Skandapurana 5.163

Sūta said: / Meanwhile, Puṣpa, delighted in his inner self, / went to Caṇḍaśarman's house and cried, “Good fortune! Good fortune!” 1

Seeing him pale-faced, with eyes filled with tears, / accompanied by all his kinsmen, his wife, his servants, and his sons, 2

Puṣpa said: / “For your sake I propitiated the Sun by giving up my body. / By his grace, there will be no fallen state in your person. 3

Your sons and grandsons, whoever is born in your lineage, / will all surpass the Nāgaras in virtues. 4

Therefore arise, let us go to the sacred river Sarasvatī; / after making a hermitage on its bank to dwell in, O brahmin, 5

I myself shall dwell with you, without a doubt. / I have ample wealth, and for whatever others follow you, 6

I shall maintain them all; let the fever in your mind be discarded!” / Having heard that, Caṇḍaśarman, accompanied by his sons and kinsmen, 7

set out from the city heading towards the Sarasvatī. / Having circumambulated the place and bowed respectfully, deeply sorrowful, 8

wretched, his eyes filled with tears, he went northward / together with Puṣpa, who comforted him again and again. 9

Then, reaching the sacred river Sarasvatī with its cool waters, / frequented by hosts of sages and garlanded with rolling waves, 6.164.10

he took up residence on its southern bank, / following Puṣpa's counsel, surrounded by all his kinsmen. 11

When he had lived in the city, Caṇḍaśarman had made a vow: / “I will eat only after beholding twenty-seven liṅgas, always.” 12

Remembering that vow amassed long ago, / his heart burned day and night, O best of brahmins. 13

Having bathed in the Sarasvatī, purified and collected in mind, / he chanted the six-syllable mantra individually [for each], 14

and uttered the name of the liṅga concluding with namas. / O best of brahmins, out of clay measuring a hundred times five fingers, 15

having set [them] up, he would worship [them] with devotion, with flowers, incense, and ointments, / afterwards chanting the Prāṇarudras, endowed with supreme faith. 16

Thinking, “One must not move a liṅga of Śiva, whether badly situated or well situated,” / that lord of brahmins never discarded them. 17

On top of them, O best of brahmins, out of clay / he continually made liṅgas numbering twenty-seven each day. 19

Then, after a long time, a mountain of clay came to be. 19

Then Mahādeva, pleased by the abundance of his devotion, / broke through the surface of the earth and revealed a liṅga to him. 6.164.20

And he spoke to him with respect, in a voice deep as a thundercloud: / “Caṇḍaśarman, I am exceedingly pleased with you, O brahmin, because of this devotion. 21

Therefore, worship this liṅga constantly with great devotion, / from which you will obtain the fruit of twenty-seven liṅgas. 22

Any other man also, who worships it with devotion, / will likewise obtain the welfare [resulting from] twenty-seven liṅgas.” 23

Having spoken thus, the Blessed Lord disappeared from sight; / and Caṇḍaśarman too, delighted, worshipped it in proper accordance [with rule]. 24

He caused a splendid temple to be built for that liṅga, / and then, after reflecting again and again, gave it a name: 25

“Since it has arisen from the memory of the liṅgas situated in the city (nagara), / it shall therefore be known by the name Nāgareśvara.” 26

Sūta said: / Having thus established that liṅga, O best of brahmins, Caṇḍaśarman / then worshipped it with flowers, incense, and ointments; 27

and in that way he obtained the fruit of the twenty-seven liṅgas / that had been worshipped in the city, O best of brahmins. 28

Then, after a long time, through the favor of Nāgareśvara, / he went in bodily form to the world of Śiva, placed within a celestial conveyance. 29

Puṣpa too established another Puṣpāditya / on the sacred bank of the Sarasvatī, and then became devoted to [his] worship. 6.164.30

[The Sun] appeared before his eyes as well and affectionately spoke these words: / “Puṣpa, I am pleased, may it be well with you; ask for a boon, O one of noble vows! 31

Even what should not be given I will give; therefore, ask without delay!” 32

Puṣpa said:
If you are pleased with me, O god, if a boon is to be granted to me, / then grant to me as I ask that which resides in my heart. 33

The forms of yours that are established in Camatkārapura, O god, / are twelve in number, worshipped by all the denizens of heaven. 34

May a mortal on earth obtain the entire fruit of their worship, / who worships your form that has been established here by me. 35

May it become renowned on the surface of the earth as Nāgarāditya, / this [image] which has been set up by me in a temple on the bank of the Sarasvatī. 36

Sūta said:
Having agreed, saying 'So be it,' the sun disappeared / like a lamp, O best of brahmins; that became like a marvel. 37

Then after a long time, O best of the twice-born, Puṣpa too / attained the world of the sun by means of a resplendent aerial chariot. 38

The wife of Caṇḍaśarman was renowned as Śākambharī; / by her, Durgā was established on the auspicious bank of the Sarasvatī. 39

She was then propitiated with true devotion day and night, O best of the twice-born; / pleased thereby, she gave her a boon, O best of brahmins: 40

‘Daughter, I am pleased, good fortune to you, O Śākambharī! Receive / the boon that has always been desired by you, undoubtedly through my favor.’ 41

Śākambharī said:
‘The groups of sixty-four mothers who are situated, O goddess, / renowned in Camatkārapura, who become pleased through laughter, 42

and who [are pleased] at night by an offering of oblations, and after that when an increase [of the family] occurs— / may all that merit accrue to whoever worships your form, 43

having come here to the river bank, which has been established by me.’ 44

The goddess said:
‘In the bright fortnight of Āśvina, on the day known as Mahānavamī, / whoever approaches before me and worships with devotion, 45

to him the entire fruit shall immediately accrue, there is no doubt; / especially to a Nāgara—this truth has been spoken by me.’ 46

Having spoken thus, the goddess then disappeared; / and by her name that goddess was called Śākambharī on earth. 47

The man who performs her worship immediately after an increase [of the family]— / for his increase there shall never be any obstacle, O best of the twice-born. 48

Thus ends the one hundred and sixty-fourth chapter, titled 'The Description of the Origin of Nāgareśvara, Nāgarāditya, and Śākambharī,' in the glory of the sacred field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection in the glorious Skandapurāṇa. 164