Adhyaya 44
The chapter “Gajatīrtha-prabhāva-varṇana” records Pulastya’s instruction to a king to proceed to an unsurpassed pilgrimage ford (tīrtha) known as Gajatīrtha. Its sanctity and authority are established through revered precedent from ancient times. In former ages, the directional elephants (diggaja), portrayed as disciplined and purified beings, performed tapas there, together with other world-bearing elephants led by Airāvata. The chapter’s ritual focus is proper bathing (samyaṅ-snānā) at this sacred site: one who bathes correctly is promised the merit-fruit equal to performing gaja-dāna, the auspicious donation of an elephant. Thus it joins sacred geography, exemplary ascetic history, and a precise equivalence of merit in the Purāṇic ethic of pilgrimage.
Shlokas
Verse 1
पुलस्त्य उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्नृपश्रेष्ठ गजतीर्थमनुत्तमम् । यत्र पूर्वं तपस्तप्तं दिग्गजैर्भावितात्मभिः
Pulastya said: Then, O best of kings, one should go to the unsurpassed Gajatīrtha, where in ancient times the guardian elephants of the directions—disciplined in spirit—performed austerities.
Verse 2
भूभारधरणैश्चान्यैरैरावणमुखैर्नृप । तत्र स्नातो नरः सम्यग्गजदानफलं लभेत्
O King, that place is honored also by other bearers of the earth’s burden, led by Airāvaṇa. One who bathes there properly gains merit equal to the gift of an elephant.
Verse 44
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे तृतीयेऽर्बुदखण्डे गजतीर्थप्रभाववर्णनंनाम चतुश्चत्वारिंशोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the forty-fourth chapter, entitled “The Description of the Power of Gajatīrtha,” in the third subdivision called Arbuda Khaṇḍa, within the seventh Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Ekāśīti-sāhasrī Saṃhitā.