Skandapurana 6.3.214

Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / I shall tell the fourth great deed of the god, / by the mere hearing of which one is freed from all sins:

How, carrying a skull and wearing rags, he wandered the earth, / surrounded by Piśācas, Rākṣasas, Bhūtas, Ḍākinīs, and Yoginīs,

Assuming a terrifying form, taking corpses as his seat, / granting fearlessness to the three worlds, he performed vast austerity.

A staff called āṣāḍhī was made there, renowned indeed as Āṣāḍhī; / then the patched garment was left elsewhere by the god, the Supreme Lord.

From then on, O best of kings, he is called Kantheśvara; / by merely seeing him, one obtains the fruit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice.

Then on the road the god wandered at will; / a bangle-maker was selling, and upon seeing him, he was addressed by Hara:

"Good sir, if you do not get angry with me now, / fill my liṅga with bangles; I will give you much wealth."

Thus addressed by the god, that merchant, deluded by greed, / applied bangles—best and middling—upon the liṅga,

Until in due course all those well-collected [bangles] were exhausted. / Seeing the liṅga still standing lofty, he fell into sorrow.

Having broken them into pieces, the Lord, the supreme Īśvara, / seeing that his fear had departed, laughed and said these words:

"My liṅga has not been filled; I shall depart if you agree. / I will give you wealth there if the liṅga is fully filled."

The merchant said: / "I am unfortunate, having accumulated merit; yet I deserve punishment, O supreme Īśvara, / since, not doing what pleases you, I shall grieve for perpetual years."

Hearing these words of that merchant's son, O descendant of Bharata, / Maheśvara gave him inexhaustible wealth and remained right there.

From then on, O best of kings, as if adorned with cranes, / the liṅga remained there to inspire faith, out of a desire to show grace to the world.

Fashioned in play by the god, O son of Pṛthā, and well-established, / it is known as Devamārga, celebrated in the three worlds. / Beholding it or worshipping it, one is freed from all sins.

Going to Devamārga, whoever worships Balākeśvara / and reaches the fivefold shrine goes to the realm of Rudra.

For self-purified men who die at Devamārga, / there will never be a return from the realm of Rudra.

Having heard with devotion the māhātmya of Devamārga, O best of men, / one is freed from all sins; no doubt should be entertained on this point.

Thus ends the two hundred and fourteenth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glory of the Sacred Kapālatīrtha,' in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].