Adhyaya 160
The chapter records Īśvara’s instruction to Devī on a particular pilgrimage and worship sequence in Prabhāsa-kṣetra, centered on Raivanta Rājabhaṭṭāraka. He is praised as the son of Sūrya, mounted on a horse, possessed of great strength, and stationed within the sacred field near Sāvitrī, facing the south-west (Nairṛta). It then declares the fruits of darśana and pūjā: mere sight of him frees one from all adversities. A precise observance is prescribed—worship on a Sunday that coincides with the seventh lunar day (saptamī)—together with the promise that poverty will not arise even in the worshipper’s lineage. The teaching concludes with an ethical and practical exhortation to worship with full effort, so that one may dwell in the kṣetra without obstacles and also attain royal or worldly aims such as the increase of horses, presenting devotion as both liberating and socially efficacious.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि राजभट्टारकं परम् । रैवन्तकं सूर्यपुत्रमश्वारूढं महाबलम्
Īśvara said: Then, O Great Goddess, one should go to the supreme royal Bhaṭṭāraka—Raivantaka, the son of the Sun—mounted on a horse and endowed with great power.
Verse 2
संस्थितं क्षेत्रमध्ये तु सावित्र्या नैरृते प्रिये । तं दृष्ट्वा मानवो देवि सर्वापद्भ्यो विमुच्यते
O beloved, he is established in the midst of the sacred field, to the southwest of Sāvitrī. O Goddess, having seen him, a person is freed from all calamities.
Verse 3
रविवारेण सप्तम्यां यस्तं पूजयते नरः । तस्याऽन्वयेऽपि नो देवि दरिद्री जायते नरः
If a man worships him on the seventh lunar day that falls on a Sunday, O Goddess, then even in his lineage no one is born into poverty.
Verse 4
तस्मात्सर्वप्रयत्नेन तमेवाराधयेन्मनाक् । निर्विघ्नं क्षेत्रवासार्थं राजा वाऽश्वविवृद्धये
Therefore, with every effort one should worship him—even a little—so that residence in the sacred field may be free from obstacles, or, for a king, for the increase of horses and cavalry strength.
Verse 160
इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये रैवंतकराजभट्टारकमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम षष्ट्युत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the one-hundred-and-sixtieth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Raivantaka Rāja-bhaṭṭāraka,” in the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa of the holy Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, within the Prabhāsakṣetra-māhātmya.