At that unsurpassed sacred place, after washing it with due reverence, he cast it upon the ground. In that very instant, the ground became miraculously filled with the blood of Brahmā. It is said that whoever performs śrāddha and offers libations there, all that is offered becomes inexhaustible in merit and benefit. The tigers among sages would remain there, their minds absorbed in contemplation of their own lineage, performing the rites with barley-cakes, milk-rice, or black millet with pulse. For twelve years, the parents of one who performs such śrāddha will surely attain complete satisfaction. By these acts, the ancestors are gratified, and for them, heaven is always inexhaustible. This inexhaustibility has been declared by Brahmā, the self-born Lord, himself. Even in holy places such as Vārāṇasī or Gayā, such satisfaction for the ancestors does not occur as it does here. Whoever, desiring the welfare of another, performs śrāddha here for someone—whether on the ninth, eighth, new moon, or full moon—for Brahmā, Indra, Rudra, the gods, the Sun, Fire, and the divine ancestors, and even for reptiles, groups of ancestors, and whatever else abides on earth—especially on the fifteenth day of the dark fortnight of any month, O best of the twice-born—at such a śrāddha, the groups of ancestors attain the satisfaction earned by their descendants. Śrāddha must be performed with devotion, for by that, the fathers are gratified. Those who perform the śrāddha and offer the oblation balls, having come to this sacred place and bathed properly in its holy waters, attain all their desired objects. Their minds and wealth become pure, and both the time and the prescribed procedure are said to be auspicious. One who does so attains the fruit of ten Aśvamedha sacrifices, O best of men. This has been realized by Manu, the lord of men, by King Yayāti, by Atri, Bhṛgu, Vyāsa, and the wise Dattātreya. By bathing here, the fruit of ten Aśvamedha sacrifices is indeed obtained. Merely by seeing and touching that previously mentioned deity, one attains this great fruit. It is also prescribed that one should give a horse, beautiful and endowed with good qualities, to a brāhmaṇa. For as many thousands of years, such a person is honored in the world of Śiva. Thus, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the eighty-one-thousand-verse Saṃhitā, in the fifth Avantya section, in the greatness of the Avantī field, the seventeenth chapter named 'Description of the Greatness of the Ten Aśvamedhas' concludes. By performing worship here according to the prescribed method, one attains the fruit of all accomplishments. All the powers, such as aṇimā and the perfections of magical pills and ointments—everything is granted when the deity is satisfied; there should be no doubt about this. When worshipped with offerings of liquor, meat, and various foods and eatables, the goddess is especially pleased. Whoever worships the goddess with a buffalo on the great Navamī day receives her special grace. "I wish to hear all this, O destroyer of all sins," said the sage. Sanatkumāra then replied: "Formerly, at the beginning of the Kṛta Yuga, Brahmā, the grandsire of the worlds, was present. Then, the blessed Night herself stood before the Grandfather. O Goddess, hear what you must do, and the true meaning of this matter. There is a demon king named Tāraka, the unconquered enemy of the gods. Therefore, O auspicious one, if Mahesha grants the boon, he will beget a son. Shankara's wife was Sati, the daughter of Daksha. She will be born again as the daughter of the snowy mountain, the purifier of the worlds.