Skandapurana 5.207

Viśvāmitra said: / When Śakra and all the gods had thus reached heaven, / Gautama reached his own hermitage, blazing with intense wrath. 1

Then he narrated all the doings of the gods / and the granting of the boon to Śakra in the presence of Śatānanda. 2

Hearing that, [Śatānanda] stood bowed with humility and said to his father: / “Father, why do you not show grace to mother for my sake? 3

In restoring her, nothing is impossible for you, O lord; / therefore, show grace to me so that my mother may be [restored], 4

so that there may be a reunion with my mother for me, wretched and yearning, O best of sages. / Therefore, quickly restoring her, then ordain for her / a rite of expiation swiftly, by which purification is accomplished.” 5

Gautama said: / “If purification can occur for a pot smeared with liquor, / then purification can occur for women when semen is sprinkled into the vagina! 6

A brahmin having drunk liquor is purified by a fire sacrifice with muñja grass / and by accomplishing the tiṅginī rite; but not a defiled woman. 7

Just as even a liquor-pot generally becomes purified / when cleansed properly by fire, so a woman whose womb has received / another's semen can be purified only when burned by fire. 8

For this reason, O son, your mother was turned into a stone by me; / for there is no purification for her by any means whatsoever.” 9

Śatānanda said: / “If it is so, I will enter fire for her sake, / or I will consume poison, or throw myself into a reservoir of water. 10

This which I have spoken, father, is the truth, on account of separation from my mother. / Other receptacles of dharma exist, such as Manu and other sages, 11

and many Itihāsas, Purāṇas, and Vedāntas. / Reflecting on all of them, father, grant that purification to my mother, / or else I will bring about the destruction of my life!” 12

Viśvāmitra said: / Hearing that and contemplating for a very long time, Gautama embraced that son / with both his arms, smelled him on the crown of his head, and then spoke to him: // 13

"If that is so, my child, do not commit a rash act born of sin / by destroying your own body. Listen to my words! // 14

The purification for the purity of your mother was known to me long ago, / by which she will become worthy of my house again, without a doubt. // 15

Janārdana in the form of Rāma will be born in the Solar dynasty, / assuming a human form for the sake of slaying Rāvaṇa. / By the touch of his foot she will become pure again. / Therefore, wait until then, my son, and be patient! / This has been rightly known by me, my child, through the divine eye." // 18

Having heard this and saying "So be it," Śatānanda rejoiced; / loving his mother, he waited expecting that time. // 19

Then, after a great lapse of time, Janārdana in the form of Rāma / was born in the house of Daśaratha to slay Rāvaṇa. // 20

That Lord Viṣṇu, abiding in the state of a child, / was brought by me to my own hermitage to protect my sacrifice, / for the destruction of the demons who destroy sacrificial rites. // 21

When those terrible demons were slain, my sacrifice was completed. / That delight of the Raghu lineage was brought by me from Ayodhyā // 22

accompanied by Lakṣmaṇa, for the sake of marriage with Sītā, / upon hearing of her svayaṃvara and the gathering of kings. // 23

Then along the way, in the auspicious hermitage of Gautama, I saw / that Ahilyā in the form of a rock, immensely large in size. // 24

Then Rāma was told by me: "Touch this [rock] with your hand, my child, / so that the beloved wife of the sage Gautama may regain her human form. / Through the fault of the curse of that noble sage, she became this rock." // 25

Then, without hesitation, upon my word, / Rāma touched that rock, full of curiosity, O best of kings. // 26

Touched by Rāma, the wife of the sage suddenly / became human and shone, bearing a body of celestial form. // 27

Then, seized with shame, she bowed down to Gautama, / remembering her own act which was done with Śakra: // 28

"O master, prescribe for me fully the entire expiation / which Prajāpati declared for union with another man! // 29

Even if this is difficult to perform, I will do it, without a doubt, / so that through the practice of preparatory observances, purification may be mine." // 30

Then, reflecting for a long time, Gautama said at that time: / "Perform a hundred cāndrāyaṇa penances and a thousand kṛcchra penances, // 31

and ten thousand prājāpatya penances, devoted to pilgrimage to sacred fords. / From duly visiting all those sacred fords that exist on the earth / among the sixty-eight sacred fords, you will attain purification." // 32

Agreeing, "So be it," and constantly devoted to vows, / she visited the sixty-eight sacred fords, Vārāṇasī and others in succession. // 33

She wandered, worshiping those liṅgas with great devotion. / In due course she arrived at the place belonging to Hāṭakeśvara. // 34

As the virtuous woman looked, [she saw that] the great Serpent-Chasm— / the path leading to Pātāla—had been filled up by the Nāgara people, // 35

by which the foremost sages devoted to pilgrimages / formerly used to go to have darśana of the god Hāṭakeśvara. // 36

Then she thought: "If the lord of gods, the god Hāṭakeśvara, / is not seen, one cannot obtain the fruit of pilgrimage. // 37

Therefore, staying right here, I shall perform very difficult austerity / so that through its power I may see that lord of gods." // 38

Having thus made her resolve, she practiced very difficult austerity / for the sake of obtaining darśana of the god residing in Pātāla. // 39

Practicing the five-fire austerity in summer, staying in water in winter, / and sleeping under the open sky in the rainy season, she became an ascetic woman. / Then, having installed a liṅga of Hara nearby in her own name, / she worshiped it at the three times of the day with perfumes, flowers, and unguents. // 41

While she remained thus in austerity, a great period of time elapsed, / yet darśana of Hāṭakeśvara did not take place. // 42

After some time, her son Śatānanda, / searching for her, arrived in that sacred field, / his mind filled with love for his mother, intent on searching the sacred fords. // 43

Then, seeing her there engaged in severe austerity, / he bowed down and stood miserable and sorrowful, and spoke these words: // 44

"Why is your body tormented here by performing such severe austerity? / Among the sixty-seven sacred fords, those liṅgas that exist there, // 45

those liṅgas of Maheśvara have been seen by you. / And as for this [liṅga] named Hāṭakeśvara situated in Pātāla, // 46

no man sees it, nor has it been seen by anyone in this sacred field. / By that [worship already performed], purification has arisen, which was prescribed by your husband. // 47

Therefore, come, let us go to my father's auspicious hermitage! / My father watches for your return just as a farmer watches for rain." // 48

Ahilyā said: / "As long as I do not see the god named Hāṭakeśvara, / so long will I not go home. When I see that Hara, // 49

then I will go home, my son; this is the resolve made by me." // 50

Hearing that, he too said to her: "Indeed, if this is your resolve, / then I too will not go to my father's side without you." // 51

Having spoken thus, he too installed a liṅga / of Śambhu and, established in austerity, worshiped it at the three times of the day. // 52

Śatānanda, the royal seer, propitiated it with perfumes, flowers, and unguents, / with diverse food offerings, and with Vedic hymns. // 53

Eating only at the sixth mealtime and dedicated to the observance of vows, / as he also remained thus, O sage, a great period of time elapsed, / yet the lord of gods was by no means pleased with the two of them. // 54

Then, after a great period of time, the great sage Gautama himself / arrived there, longing to see his son. // 55

Seeing his son engaged in austerity together with his wife, / he first rejoiced, but afterwards was filled with sorrow:

“Alas, what great hardship! My son has become emaciated / by the force of austerity; how can I take him home? / And this wife of mine also remains emaciated and pale.”

Having reflected thus in his mind, he spoke to them both: / “Go home, having put an end to your austerity.”

Śatānanda said: / “Father, mother has been told many times to cease her austerity; / yet she will not go home without having seen Hāṭakeśvara.

And bereft of her, I certainly will not go. / Knowing this, O fortunate one, do whatever is fitting.”

Gautama said: / “If such is the resolve of you and your mother, my child, / I shall reveal Hāṭakeśvara to you through austerity.”

Having spoken thus, that great sage also performed austerity: / fasting on alternate days, the sage remained for a hundred years; / and he ate only at the sixth mealtime for an equal duration then.

After that, the lord of sages ate only every three nights; / an equal amount of time he passed on fruits, and an equal time subsisting on water; / then, subsisting on wind, the sage remained for an equal amount of time.

Then, at the end of a thousand years, as he stood in supreme [absorption], / an excellent liṅga emerged, cleaving the surface of the earth,

resembling twelve suns and endowed with all auspicious marks. / At that moment, the divine Śambhu became visible.

At that very time, the blessed Lord with the crescent moon on his crest, / entering his range of sight, spoke these words:

“Gautama, I am well pleased with this austerity of yours, O you of noble vows.

And this liṅga of mine, named Hāṭakeśvara, / has emerged from Pātāla by your devotion, O great sage.

For this purpose that austerity was performed by you with your wife / and with your son; the entire fruit of it has come to pass according to your desire.

Let your wife Ahilyā, possessing divine form, behold this, / so that she may obtain the fruit of pilgrimage arising from the sixty-eight [tīrthas].

And you too ask for a boon, whereby I may grant you everything.”

Gautama said: / “Whatever fruit comes from seeing the one named Hāṭakeśvara once, / and whatever merit and fruit arises for men when he is situated in Pātāla, / may that merit come by seeing this one, and especially by worshiping him.

Moreover, whatever people worship it with great devotion / on the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight of Caitra, may they go to heaven.

Men desiring spiritual accomplishment do not know this liṅga; / out of a longing for Hāṭakeśvara, they enter the subterranean cavity.

Even those who have accumulated sins, through the power of this liṅga, / and from the sin arising from [violating] another's wife, by the darśana of Ahilyeśvara,”

“are liberated, O humans, and likewise from Śatānandeśvara, / through the excellent worship performed for the two of them on that day.”

Viśvāmitra said: / “At that very time, O king, all of heaven was filled / even with men laden with sins and devoid of all dharma.

No one performed a sacrifice, or pilgrimage to a sacred ford, or anything else, / nor any vow or observance, nor even spoke of giving gifts,

after seeing, touching, and worshiping that triad of liṅgas with devotion.

Then all the gods, frightened and surrounded by arrogant men, / went to Purandara and, filled with distress, spoke:

‘O thousand-eyed one, in the mortal world all dharmas have perished. / Even men of sinful conduct, having arrived here,

swollen with pride, vie with us constantly. / In the sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara there is an unsurpassed triad of liṅgas,

which was situated there and established by the great-souled Gautama / along with his son and his wife; by the power of worshiping it,

all those people, even those of sinful conduct, come here; / all the hells of Yama have now become empty.

Hāṭakeśvara, the lord of the gods, was brought up from Pātāla / by Gautama, having pleased him with austerity in that place.

By that power, this practice has arisen on the surface of the earth.

Knowing this, act in such a way that sacrifices proceed; / without them there can be no satisfaction for us in any way.’

Hearing that, Vāsava summoned Manmatha there, / along with Anger, Greed, Deceit, and Envy accompanied by Hatred:

‘All of you, go swiftly to the surface of the earth by my command, / and by your own power ward off those who worship Gautameśvara,

and the divine Ahilyeśvara, and Śatānandeśvara!’ / Having received Śakra’s command, they went to the surface of the earth.

Desire and the others took possession of the men who worshiped Gautameśvara, / and likewise Ahilyeśvara and Śatānandeśvara.

Then sacrifices took place once more over the entire surface of the earth, / all with complete sacrificial fees, as did vows and observances,

pilgrimages to sacred fords, recitation of mantras, fire oblations, and whatever other virtuous deeds [there are]. / All this has been related by me, since I was asked, O lord of the earth:

the deed of Śakra and Gautama in connection with Gayākūpī, / the māhātmya of Bālamaṇḍana together with Śakreśvara,

the establishment [of the liṅga] by Indra among mortals, the story of Ahilyā, / and the māhātmya of Gautameśvara and of Ahilyeśvara.

And whoever hears this constantly, endowed with supreme faith, / is immediately freed from the sin arising from [violating] another's wife.”

Thus ends the two hundred and eighth chapter, entitled “Description of the Māhātmya of Gautameśvara, Ahilyeśvara, and Śatānandeśvara,” in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skandapurāṇa.