Skandapurana 5.87

Sūta said: / Likewise, O leaders among brahmins, there is an auspicious sanctuary of Soma there, / through whose very sight a man is freed from sins.

When Monday arrives, or during an eclipse of the moon, / the man who gazes upon him, even if he is a sinner, does not see hell.

The seers said: / "Sanctuaries of all the gods are seen here; / how did a sanctuary of Candra alone come to be established here?

This is a great wonder in our minds, O son of Sūta; / therefore tell us, O fortunate one, for you know everything completely."

Sūta said: / "This entire universe, O best of the twice-born, is traditionally known to consist of Soma; / therefore, when he is established, the three worlds are established.

And all these medicinal herbs, crops, and the like here on the surface of the earth, / are all imbued with Soma, by which living beings survive.

Therefore, O brahmins, Brahmā and the other gods, having obtained Soma in due order, / become delighted and attain supreme satisfaction; hence he is the foremost here.

Likewise, sacrifices such as the Agniṣṭoma are established in Soma; / for by drinking it, O best of brahmins, they attain satisfaction there.

For this reason, Soma is held to be superior to all; / indeed, he is considered most worthy of worship among both gods and Dānavas.

Just as mansions are erected on the surface of the earth for other chiefs of gods, / men likewise build [them] for the lord of the night.

Whatever men have built a temple on earth for the lord of night, / having accumulated auspicious merit, they have attained the realm of liberation.

Whatever auspicious merit would arise from a thousand temples to Maheśvara, / men attain that auspicious merit through just a single one to the Moon.

Then, O best of brahmins, realizing that greatness of a temple raised to the Moon, / Brahmā and the other gods, their minds terrified with fear, / took refuge on the peak of Meru and declared this in order to obstruct it:

“In a lunar constellation, on a Monday, when the month is Saumya (Mārgaśīrṣa), / on a lunar day dedicated to Soma, and likewise when a lunar eclipse has occurred, / at a time possessed of the five ‘sa’s, a temple of Soma—

whoever, having completed the temple in a single day, installs [the idol of] the Moon, / he obtains the true fruit of temples raised to all the gods,

multiplied a thousandfold, with a mind purified by complete faith. / Whoever, on the other hand, builds a temple to the Moon otherwise,

suffering the destruction of his lineage, he shall go to hell.” / Terrified for this reason, men on earth do not build

a temple to the lord of the night, even though it brings great merit, O noble brahmins. / This temple of the lord of the night which stands in this very sacred field,

that temple was built by King Ambarīṣa, / somehow finding the [proper] time as taught by scholars of the scriptures.

In the northern quarter from it, another, second Moon was installed; / it was likewise installed by Dhandhumāra.

And then, O brahmins, through that power, both those rulers of the earth / attained the supreme perfection, devoid of birth and death.

A third, different temple in the sacred field of Prabhāsa / was built with faith by the ruler of men, Ikṣvāku.

Except for these three temples, indeed, on the surface of the earth / there is no other to the Moon; this is the truth spoken by me. / There is [yet] one on the bank of the Narmadā, at the holy confluence of the Revā and the sea.

All this excellent māhātmya of the Moon has been recounted to you; / for those who recite or listen to it, it destroys all sins.

Thus ends the eighty-seventh chapter, entitled “Description of the Greatness of the Temple of Soma,” in the Great Purāṇa of Skanda, in the compilation of eighty-one thousand [verses], in the sixth Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the Hāṭakeśvarakṣetramāhātmya.