Skandapurana 5.188

Sūta said: / Now, as soon as those Mothers were cursed, O best of the twice-born, / those Gandharva women came to where she was staying.

Then, bowing down, they all spoke in words most humble: / "O goddess, since we all arrived at your sacrifice,

we were to obtain a share of the sacrifice by the grace of Audumbarī; / and we did not know that Sāvitrī was staying here,

beset by the fault of ill fortune and surrounded by Nāgara women. / Our path to happiness arises from dance and song;

doing that there at night, we were cursed, O best of Gandharva women: / 'All women are pained by the sorrow of [other] women;

you were all rejoicing at the festival of my co-wife. / Today, having bowed to her and worshipped her, you did not even speak to me,

and especially, singing and dancing was begun right before me. / Therefore, you will not have any movement through the sky!

Remain in this place forever, destitute and deprived of shelter; / and humans will not perform worship for you,'

for those who are miserable and helpless in rites of pilgrimage at all times. / Her word, O goddess, will not turn out otherwise.

Having gone to worship Audumbarī, let it be made known to her; / for she will surely take away the sorrow, as she grants all desires."

"Therefore, [we] have quickly arrived here, as our desires have been ruined.

Therefore, O auspicious one, act in such a way that there may be a refuge for us, / and your greatness will increase even in the three worlds of moving and unmoving beings."

Audumbarī said: / "What power do we have, or indeed do all the gods and demons have today, / to make what was done by Sāvitrī otherwise?

Nevertheless, according to my ability, O goddesses, I will strive for your benefit. / You have been assigned among the sixty-eight clans

by the pleased Grandfather; there you will receive worship / at night, by names preceded by laughter.

From this day forth, in the house of whichever Nāgara here / an increase of prosperity shall take place, especially arising from a pavilion,

and likewise whatever women, having approached the city gate, / meditate upon unseen laughter and then cast an offering,

by that your satisfaction shall occur, just as that of the gods through sacrifices. / Moreover, those [women] in the city who will not perform this worship told by me,

their good son will meet with ruin; / through the disrespect shown to you, he will always be diseased.

Therefore, remain right here for the protection of the city; / under the pretext of a curse, this boon has arrived for you."

In the meantime, O best of the twice-born, Devaśarman arrived, / the Gandharva Parvata born along with his wife at that time.

When Audumbarī was cursed by the divine seer Nārada, / who was angry—'Become a human woman!'—then he was implored by her:

"Becoming a human for my sake, O father, you with her / produce me as a human, so that on earth I may not enter

a womb filled with feces and urine, endowed with all faults." / Then, out of compassion for her, [born] of that virtuous wife of Devaśarman,

she descended upon the surface of the earth in the hermitage of forest-dwellers. / In this way, that fifth night of that sacrifice, O best of men,

passed with a delightful festival and with Audumbarī. / And then, when dawn arrived, when she was dismissed by him,

Audumbarī then said to her father, Parvata: / "Tomorrow here will be the concluding ablution arising from Brahmā's sacrifice,

consisting of all sacred fords; there could be no bath superior to that. / We will go back to our homes accompanied by all the gods."

In this very aerial chariot, all three [of us], at our pleasure. / A boon has also been granted to me, arising from the curse caused by Nārada: / I have obtained a share in sacrifices, hard to win even for the gods, / offered especially by women when the day of the full moon arrives.

Thus ends the one hundred and eighty-ninth chapter, entitled "The Description of the Previous Life Preceding the Origin of Audumbarī," in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the auspicious Skandapurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.