Skandapurana 5.228

Sūta said: / In the meantime, Śambhu, surrounded by all his attendants / and all the gods headed by Indra, his eyes reddened with rage, / mounted his bull and went to the city of Amarāvatī. 1

Andhaka, too, seeing the army of gods arrived, / and Mahādeva with his attendants, attained the highest joy. 2

He came out to battle with a fourfold army, / mounted upon an excellent chariot drawn by pure white horses. 3

Then a battle took place between the gods and the Dānavas, / and with the monstrous-formed attendants, turning back death [itself]. 4

The battle continued until the end of a thousand years; / day by day the gods perished there, not the Dānavas. / Then, at the end of the thousand years, the moon-crested god, greatly enraged, / raised up his trident with his own hand and impaled [him]. 6

Though himself pierced with that trident, the great Asura / did not lose his life, by virtue of the power of Brahmā's boon. 7

Rising up yet again, he fought with that great-souled one; / and enraged, he struck down many attendants in particular. 8

He struck Śaṃkara again and again with mace-blows. 9

Thus, until the end of a thousand years, there was with Pinākin / a dreadful battle of Andhaka, terrifying to all the worlds. 10

When that Daitya, pierced by the trident, did not die, / rising again and again, the powerful one dealt blows with his mace. 11

Knowing him to be thus exempt from death / on account of the granting of the boon by Brahmā and all the gods, 12

Śaṃkara then pierced him with the trident points and tossed him up in the courtyard of the sky, / holding him like a parasol, hanging head down; / blood issuing from his body poured onto the earth. 13

Until, at the end of a thousand years, only skin, bone, and sinew— / three bodily elements—remained of him, and the other four were destroyed. 14

Perceiving himself devoid of strength due to the loss of his bodily elements, / he then adopted the means of conciliation with Pinākin by praising him. 15

Andhaka said: / You were not recognized as God by me, wicked-spoken and vile-souled, / endowed with such prowess; therefore, what you have done is just. 16

It is fitting for one blind with arrogance, devoid of discrimination, O best of gods, / filled with arrogance of his own prowess, and lacking judgment. 17

One who is ill-behaved, having obtained fortune, learning, and sovereignty, / does not remain for a long time, just like me, haughty with arrogance. 18

I am a sinner, I am an evil-doer, an evil soul, born of sin. / Save me, O God, Īśāna; be the remover of all my sins! 19

I am miserable, I am wretched, I am pitiable, devoid of strength. / You ought to protect me, O God, who have fled to you for refuge, O omnipresent Lord! 20

I was wicked, I was conjoined with sin, O Supreme Lord; / because of that, such a mindset toward you arose in me, O sinless one. 21

When all sins are destroyed, devotion to Śiva comes to be. 22

Even he who recites only your name, O three-eyed Lord, / even he attains liberation; what then of one devoted to your worship? 23

The days that come and go for those devoid of worship of you, / O God, are like the days of the dead; they do not belong to the living. 24

Whether leprous, afflicted with illness, lame, or deaf, / let not one be born into a family where Śambhu is not the deity! 25

Therefore, deliver me, O God; welcome me now. / My demoniac nature has departed, and my kingdom has been abandoned, O Lord. 26

My sons, grandsons, and wives have been abandoned along with my riches. / Truly three times, O best of gods, I touch your feet! 27

Hearing his speech and knowing him to be freed of sin, / [Śambhu] slowly took him down from the trident as he stood bowed with humility. 28

Then the Lord himself gave him the name Bhṛṅgirīṭi, / and said: "You will always be dear to me, 29

as are Nandin, Gajāsya, and Mahākāla, my son. / Stay, gentle one; with me, in happiness, you will not remember your kinsmen." 30

Consenting with "So be it," and bowing down to the moon-crested god, / he remained along with all the attendants, taking refuge in the Lord. 31

Thus ends the two hundred and twenty-ninth chapter, entitled "The Description of the Origin of Bhṛṅgīriṭi," in the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the sixth [section], the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses. 229