Skandapurana 5.65

Sūta said: / Likewise, there is another pond there made by the gods, / where a king of Ānarta named Suhaya attained perfection. 1

By that very king an auspicious liṅga was established there, / named Ānarteśvara, which grants all perfections to mortals. 2

Whoever takes a ritual ablution in that pond on Aṅgārakaṣaṣṭhī, / that man attains perfection, just as [it was attained] by the lord of Ānarta. 3

The seers said: / How was perfection attained by the high-souled king of Ānarta? / Tell all of that, O Sūta; you know everything without a doubt. 4

Sūta said: / Formerly there was a king of Ānarta named Suhaya; / defeated in battle by all his enemies, intent on flight, / contaminated by food remnants, touched by barbarians, alone, surrounded by many. 5

Then one observing the Kāpālika vow took his skull / for his own ritual practice, knowing him to be born of a hero. 6

Dwelling in the forest in the presence of Ānarteśvara, / he, at night, with that water consisting of all the gods, 7

having filled [it] at night with [water] originating from the pond, would release [it]. / Formerly there was a merchant celebrated by the name of Siddhasena, / wealthy, accompanied by servants, always devoted to virtue. 8

Then once upon a time, with an eye to trade, O best of brahmins, / he set out toward the northern quarter together with a caravan. 9

Then, proceeding by degrees with all [his companions], he reached a desert region, / devoid of trees and water, and abandoned by all living beings.

Having arrived there at night, the exhausted travelers on all sides / lay down, taking their places, and fell under the sway of sleep.

Then, having reached dawn and gotten up quickly, / they departed toward the northern quarter, leaving behind a single Śūdra servant.

Exhausted from the road, he had fallen into a deep sleep / and did not wake up, even though the departure was made with much noise.

Nor was he remembered by the caravan members with whom he had set out from home; / nor was he noticed by anyone, as he lay upon the bank.

When the caravan had thus departed and the disc of the sun had risen, / touched by the intense heat, he awoke thereafter.

When he looked, [he saw] no caravan at that place, / nor could their track of footprints be discerned in that desert.

Then, his mind overwhelmed with distress, running here and there, / he collapsed on the surface of the earth at midday, tormented by hunger and thirst.

While he lay thus fallen on the surface of the earth, afflicted with thirst / and barely holding on to his life, the sun set behind the mountain of setting.

Then he regained some consciousness as the day-maker's light grew dim, / and he reflected in his mind: “Where shall I go now?

Nowhere is a path discerned, nor is any human being seen; / here is no water and no shade; surely my death has arrived!”

While that Śūdra was thus plunged in sorrow in the desolate desert, / night arrived immediately thereafter.

Then in an instant he heard sweet-sounding song / and also the charming voice of bards chanting benedictions.

Then in that very moment he saw an assembly surrounded by multitudes of pretas, / and one preta established in authority over all of them.

Then those pretas standing at his side—some performed a dance / before him, while others [sang] a song, and still others [uttered] praise.

Then he said to that Śūdra: “O guest, take your meal; / and drink water at will, so that welfare may come to me.”

Then, tormented by hunger, he ate food and drank water, / casting off fear and becoming fully confident at the command of the king of pretas.

Then all those pretas, endowed with the condition of pretas, / carried out the act of dining according to seniority and proper custom.

Thus, with amusements fit for monarchs, the entire night / passed for all of them while they sported, O best of brahmins.

Then, at pure dawn when the sun's disc had risen, / as far as that Śūdra looked, there was nothing whatsoever there.

Then he pondered: “What was this vision of a dream? / Or is it a delusion of my mind, or perhaps an illusion?

Or rather, it must indeed be real, since this supreme satisfaction / arose in me, who was afflicted by hunger and agitated by thirst.”

While he was thus reflecting, the sun mounted the courtyard of the sky, / scorching the surface of the earth with its heat.

Then, having taken shelter under a tree with meager shade, / he reached the end of the day, sorely afflicted by hunger and thirst.

Then, when nightfall arrived, he again beheld that king of pretas / accompanied by those pretas, having that same appearance.

In the same manner, free from fear and filled with great joy, / the Śūdra took the meal arising from his hospitality.

Thus, at the onset of night, that king constantly arrived / and offered hospitality to him in that very way.

Then, when another day arrived, the king was asked by that Śūdra: / “What is this marvel seen at the onset of night?

Your wealth and power, O fortunate one, vanishes at the end of the night. / Tell me this secret, unless it is forbidden, O lord of pretas! / Curiosity has arisen in me having seen this remarkable affair.”

The preta said: / “There is a holy, great sacred field called Hāṭakeśvara; / both the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā are situated there at their confluence.

Very close to both of them is an auspicious abode of Śiva; / there, a deeply devout ascetic observing the great vow performs austerities.

For night-time purification, having performed his rite there, / he always places by his bed a skull filled with water, which is mine.

By the power of that, indeed, this fortune of mine arises at night; / but when it is made empty by day, it departs again, O intelligent one.

Therefore, do me a favor: go there, / grind that skull of mine into powder, and throw it into that water,

so that liberation may come to me from the terrible condition of a preta.

Likewise, in the eastern quarter there is that supreme sacred ford / known as Gayāśiras, which bestows liberation from the state of a preta.

Go there and perform a śrāddha for all of us, O intelligent one; / seen at your side, good sir, is an auspicious casket.

Write down the names of all upon this, in order of seniority; / then quickly perform the śrāddha, having shown great compassion.

We shall carry you there by an easy means, good sir, / and we shall reveal a very great treasure for the sake of the śrāddha.”

When it was assented to with 'So be it' by that Śūdra, / they quickly lifted the Śūdra upon their shoulders and brought him to the sacred field as mentioned.

They showed him a hoard yielding abundant wealth; / taking it, he went to where that perpetual ascetic was staying.

Then, bowing to him with devotion, endowed with humility, / he related in full detail the entire story of that lord of spirits.

Then, having obtained that skull and ground it to powder with focused mind, / he cast it with joy into the midst of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā.

In the meantime, the ghost, assuming a divine form and body, / seated in an aerial chariot, spoke these words to that śūdra, filled with joy:

"By your grace I have been freed from this dreadful condition of a ghost. / May all be well with you; I shall now go to the abode of heaven.

Perform now the ancestral rites for all these others as well, / having gone to holy Gayāśiras, whereby liberation is attained."

Then, filled with wonder, he performed the ancestral rites / for each of those spirits individually, ever concentrated in mind.

By his power, all those ghosts also went to heaven, / and, filled with joy, they appeared to him in a dream.

Then that śūdra, knowing that sacred field to be an increaser of merit, / did not return home again, but remained right there engaged in austerity.

Beside the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, he installed a liṅga / named Śūdrakeśvara, which destroys all sins.

Whatever man, having performed ritual ablution in both of them according to rule, worships / with faith the liṅga named Śūdrakeśvara,

freed from all sins, he goes to the abode of Śiva, / praised by gandharvas and mounted on an excellent aerial chariot.

A man who gives up his life's breaths there by sitting down to fast unto death / is not born again in this cycle of worldly existence.

He who, dwelling there, drinks even a mouthful of its water, / he too is liberated from sin accumulated from birth to death.

Whoever provides a meal there to the best of brahmins, / his ancestors remain satisfied for three hundred kalpas.

And he who, composed in mind, gives even a particle of gold there, / obtains the entire fruit of the Rājasūya and Aśvamedha sacrifices.

Therefore, with every effort, a man should resort to that excellent sacred ford, / if he ever desires eternal heaven, O twice-born!

In this regard, a verse was sung in ancient times by the great seer Gautama, / seeing in amazement that power of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā:

"A man who, collected in mind, bathes at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā / and beholds Śūdreśvara, immediately attains heaven."

This whole māhātmya of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, / destroying all sins, has been told to you by me, O best of brahmins.

Thus ends the sixty-fifth chapter, named 'Description of the Māhātmya of Ānartakeśvara and Śūdrakeśvara', in the Māhātmya of the Sacred Field of Holy Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the sixth part of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.