Adhyaya 45
This adhyāya records Pulastya’s instruction concerning Devakhāta, praised as a tīrtha of supreme merit, whose fame is said to be self-manifest and affirmed among the learned (vibudhas). It then sets forth a ritual observance: performing śrāddha at this place, with special emphasis on amāvāsyā (new-moon day), and with added auspiciousness when the sun is transiting Kanyā (Virgo). The rite is linked to a twofold fruit—an elevated posthumous state for the performer and salvific benefit for the pitṛs (ancestors), even for those believed to have fallen into difficult destinies. The chapter concludes with the customary colophon, locating the passage within the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa’s Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa and Arbuda Khaṇḍa, and naming the topic as the narrative of Devakhāta’s origin and glory (māhātmya).
Shlokas
Verse 1
पुलस्त्य उवाच । देवखातं ततो गच्छेत्सुपुण्यं तीर्थमुत्तमम् । यत्ख्यातिर्विबुधैः सर्वैः स्वयमेव व्यधीयत
Pulastya said: Then one should go to Devakhāta, a supremely excellent and highly meritorious tīrtha, whose fame was established of itself among all the gods.
Verse 2
तत्र यः कुरुते श्राद्धममावास्यां विशेषतः । कन्यागते रवौ राजन्स लभेत्परमं पदम् । पितॄन्स तारयत्येव प्राप्तानपि सुदुर्गतिम्
Whoever performs śrāddha there—especially on the new-moon day—when the Sun has entered Kanyā (Virgo), O King, attains the supreme abode; and he indeed delivers his ancestors, even if they have fallen into a very difficult state.
Verse 45
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे तृतीयेऽर्बुदखण्डे श्रीदेवखातोत्पत्तिमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम पंचचत्वारिंशोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the forty-fifth chapter, entitled “The Description of the Origin and Greatness of Śrī Devakhāta,” in the third subdivision called Arbuda Khaṇḍa, within the seventh Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Ekāśīti-sāhasrī Saṃhitā.