Skandapurana 5.50

Thus, O twice-born, a very great period of time passed for that lord of men in the form of a tiger in the forest, slaying various [beings].

Then, at a certain time, O best of the twice-born, a delightful herd of cattle, thronged with cowherds and cowherdesses, arrived in that region.

There was a cow there named Nandinī, with swelling udders, / broad expansive hips, the color of a swan, shedding milk like a jar.

Now, wandering always ahead of her herd in desire for grass, / she [saw] at the edge of an arbor the liṅga of the trident-bearing god;

she saw it endowed with brilliance, abiding of its own accord, / resembling twelve suns, supremely gladdening to the heart.

Then, standing above it, endowed with supreme faith, / she poured forth abundant milk for his ceremonial bath, O twice-born.

As she thus constantly performed the ceremonial bath of that liṅga / in the forest crowded with trees, no person knew of it.

On another day, a tiger arrived at that place, / sharp-fanged, huge-bodied, terrifying to all creatures.

Then, having arrived there, Nandinī fell within the range of vision / of that tiger, O best of the twice-born, by the decree of fate.

Then, remembering her little calf bound in the herd of cattle, / one that did not eat grass and lived on milk alone, she lamented piteously:

"Today I have come alone into a forest devoid of people, / abandoning my young child held fast by cowherds in the pen.

By the truth through which I have come today with devotion for the ceremonial bath / of Śiva, by that truth may there be reunion with my son!"

While Nandinī was thus lamenting piteously and exceedingly, / the tiger smiled and spoke harsh words:

The tiger said: / "Why do you make lamentations in vain, O cow, when you have fallen into my power? / Therefore, remember your most cherished deity for the sake of heaven, O auspicious one!"

The cow said: / "I do not lament for my own sake, O tiger, exceedingly distressed; / for the sake of worshiping Śiva, death has become auspicious for me.

My calf is tied in the herd of cattle, remembering my arrival; / he subsists on milk; how could he exist without me?

For this reason, O tiger, I lament exceedingly distressed, / and not for the sake of saving my own life; I swear by truth!

Therefore, O great tiger, release me at once, fond of my son; / having entrusted him to my companions, I will return to your presence."

The tiger said: / "Having reached the jaws of death and somehow escaped, / how would you go back there again? Therefore, I will devour you."

Nandinī said: / "With the oaths by which I will come again to your presence, O tiger— / listen to them from my mouth, and then do what is proper!

Whatever sin is in the slaying of a brahmin and in deceiving one's mother and father, / may I be smeared with that sin if I do not return!

Whatever sin belongs to those intent on bathing unclothed, or engaging in intercourse by day, / may I be smeared with that sin if I do not return!

Whatever sin belongs to those who cohabit with a menstruating woman, or sleep naked, / may I be smeared with that sin if I do not return!

Whatever sin belongs to betrayers of trust and to the ungrateful, / may I be smeared with that sin if I do not return!

Whatever sin belongs to defilers of cows, maidens, and brahmins, / may I be smeared with that sin if I do not return!

Whatever sin belongs to those who cook in vain and eat meat not consecrated, / may I be smeared with that sin if I do not return!

Whatever sin belongs to breakers of vows and to those who approach women outside the fertile period, / may I be smeared with that sin if I do not return!

Whatever sin belongs to slanderers and to those who live by weapons, / may I be smeared with that sin if I do not return!"

Thus ends the fiftieth chapter, entitled "The Description of the Dialogue between the Cow and the Tiger," in the Kalaśeśvara-māhātmya, in the Māhātmya of the Holy Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part], in the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa.