Skandapurana 5.219

Ānarta said: / If a śrāddha is performed on the thirteenth [day], why would the destruction of the lineage occur? / Tell me all this in detail, O great sage. / Bhartṛyajña said: / This [day] is the most pure, O king, the beginning of a yuga originating in the Kali age; / in bathing, giving, recitation, oblation in fire, and śrāddha, it is known to be inexhaustible.

If on this lunar day, O king, the Gajacchāyā conjunction occurs, / then, with the conjunction of Maghā, the śrāddha certainly becomes inexhaustible.

He who offers milk mixed with honey on that day, / and who gives flesh to the ancestors, and who [gives] a vādhrapasa—

Through the flesh of a vādhrapasa, satisfaction lasts for twelve years. / [One that] drinks three times, weak in faculties, white, an old goat,

that one should be known as a vādhrapasa, and likewise the leader of the whole herd. / Or if one gives rhinoceros meat, satisfaction lasts for twelve years. / It occurs without doubt; their word is not false for me.

In the Rathaṃtara kalpa, there was formerly a best of kings / named Sitāśva, from the country of the Pañcālas, devoted to his ancestors.

With honey, black vegetables, and solely rhinoceros meat, / he performed the śrāddha on the thirteenth [lunar day], and with rice pudding,

he offered the śrāddha with devotion, dedicating it to the lunar dynasty.

Then, having eaten to their content, after some time / he was questioned again by all those brahmins, filled with curiosity,

after the śrāddha, O King, seeing him filled with faith, / intent on massaging their feet after bowing down.

The brahmins said:
Having performed a śrāddha, O great king, a sacrificial fee must be given / to the brahmins; from that, the śrāddha reaches the ancestors. / It was promised by you to us, but has not yet been bestowed, O king. / Setting aside whether it is valuable or base metal, give it, O king, without delay.

Bhartṛyajña said:
And having heard that, the king said with a delighted mind:
"I am blessed, I am favored by the brahmins today, without doubt.

You who desire my welfare after eating at the ancestral śrāddha— / therefore speak, O exalted ones, what shall I give to you?

Shall it be excellent elephants rutted with pride, born of noble breed? / Or the finest horses, swift as thought and wind?

Or varied estates, villages, and towns? / For when dedicated to the ancestors, there is nothing that should not be given."

The brahmins said:
"We have no need of horses, nor jewels, nor elephants, / nor countries, nor head villages, nor anything else whatsoever.

Because of the matter for which you were questioned by us, O great king, / therefore give us the sacrificial fee that destroys doubt, O best of ascetics,

which we all ask, gathered together in curiosity."

The king said:
"High-souled brahmins have the authority to instruct, / to give it, not to receive it; O Vedic scholars, [I am] of a lower caste.

I am a king, not omniscient, who would give / instruction to you who are omniscient, O best of the twice-born, O discerning ones!"

The brahmins said:
"Such instruction arises between guru and disciple, O lord of the earth. / We are requesting something; do not give way to fear.

Indeed, we ask only one question, if, O ruler of the earth, / you will tell all the twice-born who are filled with curiosity.

Therefore speak, O fortunate one, if you know in truth. / If it is not a deep secret, we ask you out of curiosity."

The king said:
"If you have a doubt, O brahmins, your question [will be answered] without doubt; / if it is a secret, I will tell it; be free from agitation."

The brahmins said:
"While there are diverse foods and various dishes to be licked, / all these nectars and likewise drinks, O king,

tell us why on this day you give despised honey, / which is considered inedible, especially for brahmins?

Likewise, while varied meats are available, O ruler of men, / why do you give only tasteless rhinoceros meat?

There are vegetables, O best of kings, purifying in every way, / extremely delicious for making condiments here, O lord of the earth.

Why do you give us, with supreme devotion, / black vegetables, pungent and causing great distress to the mouth? / Yet at a śrāddha, no prohibition should be made in any way,

nor should food left over be abandoned; therefore we eat it. / There must surely be an important reason here / by which you mostly give this, and its accomplishment remains assured.

Therefore tell us everything, for our curiosity is great, / why one would give such tasteless, condemned food in a śrāddha,

just as you, O tiger among kings, offer it with faith."

Having heard those words of the high-souled brahmins, / the lord of the earth, smiling bashfully, said with embarrassment:

"Though this secret of ours is preserved, O fortunate ones, / even though it should not be spoken, I will tell it; listen with concentrated minds.

Formerly, in another birth, I was an evil hunter, / a slayer of all creatures and also a devourer [of them].

I wandered then in the forest with a bow, devoted to the hunt. / A lion, a tiger, a lordly elephant, or a śarabha, O best of the twice-born—

none that came into range of my arrow ever remained alive. / Then, at a certain time, roaming over the surface of the earth,

I arrived, O fortunate ones, at the hermitage of the good sage Agniveśa; / I arrived at midnight, hungry and thirsty.

At that moment, expounding the rules of the śrāddha rite to his disciples, / he sat surrounded on all sides by his pupils, O best of the twice-born.

Agniveśa said:
'When the moon is in the ancestral asterism (Maghā) and the sun is in Hasta, / that thirteenth [tithi] is to be known as the elephant's shadow (gajacchāyā).

When the moon stands in the ancestral asterism and the sun stands in Hasta, / and the tithi belongs to Kubera, that too is the shadow of an elephant.

When the son of Siṃhikā (Rāhu) swallows the moon at the conjunction of parvan days, / that should be known as the elephant's shadow; on that, one should perform a śrāddha.'

Whoever performs a śrāddha on it, even with just waters, full of devotion, / his ancestors remain satisfied for up to twelve years.

When the moon is in an arboreal constellation, that shadow facing the east / should be known as Gajacchāyā; what is given to the ancestors [then] is inexhaustible.

There is no doubt that this ancestral lunar day brings merit; / on it, śrāddha should be performed, and whatever provisions have been gathered,

in the morning, without doubt, for the full satisfaction of the ancestors, / with vegetables, and likewise with iṅguda, bilva, badara, and cirbhaṭa fruits. / Whatever food a man eats, of that food are his deities.” / Saying “So be it,” they departed, each to his own dwelling,

all the fortunate disciples, headed by Nārāyaṇa. / Agniveśya too, having bidden farewell to the best of the twice-born, went to sleep.

And that which was spoken by him at night was heard by me: / “I too will surely perform a śrāddha in the morning.

Having slain a rhinoceros and taken its abundant flesh, / and likewise having gathered honey, especially kālaśāka,

having taken [it] from members of my own caste, I will satisfy those ancestors.”

Having resolved thus in mind, O best of the twice-born, I went to sleep. / Then in the clear morning, when the disc of the sun had risen,

many honeycombs were then gathered by me; / likewise, kālaśāka was obtained at will, O best of the twice-born.

Then, having taken it all, it was instantly cooked by me; / and having bathed, intending it for my own ancestral group, / it was offered to the hunters with devotion, O best of the twice-born.

Thus it was given by me formerly, intended for those ancestors of my own; / nothing else was ever given by me to anyone, O twice-born.

Then, in the course of a long time, I met with death, O twice-born; / by the power of that gift, I entered an earthly womb.

Thus the recollection of previous births arose in me, O best of the twice-born; / and they were satisfied by me with that rhinoceros flesh and honey.

Consequently, they obtained supreme delight lasting for twelve years. / For this reason, O best of the twice-born, I perform the śrāddha

with rhinoceros flesh, with honey, and with plentiful kālaśāka. / Devoid of ritual rules, devoid of twice-born, destitute of sesame and darbha grass,

that śrāddha was performed by me; this was the fruit that accrued from it. / Now, properly according to the rule, with brahmins who have crossed to the end of the Vedas

seated [here], I perform the śrāddha endowed with faith, / furnished with darbha grass and sesame, and accompanied by mantras, O best of the twice-born.

I do not know what further fruit will come to pass now. / Therefore, knowing this thus, you too, O best of the twice-born,

should satisfy your own ancestors when the elephant-day arrives, / and when the shadow of the elephant has arisen, O best of the twice-born,

by which the twelve-year satisfaction of the ancestors is produced, / and an exalted state [shall be] yours, just as has arisen for me now.”

Bhartṛyajña said: / Hearing that speech of his, all those best of brahmins / were pleased and gave praises to that king.

From that time forth, those best of the twice-born performed śrāddhas, / intent on devotion, on the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight of the month of Nabhasya.

Satisfied with honey, with kālaśāka, and with rhinoceros flesh, / mounted upon an excellent aerial chariot, they attain supreme perfection.

The ancestors especially rival the gods / by the power of what is offered by their descendant, O best of gods.

Having realized the purpose of the śrāddha, they held counsel with one another— / the Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, and the two Nāsatyas, O king:

“So that no śrāddha takes place on that day upon the surface of the earth, / by the power of which we all may not fall into defeat by mortals / who have resorted to the śrāddha, therefore we shall curse them:

‘From this day forth, whoever performs a śrāddha on the thirteenth lunar day / when the thousand-rayed sun stands in Virgo, his lineage shall be destroyed!’”

Thus, by the curse of the gods, this great lunar day was scorched.

From then on, the highest śrāddha is not performed on it; / whoever performs it out of negligence, his lineage will be destroyed.

Frightened by which, they do not perform it in the shadow of an elephant; / especially in the Gajacchāyā, this ancestral ball of rice is avoided there.

Thus ends the two hundred and twentieth chapter, named "Description of the Greatness of Gajacchāyā" in the Śrāddhakalpa of the Māhātmya of Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth section in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.