Skandapurana 3.3.23.7

3.3.23.7

6 Now, the description of the greatness of the Pradoṣa worship; in that connection, the description of the account of the king named Satyaratha residing in the Vidarbha country; there, the death of the king named Satyaratha in battle with the Śālva kings; thereafter, his pregnant wife, having made an effort, went out from the city into an impassable forest; there, at the root of a certain tree, during her delivery, a son was born; then, overcome by excessive thirst, as she entered an adjacent lake to drink water, her death by being seized by a crocodile; at that time, a certain widowed brahmin woman named Umā, who was wandering in that region with a one-year-old child, heard the sound of that newborn prince crying, saw that helpless boy whose umbilical cord had not been cut, and out of a mind filled with compassion, took him to raise him; as her mind was full of doubt about bringing him to her house, she gained confidence from the words of Śaṃkara who wore the guise of a beggar, and brought that child to her house to nourish him; then that brahmin woman named Umā, living in the village named Ekacakrā, gathered alms and tended and nourished that child, regarding him as no different from her own son; then, at a certain time, when that brahmin woman entered a certain temple along with those two boys to see the deity, the great seer Śāṇḍilya, who was residing in that temple, saw those two boys and spoke of the strange turns of fate with reference to that prince among them; having heard those words, when that brahmin woman asked out of a desire to know the lineage, family, and other origins of that child she had brought, the great seer Śrī Śāṇḍilya narrated in detail the deeds of that child in all his previous births; there, in a previous birth, a Pāṇḍya king died at the hands of an enemy in another birth due to the fault of interrupting the Śiva-Pradoṣa worship; his son also, due to the fault of transgressing the worship of Śiva at Pradoṣa, attained poverty in another birth; and his mother, due to the sin of killing her co-wife by deceit in a previous birth, was described as dying by being devoured by a crocodile in another birth; and the son of the brahmin woman, due to being devoted solely to receiving gifts in his previous birth, without sacrifices, offerings, gifts, and the like, was described as attaining poverty in another birth; then, having declared the greatness of worshipping Śiva at Pradoṣa, his giving instruction to both of those boys for the worship of Śiva at Pradoṣa. 182 2