Adhyaya 169
This adhyāya is framed as a sacred dialogue between Īśvara and Devī, setting forth a ritual itinerary within Prabhāsa kṣetra. Īśvara instructs Devī to proceed to the liṅga called Vaivasvateśvara, situated in the southern sector of the Goddess’s directional quarter, at a distance measured in dhanu units. The liṅga is said to have been installed (pratiṣṭhā) by Vaivasvata Manu and is praised as bestowing all desired aims (sarva-kāma-da). Near the shrine lies a wondrous devakhāta, a divinely excavated water-site, where one performs the preparatory bath. The chapter then prescribes a disciplined order of worship: bathing, pūjā according to rule (vidhi) with five offerings (pañcopacāra), undertaken with devotion and restraint of the senses (jite-indriya). Finally, it enjoins recitation of a stotra by the aghora-vidhi, promising attainment of siddhi, and concludes with its colophonic placement in the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa and the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya.
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि लिंगं वैवस्वतेश्वरम् । देव्या दक्षिणदिग्भागे धनुस्त्रिंशकसंस्थितम्
Īśvara said: Then, O Great Goddess, one should go to the liṅga called Vaivasvateśvara, situated to the south of the Goddess’s precinct, at a distance of thirty bow-lengths.
Verse 2
वैवस्वतेन मनुना स्थापितं सर्वकामदम् । तत्समीपे देवखातं तिष्ठते तु महाद्भुतम्
Established by Vaivasvata Manu, it grants all desired aims. Near it stands a wondrous reservoir known as Devakhāta.
Verse 3
स्नात्वा तत्र वरारोहे यस्तं पूजयते नरः । पञ्चोपचारैर्विधिना भक्तिप्रह्वो जितेन्द्रियः । जपेदघोरविधिना स्तोत्रं सिद्धिं स चाप्नुयात्
Having bathed there, O fair-hipped one, whoever worships that liṅga according to rule with the five offerings—bowed in devotion and with senses restrained—and then recites the hymn by the Aghora method, attains siddhi, true success.
Verse 169
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये वैवस्वतेश्वरमाहात्म्य वर्णनंनामैकोनसप्तत्युत्तरशततमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the one-hundred-and-sixty-ninth chapter, called “The Description of the Greatness of Vaivasvateśvara,” in the first part, the Prabhāsa-kṣetra Māhātmya, within the seventh division, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, of the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa (the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses).