Adhyaya 144
Īśvara instructs Mahādevī to proceed to the “third great Puṣkara,” and points out that in its eastern quarter, near the Īśāna direction, there is a smaller pond remembered by the name Puṣkara. The tīrtha’s authority is grounded in an archetypal precedent: at midday Brahmā worshipped there, and Sandhyā—revered as the “mother of the three worlds”—is linked with sacred establishment and grounding (pratiṣṭhā). A focused rite is prescribed: one who bathes there with composure on the full-moon day (pūrṇamāsī) is said to have duly completed the bath at the locus of Ādi-Puṣkara. An accompanying ethical act is required—giving gold in charity (hiraṇya-dāna)—explicitly for the removal of all wrongdoing. The closing phalaśruti presents this as a concise māhātmya: hearing it dispels sin and grants desired aims, establishing the chapter as both ritual instruction and a means of merit through sacred listening.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि तृतीयं पुष्करं महत् । तस्यैव पूर्वदिग्भागे किञ्चिदीशानगोचरे । कनीयः संस्मृतं कुंडं पुष्करंनाम नामतः
Īśvara said: “Then, O Great Goddess, one should go to the great third Puṣkara. In its eastern quarter, somewhat toward the northeast, there is a smaller pond remembered by the name ‘Puṣkara.’”
Verse 2
यत्र मध्याह्नसमये ब्रह्मणा समुपासिता । सन्ध्या त्रैलोक्यजननी प्रतिष्ठार्थं गतेन च
There, at the hour of midday, Sandhyā—the Mother of the three worlds—was duly worshipped by Brahmā, who had gone there to establish her sacred standing.
Verse 3
तत्र यः कुरुते स्नानं पौर्णमास्यां समाहितः । सम्यक्कृतं भवेत्तेन स्नानं तत्रादिपुष्करे
Whoever, with a collected mind, bathes there on the full-moon day—by that act his bathing is deemed perfectly accomplished in that primordial Puṣkara tīrtha.
Verse 4
हिरण्यं तत्र दातव्यं सर्वपापापनुत्तये
There, gold should be given in charity, for the complete removal of all sins.
Verse 5
इति संक्षेपतः प्रोक्तं माहात्म्यं तव पौष्करम् । श्रुतं पापहरं नॄणां सर्वकामप्रदं तथा
Thus, in brief, your Puṣkara Māhātmya has been spoken. When heard, it removes the sins of people and likewise grants all desired aims.
Verse 144
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये पुष्करकुण्डमाहात्म्य वर्णनंनाम चतुश्चत्वारिंशदुत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the one-hundred-and-forty-fourth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Puṣkara Pond,” in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa—within the Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya—of the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses.