Skandapurana 5.48

Sūta said: / In that very region there is the well-known hermitage of King Hariścandra, / surrounded by diverse trees,

where austerity was performed by him, having installed Umā and Maheśvara, / bestowing varied desired gifts upon brahmins.

Formerly, there was a king, Hariścandra, the son of Triśaṅku, / the glorious ruler of Ayodhyā, born of the Solar dynasty.

While he ruled righteously, there was certainly no famine, / no disease, no untimely death, and no fear caused by thieves.

The clouds always rained in due season, crops were abundant, / the waters sweet, and the trees bore fruit in all seasons.

Punishment (daṇḍa) existed only in measuring poles; confinement to a house only in dice play; / the moon alone was the maker of night (doṣākara / maker of faults); and only owls (kauśika) loved the night (priyadoṣāḥ / loved faults).

Loss of oil (sneha / affection) occurred only in lamps; taking of the hand (karagraha / taxation) only in marriage; / break of meter (vṛttabhaṅga / breach of conduct) only in prose; and issuance of rut (dāna / giving) only on the face of an elephant.

To that emperor of kings endowed with such virtues, / there was only one great defect: he was bereft of a son.

Then, for the sake of a son, having gone to the sacred field of Camatkārapura / and installed a liṅga with devotion, he performed severe austerity.

Enduring the five fires in the hot season, standing exposed to the sky in the rains, / and taking refuge in water in the cold season, he meditated on Maheśvara.

Then, at the end of a thousand years, Maheśvara, pleased with him, / became visible together with Gaurī, surrounded by hosts of gaṇas.

[The god] said: 'I am the giver of boons; ask whatever you desire. / I shall grant it to you, even if it be very difficult to obtain.'

Then, having bowed low before him, praised him aloud with hymns from the scriptures, / and stood with folded hands, [the king] spoke with humility:

'By your grace, O best of gods, whatever there is on the surface of the earth / that is desired by my own heart—all that is in my house:

beautiful wives, an empire free of obstacles, / a body free of disease, and boundless wealth.

I have one great sorrow: that no offspring is found [to me]. / Therefore grant a son, O god, if Śaṃkara is pleased.'

The Blessed Lord said: / 'Before long, O best of kings, a son will be yours, / by my grace, there is no doubt; therefore go quickly to your house.'

Sūta said: / At this moment Gaurī, her eyes red with anger, / rebuked Mahādeva and then said to that king:

'Since, O great fool, no obeisance was made by you to me / immediately after Hara, I will therefore utter a curse upon you.

A son will be obtained by you, as spoken by the Trident-holder; / yet you shall experience the grief born of his death even in his childhood.'

Having spoken thus, the Goddess, together with Lord Śambhu / and the other attendants as well, vanished from sight.

The king, too, having obtained the boon and immediately after it the curse, / did not go home; once more he performed very severe austerity.

Placing Gaurī and Maheśvara seated on the same seat, / he worshipped them equally with flowers and unguents.

The king gave gifts especially to brahmins; / sleeping on the ground, serene in mind, he took food only at every sixth meal-time.

Then, at the end of a year, the Lord whose banner bears the bull, / accompanied by Pārvatī, again appeared before his eyes.

Then the king, having bowed to both of them simultaneously according to rule, / spoke these words out of humility:

'Formerly, O Goddess, my mind being agitated in a flood of bliss, / you were not bowed to [by me]; therefore you should not be angry with me.

O Goddess, you always hold half the body of the Trident-bearer; / tell me, when one was bowed to, why were you not bowed to?

Whoever bows to the Lord of gods has bowed to you at all times; / when you are bowed to, the Lord of gods is bowed to—such is my view.

Nevertheless, you have been bowed to by me together [with him], not separately; / mounted on one seat, you have been worshipped equally, O Goddess.

Therefore grant me your grace; let that boon which was spoken earlier by the Enemy of Pura / for the sake of my son become immediately fruitful.

By your grace, O Goddess, let a son be born who carries on the lineage, / long-lived and of firm valour; thus you ought to act.'

The Goddess said: / 'O King, my word never turns out otherwise in any way; / therefore your son, even while a child, shall meet his demise.

Yet, having shown you the sorrow arising from an early death, / he shall regain his life again before long through my grace.

And he shall be long-lived thereafter, the continuer of the lineage, victorious, / foremost among universal rulers, generous, a sacrificer, and knower of righteousness.

Therefore, O King, go home and rule the desired kingdom; / you shall obtain an excellent son, such as was described by me.'

And whatever other human being shall worship me stationed in this form, / right here, together with the god Śambhu,

to him I will grant sons cherished in his heart, / and likewise whatever else [he desires], without delay; of this there is no doubt.

Śrī Mahādeva said:
Ask of me once again, best of kings, whatever you desire. / My darśana shall not be in vain; this I tell you in truth.

Hariścandra said:
Lord of the gods, I have accomplished my purpose; everything is present in my house, / except a son, and he too has been given by you—a lineage-bearer and victorious.

Even so, your command must by no means be made fruitless. / For this reason, O god, I shall ask for a desired boon.

Our mind is constantly inclined toward performing the Rājasūya sacrifice, / but all my ministers and friends then dissuade me:

‘That sacrifice is accomplished only when all kings have been made tributary; / and since, O Lord, they will not pay tribute without a battle,

therefore, relying on the path of statecraft, those well-wishers hold me back / when I desire war and have set my heart upon securing the sacrifice.’

Therefore, by your grace, may the Rājasūya sacrifice take place / and reach completion without obstacle; I choose nothing else.

Sūta said:
Having promised ‘So be it,’ Hara disappeared from sight. / That king too, having obtained the boon, returned to his own palace.

In this way, Umā and Maheśvara were first fashioned there by that lord of men; / afterwards, they were fashioned by others as well.

Whoever performs their worship when the fifth day arrives, / with fruits upon all their limbs for the duration of a year, O twice-born ones, / obtains the desired son capable of redeeming his own lineage.

Thus ends the forty-eighth chapter, named ‘Description of the Origin and Māhātmya of Umā and Maheśvara,’ in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Śrī Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.