Adhyaya 61
This adhyāya records Pulastya’s instruction to a royal listener about a supremely meritorious water-tīrtha named Gaṅgādhara, praised as supuṇya and endowed with “pure waters” (vimala-udaka). Its holiness is grounded in a Śaiva theophany: the deity (spoken of as Hari/Śiva) manifests as Acalēśvara and is lauded as the one who “held” Gaṅgā when she descended from the sky, sanctifying the place through cosmic restraint and grace. The chapter then gives a clear observance: on aṣṭamī, one should bathe (snāna) at this tīrtha with a composed, concentrated mind (samāhita). The promised fruit is exalted—attainment of a supreme state difficult even for the gods—showing how right time, sacred place, and pure intention unite to yield extraordinary spiritual merit.
Shlokas
Verse 1
पुलस्त्य उवाच । गंगाधरं ततो गच्छेत्सुपुण्यं विमलोदकम् । येन गंगा धृता राजन्निपतन्ती नभस्तलात्
Pulastya said: “Then one should go to Gaṅgādhara, whose waters are pure and exceedingly meritorious—by whom, O king, the Gaṅgā was held as she fell from the sky.”
Verse 2
आहूता देव देवेन ह्यचलेश्वररूपिणा । हरेण रभसा राजन्यत्पुरा कथितं तव
O king, she was swiftly summoned by Hari—the God of gods—who had assumed the form of Acaleśvara, just as was formerly told to you.
Verse 3
तत्र यः कुरुते स्नानमष्टम्यां च समाहितः । स गच्छेत्परमं स्थानं देवै रपि सुदुर्लभम्
Whoever bathes there on the Aṣṭamī (eighth lunar day), with a collected mind, attains the supreme abode—one that is exceedingly hard to obtain even for the gods.
Verse 61
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे तृतीयऽर्बुदखण्डे गंगाधरतीर्थमाहात्म्य वर्णनंनामैकषष्टितमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the sixty-first chapter, entitled “The Description of the Glory of Gaṅgādhara Tīrtha,” in the third Arbuda Khaṇḍa of the seventh Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, within the Ekāśītisāhasrī Saṃhitā.