Adhyaya 110
This adhyāya unfolds as a theological dialogue: Devī asks how humans can practically undertake far‑flung pilgrimages to countless tīrthas, even with long life, and requests the “essence” (sāra) among them. Īśvara replies by naming an unsurpassed tīrthāṣṭaka—eight principal pilgrimage centers: Naimiṣa, Kedāra, Puṣkara, Kṛmijaṅgala, Vārāṇasī, Kurukṣetra, Prabhāsa, and Hāṭakeśvara—declaring that bathing there with śraddhā yields the fruit of all tīrthas. When Devī asks what is suitable for Kali‑yuga, Īśvara exalts Hāṭakeśvara‑kṣetra as foremost among the eight, a divinely sanctioned locus where all kṣetras and other tīrthas are “present” even in Kali‑yuga. The chapter ends with Sūta’s phalaśruti: hearing or reciting this compilation grants snāna-born merit, encouraging engagement with the text as a parallel sacred practice.
Shlokas
Verse 1
श्रीदेव्युवाच । नैतेष्वपि सुरश्रेष्ठ सर्वेषु भुवि मानवाः । अपि दीर्घायुषो भूत्वा स्नातुं शक्ताः कथंचन
The Goddess said: O best of the gods, even if humans live long upon the earth, they are not in any way capable of bathing in all these tīrthas.
Verse 2
एतेषामपि साराणि मम तीर्थानि कीर्तय । येषु स्नातो नरः सम्यक्सर्वेषां लभते फलम्
Therefore proclaim the essences among these—my foremost tīrthas—by bathing in which a man, in due manner, obtains the fruit of them all.
Verse 3
ईश्वर उवाच । एतेषां मध्यतो देवि तीर्थाष्टकमनुत्तमम् । अस्ति स्नातैर्नरैस्तत्र सर्वेषां लभ्यते फलम्
Īśvara said: “O Goddess, among these there is a peerless set of eight tīrthas; by bathing there, people obtain the fruit of all tīrthas.”
Verse 4
नैमिषं चैव केदारं पुष्करं कृमिजांगलम् । वाराणसी कुरुक्षेत्रं प्रभासं हाटकेश्वरम्
Naimiṣa and Kedāra, Puṣkara and Kṛmijāṅgala; Vārāṇasī, Kurukṣetra, Prabhāsa, and Hāṭakeśvara—these are the eight renowned sacred kṣetras.
Verse 5
अष्टास्वेतेषु यः स्नातः सम्यक्छ्रद्धासमन्वितः । स स्नातः सर्वतीर्थेषु सत्यमेतन्मयोदितम्
Whoever bathes in these eight (kṣetras) with proper, steadfast faith is deemed to have bathed in all tīrthas. This is the truth as I declare it.
Verse 6
श्रीदेव्युवाच । कलिकाले महादेव भविष्यति कथंचन । स्नानं तस्मान्मम ब्रूहि यत्सारं तीर्थमेव हि
Śrī Devī said: “In the age of Kali, O Mahādeva, how indeed will it be for beings? Therefore tell me of that sacred bathing, and of the tīrtha that is truly the essential one.”
Verse 7
अष्टानामपि चैतेषां देवदेव त्रिलोचन । यद्यहं वल्लभा भक्ता तथा चित्तानुवर्तिनी
O God of gods, Three-eyed Lord—if I am truly your beloved, devoted in bhakti and ever following your will in my heart, then tell me, among these eight kṣetras…
Verse 8
ईश्वर उवाच । अष्टानामपि देवेशि क्षेत्राणामस्ति चोत्तमम् । एतेषामपि तत्क्षेत्रं हाटकेश्वरसंज्ञितम्
Īśvara said: “O Goddess, among these eight sacred fields there is indeed one that is supreme. Among them, that kṣetra is known as Hāṭakeśvara.”
Verse 9
यत्र सर्वाणि क्षेत्राणि संस्थितानि ममाज्ञया । तथान्यानि च तीर्थानि कलिकालेऽपि संस्थिते
There, by my command, all the sacred fields abide; and likewise other tīrthas also remain established—even in the age of Kali.
Verse 10
तस्मात्सर्वप्रयत्नेन तत्क्षेत्रं सेव्यमेव हि । मानुषैर्मोक्षमिच्छद्भिः सत्यमेतन्म योदितम्
Therefore, with every effort, that kṣetra should indeed be sought and served by human beings who desire liberation. This is the truth as I have declared.
Verse 11
सूत उवाच । एतद्वः सर्वमाख्यातमष्टषष्टिसमुद्भवम् । समुच्चयं द्विजश्रेष्ठा नामदेवसमन्वितम्
Sūta said: “O best of the twice-born, I have now fully narrated to you this compendium arising from the sixty-eight tīrthas, complete with the divine names.”
Verse 13
यश्चैतत्पठते भक्त्या ह्यष्टषष्टिसमुद्भवम् । स्नानजं लभते पुण्यं शृण्वानः श्रद्धयान्वितः
Whoever recites this with devotion—this account arising from the sixty-eight tīrthas—attains the merit born of sacred bathing; and whoever hears it with faith attains it as well.
Verse 110
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां षष्ठे नागरखण्डे श्रीहाटकेश्वरक्षेत्रमाहात्म्य ऽष्टषष्टितीर्थमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम दशोत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the one-hundred-and-tenth chapter, entitled “The Description of the Greatness of the Sixty-Eight Tīrthas,” within the Śrī Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra Māhātmya of the sixth book, the Nāgara-khaṇḍa, in the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection.