Skandapurana 5.28

Sūta said: / O best of the twice-born, in that assembly of the gods, / all the personified sacred fords, Prabhāsa and the others, were present. 1

Having heard such words of that preceptor of the gods, / feeling great fear in their hearts, they spoke to the lord of heaven: 2

"If such an inauspicious yuga will occur, O lord of the gods, / we shall perish; we will not remain in the three worlds. 3

Therefore, O Puraṃdara, show us some place today; / therefore point out some place anywhere for us, O Puraṃdara, 4

taking refuge in which we may pass through the dreadful Kali yuga, O lord— / untouched by mleccha men and endowed with spiritual power, / whether in Pātāla, heaven, or the mortal realm, O best of the gods!" 5

Hearing their words, filled with compassion, Śatakratu / spoke again to Bṛhaspati, the foremost of brahmins: 6

"Tell us of some place untouched by Kali, O Bṛhaspati, / for the shelter of the sacred fords, if you know of any in the three worlds." 7

Hearing the words of Śakra and meditating for a long time, Bṛhaspati / then spoke, gladdening the sacred fords terrified with fear: 8

"There is an unsurpassed sacred field named Hāṭakeśvara, / produced by the falling of the liṅga of the god of gods who bears the trident; 9

where formerly austerity was performed by the wise Viśvāmitra, / the noble-minded one, at the sacred ford for the sake of King Triśaṅku; 10

staying where, that king Triśaṅku, freed from sin, / having shed his caṇḍāla state, went to heaven in his bodily form; 11

where formerly by the command of Śakra that excellent sacred ford was filled / with dust by the terrible cosmic dissolution wind Saṃvartaka; 12

where Hāṭakeśvara himself protects below, / and in the Kali age the god Acaleśvara protects the region above. 13

Indeed, by the greatness of Hāṭakeśvara, and of Acaleśvara, / it remains untouched by Kali over a span of five krośas. 14

Therefore, let all the sacred fords go there with their portions; / there is certainly no fear of Kali for them there, O Śakra, without doubt." 15

Hearing his word, O best of brahmins, all the sacred fords immediately went to that sacred field named Hāṭakeśvara.

Having made their places the size of a sacred thread, O best of brahmins, they all occupied that sacred field.

For this reason, that sacred field of Lord Hāṭakeśvara became most holy, destroying great sins.

The seers said: / This is most wondrous, O Sūta, which has been spoken by you: / the gathering of all sacred fords is proclaimed in that sacred field.

Do those situated there possess power equal to them? / Tell us in detail about those sacred fords, O highly intelligent one,

by name, by location, and likewise by efficacy, / all of them, O fortunate one, for our curiosity is indeed great.

Sūta said: / Three and a half crores of sacred fords, O best of brahmins, / having pervaded the entire sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara, are situated there.

It is not possible to recount them even in hundreds of years. / Likewise, in the beginning of the Svāyambhuva, the first kalpa,

refuge was taken there in that auspicious sacred field by the sacred fords. / Then, through the lapse of much time, O best of brahmins,

many sacred fords and shrines have gone to destruction. / Those which I know completely, along with their powers, / I shall proclaim to you; listen attentively.

Merely by hearing about them a mortal is freed from sin, / as also through meditation, ritual ablution, gifting, and touching, O best of brahmins.

Thus ends the twenty-eighth chapter, named 'The Description of the Gathering of All Sacred Fords in Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra,' in the Hāṭakeśvarakṣetramāhātmya in the sixth section, the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.