there at the end of the year, / granting beauty and good fortune, for the benefit of all women.'

Gaurī said: / 'On the third day of the bright half of Caitra, for your sake, O auspicious one, / I will always perform a ritual ablution there when midday arrives,

undoubtedly for the benefit of all women, according to your word. / Whatever woman, on that day, performs [an ablution] in that sacred ford,'

ritual ablution, she will be endowed with well-being and filled with happiness, / and will be an object of envy for all women on the face of the earth. // 6.153.50

Even a man who performs ritual ablution there with true devotion / will be endowed with beauty and good fortune for seven births. // 51

Sūta said: / Thus addressed by the goddess then, O best of the twice-born, / that apsaras made a very extensive pool filled with pure water. // 52

Near its edge she then installed Pārvatī. / Thereupon Tilottamā, greatly delighted, went to the world of Brahmā. // 53

From that time forward, that pool made by the apsaras came into being, / where by mere ablutions men obtain good fortune, O twice-born. // 54

And women, in particular, obtain the supreme attainment of sons, / as well as whatever other desire is held in their hearts. // 55

Thus ends the one hundred and fifty-third chapter, entitled 'Description of the Origin and Māhātmya of the Pool of the Apsaras' in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Śrī Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [book] in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 153