Adhyaya 157
Īśvara speaks to the goddess Mahādevī and urges a pilgrimage to the auspicious shrine of Satyabhāmeśvara. He specifies its location as one bow-length south of Ratneśvara and praises it as sarva-pāpa-praśamana, a place that pacifies and removes all sins. The chapter affirms the power of tīrtha practice: bathing at this Vaiṣṇava-associated spot is said to be pātaka-nāśana, the destroyer of sin. The shrine is attributed to Satyabhāmā—Kṛṣṇa’s consort—renowned for beauty and noble dignity (rūpa–audārya). A calendrical rule is given: on the third lunar day of the month of Māgha, women and men alike may worship there; pūjā performed with bhakti grants release from sins. The phalaśruti adds that those afflicted by misfortune, sorrow, grief, and obstacles are freed from them and become “associated with Satyabhāmā” (satyabhāmānvitā), aligned in devotion with the sanctity of the shrine’s founding.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि सत्यभामेश्वरं शुभम् । रत्नेश्वराद्दक्षिणे तु धनुषांतरमास्थितम्
Īśvara said: Thereafter, O Great Goddess, one should go to the auspicious Satyabhāmeśvara, situated to the south of Ratneśvara at a distance of one dhanuṣ-measure.
Verse 2
सर्वपापप्रशमनं स्थापितं सत्यभामया । कृष्णस्य कान्तया देवि रूपौदार्यसमेतया
O Goddess, that sacred shrine which pacifies all sins was established by Satyabhāmā—Kṛṣṇa’s beloved—endowed with beauty and noble generosity.
Verse 3
स्नात्वा तद्वैष्णवं स्थानं नृणां पातकनाशनम्
Having bathed at that Vaiṣṇava holy spot, the sins of people are destroyed.
Verse 4
माघे मासि तृतीयायां नारी वा पुरुषोऽपि वा । यस्तं पूजयते भक्त्या स मुक्तः पातकैर्भवेत्
On the third lunar day in the month of Māgha—whether woman or man—whoever worships him with devotion becomes freed from sins.
Verse 5
दौर्भाग्यदुःखशोकेभ्यस्तथा विघ्नैश्च दुःखितः । मुच्यते नात्र संदेहः सत्यभामान्वितो भवेत्
One afflicted by misfortune, suffering, grief, and obstacles is freed from them—of this there is no doubt—and becomes blessed, endowed with Satyabhāmā’s favor and holy association.
Verse 157
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये सत्यभामेश्वरमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम सप्तपञ्चाशदुत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends, in the revered Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the compilation of eighty-one thousand verses, in the seventh, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, in the first division, the Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya—the chapter entitled “Description of the Glory of Satyabhāmeśvara,” being Chapter 157.