Adhyaya 170
Chapter 170 is cast as Īśvara’s instruction to Mahādevī, guiding the discerning practitioner (sudhī) to go to the place of the mātṛgaṇas and to worship Balādevī situated nearby. Its core teaching is calendrical and procedural: Balādevī should be worshipped in the month of Śrāvaṇa, on the Śrāvaṇī observance, with offerings such as pāyasa (sweet milk-rice), honey (madhu), and divine flowers (puṣpa). The phalaśruti concludes that successful worship ensures the devotee’s year passes in comfort, well-being, and sukha (happiness).
Shlokas
Verse 1
ईश्वर उवाच । ततो गच्छेन्महादेवि तत्र मातृगणान्सुधीः । तत्रैव बलदेवीं च नातिदूरे व्यवस्थिताम्
Īśvara said: Then, O Great Goddess, the wise pilgrim should go there to the host of Mother-goddesses; and there itself one should also visit Balādevī, established not far away.
Verse 2
श्रावण्यां श्रावणे मासि यस्तां पूजयते नरः । पायसैर्मधुना वापि दिव्यपुष्पोपहारकैः
In the month of Śrāvaṇa, on the Śrāvaṇī day, whoever worships Her with offerings of sweet rice, honey, and gifts of divine flowers—
Verse 3
तस्य वर्षं महादेवि सुखं गच्छेत्सुपूजितम्
For such a worshipper, O Great Goddess, the year passes in happiness, well-blessed through proper worship.
Verse 170
इति श्रीस्कांदे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां सप्तमे प्रभासखण्डे प्रथमे प्रभासक्षेत्रमाहात्म्ये मातृगणबलदेवीमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम सप्तत्युत्तरशततमोध्यायः
Thus ends, in the Śrī Skanda Mahāpurāṇa—within the Saṃhitā of eighty-one thousand verses—in the seventh, the Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, and in the first division, the Māhātmya of the sacred field of Prabhāsa, the one-hundred-and-seventieth chapter, entitled “The narration of the greatness of the Mothers’ host and Baladevī.”