Skandapurana 3.3.23.3

3.3.23.3

2. Now, description of the māhātmya of the great Śivarātri on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Māgha; therein, the māhātmya of fasting, worshiping the Śivaliṅga, and offering bilva leaves; in that connection, description of the account of the king named Mitrasaha born of the Ikṣvāku dynasty; therein, after a certain rākṣasa was slain when King Mitrasaha went on a hunt, the arrival before the king in a humble form by that rākṣasa's younger brother, having disguised himself as a servant in order to watch for an opportune vulnerability; the appointment by the king of that rākṣasa to the overseership of his royal kitchen; then, once, when his family preceptor Vasiṣṭha was invited by that king for a meal, the serving of human flesh in his dish by the rākṣasa wearing disguise; seeing that impure food, the granting of a curse consisting of rākṣasa-hood for twelve years to the king by the enraged great seer Vasiṣṭha; then, hearing the unmerited curse, taking water in his hand by the enraged king in order to give a counter-curse to his guru Vasiṣṭha; then, the holding back, by making a plea, of that king who was intent on cursing the guru, by Queen Madayantī; then, throwing onto his own feet, by that king, of the water taken in hand to give the curse to the guru; through that, because his feet acquired black spots, the king's fame under the name Kalmāṣapāda; then, after obtaining rākṣasa-hood, when a certain young sage was eaten by King Kalmāṣapāda wandering in the forest, the entering into fire after giving the curse 'When there is sexual union with a woman, your death will occur' to that King Kalmāṣapāda who had become a rākṣasa, by that young sage's wife who was wandering with him; then, after the expiration of the curse's term, the return to his home of him who was freed from the curse after regaining his own true form; then, hearing the brahmin's wife's curse, the warding off of her husband who was begging for sexual pleasure by his wife Madayantī out of fear of her own widowhood; then, when the king, despairing of the enjoyment of kingship, departed for the forest, the fathering of a son on that king's wife Madayantī by the sage Vasiṣṭha for the continuity of the Solar dynasty; then, the pursuit by terrible brahmahatyā after that King Kalmāṣapāda who had gone to the forest; the going before the great seer Gautama in the garden of Mithilā by the king afflicted by brahmahatyā; then, the instructing by the great seer Gautama to the king to go do darśana of the Śivaliṅga in the Gokarna sacred field in order to remove the fault of brahmahatyā; in that connection, description of the māhātmya of Gokarṇeśvara. ... 173 2