Skandapurana 5.93

Sūta said: / Now there is another very beautiful [place] there named Gomukha, / which was obtained in ancient times from the mouth of a cow, destroying all sins.

In ancient times, O brahmins, in Camatkārapura there was a cowherd / afflicted with leprosy, who had become extremely emaciated.

Then, after some time, a herd of cows along that path / reached [the spot] at midday, when the moon was united with Citrā,

on the eleventh lunar day, afflicted with thirst, when the sun stood in Taurus. / Then, a very dark-green clump of grass was seen there / by a single cow; approaching from afar, overjoyed,

as she pulled it out swiftly with her teeth, O twice-born, / just then a stream of water gushed forth through the course of its roots.

Then, having tasted the grass, afflicted with thirst, little by little, / with great confidence she drank the water, which was delicious and like milk.

From the force of her drinking that water, on that spot of earth / a very broad pit was formed, filled with water.

Then hundreds of other cows drank the spotless water, / O best of twice-born; afflicted with thirst, [they drank] that which was like the nectar of immortality.

The more the cows went and drank the water there, / the more that pit grew in size through the touch of their mouths.

And then, when the entire herd of cows had their thirst removed, / the cowherd too, tormented by thirst, entered into that water.

Having washed his limbs and drunk the water, as soon as he came out quickly, / he saw his own body possessed of the brilliance of the twelve suns.

Then, filled with amazement, having gone to his own home, / he recounted the entire event before the people:

how the clump of grass was forcefully uprooted there by the cow, / how the water gushed forth, and how he had bathed [in it].

Having seen that, all the people went to that celestial water; / especially those afflicted with diseases bathed attentively.

And they became freed instantly from diseases and from sins; / and, free from sin, they instantly went to heaven.

From then on, that sacred ford became renowned by the name Gomukha, / since it was born on earth from the mouth of a cow, O best of twice-born.

Then the thousand-eyed Indra, seeing that it bestowed heaven upon men / without difficulty, became frightened and filled it up with dust.

The seers said: / What was declared to be the cause whereby such water / emerged from that place? Tell us, O Sūta's son!

Sūta said: / Here in ancient times, King Ambarīṣa performed austerity; / overcome with grief for his son, he propitiated [Viṣṇu] whose emblem is Garuḍa.

He had a renowned son known as Suvarcas, / an only [son], born somehow in his old age, O best of twice-born.

Through the ripening of his past deeds, even as a child that son of his / was afflicted with the disease of leprosy, causing great sorrow to his father and mother.

Then the lord of the earth went to that wish-granting sacred field / and performed great austerity for his son's sake to destroy the disease.

Then Janārdana himself, becoming pleased with him, / granted him darśana and then spoke these words with affection:

“I am well pleased with you, dear one; therefore ask for whatever is desired in your heart! / I shall grant a boon, O son, there is no doubt.”

The king said: / “This beloved son of mine, O Keśava, is afflicted with leprosy / though still a child; therefore bring about the complete destruction of his leprosy!”

The Blessed Lord said: / “In a previous life he was a king named Meghavāhana, / devoted to brahmins, grateful, and well-versed in the meaning of all śāstras.

Then, after some time, a brahmin was killed by him / when he entered the inner quarters at night committing adultery.

Then, when he looked at dawn after the sun had risen, / he saw that he bore the form of a twice-born, endowed with a sacred thread.

Then, realizing he was a brahmin, overcome with remorse and deeply distressed, / he subsequently went to the city of Kāśī and performed austerity with a focused mind.

Having established his son on the throne, having attained supreme dispassion, / disciplined, of restrained diet, he ate only begged food.

Then, in the course of time, this lord of the earth went to the abode of Yama; / though free from sin, he was marked with the sign

arising from the murder of a brahmin, even while still in childhood. / Whichever men are seen afflicted with leprosy here on earth, / by them, surely, the murder of a brahmin was committed in another birth.

Whoever goes to the sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara and performs a śrāddha, / becomes free from debt to all his ancestors.

The disease of leprosy does not arise without the murder of a brahmin; / know this to be true, O king, as I speak.

Ambarīṣa said: / For this purpose, O ruler of the gods, you have been worshipped by me, O lord. / When you are pleased, O lord of the gods, nothing on earth is impossible.

Thus addressed by him, the blessed Madhusūdana / remembered the water of the subterranean Gaṅgā with meditative concentration.

Meditated upon suddenly by that powerful Viṣṇu, / she made a narrow opening and immediately burst forth.

Then the four-armed [lord] spoke these words to Ambarīṣa: / "Let your son immerse himself here in the most holy water of the Gaṅgā,

so that he will be freed that very moment from leprosy, / as well as from the major and minor sins arising from the murder of a brahmin."

At that very time, having brought his son, the king / bathed him with those waters before the eyes of the wielder of the Śārṅga bow.

Then, O best of the twice-born, as soon as he had bathed, that boy at once / became freed from the disease of leprosy, resembling the rising sun.

Then, bowing down to that deity, filled with great joy, / he went to his own palace together with his father, O twice-born.

When that king had gone with his son, Hari instantly / filled that opening so that no one would know of it.

For this reason, that water which destroys all sins / was previously revealed again on earth through the cow's mouth.

Even today, rendered exceedingly pure by touching its water on the earth, / whoever performs a ritual ablution on a Sunday at sunrise, / his goiter and other [ailments] quickly perish here,

and also those terrible diseases arising from ringworm and scabies, / as well as those arising from malign influences, boils, and scab.

Moreover, a mortal who, free from desire, performs a ritual ablution there with devotion, / goes to the world of the discus-bearer, the god of gods.

On the day when that Gaṅgā was brought there by Viṣṇu, / on that day the sun stood in Taurus and the moon in Citrā,

and the lunar day was the eleventh belonging to the wielder of the Śārṅga bow, the god of gods, / on the day when the clump of grass was pulled through the cow's mouth / at that very place; such was the astrological conjunction established.

Likewise on another day, if someone obtains that water and / performs a ritual ablution with true devotion, he too will attain that fruit.

Thus ends the ninety-third chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of the Gomukhatīrtha', in the glory of the Hāṭakeśvarakṣetra, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the auspicious Skandapurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].