Skandapurana 5.94

Sūta said: / Likewise, another very splendid iron staff in that sacred field / was left by Paraśurāma after breaking his own axe.

Seeing it, a man who is devoted to fasting duly / is indeed freed instantly from his own sin, O best of the twice-born.

The seers said: / Why, having broken his axe, was that iron staff / fashioned by Paraśurāma, and why was it discarded there?

Sūta said: / When Rāma, having created the pool and gratified his ancestors, / having had his anger dispelled, had given the earth to the foremost twice-born in a sacrifice,

he then set out joyfully, keeping the ocean in mind, / taking that axe radiant as the sun for the purpose of a ritual bath.

Then he was addressed by all the sages residing in that sacred field, / who desired his welfare and were ever devoted to peace:

"O Rāma, Rāma, of great fortune, that you hold a weapon in your hand / even though your vow has been completed, is not proper for you.

While this remains in your hand, your bodily anger / will not depart in any way; therefore, abandon it."

Hearing those words of theirs, Rāma, with folded hands, / endowed with modesty and smiling, spoke to those foremost twice-born:

"O foremost vipras, this axe was fashioned long ago by Viśvakarman / from iron that arose from the fiery energy of Rudra, and it is imperishable. / How then, having cast it away, O best of the twice-born,

though devoted to the duty of a kṣatriya, shall I proceed to another quarter?

And if this axe, cast away by me, O best of the twice-born, / should be seized by anyone else, he will be worthy of death by me.

Nor am I able to endure this transgression in any way, / even by a foremost brahmin, let alone any other person!

Even so, you will have no peace if it is cast away, O best of the twice-born, / and if it is taken by you, it must be guarded with effort."

The brahmins said: / "If, O fortunate one, you hand it over to us for safekeeping, / then quickly break it, make it into a lump, and deliver it,

so that, relying on supreme effort, we all may guard it, / and no one will take it even after a long time has passed."

Hearing those words of theirs, Rāma, the best of weapon-bearers, / broke that axe and made an iron staff.

Then that best of the Bhārgavas reverently handed it over to the foremost brahmins / for safekeeping, standing bent in modesty.

The brahmins said: / "This iron staff produced from your axe, O Rāma, / we shall protect and indeed worship.

Just as the fame of Skanda consisting of his spear is established here, / even so, O Rāma, will yours consist of this iron staff."

Moreover, whatever king who has lost his kingdom propitiates it,
recovering his own kingdom before long, he will become full of majesty.

Or whatever twice-born man always worships it for the sake of learning,
having attained supreme knowledge, he will reach omniscience.

Or whatever childless man, or woman, worships
this staff of yours, he or she will become possessed of children.

And whoever, dedicated to fasting, worships it,
especially on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month of Āśvina,

he will always obtain the desires dwelling in his mind.

Having heard this, Rāma then bowed to those very twice-born men,
and quickly went towards the abode of the ocean.

Those brahmins too then built an excellent temple for it;
having established it there, intent on worship, they thereupon performed [its rites].

And from its presence they obtained the desires residing in their hearts,
even in a very short time, [wishes] difficult to attain even by the gods.

Thus ends the ninety-fourth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of the Iron Staff' in the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara Māhātmya of the sixth [section], the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.