Skandapurana 5.245

Gālava said: / "Śakra and the other lords of the gods, their minds burning with sorrow, / their sensory and motor organs agitated because they did not see Īśvara, found no delight.

They, having made an iconographic form, / worshipped with tapas the Lord of the World who dwells in the hearts of all beings:

the god with matted hair, trident in hand, wielder of the Pināka, / holding a skull and a khaṭvāṅga, ten-armed, wearing a diadem;

Īśāna accompanied by Umā, five-faced, mighty-armed, / with a bodily luster white like camphor, adorned with white ashes;

accompanied by an elephant hide and a serpent as sacred thread, / and the all-pervading Lord wearing an upper garment made of the skin of a black buck.

Having undertaken meditation there, taking shelter at the base of a tree, / the gods, resorting to the performance of a vow, performed supreme tapas.

The gods were established by the six-syllabled Śaiva mantra." / The śūdra said: / "How is that performance of the vow, which was spoken of by you, performed?

Tell me in detail, O brahmin; [my ears] are not satiated with the nectar of your words."

Gālava said: / "Reciting [the mantra], [wearing] ashes, a khaṭvāṅga, a skull, crystal, / a garland of severed heads, [meditating on] the five-faced [god] with the half-moon on his crest;

wearing a variegated hide, a loincloth, a pair of earrings, / a pair of bells, a trident, and a sacred cord—this is the nature of the practice.

The mark defined by these characteristics has been told to you by me, O son of a śūdra. / By this rule, all the gods headed by Fire

worshipped the granter of boons by all means. / When the four months were completed, and the pure month of Kārtika was full,

seeing the gods who had performed the vow and were purified, Maheśvara, / pleased, the Living Self who beholds all beings, bestowed [favorable] intent on them.

By the recitation of the Śatarudrīya accompanied by ritual, / by meditation, and by the gift of lamps in the Cāturmāsya, he was pleased.

With the sixteen kinds of worship, as done for Viṣṇu, so done for Hara— / knowing that the gods who arrived were performing it with a feeling of devotion,

the blessed Rudra, joyful, granted them a propitious mind. / Then the gods, having consulted together and praised Fire fittingly,

made his face gracious, intent on accomplishing their objective. / The witness of deeds, of great splendor, assuming the form of a pigeon,

then entered inside to see the god Maheśvara. / He made steps and strides with coverings and uncoverings,

with rollings and creepings, of charming form and marvelous movement. / Seeing him there, the Lord perceived the reason.

Then he of restrained semen discharged it upon him, and he held it at first. / And [when the seed was] in Fire's mouth, he flew out of the house.

When that bird had gone, Pārvatī, her efforts rendered fruitless, / enraged, Maheśvarī cursed all the gods:

"Since my desire has been thwarted by you wicked-minded ones, / therefore, may the dwellers of heaven quickly turn into stones!

You all shall become childless and devoid of compassion!" / Then, bound by the curse, bowing down, they propitiated her.

Having entered great sorrow, they spoke again and again.

The gods said: / "You are the mother of all gods, the witness of all, eternal, / always the cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction of the worlds.

You are the primal nature of beings, resting on the great elements, / Aparṇā, the supporter of austerities, the supporter of beings, the Earth.

You are to be propitiated by mantras, the seed of mantras, the dissolution and maintenance of the cosmic seed; / and always the giver of the fruit of sacrifices and the like in the form of Svāhā.

You are endowed with mantras and yantras in Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, and others; / eternal-formed, vast-formed, all-formed, taintless;

granting the highest good to people assailed by the three faults; / Mahālakṣmī, Mahākālī, Mahādevī, Maheśvarī!"

Sovereign of the universe, great cosmic illusion, giver of boons by the seed-syllable of illusion, / you of excellent form, most worthy of choice, bestower of boons, excellent daughter.

Those men who always worship you with auspicious bilva leaves, / to them you grant kingship, fulfil desires, and constantly bestow perfection.

For those by whom you are worshipped especially with bilva leaves during Cāturmāsya, / you yourself have become a wish-granting cow to accomplish their desires.

Those who always worship [you] united with Maheśvara in the world / with great devotion through bilva leaves have neither sorrow nor wrongdoing.

Especially during Cāturmāsya, worship of you bears great fruit. / From this day onward, for those people by whom you are worshipped with bilva leaves,

O Maheśānī, you will grant unsurpassed knowledge. / During Cāturmāsya, bilva leaves bear extraordinary fruit, O fair-faced one.

Offered according to rule for the pleasure of Umā and Maheśvara, it is imperishable. / As Śrī is in the tulasī plant, so is Pārvatī in the bilva.

In your form you are seen as the universe, granter of all desired things. / Especially during Cāturmāsya, the two, when attended upon, bear great fruit.

Thus ends the two hundred and forty-sixth chapter, named 'Description of the Account of Pārvatī's Cursing of Indra and Others', in the Account of Paijavana, in the Greatness of Cāturmāsya, in the Dialogue of Brahmā and Nārada, in the Account of the One Reclining on Śeṣa, in the Māhātmya of Hāṭakeśvarakṣetra, in the Sixth Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the Great Purāṇa of Skanda containing eighty-one thousand verses.