Skandapurana 5.159

Sūta said: / When another day arrived, he was spoken to in secret by his wife; / while he was asleep at night beside her, immediately touching his feet, [she said]:

“You are indeed my husband for the duration of life, without doubt. / Therefore tell [me], O lord, for your sake that [man] was abandoned by me:

Is this sorcery of yours, or the accomplishment of a mantra, / or is this the grace of the gods, that you stand in such a form?

Indeed, you were recognized by me even when the first day arrived, / when I was adorned with garments and with ornaments of precious things.

If I tell your entire tale born of deceit / to another person, then I touch your feet [in false oath]!”

Sūta said: / Being addressed thus, laughing aloud, O best of brahmins, / and embracing her, he then spoke words of sweet syllables:

“Well done, my beloved! All my undertaking has been recognized by you. / I am that brahmin, O auspicious one, who formerly by Maṇibhadra

was mocked while gazing at your moon-like face. / Having gone to Camatkārapura, the Sun was worshipped by me; / by him, being pleased, that form and knowledge itself were given to me.”

Māhikā said: / “By the sight of you, I have fallen under the power of the god of love.

Therefore, having gone, I shall propitiate that lord of the day / so that, greatly pleased, he may again make you like that.

What use to me is this [old] form, and even my youth, O master, / unless I constantly enjoy such a form of yours day and night?”

Sūta said: / Hearing that, taking out the pill from within his mouth, / Puṣpa assumed such a form as had been seen by her formerly.

Then Māhī, delighted and accompanied by horripilation, / embracing him, passionately enjoyed him and indeed spoke this word:

“Today my birth, youth, and beauty itself have borne fruit, / since you, a beloved desired by my heart and equal to the god of love, have been attained!

For so many days, not even the slightest pleasure born of passion / was obtained by me somehow by serving an old man.

Enjoy [me] according to your pleasure, O brahmin; I stand as your maidservant!”

Puṣpa said: / “Shall I enter into your limbs? Shall I blend into you? / O beloved, you are attained after a long time; I do not know what I should do!”

Having spoken thus, both of them, having made the moment for copulation, / proceeded, O best of brahmins, fallen under the power of the god of love.

Now, when the night had passed and the orb of the sun arose, / putting that pill into his mouth, Puṣpa became as [he was before].

Thus, as he remained there, a great time passed by; / sons and grandsons were born, and daughters likewise.

When he reached old age and had fallen into affliction by decrepitude, / then he reflected: “A great sin has been committed by me.

That wretched Maṇibhadra was slain through false conduct, / and his wife was abducted and engaged in childbearing.

Therefore, having gone to the field born of Hāṭakeśvara, / I shall perform what is named puraścaraṇa, whereby purification arises.”

Having thus made a resolve in his own mind, / Puṣpa then, taking boundless wealth, went to Camatkārapura.

And having given to his sons individually according to their number, / he caused a splendid temple to be built for that Sun,

at which temple installed by Yājñavalkya he had attained perfection here. / Then, calling an assembly, having prostrated and greeted [them], / he said: “Bring for me the fourfold assembly of brahmins,

so that, coming before them for complete purification, / I may duly request the expiation called puraścaraṇa.”

Thus ends the one hundred sixtieth chapter, entitled “Description of the Journey to Hāṭakeśvara Kṣetra for the Washing Away of Sin and the Inviting of Brahmins for Puraścaraṇa by Puṣpa”, in the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Kṣetra in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.