Adhyaya 151
Chapter 151 is a focused tīrtha-māhātmya set around the vicinity of Brahma-kuṇḍa in Prabhāsa-kṣetra. Īśvara speaks of a third Bhairava in the southern part of the area, near Brahma-kuṇḍa, where Sāvitrī is linked with a Śaiva स्थापना. Sāvitrī performs severe devotional austerity—marked by restraint and strict discipline—to propitiate Śaṅkara. Pleased, Śiva grants a boon framed as a ritual rule and its fruit: one who bathes in the kuṇḍa and worships “my liṅga” on the full-moon day (pūrṇimā), offering fragrance and flowers in proper order, attains the desired auspicious results. The phalaśruti heightens the salvific promise: even a person burdened with major transgressions is freed from faults and gains fulfillment of aims under the protection of Vṛṣabhadhvaja (Śiva). The chapter ends with Śiva’s disappearance, Sāvitrī’s departure to Brahma-loka after establishing the Śaiva presence, and the assurance that the discerning hearer is released from faults.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । तस्यैव दक्षिणे भागे तृतीयो भैरवः स्थित । ब्रह्मकुण्डसमीपे तु सावित्र्या संप्रतिष्ठितः
Īśvara said: “On the southern side of that very place stands the third Bhairava. Near Brahmakūṇḍa, he was duly installed by Sāvitrī.”
Verse 2
आराध्य तत्र देवेशं देवानां प्रपितामहम् । वायुभक्षा निराहारा तोषयामास शंकरम्
Having worshiped there the Lord of gods—the great forefather of the gods—Sāvitrī, living on air and fasting from food, propitiated Śaṅkara.
Verse 3
तुष्टः प्राहेश्वरो देवि शंकरस्तां वराननाम्
Pleased, O Goddess, Śaṅkara—the Supreme Lord—spoke to that fair-faced lady (Sāvitrī).
Verse 4
योऽस्मिन्कुंडे नरः स्नात्वा मल्लिंगं पूजयिष्यति । पौर्णमास्यां विधानेन गन्धपुष्पादिभिः क्रमात्
Whoever, after bathing in this pool, worships my liṅga on the full-moon day according to the prescribed rite—step by step with perfumes, flowers, and the like—
Verse 5
दास्यं तस्य वरा निष्टान्मनसाऽभीसिताञ्छुभान्
—I shall grant him excellent boons: auspicious blessings, firmly fulfilled, as desired within the heart.
Verse 6
महापातकयुक्तोऽपि मुक्तो भवति पातकैः । सर्वकामसमृद्धात्मा स भूयाद्वृषभध्वजः
Even one burdened with great sins becomes freed from sins. Endowed with the fulfillment of all desires, he attains the state of Vṛṣabhadhvaja (Śiva).
Verse 7
इत्येवमुक्त्वा देवेशि ततोऽन्तर्धानमागतः । सावित्री ब्रह्मलोके तु गता संस्थाप्य शंकरम्
Having spoken thus, O Goddess, he then vanished from sight. And Sāvitrī, having established Śaṅkara there, went to the world of Brahmā.
Verse 8
इति संक्षेपतः प्रोक्तं सावित्रीशमहोदयम् । शृणुयाद्यस्तु मतिमान्स मुक्तः पातकैर्भवेत्
Thus, in brief, has been declared the great exaltation of Sāvitrīśa. Whoever, being discerning, listens to it becomes freed from sins.
Verse 151
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये ब्रह्मकुण्डमाहात्म्ये सावित्रीश्वरभैरवमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनामैकपंचाशदुत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends, in the revered Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand ślokas—the one-hundred-and-fifty-first chapter, in the seventh Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, in the first section, the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya, within the Brahmakuṇḍa Māhātmya, entitled “The Description of the Greatness of Sāvitrīśvara Bhairava.”