Ravana loses the atmalinga

Gokarna says Ravana went to Kailash to bring back his mother's god. He cut off his own head and strung a harp with threads pulled from his skin and gut, and played on it until Shiva could refuse nothing. He asked for the atmalinga, Shiva's own self in stone, and was given it with a warning: set it on the ground and it will never move again. The gods saw Lanka about to become unconquerable and sent Ganesha. As Ravana came down the western coast the sun set and he had to pray. A Brahmin boy was passing; Ravana begged him to hold the linga, and the boy agreed on the condition that he would call three times and no more. He called three times quickly and put the linga down. Ravana came running and pulled with all his strength; the linga only sank, and it is said the shape of a cow went into the ground with only its ear left above, which is why the place is Gokarna, cow's ear. The linga twisted by his grip is the Mahabaleshwar worshipped there.