Skandapurana 5.42

Sūta said: / Another auspicious pool arose there from Viśvāmitra, / O best of brahmins, which grants all desires.

If a man performs a ritual ablution there on the third day of Caitra, / he will assume a divine form, an embodiment of Kāma himself, O foremost of brahmins.

Or a woman, endowed with faith, having bathed there, will have children, / will be endowed with good fortune, and will become the most coveted on earth.

The seers said: / At what time was that sage's sacred ford established there, / pure and entirely unobstructed? Tell [us], O son of Sūta!

Sūta said: / Formerly there was an ordinary cascade there, O foremost of brahmins, / disregarded on the face of the earth, established through its majesty,

Where Gaṅgā, the river of the gods, resides of her own accord; / a man bathed in which is instantly freed from all sins.

Whoever performs a śrāddha there dedicated to the ancestors with focused mind, / that śrāddha becomes imperishable, satisfying the ancestors.

Whatever gift is given at that excellent sacred ford, O brahmins, / or oblation offered, recitation made, and so on, it brings endless fruit.

Then, after some time, a female deer pierced by a hunter's arrow / entered that water and there met her death,

On the third day of the bright fortnight of Caitra at midday, O foremost of brahmins, / under the asterism ruled by Yama and on the day of the sun.

Then, by the majesty of that water, she became an apsaras of the king of gods / named Menakā, possessing a charming smile all around.

Recalling its power, that fair-complexioned one / came to the sacred ford and bathed there with true devotion / on the third day of the bright fortnight of Caitra, under the asterism of Yama on a Sunday.

Once on that day, the lord of sages, / known as Viśvāmitra, endowed with austerity, wandering about, arrived there.

She too had arrived from heaven to behold the deity; / having worshipped that god, she was setting out for heaven.

Seeing that sage wandering here and there, / in the prime of youth, richly endowed with handsome form, like another Five-arrowed God,

Pervaded by splendors born of the power of his vows like the sun, / his sins burned away by austerity practiced since childhood,

Afflicted by the arrows of Kāma from the mere sight of him, / she rushed to his side with joy for the sake of sexual union.

Seeing her whom he had never seen before, he quickly went / toward her with a delighted inner self in order to ask the way.

Inquiring about the region and particularly about the duties of women, he said: / "May good fortune come to you, O auspicious lady, in thought, deed, and word!

May your devotion to Vāsudeva always remain unswerving! / Do you dwell, my daughter, devoted to your husband's feet, / endowed with good conduct and modesty, and always speaking pleasantly?

Are you always cherished by your husband through gifts and honors, / and do you respect your kinsmen and circle of friends before him or behind his back?

Do you succumb to sleep at night only when your husband has fallen asleep, / and do you arise before he awakens, O fair lady?

Do you rise early in the morning and sweep the house / yourself, O lady of fair limbs, decorating and adorning it?

Having bowed to the gods and next to your guru, / do you sustain your life after giving food and water according to your ability?

Do you refrain from eating food after the sun has set, O radiant lady, / or without first offering it to your servants and especially to virtuous people?

Do you drink water purified seven times / through a dense cloth of your own, protecting the creatures born of water? / Endowed with compassion, do you protect like sons / lice, bedbugs, gnats, and others, even though they cause bodily distress?"

Do you always listen from the mouth of the virtuous, with excellent devotion, / to the law of Śiva, O auspicious lady, and practice it with devotion and respect? // 28

Having heard the sacred Āgama somewhere, do you perform worship / of the scripture, and also especially of the reciter and the commentator? // 29

Do you present to the virtuous the Purāṇa scriptures composed by the lords of men, / which have been transcribed with beautiful letters? // 30

He who, having heard all the scriptures, does not give remuneration, / should be known as a scripture-thief, and indeed he does not attain its fruit. // 31

Do you perform rituals such as dance, song, and instrumental music, / along with offerings of bali, worship, and presents, according to your ability in the temple of Śiva? // 32

Do you bestow upon the virtuous, O blessed lady, all garments and coverings / preceded by prostration? // 33

Do you never wander about in vain in another's house constantly, / O large-eyed lady, especially when night arrives? // 34

Do you not eat, O auspicious lady, while your husband is hungry? / Do you assiduously guard against disobeying his command in that matter? // 35

When your beloved is enraged, do you refrain from retorting? / And do you speak pleasantly to extinguish his anger? // 36

When your beloved is away on a journey, do you wear soiled garments / and become dejected, pale-faced, and thin? // 37

Do you not keep a broken vessel on the roof of the house, / or food remnants discarded by people, even if useful for a purpose? // 38

Do you not go out at night to vigils and story-tellings, / or to streams, secluded places, sandbanks, and woods? // 39

Do you not make friendship with unchaste women, O fair one, / or with wet-nurses, gardeners' wives, and washerwomen, O spirited woman? // 40

Do you always keep your face adorned with saffron, / your head strewn with flowers, and your eyes adorned with collyrium? // 41

Thus ends the forty-second chapter, named 'Description of the Union of Viśvāmitra and Menakā,' in the account of the origin of Viśvāmitrakuṇḍa, in the māhātmya of Hāṭakeśvara sacred field, in the sixth Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses. // 42