Adhyaya 57
Pulastya instructs a king about a forest called Aviyuktavana, known for a distinctive phala: whoever beholds it or dwells there does not remain separated from what is dear. This claim is supported through an origin-legend explaining the site’s power. After Nahusha seizes Indra’s sovereignty, Śacī, Indra’s consort, enters the forest in grief. By the forest’s inherent potency (tat-prabhāva), Indra (Śatakratu), who had been separated, is restored and returns, and the place becomes renowned as a kṣetra that brings reunion. Śacī then grants a boon to the forest: any man or woman separated from beloved relations who stays there for a single night will regain association (saṅga) and shared dwelling with loved ones. The chapter also praises fruit-giving or fruit-offerings (phaladāna) there, especially for women seeking progeny (vandhyā), who are said to obtain “the fruit of a son” (putra-phala). It concludes with the colophon identifying it as Chapter 57 of the Arbuda Khaṇḍa within the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa.
Shlokas
Verse 1
पुलस्त्य उवाच । अवियुक्तवनं गच्छेत्ततः पार्थिवसत्तम । यस्मिन्दृष्टे नरोभीष्टैर्न वियुज्येत कर्हिचित्
Pulastya said: Then, O best of kings, one should go to the Aviyukta Forest; having beheld it, a person is never separated from what he desires.
Verse 2
तत्र पूर्वं शची राजन्प्रविष्टा दुःखसंयुता । नहुषेण हृते राज्ये देवेन्द्रस्य महात्मनः
There, in former times, O king, Śacī entered, overwhelmed with sorrow, when Nahuṣa had taken away the kingdom of the great-souled Devendra (Indra).
Verse 3
तत्प्रभावात्पुनः प्राप्तो वियुक्तोऽपि शतक्रतुः । ततस्तस्य वरो दत्तो वनस्य हि तया नृप
By the power of that sacred place, Śatakratu (Indra), though separated from his sovereignty, was restored once more. Then, O king, Śacī bestowed a boon upon that forest.
Verse 4
नरो वा यदि वा नारी वियुक्ताऽत्र वने शुभे । प्रियैर्निवास एकस्मिन्रात्रिमेकां वसिष्यति
Whether man or woman, if separated from the beloved, in this auspicious forest—by staying here for even a single night—one will dwell again together with the loved one.
Verse 5
स तेन लभते संगं भूय एव यथा मया । प्रियैः स लभते वासमेकरात्रं वसन्नृप
By that sacred act, one again attains reunion, just as I did. And, O king, by dwelling there even for a single night, one gains a dwelling among one’s beloved.
Verse 6
फलदानं प्रशंसंति तत्र ब्राह्मणसत्तमाः । वंध्यानां च विशेषेण यतः पुत्रफलं लभेत्
There, the foremost brāhmaṇas praise the giving of fruits. And especially for women without children, for by it one may obtain the fruit of offspring.
Verse 57
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे तृतीयेऽर्बुदखण्डेऽवियुक्तक्षेत्रमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम सप्तपञ्चाशत्तमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the fifty-seventh chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Aviyukta-kṣetra,” in the third division, the Arbuda Khaṇḍa, within the seventh book, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, of the holy Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the eighty-one-thousand-verse compilation.