Skandapurana 5.252

The Śūdra said: / How did the goddess Pārvatī, when angered, become gracious to the trident-bearing God / after uttering a curse, she by whose anger the world is agitated?

How did the blessed Rudra incur his wife's curse, / and after assuming a deformed shape, resort once again to his divine body?

Gālava said: / The gods, having made their forms invisible out of great fear of the Goddess, / resided in images throughout the entire world of mortals.

She was also pleased with them and granted her favor. / Praised by Viṣṇu, the highly fortunate mother of the universe who destroys sins, / and constrained by the burden of Pārvatī's curse through their power, / she, constantly placating Śaṃkara, spoke to him:

These gods, worthy of worship by the universe and granters of boons to the universe, / shall become gratified by men through devotion, by my grace.

Except by you, this deed condemned by the virtuous was performed by me / upon the altar at the time of marriage, in plain sight before all witnesses,

the walking of the seven steps and the taking of hands. / Fire, Varuṇa, Kṛṣṇa, and the deities along with their beloveds,

accompanied by their attendants in the four directions, together with the gods and brahmins— / having made a solemn vow in the presence of these, in an assembly of people,

how did you commit infidelity, overcome by error? / Even venerable elders do not continue on the right path when following the crowd;

they are to be restrained in all worlds by the wise, as is heard in the Veda: / even a father is to be chastised by a son, and a teacher by a disciple himself.

A kṣatriya must correct a brahmin, and a wife her husband likewise; / even an eminent person gone astray, though master of the Vedānta,

should be corrected even by the lowborn: so says the eternal Veda. / Only the right path is honoured everywhere, never the wrong path anywhere.

He who abandons the duty belonging to his own family becomes fallen; / and upon dying, reaching hell, he is joined to a heavy burden of sorrow.

He who abandons dharma out of disbelief, causing dissension among his kin, / is to be restrained by all people devoted to Manu’s law.

O Maheśvara, those people who abandon the customs of their family, / their kin, and their country are surely fallen from their clan.

Abandoning the sacred fire, abandoning a vow, abandoning one’s word, / and abandoning dharma must never be done; doing so, one is fallen indeed.

You have neither father, nor mother, nor brother, nor relative; / looking at your state, you are untouchable, like poison to me.

Wearing a garland of bones, smeared with funeral ashes, wearing matted hair, dressed in rags, / fickle, breaking all bounds of propriety—you do not deserve to stand before me!

Hostile to brahmins, devoid of vows, a beggar, evil-minded, always deceitful— / you do not deserve to speak before me, O Īśvara!”

Thus the goddess, weeping with eyes filled with tears, / remained overcome with great grief, even as the Lord of Gods sought to appease her.

Furious once more, the passionate woman spoke to Hara: / “There is no straightforwardness in your heart; I know your perpetual hardness.

What the brahmins and asuras said seems false to me, / since you have shown only the most wicked disposition towards me.

Because the brahmins were deceived, you will be struck down by brahmins!” / Having spoken thus, the goddess said nothing more.

Then the Lord, Maheśvara, made her face cheerful by means of courtesies, / and gently with reasoned words full of good counsel.

Seeing her eyes turn calm, Hara then said a few words: / “Why do you make your face, radiant like the full moon,

sullied with anger, O gentle lady? Your words are not proper. / Compassion must be shown to all beings, with a desire for the welfare of creatures.

Even if an end is desired, harm must not be done to another. / All the universe is like your own child, O fair-complexioned lady.

You alone are worshipped by the world, bearing every form, O sinless one! / If a blameworthy deed was done by me, it was indeed for the good of the gods.

Even so, you will have a son; of this there is no doubt. / Moreover, you are dearer to me than all my vital breaths.

Whatever you wish, I will do; so too I will fulfill your desires. / Becoming cheerful-faced, speak, O fair-faced lady!”

Thus addressed, the goddess spoke again to Maheśvara: / “When the Cāturmāsya arrives, if you undertake the Great Vow,

and if you dance the tāṇḍava in the direct sight of the deities, / properly completing the vow of celibacy, O Maheśvara, / and if, for my pleasure, you give half your body to Viṣṇu, / then, faithful and cheerful-faced, I shall grant grace from the curse.

Otherwise, my heart will not trust you.” / Hearing that, the Lord was pleased and replied to her, “So be it!”

She too, the goddess, was delighted, disposed to mitigate the curse.

If a man hears this Purāṇa with faith and firmness against divisive thought, / his life is surely accomplished in everything; mortals attain to that refuge by virtue of truth.

Thus ends the two hundred and fifty-third chapter, entitled “Śaṃkara’s Appeasement of Pārvatī,” in the Praise of Cāturmāsya, in the dialogue between Brahmā and Nārada, in the account of Śeṣaśāyin, in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [section] of the glorious Skandamahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.