Adhyaya 124
Set within a Śiva–Devī dialogue, the chapter points the listener to a western shrine where Gaurī is worshiped as Saubhāgyeśvarī, the bestower of saubhāgya—auspicious marital fortune, well-being, and blessed prosperity. The deity’s location is indicated through directional and contextual markers, including an association with Rāvaṇa as “Rāvaṇeśa” and a reference to a “set of five bows” as a local place-name detail. An etiological exemplum follows: Arundhatī is said to have performed intense tapas there, desiring saubhāgya and devoted to Gaurī’s worship, and to have attained supreme accomplishment through the Goddess’s power. The text notes the bright-fortnight third lunar day (tṛtīyā) in Māgha as especially significant. The phalaśruti states plainly that one who worships this deity with devotion gains saubhāgya, with the assurance extending even into future births.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि गौरीं सौभाग्यदायिनीम् । पश्चिमे रावणेशस्य धनुषां पञ्चके स्थिताम्
Īśvara said: Then, O great goddess, one should go to Gaurī, the bestower of saubhāgya—auspicious marital fortune—who is situated to the west of Rāvaṇeśa, in the region measured as “five bows.”
Verse 2
यत्रातप्यत्तपो घोरं स्वयं देवी ह्यरुंधती । सौभाग्यं कांक्षमाणा सा गौरीपूजापरायणा
There, the goddess Arundhatī herself performed fierce austerities, longing for saubhāgya, devoted wholly to the worship of Gaurī.
Verse 3
संप्राप्ता परमां सिद्धिं तस्या देव्याः प्रभावतः । तृतीयायां शुक्लपक्षे माघे मासि वरानने
By the power of that Goddess, she attained the highest success—O fair-faced one—on the third lunar day of the bright fortnight, in the month of Māgha.
Verse 4
यस्तां पूजयते भक्त्या स सौभाग्यमवाप्नुयात् । अन्यजन्मनि देवेशि नात्र कार्या विचारणा
Whoever worships Her with devotion shall attain saubhāgya—auspicious fortune; even in another birth, O Lady of the Gods, there is no need here for doubt or deliberation.
Verse 124
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखंडे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये सौभाग्येश्वरीमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम चतुर्विशत्युत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the one-hundred-and-twenty-fourth chapter, entitled “The Description of the Greatness of Saubhāgyeśvarī,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Ekāśītisāhasrī Saṃhitā, within the Prabhāsakṣetra-māhātmya.