Skandapurana 3.3.23.4

3.3.23.4

3. Now, in the context of describing the Gokarṇeśvara-māhātmya by Gautama, description of his dialogue with the Śivadūtas who had arrived to take a certain elderly Cāṇḍāla woman to the world of Śiva; therein, when the reason for taking the Cāṇḍāla woman to the world of Śiva was asked of the Śivadūtas by Gautama, description by the Śivadūtas of that Cāṇḍāla woman's previous birth; therein, in her previous birth as a brahmin widow, having fallen from her caste under the influence of lust and being attached to a Śūdra, when a calf was inadvertently killed at night by her hand, seeing it in the light and realizing it was a calf, her uttering 'Śiva, Śiva' out of repentance; then, description of the adverse turn of fate preceded by her falling into the condition of a Cāṇḍāla woman when she died in the course of time; on this Cāṇḍāla woman's way toward the Gokarṇa sacred field to beg for food and alms, when death occurred midway along the path, Śiva remembering her by the power of her recitation of the name of Śiva; the extraction of her subtle soul by the Śivadūtas, uniting it with a spark of divine brilliance, and taking her to the world of Śiva; then, in that connection, when the nature of the world of Śiva was asked of Gautama by the king, description of the nature of the world of Śiva by the great seer Gautama to the king Mitrasaha, also known as Kalmāṣapāda; then, by Gautama's instruction, the king's going to the Gokarṇa sacred field, and, preceded by being freed from sins such as brahmahatyā through the power of darśana, worship, and other rites of the great god Gokarṇeśvara, description of his attainment of the world of Śiva. ... 176 2